Nurse Conscience

The Union Makes Us Strong

2010-04-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

When I was in Haiti I was impressed by the peoples' ability to look out for each other.
Jean Rony is one of the men I helped care for. He was in his office on the 3rd floor of a building when the January 2010 earthquake struck. He fell with the collapsing building and broke his leg. When I met him he along with about 40 other men were sleeping on cots and receiving medical care in a tent on the grounds of Sacre Coeur Hospital in Milot, Haiti. He was changing the soiled diaper of a gentleman in the cot next to him whose injuries from the earthquake left him paralyzed from the waist down. I asked Jean if he were part of that man's family. "No," he said with a smile. Confused I asked him how he was related. Jean Rony explained to me that he had just met him when he got assigned his cot in the tent in Milot. He hadn't known him before but he was his bed neighbor now. He cared for him because he was the one next to him.

Like most Haitians, it was easy for him to work for and with his fellow Haitians. They know that united they can stand, but that divided they will not survive.

Haiti's motto is "L'union fait la force." There's strength in unity or as the song 'Solidarity Forever' sings: The Union makes us strong.

Dear President Obama, Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer and Representative Speier

2009-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

For years your constituents have written and called you regarding the health care crisis we find ourselves in. Years. For years the private insurers have been denying and delaying appropriate, needed, doctor-prescribed care. For years the pharmaceutical companies have been charging us exorbitant amounts for medicines that are reasonably priced elsewhere in the world. For years thousands of Americans have unnecessarily died simply because no one would see them because they did not have insurance because the insurance companies had declared them un-insurable.

Don't be fooled by the 'johnny-come-latelys' who have recently shown up at town halls complaining about changing the health care system. Listen to the steady stream of Americans you have known over the years and ease their pain.

It's a lot of food for thought to realize that on the same day a few hundred people with health insurance were screaming at their Congressman, a couple of thousand people were waiting patiently, civilly, hopefully outside the LA Forum for a little bit of health care.

The screamers should be ashamed. And Shame will be your names as well if you all do not pass reform with a solid, strong public option. Best of all would be passing the Weiner Amendment that would make Medicare available to All.

Single Payer is ON the Table

2009-07-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Representative Weiner from New York. Ya gotta love this guy!

And this is the best part. He makes the Republicans who say they don't want, don't trust government run health care to put up or shut up. He offers an amendment to get rid of medicare (that he and all the Democrats planned to vote against).

Again ya really gotta love this guy!

Lily Tomlin Tells It Like It Is

2009-07-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

Why oh why oh why does Congress insist on reforming health care from the perspective of the money makers like the private health insurers and the pharmaceutical companies? Why are they maneuvering to assure that they get what they want when the whole idea of a health care system ought to be to ensure the health of the citizens? What is BEST for the public, for society, for families, for human beings ought to be their goal.

Thank you Lily and thank you Earnestine for telling it like it is!

Keep Calling Congress

2009-07-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Congress and the Media think that the 'stake holders' in the health care debate are the insurance lobby (AHIP), Big Pharma, and anyone who can pay $25,000 to hold a Salon in the editor of the Washington Post's house (that luckily was exposed and repudiated).

Actually, We the People are the only stake holders who matter. We are the voters. We can re-elect those who support real health care reform: Improved and Expanded Medicare for All. And we can defeat any and all Congresscritters who vote against the People's wish for access to quality health care.

Lee Stranahan is doing a series of videos on health care reform. Check out his website.

And Call Your Senators and Your Representative! Tell them you want a real, strong public option. You want Improved and Expanded Medicare for All! Tell them if they fail you, you will fail to vote for them.

Mr. President, Be the Advocate Your Mother Needed

2009-06-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

On June 22, 2009, Kathleen Sebelius came to town. About 150 nurses, doctors, Grey Panthers and other health care activists greeted her and Nancy Pelosi at the San Francisco Fairmont with 'Sebelius, Sebelius, you can't hide! Private Insurers are by your side!' and 'Health Care is a Human Right! We will NOT give up this fight!' and some pretty great signs.

As doctoraaron and I were walking down the sidewalk in front of the Fairmont with our posters of 'Stop the Insurance Industry Bailout' and 'What's a Life Worth?' a woman stopped us to tell us her story. Her sister had died 4 years ago. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. She lost her job, then unable to pay the pricey COBRA premiums, lost her health care insurance and, finally, unable therefore to get medical intervention, lost her life. Our hearts broke for this woman and her sister. This story that took 30 seconds to tell relayed an exquisite amount of frustration, horror and pain. All of it unnecessary. I made the comment that it makes me so mad I want to tear my head (I'm no longer at the stage of pulling hair out) off.

Hers, of course, is one in a devastating trail of story after story after story. President Obama has a site set up dedicated to these stories.

Like this one:

William
Cabot, AR

My daughter who at 20 years old and just started her third year of college was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She had to drop out of college for the time as she needed to go through surgery. As soon as she left school she was told that she could no longer be on my insurance policy and her coverage was dropped. This is just when she needed the coverage. She passed away within three years but it was horrible and nobody cared. My view of life and society has forever been changed.

Here are a few other sample stories from the President's site.

Heidi from Brooklyn found that although she was covered for cancer care from top-notch Slone Kettering, when her employer switched insurers she was no longer covered because her cancer, which she was in the middle of treating was a pre-existing illness to the new insurer. Her remaining treatments were not covered. Now all follow-up care is also not covered.

