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Donna Smith on Single Payer and Nephrologist, Dr. Anjali Saxena
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Most of our listeners know…we love our Donna Smith. Since the start of Nurse Talk Donna has been and is—a remarkable contributor and a tireless advocate for single payer healthcare. She is a legislative organizer for National Nurses United and no one knows healthcare/political issues like Donna. And at the heart of the matter—she doesn’t really believe healthcare—and access to it—should be a political issue. Donna says, “It’s a matter of heart and humanity. It just is.” Having just been diagnosed with cancer (for the second time) Donna now faces what so many sick AND INSURED do—her insurance company is denying medications and treatment. Donna talks about this and more …coming up. Check out some of her blog posts at MichaelMoore.com.
AND…listener Sharon B. gets some answers from Stanford nephrologist, Dr. Anjali Saxsena. Dr. Saxsena talks about Kidney disease—the symptoms, the treatments—and the National Kidney Foundation. Learn more at the National Kidney Foundation.
Hives in Phoenix…A listener is having a rough time—but keeps her sense of humor about it all. Gets nothing useful from the nurses—but—she probably knew she wouldn’t anyway!
Healthcare Trivia strikes again. This weeks question: What is the strongest muscle in your body? That’s right—that’s what we said. Here’s a hint—we all use it practically all through the day. You could win a $25 gift certificate to Starbucks if you are the first to respond with the right answer. Call 1-800-977-1863 or contest@nursetalksite.com.
Trivia was brought to you in partnership with iTriage. Read more…
Donna Smith on Insurance Denials and Medicare for All | Show 458
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Most of our listeners know…we love our Donna Smith. Since the start of Nurse Talk Donna has been and is—a remarkable contributor and a tireless advocate for single payer healthcare. She is a legislative organizer for National Nurses United and no one knows healthcare/political issues like Donna. And at the heart of the matter—she doesn’t really believe healthcare—and access to it—should be a political issue. Donna says, “It’s a matter of heart and humanity. It just is.” Having just been diagnosed with cancer (for the second time) Donna now faces what so many sick AND INSURED do—her insurance company is denying medications and treatment. Donna talks about this and more …coming up. Check out some of her blog posts at MichaelMoore.com. Read more…
Other nations see universal health care as necessary. Why don’t we?
Our public leaders here in United States like to proclaim that we’re number one at everything, despite evidence to the contrary. When it comes to health care, now developing nations are beginning to leave us in the dust. In the article “U.S. lags in global healthcare push,” on last Saturday’s front page of the Los Angeles Times, China, Mexico, Ghana and even formerly war-torn Rwanda have embarked on efforts to expand health coverage to their citizens.
“This is truly a global movement,” said Dr. Julio Frenk, a former health minister in Mexico and dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. “As countries advance, they are realizing that creating universal healthcare systems is a necessity for long-term economic development.”
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But the international drive to provide healthcare for everyone is increasingly leaving America behind.
“We are really an outlier,” said David De Ferranti, a former World Bank vice president who heads the Results for Development Institute, an international nonprofit based in Washington.
This situation is increasingly becoming an international embarrassment for the U.S., as well as an impediment to our nation’s economic progress. Developing countries know they cannot compete globally with an unhealthy workforce. Yet, the U.S. continues to limp along, wasting resources on an inefficient for-profit healthcare system, and seeing its global economic dominance erode. Americans are throwing their hard-earned money down a health insurance rat-hole, leaving them unable to put that money toward paying off mortgages, financing education, or buying cars or other consumer products.
America’s inability to expand affordable coverage to all really comes down to a toxic combination of political dysfunction, corporate greed and a troubling lack of social solidarity, which fuels appeals to selfishness and bigoted attitudes toward the poor and vulnerable. Read more…
Donna Smith with a DC Update, Singer/Songwriter Brian Asselin and Bill Fisher with the Alzheimer’s Association | March 17, 2012 | Show 440
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Dan is on the Island of Bursitis this week so our resident funny lady Lynn Ruth Miller sits in for him. Given our discussion about some pretty serious topics, Lynn Ruth finds a way to bring her compassion and humor to the table.
AND she’s back. Our friend and D.C. correspondent Donna Smith is with us. No one can articulate the D.C. health care news like Donna. She makes sense where there is no sense to be had. Ever wonder when you might hear about single payer health care again—good , bad or indifferent? How about Social Security and Medicare? Education? Listen this week for an update.
Later we talk with Canadian Musician Singer/Songwriter Brian Asselin. When a family member of Brian’s was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s—Brian wanted to make a contribution to help others going through the same thing. He did what he knows best—wrote a song to pay tribute. Listen to I Will Remind You.
And we have with us Bill Fisher. Mr. Fisher is the Chief Executive Officer of the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada, since 1987. Like many involved with the Alzheimer’s Association, Mr. Fisher has a personal involvement with dementia, having lost both his grandmother and mother-in-law to Alzheimer’s.
Donna Smith on D.C. Health Care News | National Nurses United Sponsored Segment | March 17, 2012 | Show 440
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Our friend and D.C. correspondent Donna Smith is with us. No one can articulate the D.C. health care news like Donna. She makes sense where there is no sense to be had. Ever wonder when you might hear about single payer health care again—good , bad or indifferent? How about Social Security and Medicare? Education? Listen this week for an update. Read more…
All-Woman Senate Panel Moves to Ban Viagra. National Nurses. Single Payer in California. Lotsa Laughs
The show begins with Casey, “Dan as you know, we try to shy away from controversy but sometimes a gal just has to speak up. I must comment on the recent congressional hearings on contraception. First of all—I thought that train left the station in the 70’s! And can we talk? The expert panel assembled consisted of all males! “Where’s The Beef?” as our old friend Clara Peller used to say in the famous Wendy’s commercial. Without going into further detail, we wondered what it would be like—if the shoe were on the other foot—so to speak. You know, the deck being stacked to fall the other way?”
