As probation ends for 'Baucus 8,' group vows to press for single-payer health reform

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I think it is a shame that Baucus used the courts in this manner.



http://www.pnhp.org/news/2010/january/as-probation-ends-for-baucus-8-group-vows-to-press-for-single-payer-health-reform

Posted on: Friday, January 8, 2010
As probation ends for 'Baucus 8,' group vows to press for single-payer health reform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 8, 2010

Contact:
Margaret Flowers, M.D., [e-mail]
Carol Paris, M.D.
Mark Almberg, PNHP, [phone], [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – Members of the “Baucus 8,” a group of doctors and health advocates who were arrested at a Senate Finance Committee meeting last May for standing up and asking why single-payer proponents were not being allowed to testify, appeared at the H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse today for their final hearing following six months of probation and, for three of them, 40 hours of community service.

Dr. Pat Salomon, a retired pediatrician, commented on the circumstances that prompted their original action. “When we looked at the list of 41 people testifying in the three days of the Finance Committee’s roundtable on health care, we saw that not a single witness was an advocate of the principle that health care should be a fundamental human right for all in America, nor was there anyone to speak for the majority of the American people who support single-payer Medicare for All,” she said.

Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, had convened the May 5 roundtable to kick off the public consideration of the 111th Congress’ legislative proposals for health care reform. Weeks before, the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, a coalition of nurses, doctors, labor, faith, health advocate and community groups representing over 20 million people nationwide, had sent a request to the Finance Committee for one of its leaders testify.

When the request was denied, thousands of single-payer supporters across the nation contacted the committee to request that single payer be included in the discussion of health reform proposals, Salomon said.....


https://webmail.education.wisc.edu/servlet/webacc

[pansypoo53219]

1. will a year or 2 of forced insurance

CREATE the groudswell for a public option?

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2. ‘The Private Health Insurance Profit Protection and Enhancement Act..............

....Dr. Carol Paris, also of PNHP and a practicing physician in southern Maryland, said, “Wendell Potter, formerly of CIGNA and Humana, calls the legislation pending in Congress ‘The Private Health Insurance Profit Protection and Enhancement Act.’ And we agree, because the final legislation will benefit the medical corporations, further strengthening their ability to buy members of Congress, and will continue the expensive and complicated health situation that we have in this country right now which makes it difficult for patients and doctors to focus on health care.”

In fact, as an example of the revolving door between those who are lobbyists and those who are staff, several members of the group pointed to Liz Fowler, former vice president of public policy at WellPoint, one of the largest health insurers in the nation. Fowler left her lucrative position to work as the point person in the Senate Finance Committee to oversee the legislation, they said, and her name appears as the creator of a Baucus document titled “Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform” issued last September................

[CoffeeCat]

3. Wow, these people are true heroes!!

This truly is an amazing article. I feel like I'm witnessing history and reading about the actions
of heroes. That's very heartening, especially after watching most of our political leaders lie
to us and replace our democracy with a corporate-run machine--where "We The People" are throw-away objects.

These people fought their way into the committee meetings, risked arrest and took their case to Congress. They
really were brave, and they are fighting for us.

The heroes are out there. We just have to begin connecting all of us, organizing and fighting back against the
corporations and neocons who are destroying our nation.

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4. Agree. They certainly are American heroes.