Heidi
Brooklyn, NY

On July 18, 2008, at the age of 29, I was diagnosed with a very rare and potentially aggressive type of cervical cancer: adenocarcinoma with high-grade neuroendocrine features. With no previous medical or familial history of cancer, I was shocked, but grateful that it seemed to have been caught early, and that I had health insurance, particularly in a rapidly destabilizing job economy. I couldn't have known at that time that being unemployed and uninsured would have been a potentially preferable situation than the one I am currently in. Due to the complexity and rarity of my case, my Long Island oncologist referred me to Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City for treatment. After undergoing to a battery of tests, I was diagnosed with a second unrelated cancer, papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. The diagnosis turned my world upside down yet again, but at this point I was growing accustomed to the uncertainty that coexists with serious disease. I prepared myself for treatment, both physically (undergoing fertility treatments with my partner to preserve eggs and embryos) and mentally: before cancer, I had learned to box, and now, with every jab, hook, and uppercut, I envisioned myself defeating the cancerous cells in my body. This was extremely important as treatment permanently altered my body and its capabilities. In October 2008, I had a radical hysterectomy. Six weeks after surgery, I completed a twelve-week course of chemotherapy (cisplatin and etopocide) followed by a complete thyroidectomy. My hair is growing back, but the two scars that run along my neck and my stomach are permanent. So is my inability to have children. Throughout my treatment, I was eager to face this challenge, overcome it, and move on with my life. From the beginning however, I was faced with another obstacle, this one unexpected: increasing resistance from my insurance company, who directly challenged the very treatments that could potentially save my life. My fertility treatments were my responsibility, since insurance companies use a loophole that applies the definition of "infertility" to exclude cancer patients...and there went $15,000 out of pocket. The last round of chemotherapy was also denied (over $10,000), because the company for which I work switched insurance plans in the middle of treatment, and I have not, to this date, been deemed eligible for continuity of care. My thyroid surgery, follow-up visits with my surgical oncologists, medical oncologist, and endocrinologist are not covered either for the same reason. I am unable to be seen by the doctors whom I have come to know and trust because Memorial Sloan Kettering is out-of-network on my new plan. In fact, there is no comprehensive cancer center that is covered by my new plan, leaving me with the unenviable choice of either paying out of pocket for all future care, or cobbling together a team of in-network doctors who would be working independently rather than as a team on my care, and who wouldn't have access to the research and clinical trials that a case of my complexity requires and that a cancer center provides. It is well documented that the statistical survival rate of young adults diagnosed with cancer is well below those of pediatric patients, and adults above the age of 40. Cancer incidence in young adults (15-39) has doubled over the past 30 years to nearly 70,000 diagnosed each year, and the five-year survival rates in young adults have not improved. This is partially due to delayed diagnosis (no doctor would have ever looked at my history and thought "cancer"), the lack of focus on the part of the medical community regarding young adult cancers (which are often biologically different and more aggressive than cancers affecting people over 40 years of age), and inaccessible clinical trials. The money and time devoted to research of cancer in patients under 15 and over 40 is substantial, which is important, but there is not a proportionate amount spent on young adults. Because cancer is a disease primarily associated with aging, there is little public awareness regarding the unique challenges that young adult cancer patients experience. Without this widespread knowledge, young adults face increasingly difficult odds of survival. As a two-time cancer survivor, I am an anomaly among my peers: I am 30 now, with a history of two cancers, one of which is so rare that there is little related research or clinical trials devoted to it; I make less than $40,000 per year, which is not nearly enough to cover mounting medical bills; I am infertile; and most significantly, I am engaged in a battle of attrition with my insurance company to negotiate for medical care that I have worked for, paid for, yet am not receiving. Against my oncologist's advice, I worked through both surgeries and chemotherapy (I was out of work an average of five days every three week cycle) to keep my insurance, instead of resting and healing, although it has not benefited my case in any way. These issues are my new reality; paying my student loans, rent, bills, are secondary. I went into my thyroid surgery fearing the medical costs far more than I did the actual procedure. That in itself, illustrates how fundamentally broken our health care system is. I am angry. I am disillusioned. I find it impossible to focus on the most important task of healing, when I receive notice each day of medical bills having been sent to collections agencies, that my care is denied yet again, that my credit is now a mess because of these costs. And it is heartbreaking to conclude that my basic survival is at the mercy of a system more concerned with their bottom line that with the human element of medical care.

Shiela from Oregon tells of her friend who will have to make the decision to go bankrupt or die.

Sheila
Jennings Lodge, OR
I am a 56 year old woman, small business owner, and pay $608 per month for health insurance. I am grateful that I have insurance. My friend found a lump in her breast and has been referred for a biopsy. She has a high deductible policy (so she can afford the premiums), and has just discovered that a breast biopsy may cost at much as $9000, for which she will be on the hook for at least half of that. She is actually questioning whether or not she should have the biopsy, since she doesn't know now she can pay the bills with her income. She works full-time (or 32 hours now...her company cut back her hours due to the economy), has always been self-supporting. She rents an apartment, drives a 20 year old car, doesn't eat out, and is very frugal with her money. It makes me angry, sad and disgusted that she has to even think about whether her life is worth the cost she will have to pay. If she does have breast cancer, it is probably quite curable WITH TREATMENT! If our representatives don't pass some kind of public option in a health care reform bill, I will guarantee my activism in helping to elect people who actually care about the lives of those they represent. There is no valid excuse for this inaction. We are in a perfect position to pass this reform, but we all need to get behind President Obama's plan and get it done!

Samwise is lucky because he can tap into America's Socialized Medicine, the VA, to get the insulin he needs to keep his blood sugar under control. But others in his position having to rely on the private insurance industry would be cut off and left to suffer the ravages of diabetes: blindness and poor circulation that leads to kidney disease, amputations, heart attacks and strokes.

Samwise
Bellevue, WA

Wa_60 Back in 1993, I was working as a dish washer at Coco's in Olympia, Washington, a coffee shop chain, working for minimum wage. I had no health care coverage, was 27, and thought I was healthy and didn't need it. Was I dead wrong. While working there, I had very severe symptoms that prevented me from barely working. I ended up doing the normal routine of going to the emergency room at the last minute to get treated. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. Well, that is a death sentance for someone with no health care coverage. On top of that, I had a nice ER bill due to the doctors checking me into the hospital for a few days to stabilize my blood sugar. A very dear friend of mine lent me about a hundred dollars so that I could buy a test kit, and some insulin. I applied for chariety so that my medical bill and hospital stay was covered. But this did not address the life long dependency of having to take insulin. Fortunately, I am also a veteran. I served in the army during the 80s, and I could go to the VA Hospital. I was able/am currently able to get insulin, see a doctor, etc. I am alive ONLY because of socialized medicine. Today, I work as a contract software tester, where I have sporatic employment contract stints. I still go to the VA Hospital for insulin and to see a doctor, because the private insurance I have, which is sporatic, isn't very good. I support single payer, or socialized medicine. Either one will allow me to live. The current system does NOT work. It is a death sentance. This brings up an interesting question: What are minimum wage type 1 diabetics supposed to do to stay alive? Me? I am able to go the VA Hospital. But what if I wasn't a veteran? Simple: I'd be dead. What do you need from me for support of a single payer system, or a socialized medicine? Samwise Galenorn

Kathleen from Washington has MS. When she changed jobs she became uninsurable.

