The NYC Sidewalk Summit, which attracted more than three dozen supporters during an early morning blizzard, was one of many held around the country to urge President Obama to finally put on the day the health care proposal he publicly admits would be best for the country - single payer. The protesters held a large banner with the message, “Obama, Letting You Know: Medicare for All.”
“While politicians debate bills that would barely start to address my healthcare problems, I want to answer Obama’s request for better ideas,” says Kate Barnhart, one of Aetna 17, who waited for several months for her insurance company to approve an urgent scan for a brain tumor, only to get a notice that her policy had been terminated.
Barnhart refers to the president’s State of the Union address last month, in which he said:
“But if anyone…has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.”
“Well, we’re letting you know, Obama: the answer is Medicare for All,” says Barnhart.
An improved Medicare-for-All system will be financed through taxes, just like schools and fire departments. Advocates say that not only does this system provide health care to everyone—hence the slogan “Everybody in, nobody out”—it is also the cheapest way to provide health care because it eliminates insurance industry profits and excessive administrative costs. Studies from Harvard University have placed the annual savings at $400 billion.
“It’s simple—you take out the middleman who doesn’t provide any health care, and the saved profits and administrative costs can guarantee all the health care we need, when we need it, for everyone,” says Dr. Laura Boylan, a neurologist and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program. Boylan adds that poll after poll have shown the majority of doctors, nurses, and patients supporting Medicare for All.
Mark Dunlea of Hunger Action Network told the crowd that "private health insurance is the root cause of the problems with the American health care system, forcing us to spend twice as much as other industrial countries for health care. The insurance companies drive for profits - which go up when they deny services - is the major reason why our health care system is the worst among the industrial countries. Yet rather than eliminating health insurance, Congressional Democrats want to mandate that every American has to waste money paying for insurance."
Constancia Dinky Romilly, a retired Bellevue nurse and an Aetna 17 defendant, says, “We’re going to court because we were outraged that insurance companies like Aetna were withholding care from people. We have the same message now: we don’t want for-profit CEOs making decisions about our health care. We want healthcare providers and patients to make those decisions, and that’s what we’ll have with Medicare for All.”
The “sidewalk summit” in front of Manhattan Criminal Court is organized by Healthcare-NOW! with the support of groups such as Hunger Action, Private Health Insurance Most Go, and Physicians for a National Health Program.
For more details on how Medicare for All would exceed President Obama’s goals, please visit: http://www.healthcare-now.org/president-obama-the-answer-is-medicare-for-all/
