Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator, Labor Campaign for Single Payer

Throughout the current health care reform debate, one legislative proposal has enjoyed the most enthusiastic support from a majority of Americans. That legislation is the Single Payer plan in HR.676, the “Medicare for All” legislation. Now, single payer has more momentum than any other proposal. But powerful forces, led by the insurance industry lobby and anchored in the anti-worker right wing, are determined to deny Americans the best solution to one of our most enduring social problems - affordable health care for all.

Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care, July 2, 2009

Rose Ann DeMoro, Huffington Post, July 2, 2009 Enough already on the hand wringing over the plan to start taxing employee health care benefits. The tax is not a threat to the type of reform plan expected to emerge from Congress. It's a central element - to pay for the massive public bailout of the health insurance industry and as a backdoor way to cut costs by discouraging people from seeking medical care. Here's the basic scheme of how this complicated plan is supposed to work: Everyone not presently covered will be forced to buy private insurance - the ostensible solution to the nettlesome problem of the 45 million uninsured Americans and the 20,000 people who die every year ... Go

Chaz Valenza, OpEdNews, July 2, 2009 VFW Post 2636, Neptune, NJ, July 1, 2009, 7:00 PM: Organizing for America, Obama's grassroots campaign, took a stab at New Jersey tonight with countywide "Listening" meetings. I attended one in my own backyard of Neptune, NJ. The topic for the night and the moment: health care reform. It was a good turn out of just under a hundred people, all ages of adults, the majority female and about half & half white and of color. At the door we were asked to sign the latest Obama declaration of support, this one for health care reform ... Excuse

Janet Adamy & Ann Zimmerman, Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2009

Washington - In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans.

The support of Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, could give momentum to one of the most-contentious aspects of legislation taking shape in Congress to fix the health system. To help pay for covering the 46 million uninsured, lawmakers have proposed mandating that all but small employers provide insurance for workers or help pay for it.
[Insurance Aisle]

Nicole Maestri, Reuters, July 1, 2009 San Francisco - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, said on Tuesday that it supports President Barack Obama's push to require large employers to offer health insurance to workers. "We are for an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage," stated a letter addressed to Obama and signed by Mike Duke, the chief executive of Wal-Mart; Andy Stern, the president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and John Podesta, the CEO of the Center for American Progress. Wal-Mart's public statement of support for employer mandated coverage comes as Obama pushes for an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion US healthcare system. ... Wal-Mart

Wendell Potter, OpEdNews, July 1, 2009 I'm hoping President Obama realizes that some of the folks who've been currying favor with him are not, as they claim, bringing "solutions" to the health care reform table. Most Americans - especially those who voted for him - want nothing to do with the kind of "reforms" they are peddling. If you watched the president's televised Q&A on ABC last Wednesday night, you probably noticed that one of the people in the audience was Ron Williams, the chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc., the nation's third largest health insurer, and currently one of the most profitable. But there are a few things that you should know ... Obama

Obama hugs cancer patient, pitches health care overhaul, but questions remain. Philip Elliott & Charles Babington, Associated Press, July 1, 2009 Annandale, VA - President Barack Obama wanted to put a human face on his plans to overhaul health care, and a Virginia supporter did just that Wednesday. Fighting back tears, Debby Smith, 53, told Obama of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. The president hugged her - she's a volunteer for his political operation - and called her "exhibit A" in an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans. ... Emotion

CNN, July 1, 2009 The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage. Dr. J. James Rohack told CNN that the AMA supports an “American model” that includes both “a private system and a public system, working together.” In May, the AMA told a Senate committee it did not support a government-sponsored public health insurance option. ... AMA

David M. Drucker, Roll Call, July 1, 2009 A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday gauging registered voters' views of health care reform underscores the political complexity of the issue, with the results offering ammunition to both the supporters and opponents of President Barack Obama's No. 1 legislative priority. The national poll of 3,063 registered voters showed that 69 percent believe Americans should have the option of purchasing government-run health insurance. But only 28 percent of those polled said they would take advantage of government-run insurance, a number that could suggest a lack of confidence in Washington's ability to administer coverage. ... New

Reed Abelson, New York Times, July 1, 2009 Health insurance is supposed to offer protection - both medically and financially. But as it turns out, an estimated three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance when they got sick or were injured. And so, even as Washington tries to cover the tens of millions of Americans without medical insurance, many health policy experts say simply giving everyone an insurance card will not be enough to fix what is wrong with the system. Too many other people already have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity. ... Insured

Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes, July 2009 It’s no secret that the union movement is divided on health care reform. Resolutions favoring “Medicare for All,” a single-payer system, have been passed by 558 unions, central labor councils, state federations, and other union organizations. Yet in practice leaders of many of those same unions have acted as if actual single-payer legislation (Representative John Conyer’s HR.676 and Senator Bernie Sanders’ S.703) didn’t exist. They’ve promoted milder changes that will leave private insurance companies in place, instead of kicking them out of the temple, as every other industrialized country - from Canada to Japan - has done. ... Labor

Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care, June 30, 2009

Marcy Winograd, OpEdNews, June 30, 2009 One of the many frustrations for advocates of single-payer health care is the relentless drive to marginalize us, not only by conservatives but also by members of our own party. Case in point: the accounting arm of Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, has yet to perform a financial analysis of the cost of implementing single payer, a system whereby taxpayers-businesses and individuals - pay into a single general fund which covers everyone's health care for the rest of their lives, regardless of job or health status. Studies in California and Colorado have shown that a single payer system would save money ... Single-Payers

Wendy Parmet, Boston Globe, June 30, 2009 The World Health Organization has announced the obvious: The H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak has become a global pandemic. Fortunately, the virus thus far appears to be far less lethal than many expected and that is wonderful news as our preparation for H1N1 demonstrated some serious flaws in our public health policies. Over the last five years, the catchphrase for US pandemic policy was “preparedness.’’ At its core, preparedness emphasized the need to keep watch and be ready for a public health catastrophe, such as a highly lethal pandemic. ... A