Kathleen
Washougal, WA

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in Feb 1988 and have had health insurance for many years still paying 200.00 on top of what my employers werer paying. I changed jobs and now I cant get coverage because of my MS pre existing condition and the coverage costs. Please reform health care

Sites like President Obama's and Guaranteed Health Care have thousands of stories documenting our Health Care Holocaust. The estimate is that 20,000 people die each year because they could not get care because they did not have insurance. They die of something unheard of in the rest of the industrialized world: insurance denial. (See the death clock for how many have died today and how many have died since 9/11, all needlessly.) Others like my daughter suffer unnecessary pain and progression of disease because of insurance company games that delay and deny treatment. We are the only nation on earth that barters human life for money. All this is a crime against humanity. And it has to stop.

President Obama told us last year in a campaign commercial that his mother, who died of ovarian and uterine cancer in 1995, spent her final months "more worried about paying her medical bills than getting well." Living in Chicago and working as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, Obama at that time was not in the position to provide for his mother the health care, peace of mind or security she needed and deserved. Previous politicians had let Stanley Ann Dunham down by not passing a National Health Plan earlier.

But circumstances have now placed President Obama in a unique position to undo the health care wrongs of the past. He has the chance, in his mother's memory and in the memory of all Americans who have needlessly suffered and died in our insurance profit-driven dysfunctional system, to ensure health care security for all Americans.

Mr. President, Be the health care advocate your mother deserved and needed. 3/4 of the American People are behind you. You lead, Congressional Democrats will follow. That's all we need. Give us expanded and improved Medicare for All. Be the hero we all need. Generations will call you Blessed.

Nurses are the Care in Health Care

2009-06-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

2009-06-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've been a critical care nurse for 12 years. I rarely find out about the costs my patients incur as they get care in my unit, though occasionally I hear figures. One gentleman, who had open heart surgery to fix one of his heart valves had to come back 3 months later for a re-do. His wife told me that they had just received the bills that added up to almost $200,000. That was about 8 years ago.

Not long ago I learned that the charge per day in intensive care units like mine was now $11,000. Not unrelated to that fact, just the other day, one of our patients who was a 'self pay' (read 'no insurance') was quickly and quietly packed up and transferred to the county hospital for the remainder of her critical care stay which was going to be several days.

Though I am not a health care economist I do believe that the true costs of care are incomprehensibly skewed as everyone in the system scrambles to make up for 'self pay' patients who would most likely never in a million years have the astronomical amounts needed to cover care while the private insurers and Medicare and Medicaid negotiate greatly reduced prices from that 'retail' cost. And it is further skewed by plain old greed.

The whole system is such a many-headed hydra monster! And if you try to reform it bit by bit you end up with a 10,000-paged bill that still fails the American People. Just as with the many-headed hydra who immediately regrew one and sometimes more heads when one was lopped off, when you attempt to reform and regulate an aspect of the similarly poisonous insurance/pharmaceutical complex, one or more new problems spring up. The 'hydra' can't be regulated or compromised with. It needs to be taken out in order to make the system safe for everyone. Once that is done, Problem. Solved.

Just today the Senate HELP Executive Committee discussed medical liability and ways to handle malpractice suits. Included in the discussion was an amendment from Senator Enzi (that he said he developed with Montana Max!) to have Medical Courts decide malpractice cases. These 'courts' would not be trial-by-jury but rather have some entity (who in my view would be in the insurance industry's pocket, limiting the industry's expenses) decide who was wronged and how much if anything they should be compensated. At least that crazy idea was rejected by the committee.

What would happen to medical malpractice costs under Single Payer? With no private insurance companies zealously trying to guard their bottom line? The Physicians for a National Health Program tell us this:

What will happen to malpractice costs under national health insurance?

They will fall dramatically, for several reasons. First, about half of all malpractice awards go to pay present and future medical costs (e.g. for infants born with serious disabilities). Single payer national health insurance will eliminate the need for these awards. Second, many claims arise from a lack of communication between doctor and patient (e.g. in the Emergency Department). Miscommunication/mistakes are heightened under the present system because physicians don’t have continuity with their patients (to know their prior medical history, establish therapeutic trust, etc) and patients aren’t allowed to choose and keep the doctors and other caregivers they know and trust (due to insurance arrangements). Single payer improves quality in many ways, but in particular by facilitating long-term, continuous relationships with caregivers.

This week we found out that Senator Kennedy's plan would cost $1 Trillion over ten years and yet not cover everybody.

Single Payer? Everybody is In from cradle to grave. And since we would be getting back the waste spent on private insurance company's administrative costs, estimated at $400 Billion a year, we could get $4 Trillion (over ten years) back into the system for actual care of actual patients.

The current system and currently discussed reforms are "economically and medically nonsensical," testifies Dr. David Himmelstein. Co-ops and exchanges and individual mandates and attempts to regulate the death-by-spread-sheet private health insurers have and will do little but bring us economic and medical nonsense and woe. How tragic from a system that should be duty-bound to provide us care.

President Obama believes that we have to build on the system we already have. Why?

When child labor was part of the system we had, nobody argued that we had to keep children in the coal mines, just find more palatable ways of working them.

When women were denied the vote, nobody in the end bought the argument that we had to keep them disenfranchised since that was how democracies had worked for millennia.

Speaking of millennia, nobody argued that we must keep the medical system of the Four Humours that had served western medicine for thousands of years once human anatomy and physiology were defined and the actions of bacteria and viruses were discovered. NO ONE today says, "If I was starting from scratch I'd use the biomedical model, but we have this uniquely western-civilization model that has served us since Hippocrates that we will keep and build on."

The Employer-Based system has failed us. Health insurance is not at all affordable for most self-insured Americans and becoming less and less available to employees of large companies let alone employees of small businesses. It is estimated that 119 million Americans are ready to jump ship out of their employer-provided health insurance and into a public plan. Our system is as inappropriate for the delivery of health care as the Four Humors Theory of medicine would be in today's world. I do not see the reforms that Congress is currently talking about fixing any of this. In fact, their 'reforms' may make things worse.

As Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association/NNOC says at HuffPo today, we need to fight for the passage of a bill that actually works:

Every other industrialized nation in the world enjoys better healthcare at a lower cost than us, because their care is privately-delivered, but publicly-financed. It's called the single-payer system, and it's not an experiment. Our system is, however, a unique American experiment giving unprecedented powers to private insurance corporations, and this experiment has failed.

As a nurse, I know how to revive a stopped heart, but the heart must be capable of responding. Private insurers are not capable of responding to America's health care needs. We have copious evidence of this. On the other hand, a Single Payer system is. The reforms that our Congress is trying to come up with have no evidentiary basis proving that they will work. Single Payer has a track record of success in other countries like Canada as well as here in America with Medicare. If you want evidence-based policy, you have to turn to Single Payer.

I'm not returning to the old days. I'm not settling for tinkering with a system that was inferior and inappropriate to begin with. I am not settling for a poisonous, hydra-like system that will fail us. I'm moving forward fighting for what is right for my patients, my family and my country: Single Payer Health Care for All.

The Battle is still on. Keep your swords and shields (and cauterizers) up.

Listen to America's Senator

2009-06-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Senator Sanders speaks up for us and he tells the truth:

Everybody in! Nobody out!

2008-06-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

On Thursday June 19th in San Francisco 3000 nurses, patients, community leaders and activists joined together for a rally in favor of publicly funded, privately delivered health care for all.

Rally at San Francisco's Moscone Center against AHIP 6/19/2008 from Michelle Klein-Hass on Vimeo.

Private Health Insurance companies have been put on notice. Their waste and greed have got to go. They have got to go.

Listen to Hilda Sarkisyan's speech. She is the mother of Nataline Sarkisyan who died last December because Cigna did not approve a liver transplant for her until the day she died. This is the kind of harm that these people cause.

Senator Obama and Senator McCain listen up: The nurses and patients and everybody else are telling you, "We want guaranteed health care! We want Single Payer Universal Health Care! We want Privately Delivered, Publicly Funded Universal Health Care! We want HR 676. We in California want SB 840! And we need it NOW!"

Insurance Companies are Seeing the Writing on the Wall

2008-06-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Chronicle today let a CEO of an insurance company beg for recognition in the health care revolution that is coming. He was greated with disdain and disbelief.

The private insurance companies have a lot of nerve. First they screw-up the health care system for the sake of their own profits; then when they see the tide turning against them (hopefully in tsunami fashion), they start whining about how valuable they are. Too late. And not even true. They have only seen us as dollar signs. They have not provided us with the care we needed when we needed it. Their greed is now so distasteful and so disgusting that all sane people are looking to get rid of them. Single Payer Universal Health Care like John Conyers has proposed (HR 676) is exactly what America needs. Choose your own doctor. Choose the hospital to go to. Go get care when you need it. No pre-existing conditions. Prescription drugs covered. Everybody's covered. This is way to a healthy, strong workforce and bright, happy children. What are we waiting for? We just need to get guys like Bruce out of the way.

Feel Like Singing?

2008-05-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Follow this link to the We Want Guaranteed Health Care Song and sing along!

We've Been Saying Health Savings Accounts Don't Help the Average American

2008-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Now here is a study from the Government Accountability Office reported by Healthline that shows that the wealthy are using it as a tax shelter.

Even if the average American could put savings into these accounts, it would be forever and a day before they had enough to cover a major illness.

It was estimated that if Elizabeth Edwards had to rely on John McCain's health care plan, she would have to wait a year before the insurance would start paying for her chemo treatments. That comes to about $100,000 out of her pocket before the pre-exisiting clause was satisfied.

At the rate you would be able to put money into an HSA, how long would it take you to build up $100,000? I would be over 100 years old.

There is of course the better way: nationally HR 676 and in California SB 840. Single-payer universal health care. No pre-existing conditions, no waiting periods. You choose your doctor---no more gate-keepers. Everybody in; nobody out.

Welcome to California Healthline.
Health Care Costs
May 01, 2008
Government, Insurers Scrutinize Use of Health Savings Accounts

On average, people enrolled in high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts in 2005 had adjusted gross income of $139,000 compared to $57,000 for other taxpayers, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Wednesday, CQ HealthBeat reports(Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 4/30).

Separately, a report released on Wednesday by America's Health Insurance Plans found that enrollment in HSAs increased by 35% since early last year to 6.1 million people (Knight, Dow Jones, 4/30).

HSAs allow people to deposit up to $2,900, or $5,800 for families, per year in the account tax-free, and the funds roll over from year to year. The funds can be withdrawn for medical expenses or saved "for future needs, including retirement," according to the AP/San Francisco Chronicle (Freking, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/30).
GAO Report

According to the GAO report, HSA contributions reported to the Internal Revenue Service in 2005 were more than twice withdrawals at $754 million and $366 million, respectively (Dow Jones, 4/30). GAO also found that 41% of HSA users who made contributions in 2005 did not withdraw any funds that year (Johnson, CongressDaily, 4/30).

In addition, the report found that four out of 10 people who enroll in high-deductible plans did not open an HSA although they were eligible to do so. People cited a lack of information, cost or the belief that they did not need the accounts as reasons for not enrolling.

The GAO report is available online (.pdf).
AHIP Report

The AHIP report found that more than a quarter of new enrollees in high-deductible health plans paired with HSAs previously were uninsured. The report also found that enrollment in the plans represents 3.4% of the private insurance market (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/30).

The AHIP report also is available online (.pdf).
Democratic Scrutiny

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said that the GAO report shows that HSAs are not being used by low- and middle-income U.S. residents who are the most likely to be uninsured.

Stark said, "The GAO confirms that HSAs are not the way to meet the health care needs of most Americans," adding, "Instead, they are an effective tax shelter for people whose average incomes are nearly triple that of average tax filers."

Waxman said, "This report provides further evidence that we need to re-examine whether this is the right way to use the government's resources to address our health care needs" (CQ HealthBeat, 4/30).

Waxman and Stark said that Congress should require HSA enrollees to prove withdrawals from the accounts are for medical expenses.
AHIP Response

Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of AHIP, [shill for the rip-off private health insurers] said that the GAO report shows that a typical HSA enrollee deposited $2,100 and withdrew $1,000 in 2005. However, Ignagni said those figures are too low to describe what could be considered a tax shelter for wealthy people, the AP/Chronicle reports (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 4/30).

