tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22349199968952197512024-03-21T11:29:31.098-05:00Ill and UNINSURED in IllinoisLife without health insurance in ChicagolandIll and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-74715606485744799432009-11-03T21:30:00.001-06:002009-11-03T21:39:02.041-06:00Emergency! Nov. 4 rally against Cook County health care cuts<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 400px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXVCQK71whITHJ_BGKhppY1gM-cm-Ut8Ai7xY8BkTidX9ApdcvUQ_DiHXCwIQKnGl4qXBrIjeABrORxpWR5znx6IZtIg1wARESgPzbUkci_hHzSyrqMdI0A5d_7-gbruK5EUahnt5yKlQ/s400/emergency.jpg" style="border:1px solid black;" alt="Stroger Hospital Emergency Room" title="Stroger Hospital Emergency Room" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400080049547519682" /><div style="text-align:center;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;font-weight:bold;">Stroger Hospital Emergency Room</div><br />Yesterday, I had surgery at Stroger Hospital. My appointment was for 6:30 a.m. But the hospital was so overwhelmed that didn't get my operation until after 5 p.m. <br /><br />I spent the whole day lying on a gurney in the pre-op area. Afterward, I was in terrible pain they were unable to get controlled, but they still sent me home because — the nurse said — there were patients in even worse shape that they didn't have beds for.<br /><br />Now services may be cut further.<br /><br /><div style="border:5px double silver; margin:1em; padding:1em; background-color:#E0E0E0;"><div style="font-size:175%;font-weight:bold;text-align:center;color:red;">Protest at Stroger Hospital</div><div style="font-size:125%;font-weight:bold;text-align:center;">4 p.m. Wednesday, November 4<br />West Ogden and South Damen avenues, Chicago</div></div><br />From the <a href="http://www.chispan.org/" target="_blank">Chicago Single Payer Action Network</a>:<blockquote>Our health care system is under attack! Our hospitals and clinics which serve over 80% poor, black, latino and immigrant people are being dismantled. If we don't fight back against these attacks the patients served with be left without healthcare.<br /><br />Where will we go when we get sick and can’t afford the $10-$50 dollar co-pays per clinic<br />visit?! What clinics will we go to when they become run by the federal government and bill for their services? Where will we get our medicines when our pharmacies are eliminated because our clinics are sold off? What hospital will we go to when the in-patient services are<br />eliminated? <br /><br />This is what CEO Foley and the new governing board is proposing. Already over 300 nurses, doctors and medical staff have received lay off notices and there are still more to come! Every<br />attack on our health care workers and our hospitals and clinics is ultimately an attack on us.<br /><br />We cannot remain silent! We have got to fight back. THESE ARE THE PROPOSED CUTS:<br /> <ul><li>Eliminate all of inpatient care at Provident Hospital!</li><li>Eliminate all of inpatient care at Oak Forest Hospital!</li><li>Close more ACHN clinics and turn others like Robbins Community Clinic and Cottage Grove into Federally Qualified Health Centers<br />(FQHC's)!</li><li>Charge $10 co-pays for every clinic visit!</li><li>900 unfilled positions are already eliminated!</li><li>500 more lay-offs still to come!</li></ul></blockquote><a href="http://www.prparadechicago.org/up-unidadpopular/?p=337" target="_blank">More information from UP</a>.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-46536014859199469162009-10-09T16:30:00.008-05:002009-10-09T18:48:57.157-05:00Health-care activists arrested in Chicago sit-in<div style="text-align:center; font-family:arial; font-size:85%; font-weight:bold;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/P87I7dABsv4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/P87I7dABsv4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br />Arrests at Cigna in downtown Chicago yesterday. (Via <a href="http://ilprog.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/chicago-cigna-7-arrest-this/" target="_blank">Illinois Media Progressives</a>.)</div><br />Police dragged seven health-care protesters from a pro-reform sit-in at Cigna's downtown Chicago offices yesterday, dragging them by hands and feet. Outside, a rally whose members included Illinois Rep. Mary E. Flowers (D-31st) chanted, "Cigna profits! People die!"<br /><br />I don't know who the brave individuals who let themselves be arrested were, but they have my profound gratitude. All I know is that they represent the Illinois Single Payer Coalition, the Chicago Single Payer Action Network, Progressive Democrats of America and Physicians for a National Health Care Program.<br /><br />No news media troubled to report the names of those arrested. AP did a <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h8LNl5IrFbL0xkhp_ZyrigoQEZNwD9B751200" target="_blank">short item</a> on the story, which is all the Chicago Tribune ran. No other mainstream Chicago media covered it at all, so far as I can tell. <br /><br />"And we will stand with you, as you have stood with us," wrote the <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1815344,CST-NWS-edit09b.article" target="_blank">Sun-Times</a> today, announcing its new owners. I'm glad the paper will survive. <br /><br />But where were you yesterday?Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-6447231320702717732009-08-11T21:00:00.000-05:002009-08-11T21:04:59.501-05:00RIP Nicholas Skala, Chicago advocate for single-payer <br /><div style="border: 15px solid black; padding:15px"><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="500" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/dWBZz070m-k&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/dWBZz070m-k&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="315"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight:bold; font-family:arial; font-size:85%;"><a href="http://singlepayeraction.org" target="_blank">Single Payer Action</a> interview with Nicholas Skala, June 12, 2009<br />Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. </span></div><br /><br />I was shocked and saddened to hear of the death of 27-year-old Nicholas Skala. Mr. Skala, who died suddenly of unknown causes in his Chicago home last weekend, was one of the most dedicated campaigners on behalf of single-payer health care. His death is a terrible loss to the movement.<br /><br />A one-time staff member of <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/" target="_blank">Physicians for a National Health Program</a>, Mr. Skala continued to work for the cause as a volunteer even after he had left the organization to go to law school. He was a dedicated and talented advocate.<br /><br />Dr. Ida Hellander, executive director of PHNP, wrote:<blockquote>"His incisive mind, wide-ranging knowledge and formidable skills of argument were devoted entirely to bringing about a better world for everyone.<br /><br />"To his friends and co-workers, he was an extremely witty and compassionate human being, and a great source of inspiration and encouragement.<br /><br />"Nick had only recently returned to Chicago from two months in Washington, D.C., where he contributed significantly to the cause of single-payer health reform in multiple ways. He was committed to working for PNHP in our Chicago office during the next six weeks prior to his return to his classes at Northwestern University Law School.<br /><br />"His death is a heavy blow to our organization and to the entire single-payer movement.<br /><br />"We vow to redouble our efforts to bring about Nick Skala's vision."</blockquote>I never met Nick Skala or spoke to him, but we exchanged e-mail on several occasions. He was unfailingly polite, interested and prompt in his replies to a random blogger, which made him nearly unique in my experience of trying to communicate with local health-care reformers.<br /><br />I express my sincere condolences to Mr. Skala's family and friends, to his colleagues at PNHP, to the single-payer cause in general and to society as a whole. We are all poorer for the loss of such a promising young man.<br /><br />A funeral service for Nicholas Skala will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Lauterburg-Oehler Funeral Home, 2000 E. Northwest Highway, Arlington Heights. Visitation will take place from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.<br /><br />According to PHNP, Mr. Skala's parents, Judith and Ronald Skala, have invited all of his friends to attend, and ask that, in lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory be made to Physicians for a National Health Program, 29 E. Madison St., Suite 602, Chicago, IL 60602.<br /><br />Sympathy cards can be sent to Judith and Ronald Skala, 12215 Lakewood Glen Ct., Cypress, TX 77429. Condolence messages sent to PNHP or the funeral home will be forwarded to the family.<br /> <br /><br /></div>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-29902038671165624272009-08-09T08:00:00.002-05:002009-08-11T05:23:26.097-05:00Liar! Liar! Pants on fire! 10 lies about health-care reform <br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 297px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/Sn67SGh5vGI/AAAAAAAAAXw/RlwTCs87HCE/s320/palin_wink.jpg" border="0" alt="Sarah Palin is a winking liar" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367933725537057890" /><br /><br />I'm not normally one to give way to obscenity but WTF?!<br /><br />It seems as if Republicans like <a href="http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/08/08/have-you-no-decency.aspx" target="_blank">Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have gone off the deep end</a> and are trying to make Americans believe that health-care reform is going to create some kind of <span style="font-style:italic;">Soylent Green</span>-like society where the sick will be ground up for bread. According to Palin: <blockquote>"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." </blockquote>Palin seems to be confusing Obama's plan with our current system in which a "death panel" of insurance-company bureaucrats decides who's worthy of health care based on what will generate <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKI9be55N00" target="_blank">the most profits</a>, and anyone who's so unproductive as to be sick and out of a job may as well curl up and die. <span style="font-style:italic;">That's</span> the evil America Sarah Palin knows and loves!