AS LUCK would have it—a little research provided us with the perfect opportunity to share just that kind of breaking news. Listen this Saturday as California State Senator Janelle Jones introduces groundbreaking legislation (Senate Bill SB 1240) that moves to criminalize the very dangerous Viagra. That’s right—Viagra. The all-woman senate panel that drafted this bill says there is mountains of evidence that Viagra should be banned! Don’t miss Senator Jones on Nurse Talk!
AND..we have an update on the very active nurses from National Nurses United. Deborah Burger always brings life and humanity to the critical healthcare issues in our country.
We’ll check in with our friend Andrew McGuire. Andrew is the Executive Director of California One Care. Cal One Care envisions a health care system where every child and every adult receives the health care they need, when they need it, and at a cost that is affordable.
Yes! a non-profit subscriber supported magazine, with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world recently published The Yes Breakthrough 15 their list of people transforming the way we live. Dr. Deb. Richter made their list for her advocacy of single payer healthcare in Vermont. Last May, Vermont became the first state in the nation to pass a single-payer health care plan. “I never felt like I had a choice about getting involved in this struggle … I couldn’t stop and I never will.” —Dr. Deb Richter In her interview with Yes!, Dr. Richter explains, “A lot of my patients didn’t have insurance. I would prescribe medicines for patients but they wouldn’t be able to afford them, and then they would just get sicker. I was mortified…I knew I couldn’t continue to practice if this situation continued. I didn’t want medicine to just be for wealthy people.” “This will be an enormous change for people without insurance,” says Richter of the Vermont bill, which will guarantee every resident an essential health benefit package from birth. “Now that we have this in Vermont, we need to make sure it happens everywhere.” Read the whole article from YES! Magazine, Oct 31, 2011 > http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-yes-breakthrough-15/deb-richter-a-cure-for-broken-health-careDeb Richter: A Cure for Broken Health Care
What Are You Waiting For? Support the American Health Security Act.
Hundreds of people recently waited in line overnight in the bitter cold to receive health care. From the elderly, to students, to women who hadn’t seen a doctor in years; All lined up to receive healthcare from Remote Area Medical (RAM). And many of the people in line wanted to know, why can’t the United States provide health care for everyone?
What are YOU waiting for? The American Health Care Act of 2011, sponsored by Senators Sanders and McDermott, will make universal health care a reality. Support the American Health Care Act;SB 915, HR 2100.
The wait is over when we want it to be.
Find out more at www.nationalnursesunited.org Read more…
Nurses Support American Health Security Act of 2011
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., EDT, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), held a joint news conference at the Senate Swamp to announce the introduction of the American Health Security Act of 2011 (the Act).
The Act establishes a national healthcare program that requires each participating state to set up and administer comprehensive health care services as an entitlement for all through a progressively financed, single-payer system, as administered by the states. Benefits emphasize primary and preventive care, and free choice of providers. Private health insurance sold by for-profit companies continues in the form of supplemental coverage only.
The American Health Security Act of 2011 has the support of National Nurses United, the California Nurses Association, the Labor Caucus for Single-Payer and its member unions, the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, and the AFL-CIO which, at its convention in Pittsburgh in 2009, unanimously passed Resolution 34 in support of single-payer health care under a social insurance model and recently reaffirmed its support in its executive council resolution addressing national deficit reduction (March 2011).
“Providing a single standard of high quality care for all is a priority for registered nurses who have seen their abilities to act as patient advocates made more difficult as for-profit interests control more patient care decisions. We commend Senator Sanders and Representative McDermott for their vision and passion to help registered nurses create a more just healthcare system through the American Health Security Act and applaud our brother and sisters in labor for their support,” said Jean Ross, R.N. Read more…
More from last Wednesday’s Senate Health Committee vote
Read California Healthline’s roundup of last Wednesday’s successful vote on SB 810:
Friday, May 06, 2011
Senate Health Committee Moves Single-Payer Bill
by David Gorn
Many dozens of single-payer supporters crammed the Senate Committee on Health chambers on Wednesday for hearing on a bill that would set up a single-payer health system in California.
The supporters were respectful and emphatic as they all stepped, one by one, up to the microphone to voice their support for such a model. After all of the advocates took their turn and returned to their seats, Senate Health Committee Chair Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) wanted to know if there were any more speakers, so he politely asked if there was anyone else in the audience who was in favor of the bill.
And a sea of hands went up, as nearly everyone in the audience spontaneously and quietly raised their hands.That has been the history of single-payer legislation in California, with enthusiastic, almost fervid, support of it by many citizens and organizations in the state, but a tepid, almost embarrassed, reception by many lawmakers.
For the rest of the article: http://www.californiahealthline.org/capitol-desk/2011/5/senate-health-committee-moves-singlepayer-bill.aspx#ixzz1LcMwKKNT
Here’s how Wednesday’s vote on SB 810 broke down:
YES – Ed Hernandez, Elaine Alquist, Kevin de Leon, Mark DeSaulnier, Lois Wolk
NO – Joel Anderson, Sam Blakeslee, Tony Strickland
Sen. Michael Rubio – who had said last week that he was going to vote no on the bill – curiously, abstained. Was the insurance industry breathing down his neck? Rubio’s office had said the senator believes the federal Affordable Care Act is good enough to help Californians. Read more…