Ignagni said that "newer data indicate that individuals are not storing assets in these accounts but using them for health care services" (McQueen, Wall Street Journal, 5/1).

By the way, if you would like to join me and hundreds of nurses and other health care advocates in protest of AHIP, come to San Francisco on June 19th outside the Moscone Center where AHIP will be having a convention.

PATIENTS! REVOLT!!! Remember Nataline!

2007-12-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

Young Nataline Sarkisyan, 17, "survived two bouts of cancer, and against all odds has been stable even with so many of her organs not working, only to be told that she cannot get the only treatment that will save her life because some administrator in some office thinks it is too expensive," commented Hilda Sarkisyan, Nataline's mother.

What is it when you have the means to save someone's life, but you deny that person the help? Are you a murderer? And given that you do it for profit, what does that make you? An assassin?

CIGNA, acting like every other private health insurance company in America, told Nataline Sarkisyan and her family that they would not approve a liver transplant for her even though it is what is needed to save her life. Even though four of her UCLA physicians said that Nataline “currently meets criteria to be listed as Status 1A” for a transplant. Even though a liver transplant in her case would not be experimental or investigational, but rather life saving. Even though it is the humane thing to do. Even though it is the right thing to do. Even though CIGNA has the funds to cover such services for their enrollees. CIGNA, acting like every other private health insurance company in America, denied Nataline her transplant and her chance to live to become an adult.

What do you call someone who does that?

And what can you do about it?

Well, those that know and love Nataline in her family and community as well as those that had never met her started advocating for her; started protesting for her; started calling and complaining and demonstrating for her.

We started a REVOLT and made CIGNA do the right thing.

CIGNA announced today, December 20th, that they will approve a liver transplant for Nataline. One week too late for the liver that was offered her on the 14th. And as it now sadly turns out too late to save her life.

This evening, Nataline took a turn for the worse and passed away.

As I asked before, what do you call people who have the ability to prevent someone from dying and yet they don't do it?

I call it immoral and criminal.

Now what must we do?

Keep up the action. Keep uniting with more and more Americans who want Health Care Justice. NO more denials. NO more overriding the judgment of medical specialists.

We want to be able to get the care we need when we need it. I was about to say "without an Act of Congress" to be rhetorical, but in actual fact that is exactly what we need. The Act of Congress that would pass HR 676 the Improved and Expanded Medicare for All bill.

PATIENTS (that's all of us) ARISE and REVOLT! No more heart-broken families! Remember Nataline!

We are all just one illness away from poverty

2007-12-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal records the story of a successful, upper middle class man with health insurance who miraculously fought off a deadly infection only to find that his subsequent hospital bills AFTER insurance pay-outs were devastating.

A study by the Commonwealth Fund from 2005 revealed that 26% of Americans WITH health insurance had trouble paying medical bills. 39% of those Americans had to use up all their savings to cover their medical costs. 28% covered the costs with credit cards, some of those cards with incredibly high interest rates which provided the credit card banks with huge profits while making it almost impossible for the individuals to ever be able to get out of debt. 26% of those Americans who had health insurance became unable to pay for basic necessities (perhaps throwing them on to our welfare roles.) And 11% took out a second mortgage or a loan to be able to pay all the bills.

Had these people lived in Great Britain or Canada or France or Germany or Australia or Japan or ANYWHERE with Universal Health Care, they would not have had to face financial ruin after facing horrible illness and death.

And these are the Americans with health insurance. There are also the 46+ million Americans who have no insurance and scarce access to medical care. 18,000 Americans die yearly simply because they couldn't get care. That approaches the immorality of a holocaust.

If we truly do value life and if, as stated in our Declaration of Independence, life is an unalienable right, then we must change how we deal with health care. We must make it accessible to all.

We must adopt a single-payer, universal system of health care.

Bush to Children: Go Ahead and Die

2007-10-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

President George W Bush to America's Children: We grown-ups are not going to make sure you get the medical care you need. Sorry. Tell your parents to get jobs with health insurance.

We ought to be providing health care to ALL children, making sure that they all get a healthy start. Choosing some and leaving the rest behind is diabolical. But the Bush administration and the Republican Party refuse to help over 4 million American children get health care claiming that their parents make too much money. They are so out of touch with the real plight of American Families.

Insurance premiums for a family of 4 can run at least $1200/month. That's the house payment plus food for many Americans. That's just the house payment for many others. A family would need to make over $60,000-70,0000/year to be able to handle such monthly payments.

Congress had passed a bill (S-CHIP) that would have extended health care coverage to over 4 million American children that are not presently covered (because health insurance costs too much). George Bush vetoed it.

A courageous 12-year-old, Graeme Frost, spoke up in a 2 minute Democratic response to the weekly Presidential message a few weeks ago, telling us how S-CHIP helped his family and made sure he and his sister got the health care they needed after they had been in a serious car crash. Because of S-CHIP's help, the Frost family didn't have to go bankrupt and could continue to be contributing, tax-paying Americans.

What's wrong with NOT losing your house and going bankrupt when your family is struck with a major medical problem?

Nothing.

As a matter of fact, we Americans should be proud that we helped families like the Frosts survive when their children suffered those devastating injuries in that car crash. However, the President finds them and those like them unworthy of assistance. Instead, he would prefer to deny care to them as well as some 4 million other American children. He's leaving them behind. Shame on him.

Oh that he would have actually served in the military! It is the code of Marines to leave no one behind. Oh that the President truly had that value engraved on his soul! Then he would not be able to veto health care for Children.

Though elections are far off, we must all remember how the values of the Republican Party were flaunted by their President as he, with an amused look on his face, denied our little ones. He had better be on the alert for millstones.

Real People DENIED Real Healthcare: Emily Cannon

2007-05-18T12:51:00.001-07:00

For Emily Cannon, a former elementary school teacher, life ground to a halt after developing a chronic but treatable illness. Blue Cross is denying her the Specialist treatments she needs to return to the active life she once enjoyed. Under a single-payer, universal health care plan like the type proposed by Senator Sheila Kuehl (SB 840) Emily could have chosen to see specialists who have treatment plans for her condition instead being forced to see those in her HMO who have no idea what to do.