<br /><br />Please note that this isn't coming from some wacko fringe element of the Republican Party. This is coming from a woman whom the party seriously considered suitable to be second-in-command to the leader of the free world. <br /><br />Anyway, I've decided that if Palin and other Republicans can get away with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603854.html" target="_blank">promulgating sick lies, outrageous untruths and off-the-wall innuendo</a> about health-care reform, so can I. <br /><br />Here are some of those I'm spreading. Feel free to join in by repeating them as often as possible and coming up with your own.<br /><ol><li>Health-care reform will cure the common cold.</li><br /><li>Republicans masterminded the Twitter denial-of-service attack…in an effort to stop pro-health-care reform tweets.</li><br /><li>Under single-payer health care, all Americans will receive an annual free visit to a health spa.</li><br /><li>Universal health care means your pets will get free veterinarian visits, too.</li><br /><li>A Republican doctor invented a cure for cancer but party members convinced him to suppress it in order to protect insurers' profits.</li><br /><li>The health-reform bill will fund construction of 1,000 new medical & nursing schools, creating millions of jobs.</li><br /><li>Why are anti-health-care reform Rep. Mark Kirk's <a href="http://bit.ly/JxpzL" target="_blank">divorce records sealed</a>? Is it true about the sheep? </li><br /><li>U.S. ballplayers threaten strike if health-care reform isn't passed before the World Series. "Some things are more important than baseball," sluggers say.</li><br /><li>Rush Limbaugh says he's now supporting H.R. 676.</li><br /><li>Staffers sorting George W. Bush's cast-offs in the White House basement have discovered a huge cache of gold and platinum. The administration says there's enough there to fund heath care for all American for 20 years. The deposit was labeled "Weapons of Mass Destruction." </li></ol>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-67701437159528488852009-08-03T10:00:00.001-05:002009-08-03T10:00:03.694-05:00Dis-invited from White House, Obama's Chicago doctor eloquent on health-care reform<div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/2wsPZsEYuok&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/2wsPZsEYuok&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></div><br /><br />Dr. David Scheiner, who was Pres. Barack Obama's personal physician for 22 years, until Obama went into the White House, speaks out forcefully for single-payer health care in this video, and he is no fan of the president's plan, or that of those that were being hashed out in the House and Senate, before those legislators gave up and went on vacation. (About 1,800 Americans will die as for lack of health care during the August recess, but what does Congress care?)<br /><br /><blockquote>"If I had a single point to make about what is going wrong with this health reform is that the public is so uniformed. They think somehow that they get the best care in the world. We know by health statistics we're 37th. Even people with good health insurance don't realize that the health care they get is often not appropriate...."</blockquote><br /><br />He's right. And most people haven't a clue as to what "single payer" means.<br /><br />While single-payer is getting a little more attention at last, it's extremely interesting to see that Scheiner was dis-invited from the recent White House press conference on health-care reform. (I don't supposed that mattered much to the cause of single-payer, since everything that was said at that event was immediately swallowed up in the furor after Chicago Sun-Times Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet asked about Skip Gates.) <br /><br />I would very much like to know whether the impetus came from Pres. "Small Change" Obama's side or from ABC's.<br /><br />Journalism is not covering the issue of health-care reform well. I agree with <a href="http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2009/07/why-is-the-mainstream-media-spreading-misinformation-about-health-care-reform-.html">Maggie Mahar</a>: Tbe media are not giving the public the information they need in order to understand all of the sides of this issue, and is failing in their critical role of analysis. <br /><br />Why is what beer the White House serves worth more ink than H.R. 676?Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-58936836238604077552009-08-01T10:00:00.006-05:002009-08-01T10:00:04.994-05:00Health-care reform: The progressives awake! <br /><div style="text-align:center;"s><iframe height="339" width="425" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/32229379#32229379" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:85%; font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/32229379#32229379" target="_blank">Rachel Maddow</a>: The gloves come off on health-care reform.