PNHP

Rick Staggenborg, MD

Rick Staggenborg, MD

Dr. Staggenborg is a psychiatrist who most recently worked at the VA outpatient clinic in North Bend, Oregon. Before that he worked at as the Medical Director at a community mental health clinic, providing care in both cases to underserved populations. He specializes in the non-pharmacological treatment of PTSD, using a combination of individual, group and family therapies. He ran for the US Senate in 2010 with a promise to introduce a constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood. He sees making corporate campaign contributions illegal as the only sure path to a national single payer health system.

Currently, he is working full time for the single payer, the end of the wars and other social justice causes.

On the Mad as Hell Doctors tour, he said: “I am mad as hell that our government puts the interests of corporations above those of the People.”

Paul Hochfeld, MD

Emergency Physician

Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Corvallis, OR
Graduated UC San Diego School of Medicine, M.D. 1978

I’m Mad As Hell because we have a broken, non-system of health care in this country designed and implemented around profit, not people.  It not only represents a health crisis, it is also a fiscal disaster that threatens the solvency of our government. Some form of Single Payer is the only solution.

Mike Huntington, MD

Dr. Huntington went to OSU then OHSU for medical school and later residency in radiation oncology. Between medical school and residency, he interned at Madigan Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, and was an Army flight surgeon for two years.

Since his retirement in 2006, he has joined with several other physicians and other activists in Corvallis to form a group whose mission is to learn and teach about the urgent need for healthcare reform.

Thomas Pretlow, MD

Dr. Pretlow is Professor in the Departments of Pathology, Oncology, Urology, and Environmental Health Sciences at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Since becoming Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Biochemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Pretlow has spent a year or more on the faculties at Harvard, Stanford, and Case Western Reserve. He was Visiting Professor for a year at the Dana Farber Cancer Center at Harvard.

Andrei Vermont, MD

Dr. Vermont is a Radiologist who completed his post graduate training at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution. He now practices at the Cleveland Clinic and has taught on the faculty of SUNY University Hospital, University of North Carolina, Michigan State University, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Mary Jo Groves, MD, FAAFP

Dr. Groves received her training at Ohio University, and Ohio State University, with clinical honors in internal medicine, OB/GYN, pediatrics, and psychiatry. She is Board certified in family practice, and a Fellow, American Academy of Family Practice. She currently is the Director of Community Mercy Urgent Care in Springfield.

Alice Faryna, MD

Dr. Faryna is certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology. She has 40 years of experience including private practice, Neighborhood health centers, the VA. Associate Professor of Medicine at the Wright State University School of Medicine (now the Boonshoft School of Medicine) for 14 years, and 8 years as Medical Director for Medicare Part B, Ohio and West Virginia.

It’s Time for the Adults in This Nation To Talk Seriously About Medicare for All

Today, we breathe a quick sigh a relief. But we cannot celebrate a return to the failed status quo.

By Carol Paris, M.D.
Common Dreams, July 28, 2017

Hundreds of people slept overnight in cars, or camped for days in a field. They told stories of yanking out their own teeth with pliers, of reusing insulin syringes until they broke in their arm, of chronic pain so debilitating they could hardly care for their own children. At daybreak, they lined up for several more hours outside a white tent, waiting for their chance to visit a doctor. For many, this was the first health care provider they’ve seen in years.

Is this a place torn by war, famine or natural disaster? No, this charity medical clinic was last weekend in southwest Virginia, in the wealthiest country in the world, where we spend nearly three times as much money on health care as other similar countries.

And what do we get for our money? The very definition of health care rationing: 28 million Americans without insurance, and millions more insured, but avoiding treatment because of sky-high deductibles and co-pays. Compared to ten other wealthy countries, the U.S. ranks dead last for life expectancy, and access to care. We even have the lowest number of hospital beds per capita, a way that health experts measure the capacity of a nation’s health system. It’s as if our system was designed to deny care.

America does hit the top of the list in some areas. Compared to other nations, American doctors and patients waste the most hours on billing and insurance claims. We have the highest rate of infant mortality, and the highest percentage of avoidable deaths—patients who die from complications or conditions that could have been avoided with timely care.

Clearly, this system is broken. Like a cracked pipe, money gushes into our health care system but steadily leaks out. Money is siphoned into the advertising budgets of insurance companies and the army of corporate bureaucrats working to deny claims. Even more dollars are soaked up by the pockets of insurance CEOs who have collectively earned $9.8 billion since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. Nearly a third of our health care dollars go to something other than health care.

President Trump recognized voters’ frustration and campaigned on a promise of more coverage, better benefits, and lower costs. We couldn’t agree more with these goals. However, instead of trying to fix our broken system, GOP leaders are acting more like toddlers, mid-tantrum, smashing our health system into smaller and smaller pieces, threatening to push even more Americans—the most vulnerable among us—through the cracks. Last night, a few Senate Republicans stood up and acted like adults, putting an end to this dangerous game.

