Expand successful Medicare program to all

July 30 is the 43rd anniversary of the passage of Medicare. Medicare began because no one except the government was willing to cover the oldest and sickest of us. ...

... Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan is a grass-roots citizens’ movement that fully supports HR 676. President Bush and Sen. Barack Obama tell us change is hard. We tell them being sick without access to affordable health care is even worse. It is truly mind-boggling to observe Washington politicians swerve and dodge the elephant in the room of HR 676. The United States National Health Insurance Act deserves a hearing on its merits because Americans deserve a chance to have access to the health care they need.

Colorado Daily interviews Joan Fitz-Gerald:

I support single-payer health care, in the form of the (Rep. John) Conyers bill that’s sitting in Congress getting co-sponsors right now, HR 676.

It’s got the things that people worry about the most – long-term care, mental health parity, prescription drugs and others. And there are consequences to our economy of not doing the things that are included in this bill.

When mental-health needs go unmet, it is a huge driver of the prison population, including when people don’t have access to prescription drugs that can help them avoid the consequences of going off their medications. There are bankruptcy issues, and I’ve heard many very sad stories of people who, after 100 days in a facility, no longer have Medicare coverage. It’s a pretty big economic hit on a family to keep someone in hospice care after 100 days are over.

DMX

It seems that the legally embattled hip-hop artist DMX was arrested for using the false identity of "Troy Jones" to avoid paying a $7,500 medical bill. The bill was incurred during his visit to the Scottsdale, Az. Mayo Clinic.

Darius Shahinfar endorses HR 676 and the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq.

Replacing Politics

Closer to home some folks have formed a group called Midcoast Health Care Reform to provide information about a plan that is swimming upstream through Congress right now. They are supporting HR 676, which would bring us nearer to single-payer national health care, and learning about 676 could help you more clearly evaluate all the candidates' positions.