Connecticut Coalition for
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New York's Local 6 Gets It Right On Healthcare‏

The American Prospect
By Robert Kuttner

In 2005, when Local 6 won its first union contract at the boutique Time Hotel on West 49th Street, Angel Aybar, then a 21-year-old room attendant responsible for checking, cleaning, and restocking minibars, not only got a raise from $10 to $16.50 an hour; he became a member of a uniquely effective health plan....  Read the "A Model Of Health"

Number of uninsured climbs to highest figure since passage of Medicare, Medicaid

Press Release from PHNP

Official estimates by the Census Bureau showing an increase of about 1 million in the number of Americans without health insurance in 2010 – to a 45-year high of 49.9 million persons, or 16.3 percent of the population...  Read the rest of the press release

Vermont health law spurs fresh interest in single-payer reform: doctors group

Press Release from PHNP

As governor signs a 'universal health care' bill, a national physicians group says the Vermont developments show that many Americans want to go beyond the new federal health law to more fundamental reform.  Read the rest of the press release

Commencement address from an American physician in Canada

Commencement Address by Sherif Emil, MD, CM
The University of California, Irvine
School of Medicine
June 5, 2010

Please, please stay involved in issues of health care policy. If you think we have passed health care reform, and can now rest easy, think again. We have not passed health care reform. We have only passed some health care expansion. It is too early to judge the effects of what just occurred, but it is not too early to be certain that much work still lies ahead.  (read more...)

Health bill leaves 23 million uninsured

A false promise of reform

March 22, 2010

Physicians for a National Health Program

Instead of eliminating the root of the problem - the profit-driven, private health insurance industry - this costly new legislation will enrich and further entrench these firms. The bill would require millions of Americans to buy private insurers' defective products, and turn over to them vast amounts of public money. (read more...)

An Open Letter to President Obama on Health Care Reform

January 28, 2010

By Margaret Flowers, M.D.
Congressional Fellow, Physicians for a National Health Program

I am a pediatrician who, like many of my primary care colleagues, left practice because it is nearly impossible to deliver high quality health care in this environment. I have been volunteering for Physicians for a National Health Program ever since. For over a year now, I have been working with the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care/ National Single Payer Alliance. This alliance represents over 20 million people nationwide from doctors to nurses to labor, faith and community groups who advocate on behalf of the majority of Americans, including doctors, who favor a national Medicare-for-All health system. (read more...)

How Does the Quality of U.S. Health Care Compare Internationally?

By Elizabeth Docteur and Robert A. Berenson

Comment by Don McCanne, PNHP: This resource can be useful in informing those who would reject efforts at reform because we already have "the best health care in the world." It would be a shame if we continued to waste funds to preserve a system that provides high quality care for a few when an improved financing system would enable us to improve the allocation of those funds so that we could provide high quality care for everyone. (read more...)

New uninsured figures show Massachusetts, the model for national reform, is failing to cover the uninsured

According to a press release from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) "Today’s [census bureau] numbers show that plans that require people to buy private insurance don’t work. Obama’s plan to replicate Massachusetts’ reform nationally risks failure on a massive scale".  Read the rest of the press release...

Public Option Advocates: Time to Come Home to Single Payer

By Mark Dunlea

Executive Director, Hunger Action Network of NY State

Co-chair, Single Payer New York

As the various public option proposals in Congress for national health care reform become weaker every day, there is still time for its proponents to support what they really believe in: a single payer, Medicare for all type program....(read more)

How Much Would Single Payer Cost?

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) has compiled excerpts from several studies done by the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office as well as studies done by several states. A summary can be found here.

The Top 10 Enemies of Single-Payer

By RUSSELL MOKHIBER

CounterPunch.org

April 16, 2009

"The will of the American people is being held up by a handful of organizations and individuals who profit off the suffering of the masses.  And the will of the American people will not be done until this criminal elite is confronted and defeated..." (read more)

Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much?

By Uwe E. Reinhardt

Economix Blog - nytimes.com  

November 14, 2008

Part 1: If G.D.P. per capita were the only factor driving the difference between United States health spending and that of other nations, the United States would be expected to have spent an average of only $4,819 per capita on health care rather than the $6,714 it actually spent.... (read more)

The Mark of a Moral Society

John R. Battista, M.D.

Address to the Yale Political Union  

November 3, 2008

Societies with universal health care have improved health and life expectancy relative to those that do not.  In addition, universal health care particularly improves the health and life expectancy of the most vulnerable members of society, the sick and poor, by improving or equalizing their access to health care.  Universal health care is thus particularly the mark of a moral society because it specifically improves the health of its most vulnerable members.... (read more)

An International Perspective on Health Care Reform

John R. Battista, M.D.