Everybody Needs to Know about What Happens in Las Vegas

2007-03-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today in Las Vegas 7 Presidential Candidates took to the stage to talk about their plans for universal health care. I knew there was a huge problem with terms when the sponsors of the forum, pleased with how wide-reaching consensus was, announced that almost everybody was in favor of Universal Coverage from workers to employers to insurance companies.

Insurance companies? The ones that take 30% of each health care dollar and keep it for themselves? (Even though it only takes 3% to administer a health plan?) The ones that refer to the 70% that goes to paying for actual care, treatments and medicines as losses? Those insurance companies?

And then Representative Dennis Kucinich explained the part that makes the difference between what I mean by universal health care and what the other candidates and the insurance companies mean by universal health care.

Not-for-profit.

Kucinich told us that, "Today at this forum, the sub-message is that you can't break the hold that insurance companies have. Not a single candidate...has challenged the underlying problem in our heath care system, and that is that insurance companies are holding our health care system hostage and forcing millions of Americans into poverty with unconscionable premiums, co-pays, deductibles.

So I ask you, is it consonant with America's greatness that candidates step away from the one solution that could change it all? A not-for-profit health care system is not only possible, but HR 676... the Conyers-Kucinich bill actually establishes Medicare for All. A single-payer system and it is a not-for profit system. It's time we ended this thought that health care is a priviledge. It is a basic right and it's time we ended the control insurance companies have not only over health care but over our political system.

...This patchwork proposal that you've been given here today by the other candidates locks us into insurance companies who then take their pound of flesh."

Kucinich goes on to say, "Even the insurance companies are for universal health care, especially the insurance companies, if the government subsidizes them. What a deal it is for the insurance companies! But what a rotten deal it is for the American people! We've got to have not-for-profit health care. Get the insurance companies out of the picture. Health care is not a priviledge, it is a right. And it is a human right." (Watch all of Representative Kucinich's remarks: http://kucinich.us/node/3801/play)

The line has been drawn in the sand. Do we want a health care system that benefits the health and well-being of Americans? Or do we want a system that subsidizes the very companies that already make getting health care in America so inequitable and so hard: the insurance companies?

History has shown us that when Americans get anxious and active about a topic, things happen. Slaves are liberated, women get the vote, child labor is banned. In every case, the "powers that be" give the impression that change from the status quo is not possible,not even thinkable. But in every case, someone says, "Yes it is," and reform begins.

How about you lend you voice to this cause?

The following is the letter I sent to my representatives in Congress telling them I want Medicare for All. I used the template suggested by Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) which you can likewise use and modify to fit your situation:

Dear Representative,

I write as a constituent - and as a registered nurse who serves our state - to express my support for not-for-profit, single-payer national health insurance and to urge you to co-sponsor HR 676, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act.

As a nurse, I see the results of our health care crisis every day. More than 46 million Americans are uninsured. Even for those lucky enough to have insurance, rising costs and deteriorating coverage cause more than one-in-four (28 percent) to go without needed care because they can't afford it. Indeed, of the one million Americans bankrupted by medical bills annually, more than three-quarters had insurance when they got sick.

My own daughter does have insurance but has endured 5+ months of denials by her insurance company, unable to get the care she needs for her complex problems. We pay the pricey premiums, but she is denied by the clerks at the insurance company the pain-relieving care she has a right to. Although she is only 29, she is unable to work due to the pain associated with this illness. There is no social safety net for her though thankfully her father and I are able to cover her living expenses. But none of this would have been necessary had she been able to get the care available, yet denied to her. Insurance companies are making billions of dollars on the backs of hard working Americans like my family. This is the state of our health care system today and it is completely unacceptable.

For-profit insurance companies are a leech and a drain on our system. They must be taken out of the mix.

Single-payer national health insurance would save enough on administrative paperwork - more than $300 billion per year - to provide comprehensive coverage to all Americans. It would provide full choice of doctor and hospital for patients, and unleash hospitals, physicians, and other health care providers from arbitrary corporate dictates over patient care. It would control the health expenses currently crippling our economy and provide for a wholesome revitalization of our democratic values.

Please join with the 70 percent of Americans who support a non-profit, single-payer universal health care plan for America as articulated in HR 676.

Sincerely,
Sue Cannon

"You are the ones who have to insist that America reconnect with it's goodness." Dennis Kucinich

Let's get insisting!

The Choice

2007-01-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

The debate for improving our health care system is nationwide. Many, like Governor Schwarzenegger and Mitt Romney, have devised plans that make all Americans have health insurance. This is corporate-based, profit-driven health care. Just a different version of what we already have that does not work; that does not provide the medical care we need to be a healthy, productive, competitive society. The only difference will be that insurance companies will make more profit because they will have more enrollees.

Individuals that cannot afford the high price of premiums and yet do not fit into the economic range of those that can receive adequate government subsidies might be forced to break the law and not have any insurance at all. Others might opt to try to buy policies that are insurance in name only with unthinkably high deductibles, high co-pays, and outrageous limitations of coverage. All of these individuals will still put off care until they need to go to the Emergency Department and in the end everyone else will still have to pay for their care.

You cannot say you have Universal Health care for your citizens if millions of them still cannot receive appropriate care due to insurance policy inadequacies.

What's the other choice?

Single-payer, single standard of care, universal health care.

This is patient-centered (not profit-centered.) Everybody pays into a single agency and this agency pays out to the providers.

Every doctor gets paid for every patient treated. Every hospital gets paid for every patient cared for. And every citizen gets the health care they deserve.

Ask any doctor or hospital how much time and money they spend trying to collect debts; how much they overcharge paying patients to cover for those who cannot pay. It is a huge problem. Single-payer solves this economic problem. Ask any Emergency Department nurse how many patients they see that should go to a primary care doctor for colds, flu, and minor injuries. Single-payer will free up EDs to take care of true emergencies. Also ask the ED nurse how many patients they see that could have averted their medical crisis had they received preventative care like the diabetic who comes to the ED in renal failure or the patient with high blood pressure who comes in with a devastating stroke. These high cost emergencies (high financially and high in terms of human suffering) could be averted with preventative care that would be covered under a single-payer system. And again this would free up Emergency Departments even more to be ready to handle your heart attack or catastrophic injury where waiting time can be the difference between life and death.

Given this, the choice is not hard at all. If we want to fix our health care problems, we do not need mandates for all to buy insurance, but we do need a single-payer system.

