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Press Releases

League of Women Voters calls for 'Medicare for all'

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2010    

Contact:
Karen Green Stone and Rob Stone, M.D., grostone@gmail.com
Quentin Young, M.D., (312) 782-6006, info@pnhp.org
Mark Almberg, PNHP, (312) 782-6006, mark@pnhp.org

Noting the Obama administration’s new health law falls short of providing affordable care to all U.S. residents, the national convention of the League of Women Voters passed a resolution Monday calling on the group’s board to “advocate strongly” for “an improved Medicare for all.”

The convention’s 600 delegates, meeting in Atlanta on the group’s 90th anniversary, voted more than 2 to 1 in support of the measure. In the run-up to the national meeting, nearly identical resolutions were adopted by more than 50 local chapters and 11 state organizations of the League, which claims more than 150,000 members nationwide.

Although many other groups, including labor unions, religious denominations and medical associations, have gone on record in recent years in support of a single-payer health program, or an improved Medicare for all, the League’s action is believed to be the first national endorsement of its type since Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March.

“The League’s action is highly welcome and highly significant,” said Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 17,000 doctors who support a single-payer system. “Among other things, it shows that its members are in tune with numerous polls indicating strong majority support for a government-sponsored, improved Medicare-for-all program.

“Such a program is urgently needed to bring to a close the economic and medical fiasco that is the tragic reality of our present health system – a condition which, sadly, the newly passed health law will not cure,” he said.

The convention vote took place shortly before the arrival of Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama’s secretary of health and human services, who was scheduled to address the gathering and to plug the administration’s new health law. When Sebelius arrived, she was greeted by delegates holding a banner that read, “LWV Supports Improved Medicare for All.”

While Sebelius was warmly received by the delegates, the Medicare-for-all message undoubtedly got through, Young said.

The health care resolution (see below) was promoted across the country by League members who built upon the group’s previous declaration that a viable health care plan should be universal, affordable, accessible and funded by taxation rather than by insurance premiums.

The resolution was introduced at the Atlanta meeting by Karen Green Stone of Bloomington, Ind., who argued that the new law lacks effective cost controls and does nothing to eliminate wasteful paperwork and bureaucracy in the U.S. health system.

Green Stone commented after the vote, “The delegates at the meeting understood that it has never been more important to push for a single-payer plan, an improved Medicare for all. They loved our new slogan in Indiana: ‘Health care reform: We’re still for it … and we’re not done yet!'”

Single-payer advocates say replacing the nation’s multiple private health insurers with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public insurance program would save about $400 billion annually in administrative costs, enough to provide all U.S. residents with comprehensive, quality care.


Health Care Resolution passed by LWVUS – June 14, 2010

Whereas the League of Women Voters of the United States believes quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all U.S. residents; and

Whereas the current and proposed systems do not achieve the League goals of affordability and access to everyone; and

Whereas an improved Medicare for all, a publicly funded and privately delivered national health care plan, is consistent with this goal;

Therefore, be it resolved, we, the representatives of local and state Leagues assembled at the 2010 LWVUS Convention, call upon the LWVUS Board to advocate strongly for bills that legislate for improved Medicare for all.


Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org) is an organization of more than 17,000 physicians who support a single-payer national health insurance program. To contact a physician-spokesperson in your area, visit www.pnhp.org/stateactions or call (312) 782-6006.

League of Women Voters calls for 'Medicare for all'

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League of Women Voters calls for ‘Medicare for all’

Physicians for a National Health Program
June 16, 2010
Noting the Obama administration’s new health law falls short of providing affordable care to all U.S. residents, the national convention of the League of Women Voters passed a resolution Monday calling on the group’s board to “advocate strongly” for “an improved Medicare for all.”
Although many other groups, including labor unions, religious denominations and medical associations, have gone on record in recent years in support of a single-payer health program, or an improved Medicare for all, the League’s action is believed to be the first national endorsement of its type since Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March.
The resolution was introduced at the Atlanta meeting by Karen Green Stone of Bloomington, Ind., who argued that the new law lacks effective cost controls and does nothing to eliminate wasteful paperwork and bureaucracy in the U.S. health system.
Green Stone commented after the vote, “The delegates at the meeting understood that it has never been more important to push for a single-payer plan, an improved Medicare for all. They loved our new slogan in Indiana: ‘Health care reform: We’re still for it … and we’re not done yet!'”
https://pnhp.org/news/2010/june/league-of-women-voters-calls-for-medicare-for-all

And…

2010 Convention

League of Women Voters
Atlanta, Georgia
June 11-15, 2010

Motion #549-473, submitted by LWV of Bloomington-Monroe, IN.
Whereas the League of Women Voters of the United States believes quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all U.S. residents; and
Whereas the current and proposed systems do not achieve the League goals of affordability and access to everyone; and
Whereas an improved Medicare for all, a publicly funded and privately delivered national health care plan, is consistent with this goal;
Therefore, be it resolved that we, the representatives of local and state Leagues assembled at the 2010 LWLVUS Convention, call upon the LWVUS Board to advocate strongly for bills that legislate for improved Medicare for all.
Motion APPROVED.
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Council_and_Convention&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=15476

And…

LWV Address by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Closing remarks:
So I want to thank you for all your hard work on behalf of the Affordable Care Act.  It’s a tremendous accomplishment.
But I’m also here to tell you that our work isn’t over.  You understand this.  The League of Women Voters was created right before the passage of the 19th amendment.  Some people might have said it was a strange time to start a group focusing on women and democracy.  After all, women were already poised to get the right to vote.
But you knew that passing the amendment was just the first step.  There was still hard work to be done to fulfill its promise.  That’s also true for the Affordable Act.
We’re on the right track.  But we’ve still got a long way to go.  And we’ll need your help to get there.
http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15477

Once again, the League of Women Voters leads the way. Although they supported the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), they realize that it falls far short of the League goals of affordability and access for everyone. Even HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius concedes that we still have a long way to go.
There are several beneficial measures in PPACA that we should continue to support. But the greatest deficiency in the act is that the PPACA financing model can never get us to an affordable system that includes everyone. The delegates at the LWV convention recognized this when they passed the resolution calling for the national LWV Board (LWVUS) to “advocate strongly for bills that legislate for improved Medicare for all,” since it would provide the financing infrastructure that we desperately need.
The individuals and organizations, who in the name of compromise abandoned support for a national health program, have achieved their lesser goal of passing something – anything – as long as the act provided some benefit. Now that it is clear that tweaks to PPACA will still leave us with only compromised “something – anything” policies, it’s time to remount the unified effort to enact an improved Medicare program that includes everyone. We need to give Kathleen Sebelius the tools that she needs to get us there, and that didn’t happen with PPACA.
The League of Women Voters has picked up the torch. Let’s join them. After all, as they say in Indiana, “Health care reform: We’re still for it … and we’re not done yet!”

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