UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 ~ SPRING 2010

CommonHealthThe Health Reform Law passed this March will immediately give Massachusetts residents some help, but many changes will be postponed for several years.

Starting 2010:

• Children may remain on their parents’ health policies until age 26 (up from 23)

• Medicare recipients will receive a $250 rebate to help in closing the “doughnut hole” for medication costs

• Health insurance companies will be banned from excluding children from coverage because of pre-existing conditions, and adults with pre-existing conditions will be eligible for coverage through temporary high risk pools

• Health insurance companies will be prohibited from setting annual and lifetime limits on coverage.

• All new health plans will have to offer coverage for preventive services with no co-pays (established health plans have until 2018 to comply)

• Early retirees (55 to 64) will receive some assistance in health care premiums from a temporary reinsurance fund

• Small businesses (less than 50 employees) are eligible for a tax credit equal to 35% of their health insurance premiums (increases to 50% by 2014)

Problems Remain:

Most people who have health insurance through their employment will not see much change. Massachusetts already mandates that everyone must buy insurance or pay a stiff fine. The premiums for health insurance will continue to go up, since the bill contains no significant cost control measures. Many middle-income people will find the only policies they can afford may not cover their medical expenses, leaving them vulnerable to bankruptcies or foreclosures. There will still be over 300,000 uninsured in Massachusetts. The long term financial stability of both the national and the Massachusetts health reform laws is questionable, since neither contain cost control mechanisms to eliminate huge administrative waste, fragmentation of care and unreasonable profits taken by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The only system that can achieve true universal comprehensive coverage and control costs is a single-payer system. - Pat Berger, Mass-Care Co-Chair

Keeping Our Issues in the SpotlightAs so much of recent history has shown us, the people we elect to represent us on Beacon Hill and on Capitol Hill make a huge difference in how far single payer moves forward. Keeping single payer, or Improved Medicare for All, in the public eye serves many goals. It notifies the candidate that the moral, social and fiscal issue of a publicly-funded, privately-delivered health plan is a goal that needs to be on the top of their lists at all times. Candidates are made aware that their constituents are supporters of single payer and will work for those candidates willing to fight for it. As we speak up in town meetings, city council chambers and local State House candidate meetings, other participants become educated on single payer. At a recent meeting with Congressman Ed Markey (D-07), he told several of us that a close family member is a public health physician and has been discussing this with him for over twenty years! - Katie Murphy, Framingham

National Health Reform: What it means for Massachusetts

Universal Health Care Education Fund c/o Mass-Care33 Harrison Avenue, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02111

P: 617-723-7001, F: 617-723-7002info@masscare.org http://www.masscare.org

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 ~ SPRING 2010

Health Justice Campaign Opens with Enthusiastic Support

On January 25th the Massachusetts Campaign for Health Justice was launched as over 100 energized participants from Mass-Care affili-ates, Jobs with Justice, unions, legislators, physicians, nurses, reli-gious groups, social workers, im-migrant organizations and muni-cipal leaders gathered. The mission of the Campaign is to broaden the coalition for health care reform and use the increased power to carry out three specific strategies to achieve a single payer system for Massa-chusetts.

Our legislative strategy is already underway. We are targeting as many as forty state representative districts with ballot initiatives that ask legislators to support a single payer system. Two hundred valid sig-natures of registered voters are needed in each targeted district and volunteers are vital to reach this number in all the districts. Contact the Mass-Care office to help in this important and educational oppor-tunity. Mass-Care will be rewriting our single-payer Health Care Trust bill to be introduced at the beginning of next years’ legislative session. In addition, local teams in the targeted legislative districts will work on getting their legislators to support single payer.

At present there are thirty-nine representatives and senators that have signed on as co-sponsors of our bill, and with concerted effort we can more than double that number in the next session.

A second strategy involves sup-porting members of the coalition who are struggling with issues that relate to healthcare injustice, including Hyatt workers who were laid off, Shaw’s workers who were denied health benefits and nurses who have been fighting for safe staffing legislation. A final strategy is to work with groups who have been suffering from healthcare disparities, including immigrants, communities of color and low-income people, to broaden and strengthen our coalition for health care justice.

Pictured here:

Presenters: Mass-Care Executive Director Ben Day; Massachusetts Jobs with Justice Director Russ Davis; Labor Campaign for Single Payer National Coordinator Mark Dudzik.

Open Mic, led by Mass-Care Co-Chair Jackie Wolf: IUE-CWA Local 201 Vice-President Alex Brown; Brockton City Councillor Jass Stewart; Mass-Care Legislative Chair Judy Deutsch; New England Journal of Medicine Editor-Emerita Marcia Angell; Mass-Care activists Vic Bloomberg, Jackie Ballance, Co-Chair Pat Berger.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 ~ SPRING 2010

Spring Fundraiser at Ryles a Huge Success!Twelfth Annual Mass-Care Single Payer Gala in Memory of Ben Gill

Show tunes, good food and inspiring remarks created an afternoon of fun and fund-raising for Mass-Care on April 17th at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge.