</span></div><br /><br />I feel a little more hopeful about health-care reform today. It looks as if progressives in Congress may be finally waking up from <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-reform-and-living-dead.html">the dead</a>.<br /><br />New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's move to showcase the hypocrisy of conservative House members on government-run health care was hilarious. He proposed to eliminate Medicare. Of course, not a single congressman voted for it. <br /><br />House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's strong language painting insurance companies as villains was good to hear.<br /><br />It also <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jERDSLns7V0" target="_blank"t>sounds as if</a> House Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) thinks the Blue Dog Democrats can be brought to heel on a public option. In a <a href="http://static1.firedoglake.com/30/files//2009/07/pledge-letter0001.pdf">letter</a> to constituents, Frank wrote:<blockquote>I am a strong supporter of single payer, and I do reluctantly accept a full public option as the best we can do. So I am strongly committed to a public option and I will not vote for a bill that does not include a nationwide, genuine public plan. </blockquote>Meanwhile, <a href="http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/30/health-care-update-57-house-progressives-won%E2%80%99t-vote-for-blue-dog-compromise/" target="_blank">57 members of Congress</a> have signed a <a href="http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/07/30/53-house-progressives-wont-vote-for-blue-dog-compromise/" target="_blank">letter</a> saying, "Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, for a public option with reimbursement rates based on Medicare rates — not negotiated rates — is unacceptable," and promising not to vote for the Blue Dog "compromise" bill currently on the table.<br /><br />Signers include Illinois congressmen Luis Gutierrez (D-4th), Phil Hare (D-17th) and Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-2nd). I'm deeply disappointed not to see the names Danny Davis (D-7th), Bobby Rush (D-1st) and Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) on this list. If your representative's name isn't there, <a href="http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc&state=il" target="_blank">urge him or her</a> to take the <a href="http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/publicoption" target="_blank">pledge</a>.<br /><br />While you're at it, send a note to <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/07/hell-no-we-wont-hush.html">Pres. Onamby-pamby</a> urging him to promise he won't to sign any bill without at least a strong public option. Remind him that when we voted for change, we didn't mean small change. Tell him you want real change, like the single-payer option <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/obama-and-meaning-of-change.html">he used to say he supported</a>.<br /><br />There's also hopeful news on single-payer, perhaps. In order to get <br />Weiner to withdraw his amendment to replace the House Energy & Commerce Committee's bill with the single-payer H.R. 676, Committee Chairman <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0fA2DfwFn4" target="_blank">Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said that he had spoken with Pelosi</a>, and she had pledged that single-payer would get a debate and floor vote and a debate on single payer in the full House! I'll believe it when I see it, but if it turns out to have been a mere ploy to get Weiner to shut up, Waxman is going to be up against the wall when the revolution comes.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-13986464341028082912009-07-30T13:30:00.000-05:002009-07-30T13:36:32.560-05:00Health-care reform and the living dead<div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/6ccCJONhcOU&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/6ccCJONhcOU&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:85%; font-family:arial;">Zombies take over the streets of Chicago, July 25, 2009</span></div><br />I haven't posted in a while. I've been feeling worse again, and I've been depressed over the way that health-care reform is going. I'm becoming convinced that if anything passes at all, it's going to be so watered down as to be useless, or make matters even worse. And I don't see that any of the plans now being bruited in Congress are going to be any help to me at all.<br /><br />However, if anyone's still checking in, I wanted to draw your attention to <a href="http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-reform-got-pummled-today.html" target="_blank">Ellen Beth Gill's post</a> from yesterday. She really said everything I feel about the current political situation.<br /><br />Basically, health-care reform is pretty much dead, and all that's walking around now is its zombies.