Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice

[Better Believe It]

Four Voices in the Senate for Healthcare Justice
by Donna Smith
Donna Smith is a community organizer for the California Nurses Association and National Co-Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America Healthcare Not Warfare campaign. Donna Smith is alsl the National Organization for Women’s, 2009 Woman of Action.
July 15, 2009


There were no reports in the media Tuesday about the four United States Senators who voted for a bit of sanity today in the midst of the complexity of the race to reform healthcare in the United States. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio all voted to allow individual states the right to pass and implement publicly funded, privately delivered single payer healthcare programs, if they should choose to do so.

But the other Senators on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee didn't want to support the amendment to the health reform legislation. Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico was perhaps the most vocal in his opposition to the state single payer enabling amendment as he argued that he felt those Americans happy with their coverage through private or some of the public plans would not want to face a change to a single payer system.

Sen. Sanders offered clarification that answered the concern, but Sen. Bingaman did not budge. That made me mildly sad, though didn't surprise me. Many people in New Mexico have been working on a state healthcare reform bill that would allow citizens of the state to pool together to "self insure" in their single payer system. It is an innovative and interesting answer to a crisis that looms as large in Santa Fe and Albuquerque as it does anywhere else in the nation.

It was refreshing to hear the four Senators affirm their support if not for single payer outright then at least for states' rights. Many state and local governments have been absolutely devastated by the costs of providing healthcare to their employees and their retirees - and that has hurt school districts and road improvement programs and recreation districts and more for years. It seems to me common sense that states ought to have the absolute right to fix the mess in a way that makes sense for their citizenry. But that argument just didn't prevail in the Senate.

There may be many reasons our Senators argue against single payer, but the one that is the most powerful is the one they'll least admit. The insurance industry in investing $1.4 million a day to make sure no state is allowed to innovate with anything close to a single payer plan, as Sen. Sanders reiterated in the mark-up session, and the insurance industry must make sure that they'll be sitting pretty when the monstrosity of a 2009 healthcare reform bill is signed in the Rose Garden.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/15-0

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Donna Smith
Woman of Action Honoree

Donna Smith helped draw attention to the troubled U.S. health care system when she appeared in Michael Moore's 2007 movie, "SiCKO." Despite being insured, Smith and her husband were forced to move into their daughter's basement after suffering major illnesses and losing everything to outrageous medical costs. A uterine cancer survivor, Donna traveled to Cuba with Moore to compare the country’s national health care system with her experiences in the U.S.

Since then, Smith has campaigned in 41 states and D.C. in support of single-payer health care reform as co-chair of the Progressive Democrats of America's "Healthcare Not Warfare" campaign. Smith also founded American Patients United, a non-profit group dedicated to raising awareness about national health care and works as a community organizer for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

A graduate of Colorado College, Smith's journalism career includes work with NEWSWEEK magazine. She has been honored by the Associated Press Managing Editors, and also received the Inland Press Association’s top honor in 2006 for community-based journalism.

Smith continues an active writing and speaking career, blogging and writing op-eds about the health care crisis. This May Donna spoke about the issue on PBS' Bill Moyers' Journal.

http://www.now.org/organization/conference/2009/speaker...

Donna Smith



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CNA’s Donna Smith, National Organization of Women’s 2009 Woman of Action
By Mike Hall
July 10, 2009

Donna Smith, a community organizer and legislative representative for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), was recently honored as the National Organization for Women’s (NOW’s) 2009 Woman of Action.

Smith first came to the public’s attention in Michael Moore’s 2007 movie, “SICKO.” Despite having health insurance and even a health savings account, Donna and her husband Larry were forced to move into their daughter’s basement after being unable to pay staggering health care costs—and were left in financial ruin.

Donna’s husband, Larry, suffered three heart attacks and Donna was diagnosed and treated for uterine cancer. There is even a scene in the movie “SICKO” where Michael Moore takes Donna to Cuba to get the necessary treatment their insurance wouldn’t pay for.

After the film was released, Smith became a health care activist, taking her story and those of other victims of the badly broken health care system around the country at rallies, teach-ins, seminars and demonstrations. She is a founder of the health care advocacy group American Patients United.