Today, we breathe a quick sigh of relief. But we cannot celebrate a return to the status quo, a system that rations health care based on income and allows 18,000 Americans to die each year unnecessarily.

Where do we go from here?

Republicans had eight years to come up with a plan that achieves more coverage, better benefits and lower costs. Have our elected leaders simply run out of ideas?

The good news is that we already have a proven model for health financing that is popular among both patients and physicians. It provides medically-necessary care to the oldest and sickest Americans with a fraction of the overhead of private insurance. It’s called Medicare, and I can tell you as a physician that it has worked pretty darn well for more than 50 years.

Not only do we have a model, we have a bill that would expand Medicare to cover everyone and improve it to include prescriptions, dental, vision, and long-term care. It’s called H.R. 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, a single-payer plan that would provide comprehensive care to everyone living in the U.S. The bill would yield about $500 billion annually in administrative savings while covering the 28 million currently uninsured. Medicare for all is gaining steam with a record 115 co-sponsors, a majority of House Democrats.

Now that Republican senators have finally worn themselves out, Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to file his own single-payer Medicare for all bill. Senators from both parties will be asked to choose a side: Do you support the current system of health care rationing, medical bankruptcies and unnecessary deaths; or a program proven to work both here and in every other developed country?

A majority of Americans now believe that health care is a human right, and that it is our government’s responsibility to achieve universal coverage. We’ve tried everything else except Medicare for all. What are we waiting for?

Dr. Carol Paris is a psychiatrist and president of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP).

https://www.commondreams.org…

The obvious Obamacare replacement, but when?

The obvious Obamacare replacement has been here all along

By John Garamendi
The Sacramento Bee, July 27, 2017

The ongoing uncertainty in Congress surrounding health care legislation, and the intentional sabotage of the Affordable Care Act, is destabilizing the insurance marketplace, driving up costs, discouraging new enrollments, and making Americans worried about the future of their health care.

In the short term, Congress should shore up the Affordable Care Act with bipartisan, commonsense improvements, such as a reinsurance program to stabilize the market for high-risk policyholders, legislation to make cost-sharing reductions permanent, and government permission to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. But in the longer term, the time is right to think about ways to make access to health care truly universal and cover those who are still left behind. By far the simplest solution is Medicare For All.

Opponents may point to the difficulties California has had in trying to implement its own state-based universal health care system. A stand-alone plan in California would somehow have to incorporate existing federal health insurance programs – an impossible task given the political realities of the Trump Administration.

But a federal Medicare for All program would face no such obstacles: It would simply use the existing Medicare infrastructure and expand it to cover everyone.

Seniors know the peace of mind that comes from having the guarantee of health insurance. Imagine if all Americans could say the same.

John Garamendi represents the 3rd congressional district in California.

http://www.sacbee.com…

***

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

As soon as John McCain joined Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and cast the vote that defeated the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer repeated McCain’s earlier plea to return to regular order and reform health care on a bipartisan basis through the usual committee process. That inevitably leads to incremental change, if any change at all, which would have only a negligible impact compared to the need that exists.

Americans previously understood the deficiencies of the Affordable Care Act, and now they have been shown that reducing a government role in oversight of the private insurance industry would never fulfill the promise by the politicians of better care at a lower cost. Americans are ready for a national health program, and that is reflected in the response of the 115 members of Congress who are cosponsoring John Conyers’ HR 676, the Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act.

Congressman John Garamendi of California represents the enthusiasm for a federal Medicare for All as he explains in his op-ed. But he joins other members of Congress in qualifying his support by saying, “In the short term, Congress should shore up the Affordable Care Act with bipartisan, commonsense improvements.” “But in the longer term, the time is right to think about ways to make access to health care truly universal and cover those who are still left behind.” Now is not that time?

“Single payer but not now” has become the byword of the incrementalists. If we move forward with an emasculated public option or an unaffordable Medicare buy-in, the process will come to halt, likely for decades, while we “see how this works.” We do not need more policy experimentation. We know what works. Single payer, Medicare for all, or whatever you want to call it, but let’s do it now!

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Senate defeats single payer amendment

By Don McCanne, M.D.
United States Senate, July 27, 2017

In the Senate an amendment to the Republican repeal and replace legislation was introduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) that would establish a single payer system in the United States – an expanded and improved Medicare for all – using the exact same language as in HR 676 introduced in the House by Rep. John Conyers.

The vote:
0 – Yes
57 – No
43 – Present

All Republicans, including Sen. Daines, voted against it. Democratic Senators Donnelley, Manchin, Tester, and Heitkamp, along with Independent Senator King, voted against it. All other Democrats voted Present.

Sen. Bernie Sanders had said before the vote that failure of Sen. Daines and other Republicans to vote for their amendment would demonstrate that this was a sham to be used to campaign against moderate Senators in the next election. When no Republican voted for it, most Democrats plus Independent Sen. Sanders voted Present.