In California support Senator Shiela Kuehl's bill (SB 840 California OneCare) and nationwide support Congressman John Conyers' bill providing Medicare for All.

Schwazenegger's Plan is off; Single-payer, Universal Care is the Answer to Our Healthcare Crisis

2007-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today California's governor announced that he wants to help all Californians have healthcare coverage. It is good news to hear that Governor Schwarzenegger wants to fix our broken healthcare system. The only problem is that those he has asked to participate in the solution ARE the problem.

Last year Schwarzenegger held a conference to determine just what his healthcare reforms should entail. The "stakeholders" present at the conference who got to give the Governor input were those in healthcare who had contributed greatly to his fundraisers: the health insurers and the pharmaceutical companies.

Health insurers take up to 30% (some even as much as 50%) of our healthcare dollars and spend them on various adminstrative costs like lavish executive compensation packages and advertising. (Medicare's administration costs are around 3%.) And of course there are those armies of adjusters who review claims and petitions for care looking for any and every reason possible to deny coverage.

Highly profitable pharmaceutical companies charge Californians outrageous amounts for medicines that Canadians and Kaiser patients pay pennies for.

No where in the Governor's plan are these excesses adequately restrained. No where in his plan is a universal quality of care demanded. Insurers are allowed to sell insurance that very well could cover next to nothing except the next bonus cheque for the insurance company's CEO. Californians would be required to pay for such bogus coverage.

There are Californians who are just as healthy as the Governor (previous hip replacement, heart valve replacement, multiple trips to the Emergency Department, and broken bones requiring hardware to keep them together) who cannot buy health insurance at any price; insurers red line them out. I am not convinced that insurance companies would not find ways to continue redlining. And there are Californians out there who will not be able to afford the State mandated insurance and keep a roof over their heads and food in their families' mouths all at the same time. Those people will choose, just as there are still uninsured motorists, to go without the insurance.

When my family was young, neither my husband nor I had jobs that provided health insurance. Since the cost of independently insuring our family was way out of our reach, we went without. We gambled and got away with only a few visits to the Emergency Department and a few extra visits to our pediatrician. But we knew we were one step, one illness, one accident away from disaster.

My husband had to have eye surgery which was covered by Medi-Cal and the largess of the hospital at which I was employed. The surgery greatly improved his sight and made it possible for him to be gainfully employed; thus being a good for our little family, as well as a Good for Society in general.

Now we all have some sort of coverage but we have seen up close and personal that if your insurer denies you the care you need, even though you are paying the pricey premiums, you still have no health care.

I want universal coverage, effective cost controls, and high quality care that I, as a registered nurse, would be proud to deliver.

That kind of universal coverage, California Healthcare for All (California One Care), was approved by the Legislature last year (SB 840 by Senator Shiela Kuehl) but vetoed by the Governor. Senator Kuehl's single-payer, single (high) standard of care, universal healthcare bill will be introduced again and must pass this year.

That kind of care is also possible for all of America in the Medicare for All bill sponsored by Congressman John Conyers of Michigan. Being the only nation among our economic peers in the world that does not have universal health care, it is way past time we got serious about it and did it. For ourselves. For our children. For our economy. For our future.

In good conscience

2006-12-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

"It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm." [1859] Florence Nightingale

"I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results." Florence Nightingale

“Corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few hands...and the Republic is destroyed.” Abraham Lincoln

“To sin by silence when we should protest makes us cowards. Let’s have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
Abraham Lincoln

"...I ain't blind, and I don't like what I think I see; takin' it to the streets!" Doobie Brothers

In good conscience nurses know that our healthcare system is broken; it serves corporate greed, not patient need. Over 47 million Americans have been rationed out of this market-driven system because they have no insurance; they are largely sick, poor and minorities. The rest are underinsured and have no access to preventative or restorative care and are impeded by co-pays, high deductibles, and exclusions.

As responsible citizens and professional advocates we have an ethical duty to pursue social, economic and political change to remove the barriers that interfere with our nurse-patient relationship. Nurses are frequently the first contact point for the patient in the health care system. This means that they witness the effects of human rights violations on individuals and the effects these have on families and communities.. Individual nurses can play an important role in affirming the rights of the individual patient, promoting the ethics of the nursing profession, and strengthening the social and political advocacy role of nursing in a progressive society. In particular, nurses can articulate the links between health and human rights and advocate for a single standard of competent, medically necessary physical and mental health care services for all. Nurses should continue to engage in the study of human rights and implement a rights-based approach to health care, as part of a social contract inherent in the nursing profession.

As a professional and moral imperative we must collectively take back control of our profession and defend nursing practice in order to control the delivery of health care. Knowledge is not enough and the evidence is clear that patients are suffering and dying from preventable and treatable illness or injury. It's time for direct action. Lives are at stake!

How Do We Get Healthcare For All?

2006-11-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

November 2, 2004 I was driving home from Phoenix, Arizona. I had just finished 2 days helping with Election Protection; informing Arizonans about their polling places and then observing at polling places on election day.

On the eve of the election, the Election Protection people informed those of us voluteering in Phoenix that there might be other observers at the polling places. Arizonans were voting that year on a proposition (Prop. 200) that would require all residents of the state to prove they were citizens before they could receive any public services or vote. Certain pro-Prop. 200 citizens, we were warned, might be standing at the ready with their hand guns visible (as is legal in Arizona) observing (and possibly scaring away) those who were coming to the polling places to vote.

Prop 200 passed by 56%.

And the scaring away had just begun.

From a healthcare perspective, causing anyone to be afraid to seek care is disasterous. Nurses of all political persuasions ought to stand strong advocating for patients, all patients, to get the medical care they need.

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico working in Phoenix told a San Francisco Chronicle reporter that "it had not even occurred to him to apply for welfare or other benefits for himself, but he knows his 2-year-old son is eligible for medical care because the toddler was born in the United States. Now however, [he] and his wife are nervous about taking the boy to doctor's appointments for fear someone will report them to immigration authorities." (http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/news/chronicle-2-28-05.pdf) Not getting the care the child deserves leaves him open to illnesses and suffering he shouldn't have to go through as well as causes him to be a potential victim of diseases easily spread to other children.

Not protecting one makes us all vulnerable.