<br /><br /><blockquote>"I am wondering if now we're really off health care and on to political survival. In the last couple of months, the advocates of this plan broke cardinal rule of negotiation #2. (They broke cardinal rule #1 up front when they began negotiations with their base minimum acceptable position.) Cardinal rule #2 is: never fall so in love with the deal so much that you cannot walk away from it. The public option supporters got so invested in it that they either failed to notice or at the very least failed to speak up as their baby lost all the attributes that made it potentially cost saving, a viable alternative to expensive private plans and perhaps a good temporary compromise solution. Now that it's about as far from the original idea as it can get and survive, its advocates might just have to stick with it or go down in a serious defeat, taking many Democrats along with them.<a href="http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-reform-got-pummled-today.html" target="_blank">...</a>"</blockquote>In a way, I almost wish that McCain and Palin had won. At least then I wouldn't be feeling betrayed, and their administration would have been pretty funny to watch. And you know they say that laughter is the best medicine....<br /><br />That's a little sick humor for you.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-34337527409929671622009-07-15T14:30:00.002-05:002009-07-15T14:38:04.801-05:00Hell no, we won't hush! <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/b0Am6bhK4rc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/b0Am6bhK4rc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></div><br /><br />From <a href=" http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/449357/obama_hushes_healthcare_advocates" target="_blank">Laura Flanders</a>: <blockquote>"With popular fury at the status quo rising and hunger for a real, public option attracting over 70 percent approval in polls, the White House is urging public-option advocates to hush.<br /><br />"According to the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/03/AR2009070302309.html">Washington Post</a>, in a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama asked health care advocates to ratchet back their pressure for a public option. He's apparently concerned about advertisements and on-line campaigns targeting foot-dragging Democrats....<br /><br />"When Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sat down with health-care lobbyists on June 10, two were his former chiefs of staff. Their aim: to minimize the "damage" in profits to insurers, hospitals and drug makers from any change in approach from government. Specifically, they oppose any even remotely public option, the details of which are right now up for debate."</blockquote><br />Mr. President, you ought to be leading the charge, not telling people to hush! The Democratic Party is in the best position it can possibly be in to bring about meaningful health-care reform and it looks like <a href="http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/071409Lindorff.shtml" target="_blank">you're going to blow it</a>, for no better reasons than fear of offending Republicans and cutting into the profits of health insurers. <br /><br />What is <span style="font-style:italic;">wrong </span>with you? <br /><br />Now we hear that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/12/lawmakers-wont-make-obama_n_230256.html" target="_blank">lawmakers aren't going put together a health-reform bill before the August recess</a>:<blockquote>The administration's Democratic partners in Congress hinted they would not deliver legislation before leaving town for an August recess. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Obama should be pleased with lawmakers' progress; Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said "there really is plenty of time."</blockquote>Plenty of time? <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/january/make_that_22000_uni.php" target="_blank">Some 22,000 Americans, <span style="font-style:italic;">more than 60 per day,</span> die just because they have no health coverage!</a> Millions remain in pain or become lamed for life. And Congress wants to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/12/751726/-Health-Care-Reform:-Dont-Come-Home-Without-It" target="_blank">go on vacation</a>?Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-87196215217681569512009-07-12T10:00:00.001-05:002009-07-12T10:00:02.488-05:00Better fairgrounds treatment than no treatment<div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/0-M10jDkmm0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/0-M10jDkmm0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></div><br /><br />In this video, former health insurance industry executive Wendell Potter, who left the field after almost 20 years to become a health reform advocate, talks to Bill Moyers about what caused him to leave his highly paid job.<br /><br />My first thought, hearing him describe the "health care exposition" he went to, in which uninsured people lined up to be treated in animal stalls, was to wish such events happened in Chicago.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-10170495014043758082009-07-02T10:30:00.003-05:002009-07-02T10:33:01.852-05:00Chicago doctor walks 700 miles for health care reform<div style="float:right; width:200px; margin-left:10px;"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px; height: 288px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SkzP_xDDZVI/AAAAAAAAAWg/-tWUrV999qA/s400/OganGurel.