Long time single payer supporter and all-around progressive fighter Arky Markham was the individual honoree. Known to everyone in the social justice movement in the Pioneer Valley, Arky was a founder, along with her late husband George Markham, of the Franklin Hampshire Health Care Coalition, the Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network, the National Priorities Project and Social Workers for Peace and Justice.

Massachusetts Jobs with Justice was honored for its work and commitment to single payer health care reform. Russ Davis and Jon Weissman accepted the award. They introduced two Shaw supermarket employees who were out on strike protesting the company’s unilateral health insurance benefit hikes.

Barry Levy, MD drew laughter and much applause for his satirical verses about our current health care delivery and financing system set to the music of familiar Broadway show tunes. (Check out “Damaged Care” by Barry Levy on the web - to order your own copy.)

Donna Smith, organizer for National Nurses United, painted a sobering picture of the health care reform effort after passage of the national healthcare bill. Donna is working with single payer efforts around the country. She emphasized that people are looking to Massachusetts and Mass-Care to keep moving forward to single payer health insurance reform. - Jackie Wolf, Mass-Care Co-Chair

Pictured here: Award recipient Arky Markham, JwJ recipients Jenn Doe & Jon Weisman, Damaged Care’s Barry Levy, NNU national organizer Donna Smith, Shaw’s warehouse strikers, Massa-chusetts Senior Action Council Cam-bridge Chapter Membership Coordinator Ruby Woodbine, Alice Swift of the Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network, Marvin Miller of the Ethical Society of Boston, UE Northeast Region President Peter Knowlton and veteran health justice leader Grace Ross.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE EDUCATION FUND ~ VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 ~ SPRING 2010

Get Single Payer on the Ballot

The Massachusetts Campaign for Healthcare Justice is spearheading a massive signature campaign to get this single-payer non-binding question on the ballot for November 2010. We are targeting forty state representative districts across Massachusetts.

Two hundred valid signatures of registered voters are needed for each district in order to get on the ballot, so our goal is to collect four hundred signatures, to be sure enough are certified. Mass-Care and Jobs with Justice are appointing volunteer captains for each district and need as many volunteers as possible to help with the signature collecting. Picking a location where there are many people gathering such as grocery stores, the post office, or special events is the easy way to get at least twenty signatures in an hour. The deadline for submitting petitions to city and town clerks is July 7th..

We are hoping to build on-going chapters in these target communities to create the pressure needed to win sponsorship from the state representative, to build strong grassroots support for real healthcare reform and to carry on the fight for healthcare justice whenever and wherever needed . Ca l l the Mass-Care off ice 617-723-7001 to volunteer now. The deadline is approaching!

Support Striking Shaw's Warehouse Workers!

On March 7th, 2010, Shaw's Methuen warehouse workers were given two bad choices; vote in a contract that had a 1% raise that would be eaten by a massive increase in health care costs and would allow temp workers to take their jobs, or go on strike. The company said, "If you strike, the next offer will be worse." They chose to strike to protect their jobs and demand better treatment. Shaw's has profited off of the tough times of others because many of us are eating in and buying generic. There has since been one negotiation session with management and a mediator where any raises and health contributions were taken off the table. On April 1st Shaw's cut off the health care of the workers and their families including children, pregnant women and those with serious medical conditions. These workers are doing what we all should do, standing up to corporate greed. They have stood strong for over three months, but they need our help to keep up the fight. Call Jobs with Justice @ 617-524-8778 to find out what you can do to help in this fight for healthcare justice, or go to this link: http://www.massjwj.net/content/shaws-workers-strike

We invite you to add your signature to a petition protesting the termination of health benefits to Shaw's Supermarket workers in Methuen.

It is hard to think of a better illustration of what is wrong with our health care system. Please join us by signing this letter below from health professionals asking the CEO of Supervalu (which owns Shaw's) not to use access to health care as a bargaining chip against workers. You can sign by replying to this email with your full name, degree, title, and affiliation. If you are not a health professional, there is a similar letter from members of the community to which we can add your name. These workers deserve better from their employer, and all of us deserve better from our health care system.

You can listen to two of the workers' wives describe how the loss of health care has affected their families personally in this video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqrgQLzMv_Q

CommonHealth, Volume 4, Number 1:Director: Benjamin DayEditor & Photographer: Sandy EatonProduction: Erin ServaesPrinting compliments of Massachusetts Nurses Association

Shall the representative from this district be instructed to support legislation that would establish health care as a human right regardless of age, state of health or employment status, by creating a single payer health insurance system like Medicare that is comprehensive, cost effective, and publicly provided to all residents of Massachusetts?

Your financial contributions, as well as your time and energy, are required to keep up all this momentum. Thank you to the Massachusetts Teachers Association for your recent generous gift, but many more contributions large and small are needed!