At the group’s recent national conference, NOW President Kim Gandy said Smith “epitomizes how to best confront the injustices in this world.”

Donna is speaking out, organizing, pressuring and advocating for solutions to fix the long-standing crisis produced by our unfair for-profit health care system.

Donna’s story is remarkable—from illness, bankruptcy, financial ruin—to fighting back and becoming an icon to millions as a health insurance reform advocate. We salute Donna for her hard work and tenacity.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/07/10/cnas-donna-smith-nati... /

[JimWis]

1. Thanks so much for sharing that. I had heard Bernie Sanders

was going to put forth such an amendment. Didn't know what had happened with it.

[chill_wind]

2. Senator Sanders, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Jeff Merkley, and Senator Sherrod Brown

Good on them.

[FatDave]

3. I expected to see Leahy and Feingold on the list.

Though now that I think about it, where's Russ been hiding? Haven't heard a thing about him lately.

[Mass]

9. There are not on the HELP Committee, I think.

[FatDave]

4. Iowa's a humble place.

But Tom Harkin often makes me proud to be from here.

[chill_wind]

5. As well you should be.

I'm feeling good about seeing Sherrod Brown's name here in OH.

[slipslidingaway]

6. knr - Also, Senate HELP amendment on "data exclusivity"

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/july/senate_help_amendmen.php

Executive Session on the Affordable Health Choices Act
U.S. Senate HELP Committee
July 13, 2009

"Consideration of the Enzi/Hatch/Hagan amendment on establishing a data exclusivity period of 12 years for biotech innovation

Sen. Orin Hatch: I don’t know a biotech company that isn’t for this bill, for this 12 year data exclusivity.

...Sen. Tom Harkin: Keep in mind what we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about patents. Everybody gets a 20 year patent… What we’re talking about here is data, data exclusivity… How do you get that data? You get it through FDA supervised trials… Where do they do those clinical trials? Academic health centers. Who supports academic health centers? Our taxpayers… When should that data be released so that another company out there, some other entrepreneurs, can look at the data and say… I’ll bet if we changed this and did this, we might come up with a new formulation that might actually help something else. They’re still going to have to go through their clinical trials… At least they’ll be able to look at the data. If you don’t do that that means that the company can sit on that data for 12 years. Then they let the data out. Clinical trials will take another 7 years or more, so you’re going to have at least a whole 20 year run in there… before anyone can ever surface with anything even comparable to what that drug or that biologic is.


...Sen. Sherrod Brown: You know what we’ve not talked about, Mr. Chairman? We’re not talking about how much these biologics are costing patients. Let me give you some numbers. (examples)… 48 thousand dollars… 20 thousand dollars …100 thousand dollars. You know what the average wage in my state is? 46 thousand dollars… If we do this giveaway to the drug industry, this giveaway to the biologic companies, it means profits are up for them, it means executive salaries are up for them, it means we can all feel good, but let’s think about the patients, let’s think of the patient with breast cancer who has got to spend 1000 dollars a week… the patient with colon cancer who’s got to spend 2000 dollars a week… What kind of progress is that, Mr. Chairman?

****

The data exclusivity amendment passed by a vote of 16 to 7, with several Democrats voting in support.


Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD

"...Last evening’s session devoted to the data exclusivity amendment was the longest amount of time they spent on any issue in the reform legislation. I stopped my other work to watch it. This morning, I’m not only jaded, but I’m also depressed. I’ll tell you why.

Earlier in the day yesterday, I sent out the following quote from Bill Moyers: “Nothing will change — nothing — until the money lenders are tossed out of the temple, the ATM’s are wrested from the marble halls, and we tear down the sign they’ve placed on government — the one that reads, ‘For Sale.’”

I didn’t sleep last night. Instead of counting sheep, I kept watching, in my nightmare, each of those Senators who voted yes picking up their bundle from the ATM machine in the marble halls on their way out as they passed the “For Sale” sign at the door.

But this isn’t about my nightmare. It’s about the 307 million of us who are the merchandise in Congress’s rummage sale. That’s why I’m depressed."

[chill_wind]

7. Thanks-- "It’s about the 307 million of us

who are the merchandise in Congress’s rummage sale."

That about sums it up.

[slipslidingaway]

8. Yes, unfortunately it does. n/t