It is a sad commentary that the most important health policy legislation ever introduced in Congress – legislation that would have brought health care justice to all – was used by the Republicans as a tool for political chicanery.

Do they think this was some kind of a joke? They just rejected legislation that would have prevented hundreds of thousands of people over the years from facing physical suffering due to lack of medical care, financial hardship, and even death. Death!

We could forgive them for a bad joke, but this?

Mobilize the forces. This is war! Not the guns and bombs type of war but a war against man’s inhumanity to man.

***

Man was made to mourn: A Dirge

Many and sharp the num’rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, –
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

–  Robert Burns, 1784

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Jimmy Carter on board for single payer

Jimmy Carter Believes U.S. Will Eventually Go to Single-Payer Health System

By Louise Radnofsky
The Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2017

Former President Jimmy Carter said he believed the U.S. would in time adopt a fully government-run health insurance system, or “Medicare for all,” in remarks ahead of his Sunday school class here. “I think eventually we’ll have a single-payer system,” said the former U.S. leader.

https://blogs.wsj.com…

***

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

President Carter, welcome aboard.

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Should PNHP postpone single payer and advocate for incremental reform?

Single payer can’t happen in California. At least, not right away

By Steve Tarzynski
Los Angeles Times, July 25, 2017

Given the dismal state of healthcare reform in Washington, liberal Californians have rallied around the idea that the state should establish a single-payer program. Although in the future such a system would be workable and desirable, the reality is that at the moment a single-payer bill cannot pass. Fighting for one in the immediate term is a waste of time.

But by 2020, California might just be ready for single payer — if advocates achieve a string of smaller but important legislative victories to build power.

Such steps might include: a state individual mandate; a state employer mandate that also covers part-time workers and their dependents; continued guaranteed coverage for children in the country illegally; giving the state insurance commissioner the power to regulate insurance premiums; setting a process to negotiate drug and medical device pricing; administrative reforms to streamline Medi-Cal so that there is less waste and better coordination and continuity of care; engaging the state’s tech sector to assist with such streamlining; advancing nonprofit delivery systems and moving away from fee-for-service practice; and opening up Medi-Cal to everyone, which would effectively create a state public option robust enough to compete on a level playing field against private insurers.

We do not need yet another devastating loss. Time, treasure and effort would be better spent winning the series of smaller victories that create the pathway to single payer. And in four years, a substantially stronger single-payer movement could successfully lobby a new Congress and president for federal waivers.

More than a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt called for a system of national health insurance. Single-payer advocates have been working for decades. They’ll have to work a few years more.

Steve Tarzynski is a physician and president of California Physicians Alliance.

(For a fair representation of Steve Tarzynski’s views, be sure to read the full article available at the link below.)

http://www.latimes.com…

***

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

How much incremental reform do we need before we are ready to enact a single payer system, whether at the state or federal level? Or are we ready now?

The California chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) struggled with these questions without resolve, and it was decided to split the chapter into two organizations – PNHP California and California Physicians Alliance (CaPA), CaPA having been a predecessor organization in California. PNHP is a single issue organization advocating for single payer reform whereas CaPA advocates for incremental reforms with an ultimate goal of single payer.

There is legitimacy for both organizations.

CaPA leadership believes that advocating for incremental reforms would establish a better working relationship with other organizations supporting health care justice. Joint advocacy efforts supposedly should reduce the resistance to the more comprehensive reform that a single payer system would bring us. More importantly, incremental reforms can be beneficial during the interim before transition to a single payer system clears the political hurdles.

PNHP leadership believes that we should do all that we can to expedite the transition to a bona fide single payer system. We have a long history of incrementalism and each step has resulted in postponement of a serious consideration of single payer. Right now the battle in Congress is between supporting the incremental policies in the Affordable Care Act or replacing them with measures that would set us back even further. Yet the concept that the government should play a greater role has gained traction amongst Americans, and we should be moving forward with a process that will accomplish that instead.

There are many individuals and organizations who support the various incremental proposals. They do not want for lack of a voice. On the other hand, there is a need for a loud, clear and unwavering voice for single payer reform, lest the message be lost in the incremental mishmash. PNHP will remain a major contributor to the clarion call. CaPA should as well though Steve Tarzynski in his op-ed says that fighting for single payer in the immediate term is a waste of time. But if we expect results by 2020, there is much work to be done now.

For full disclosure, I should say that I am a member of the transitional steering committee for PNHP California as we revitalize our chapter, and I am also a member of the advisory board for CaPA. I believe that both organizations play important but somewhat different roles in the California health care reform movement.

As a former national president of PNHP, I do have a bias. Both organizations support single payer as the ultimate goal, and I am going for that. I do support beneficial measures that may provide transitional relief, but devoting time, resources, and effort to single payer is not a waste of time; it is an absolute moral imperative. We need to go all out, now!

PNHP California
www.pnhpcalifornia.org

CaPA
http://caphysiciansalliance.org

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