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353882751441528146" /><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:arial; font-size:85%;">Dr. Ogan Gurel</span></div>To highlight the hardships that plague the uninsured, Chicago docter Ogan Gurel is taking their stories to Washington, D.C. — on foot. <br /><br />Gurel is adjunct associate professor of bioengineering/bioinformatics at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and chairman of Aesis Group, a medical consulting firm. As a self-employed consultant, the doctor, like nearly 50 million other Americans, lacks health insurance. Inspired by the 167-mile walk around Illinois that Pat Quinn (now governor of Illinois) and <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/" target="_blank">Physicians for a National Health Program</a> founder Dr. Quentin Young took in August 2001 to promote health care for everyone, Gurel is on a one-man march to the nation's capital. <br /><br />On Saturday, June 27, he left from Daley Plaza on a nearly 700-mile hike. He expects to arrive in Washington on July 27. En route, he plans to meet people and share their health-care stories through <a href="http://walk4healthcare.blogspot.com" target="_blank">his blog</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113509038713" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/walk4healthcare" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.<br /><br />In his walk, which Gurel says is nonpolitical, he isn't advocating any particular reform policy, he says. That's a pity, because it makes his walk less meaningful. It's clear that some kind of health-care reform will happen. Yet unless we have, at a minimum, a strong public option, it will fall far short of health care for all.<br /><br /><a title="View Walk for Healthcare FAQs on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/17015564/Walk-for-Healthcare-FAQs" style="margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Walk for Healthcare FAQs</a> <object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" id="doc_221877307515136" name="doc_221877307515136" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" align="middle" height="500" width="100%" rel="media:document" resource="http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=17015564&access_key=key-4d3o7hrmzzgxoivotis&page=1&version=1&viewMode=" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/media/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" > <param name="movie" value="http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=17015564&access_key=key-4d3o7hrmzzgxoivotis&page=1&version=1&viewMode="> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="play" value="true"> <param name="loop" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showall"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="devicefont" value="false"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="menu" value="true"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="salign" value=""> <embed src="http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=17015564&access_key=key-4d3o7hrmzzgxoivotis&page=1&version=1&viewMode=" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="opaque" devicefont="false" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="doc_221877307515136_object" menu="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" salign="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="500" width="100%"></embed> </object>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-20858044540225056702009-06-29T13:30:00.002-05:002009-06-29T13:30:07.354-05:00$1.4 million per day to derail health-care reform <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=5281465" target="_blank"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 238px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SkkBLkdfLxI/AAAAAAAAAWY/dpPnrg47Eio/s400/spendingchart.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352810930384088850" /></a><br /><br />Why isn't Congress listening to Americans on health-care reform? This is why.<br /><br />Health care interests have spent $1.4 million <span style="font-style:italic;">per day</span> this year lobbying Congress, according to <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=5281465" target="_blank">Common Cause</a>. Just imagine if that money were spent on health care for the uninsured instead.<br /><br />Common Cause also reports:<br /><blockquote><ul><li>Health industries — including health insurance, pharmaceuticals and health products, hospitals and HMOs, and health professionals — have contributed over $372 million in campaign contributions to members of Congress since 2000.</li><br /><li>Political spending by the health industries has increased 73 percent since 2000. Health interests contributed about $94 million to candidates for Congress in the 2008 election cycle, up from about $54 million in the 2000 cycle.