In border towns that have a daily influx and outflow of workers from Mexico, those who live on the Mexican side of the line cannot be treated even for active tuberculosis since public health workers may not treat non-citizens. These towns just have to live with the epidemics that modern healthcare and common sense could easily wipe out.

Again not protecting one makes us all vulnerable.

November 7th blew a wind of relief and fresh hope across America. A new direction in politics will also mean a new direction in Healthcare Reform. Where the Reform has to end up is Healthcare for All.

In 2003, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan first introduced HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act. Under HR 676, Medicare would be extended and improved so that all individuals residing in the United States would receive high quality and affordable health care services. They would receive all medically necessary services by the physicians of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could visit. If implemented, the United States National Health Insurance Act would cover primary care, dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care. (http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm)

This is the kind of program worthy of the United States of America.

Call or write your Senators and Representatives to tell them to make this bill Law now.

Stand up, Look around, There's a Healthcare Crisis

2006-10-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

This week ABC News and USA Today are focusing on America's Healthcare Woes. It is good that they are bringing these problems to the fore. I also hope that they emphasize that we DO already have the solution: Representative John Conyers (D-Mich) bill which would extend Medicare to all Americans.

Fast Facts on the U.S. Health Care Crisis http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PrescriptionForChange/story?id=2563381

From ABC News:

Oct. 13, 2006 — Lack of universal health care is
often cited as one America's leading domestic concerns, yet states and the
federal government have failed to enact long-lasting, viable solutions for
reform and the United States remains the only industrialized country that does
not guarantee health coverage to all its citizens.
Here are a few statistics
that put the crisis in sharp relief:
FACT: One-third of adults (31 percent)
and more than half of all children (54 percent) do not have a primary care
doctor (National Medical Expenditure Panel Survey)
FACT: 46.6 million
Americans, (15.9 percent of Americans — about twice the population of Texas)
were uninsured in 2005. (U.S. Census - August 2006)
FACT: More than
two-thirds of uninsured adults in the United States, worked in 2005. In other
words, 39.8 million workers, who had no health care — more than the population
of Canada.
FACT: Federal spending for health care totaled more than $600
billion in 2005, or roughly one quarter of the federal budget. (U.S. Office of
Management and Budget)
FACT: The total medical expenditures for full- and
part-year uninsured in 2004 came to nearly $124 billion — more than the combined
appropriations in 2004 for Iraq and the anti-terror programs.
FACT: Of 23
industrialized countries, the United States had the highest infant mortality
rates. U.S. rates were similar to those of Poland and Hungary. (OECD,
Commonwealth Fund Scorecard, 2006)
FACT: The United States ranked among the
bottom of industrialized countries on healthy life expectancy at age 60 —
meaning Americans spend more years lived in poor health resulting from chronic
illness or disability. (OECD, Commonwealth Fund: Results from a Scorecard, 2006)
FACT: Barely half — about 49 percent — of adults receive recommended
preventive care and screening tests according to guidelines for their age and
sex. (Commonwealth Fund Scorecard 2006)
FACT: Close to 100,000 Americans die
annually from medical errors — more than double the number of Americans who die
annually in car crashes (Institute of Medicine).

Nurses have been saying this for years.

All this could be fixed with Universal Health Care like the kind proposed by California State Senator Shiela Kuehl (who's bill was passed by the Legislature, but vetoed by Schwarzenegger, much to his shame) and the kind embodied in a bill proposed by Congressional Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) which would extend Medicare to all Americans.

Healthcare for All

2006-10-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

According to an Los Angeles Times article today (Spouses Should Team up on Health Coverage http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin15oct15,1,7075565.column?coll=la-headlines-business) there are more options for health insurance plan coverage than ever before. But there's also an increasing number of companies who are penalizing workers who double up on coverage. "In the old days, if you both worked, spouses would be covered under both plans and you'd get 100% coverage. But in the last two years we've seen employers looking at whether the spouse has coverage under another plan. If they do, the company will charge more."

And that 'more' ends up being over $2,000 a year.

November is open enrollment at my hospital. I can choose from a smorgasbord of HMOs, PPOs, HSAs and other gibberish. I, as an educated nurse, need a consultant to help me choose the plan that will best cover me for the best price.

I chose an HMO that I have been satisfied with for the most part, but I have had problems. If I want to see my primary physician, I have to book about a month in advance. If I don't call early enough on the day I'm ill, I can't get in to see anyone. And when I needed to see a specialist, it was a 6 week wait.

I don't consider myself to be underinsured nor do I have serious medical problems. But clearly the medical system is not working well for me.

Then consider individuals who have some kind of chronic problem that debilitates them to such a degree that they can't work. No job, no insurance. No insurance, little healthcare. No healthcare, greater debilitation. Yet it is possible that with early intervention and proper care those individuals could regain health and vigor and once again become working members of society.

The way we set up healthcare coverage for these individuals is completely and woefully inadequate.

There is no magic rule that says that health insurance must be tied to your job. Employers don't have to be in the business of feeding insurance companies clients.

The better idea for all of us is to have a single-payer system with a single standard of care. Everybody is covered and everybody gets the same kind of care. Just like the system that Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed away a few weeks ago. Just like the system that Congressman John Conyers of Michigan is proposing in Washington, DC, that essentially extends the benefits of Medicare to all.

Instead of losing billions of dollars into the various insurance companies that use up to 30% of the healthcare dollar in administrative costs, we'd be in the streamlined administration of Medicare that uses only 2-3%. That would free up plenty of money to ensure that every doctor and every hospital would be paid for every patient treated. No patient would have to chose between getting medical care and having a place to live or food to eat. Now that sounds to me like a 21st century way of doing things in the richest country in the world.

Medicare for All is not Socialized Medicine, or commie-pinko stuff. It's the socially responsible way to help businesses and citizens be healthy and stay healthy.

Nurse Conscience

2006-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

So many things include and effect healthcare. This blog is dedicated to nurses and the ideas and solutions we have that can solve the problems we face as a society surrounding health, health care, and the well-being of all. Situated on the frontlines of patient care, nurses are uniquely qualified to talk about the successes and failures of our medical system. Further, the women and men in nursing have the skills, knowledge, and expertise required to craft solutions to the inequities, imbalances, and shortcomings that exist within the healthcare paradigm.

We nurses are the experts. We are the ones that can find the solutions we need. We are the ones we've been waiting for. So let's get our nursing caps on and get thinking.