Nurses praise House vote to permit state single-payer laws

[Better Believe It]

Nurses praise House vote to permit state single-payer laws
By Ron Moore
July 18, 2009

Health care consumers know that the nurse as the primary caregiver is the key to quality healthcare. So it is significant that nurses have hailed passage of a key amendment in the House Education and Labor Committee to the national healthcare reform bill this morning that would enable individual states to go a step farther and adopt single-payer, Medicare-for-All style reforms.

Introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, the amendment would remove potential legal impediments for states to pass single-payer bills by waiving federal exemptions that apply to employer-sponsored health plans.

The amendment passed on a bi-partisan vote of 25-19, with the support of both progressive, single-payer Democrats and many Republicans who endorsed the ability of individual states to pass their own versions of health care reform.

"This is a historic moment for patients, for American families, and for the tens of thousands of nurses and other single-payer activists from coast to coast who can now work in state capitols to pass single-payer bills, the strongest, most effective solution of all to our healthcare crisis," said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

"Under a single-payer system everyone in the U.S. would get a card that would allow access to any doctor at virtually any hospital. Doctors and hospitals would continue to be privately run, but the insurance payments would be in the public hands. By getting rid of the for-profit insurance companies, we can save $400 billion per year and provide coverage for all medically necessary services for everyone in the U.S.," Kucinich said.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-2071-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner~y2009m7d18-Nurses-praise-House-vote-to-permit-state-singlepayer-laws

Will this provision be removed from the final bill after it goes to a House/Senate conference? That's the big question.

[Wednesdays]

1. K&R

:kick:

[Hutzpa]

2. Double take

<went back out and then walked in slowly> just making sure of the poster, <pause> it's him...

<thinking to self> he really is posting a positive thread....imagine that... :wow:

how could this be(?) <baffled> :eyes:

[AdHocSolver]

3. Excellent! Canadian public-run health insurance system was started in the provinces (Saskatchewan).

This is significant. The "national" health insurance system in Canada is administered by the provinces. Coverage is good anywhere in Canada.

Allowing the states to start up their own systems will mean that each state can be like a laboratory to fine tune its own system, and the other states can adopt the best features for itself.

This option must be in any final bill passed by Congress.

[invictus]

4. K&R

[quantass]

5. As a Canadian i am in AWE! Is it possible?

Sounds great!

[quantass]

6. It's a VERY Smart idea! Let's hope it stays in

[Monk06]

7. For single payer to work insurance companies must be kicked out of the medical insurance business nt

[Vidar]

8. K&R.

[slipslidingaway]

9. knr - Here are the votes on the Kucinich amendment...

http://www.davidswanson.org/node/1973

"...On Friday morning at 9:45 a.m. ET in the House Committee on Education and Labor, the committee members voted 25 to 19 to pass Congressman Dennis Kucinich's amendment to the healthcare reform bill. This amendment, if it survives the full House, the Senate, the conference, and the President, will not alter the federal legislation except to allow states to create single-payer healthcare systems if they choose to. If this change to the bill makes news, it will pass the Senate, because there is no legitimate argument against it, and the support for it is bipartisan..."


ROLL CALL ON VOTE TO ALLOW STATES TO CREATE SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
9:40 a.m. ET, July 17, 2009
House Committee on Education and Labor
Y=Allow states to provide their citizens healthcare if they choose
N=Ban states
PASS= Pass
--= Not present or no response

25 to 19 to 2

Democrats
* George Miller, Chairman (CA-07) N
* Dale E. Kildee (MI-05) N
* Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) PASS, Y
* Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) N
* Robert C. Scott (VA-03) --, Y
* Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) Y
* Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) N
* Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) N
* John F. Tierney (MA-06) --, --, Y
* Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) Y
* David Wu (OR-01) PASS, PASS
* Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) Y
* Susan A. Davis (CA-53) PASS, N
* Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) Y
* Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) N
* Joe Sestak (PA-07) N
* Dave Loebsack (IA-02) Y
* Mazie Hirono (HI-02) PASS, N
* Jason Altmire (PA-04) N
* Phil Hare (IL-17) N
* Yvette Clarke (NY-11) --, --
* Joe Courtney (CT-02) N
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) --, Y
* Marcia Fudge (OH-11) Y
* Jared Polis (CO-2) PASS, Y
* Paul Tonko (NY-21) --, --, Y
* Pedro Pierluisi (PR) --, --
* Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) N
* Dina Titus (NV-3) N
* Judy Chu PASS, PASS,