Prepared for Grand Rounds, Department of Medicine, Stamford Hospital , Stamford , CT  

October 8, 2008

Advocates of a single payer health reform can be heartened by its increasing support among physicians and the general population and can take solace in the belief that its passage in the United States is inevitable as other health care reform options, such as individual mandates, are tried and fail, and the health care crisis in this country continues to worsen... (read more)

Why Health Insurance Should Be Publicly Funded and Publicly Guaranteed

Extraordinarily high cost is the most striking characteristic of US health insurance, and the main reason why we have so many uninsured in this country. The United States spends twice as much per capita on health care than other industrialized countries, and 30% more than the second most expensive country in the industrialized world.

Why is the cost of health insurance so high in the United States relative to other industrialized countries? Two factors have been identified to account for this disparity: high administrative costs and the high cost of prescription medications... (read more)

National Health Insurance Quiz

Here is your chance to assess how much you know about national health insurance... (click to take the quiz)

Why Connecticut Should Publicly Fund Universal Health Insurance

The Case for National Health Insurance

United States is the only industrialized country that does not guarantee health insurance to its citizens through a national health insurance system.  As a result, comparing the American health system with the health care systems of other industrialized countries provides a valuable means of evaluating national health insurance and what would occur if the United States were to enact it... (read more)

Questions about National Single Payer?

Answers To Commonly Asked Questions About National Single Payer

FAQ: Universal Health Insurance for all Connecticut Residents

John R. Battista, M.D., of the Connecticut Coalition For Universal Health Care
answers commonly asked questions about a publicly funded, Universal Health Insurance Program for all Connecticut residents (updated November 12, 2007)

Most Doctors Support National Health Insurance

Press Release from Physicians for a National Health Program: Reflecting a shift in thinking over the past five years among U.S. physicians, a new study shows a solid majority of doctors - 59 percent - now supports national health insurance... (read more)

H.R. 676 Fact Sheet

"The United States National Insurance Act" ("Medicare for All") H.R. 676 was introduced by Rep. John Conyers in 2003.  A fact sheet that summarizes the legislation, eligibility and services covered can be read here.

International Models of Universal Health care

Three models of universal health care systems exist in the world today.  A description of each of these models can be read here.

How Much Would Single Payer National Health Insurance Cost?

Brief summaries of national studies done by the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office. Compiled by the Physicians for a National Health Program... (read more)

Why We Need to Dump Health Insurance Corporations

Private health insurance and Public Health do not belong together.  In addition to the redundancy, and excess, unnecessary costs of private insurance, and the horrors faced by those with and without coverage we find that private insurers are  investing in all sorts of industries notorious for causing health problems... (read more)

Report to the Rhode Island General Assembly finds that Rhode Island Can Afford Health Care for All - 

This report finds that complete, comprehensive health care for all Rhode Islanders is already affordable.

· Complete care means coverage for people who lack insurance coverage today.

· Comprehensive care means thorough insurance for prescription drugs, dental care, and other services that are omitted from many insurance policies today.

It's Time for National Healthcare

• I never cease to be amazed at the burden placed upon seniors, low-income people and working people that has resulted in these segments of the population losing faith in the ability of those in charge to respond to their problems, further resulting in the lowest voter turnout of any major country in the world... (read more)
  
  

Phantoms In The Snow: Canadians' Use Of Healthcare In U.S.

• Surprisingly few Canadians travel to the United States for health care, despite the persistence of the myth... (read more)

Connecticut Health Care Security Act

• The Connecticut Health Care Security Act (a single payer, universal health care bill) was not raised for a public hearing by the Public Health Committee by the February 8, 2001 deadline. Despite the support of three out of six members of the steering committee for a public hearing on the bill, the steering committee did not recommend raising it.  This effectively kills the bill for 2001.
  
  Read the Summary of the Connecticut Health Care Security Act and the Introduction to the Connecticut Health Care Security Act.  Also available is the complete text of the bill and Reasons To Support The Connecticut Health Care Security Act.
  
  For more information, you can also visit the legislation page of the new home of the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care which is under construction (click here)
  

• The Connecticut Health Care Security Act is a new single payer health insurance bill that will be introduced to the CT legislature this year.  Read the latest draft of the CT Health Care Security Act (12/15/99)

• Read about the recently formed Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care and what we have accomplished so far.

• A Single Payer Health Insurance bill passed the CT House Labor Committee by a 9 to 5 vote on April 6, 1999.  However, the CT Legislature's 1999 session came to an end on June 9, 1999 without the bill being voted on by the legislature. Read the entire text of Bill #7030 or a summary of the bill. 

• New to Universal Health Care? A good starting point is a visit to our Library.  You can also search the Universal Health Care web site for specific words or combinations of words.  The site map will give you an overview of the contents of our site.

• See our calendar for upcoming meetings and events  

• If you would like to get in touch with us our contact page will provide you with our mailing address, email address, and phone number.

• Our search facility allows you to locate information on our site using keywords.

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Email Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care at: riverbend2@earthlink.net

Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care l PO Box 771l Simsbury CT 06070