</li><br /><li>Members serving on committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over health care reform in the House and Senate received the lion's share of health industries' largesse. Committee members raised $178 million from the industries this decade — roughly half of the industries' contributions to the entire Congress. </li></ul></blockquote>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-29491602720426579422009-06-22T11:00:00.001-05:002009-06-22T11:04:24.783-05:00Hooray for Mary Flowers!June 25 single-payer hearing, Carbondale <br /><div style="float:right; margin-left: 10px; width: 150px;"><img style="float:right; margin:10px 10px 10px 0; width: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/Sj-WOqwqqfI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/sc8C0bx6IXA/s400/Flowers,+Mary+E.jpg" border="0" alt="Mary E. Flowers" /><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:arial; font-size:90%;">Mary E. Flowers</span></div>Illinois Rep. Mary E. Flowers (D-31st) is still out there talking up <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/springfield-on-health-care-reform.html">her bill</a> for an Illinois single-payer health-care system, H.B. 311.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2009/06/17/local/29088456.txt" target="_blank"><span style="font-style:italic;">The Southern Illinoisan</span></a> reports:<blockquote>"Flowers said she plans to be in Carbondale next week to discuss the legislation and get feedback from citizens who want to 'make their voice heard' on health care. She will host a hearing at 7 p.m. June 25 at the Carbondale Civic Center.<br /><br />"'The average family is paying $6,700 a year for health care in Illinois and guess what? They are not better for it, and they are not healthier for it,' she said. 'Other countries pay less, get more and live longer.'"</blockquote>Given the <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_BILL_COSTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" target="_blank">mess being proposed</a> in Washington by politicians largely <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/health-insurance-pirates-go-ahead-and.html" target="_blank">bought and sold by the insurance industry and for-profit medicine</a>, it may be that, like the smoking ban, we will have to enact universal health care state-by-state or even city-by-city. (After all, if the Chicago City Council could pass ordinances about the <a href="http://www.zeldes.com/webclips/eatbeat041305-foiegras2.html" target="_blank">welfare of ducks</a>, you'd think they could do something for people.)<br /><br />Here's hoping Illinois will be a leader.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-76571996156155449712009-06-20T09:00:00.004-05:002009-06-20T09:00:22.607-05:00Obama's Chicago doctor supports single-payer <br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 275px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SjzX7jEJoVI/AAAAAAAAAWI/FVLqNdDxggI/s400/ObamaHealthCare.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349387875434209618" /><br /><br />What do you call a man who ignores his doctor's advice?<br /><br />Barack Obama.<br /><br />So reports <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/obama-doctor-knocks-obamacare-business-healthcare-obamas-doctor_print.html" target="_blank">Forbes</a>, which notes that Dr. David Scheiner, the Hyde Park physician who was Obama's internist from 1987 until after the election, is critical of the president's stance on health-care reform.<br /><br />Forbes, naturally, tried to put as right-wing a spin on Scheiner's criticisms as possible ("Obama's Doctor Knocks ObamaCare"), but what it comes down to is that Scheiner supports single-payer health care. <br /><blockquote>"'He doesn't see all the pain, it's so tragic out here,' [Scheiner] says. 'Obama's wonderful, but on this one I'm not sure if he's getting the right input.'<br /><br />"What should the president be focused on? Scheiner thinks that a good health reform would be 'Medicare for all,' a single-payer system where the government would cover everyone and pay for it by cutting out waste in the system. 'A neurosurgeon gets paid $20,000 for cutting into the neck of my patient. Have him get paid $1 million a year instead of $2 million or $3 million. He won't starve,' Scheiner says.<br /><br />"Scheiner thinks that Obama's 'public plan' reform doesn't go far enough. He supports the idea of that option for people who don't like or can't afford their HMO. But he worries that it will be watered down or not happen at all. "'It's nonsense that the private insurance companies need to be protected,' he says. 'Why? Because they've done such a good job?'</blockquote><br />Scheiner actually says he didn't discuss health policy with Obama, but it seems unlikely the latter was unaware of his doctor's views. Scheiner's medical partner, Dr. Quentin Young, founded <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/" target="_blank">Physicians for for a National Health Program</a>.<br /><br />Dr. Scheiner, it's not too late to write your patient a prescription for fixing health-care's ills.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-52638714112984704232009-06-19T09:00:00.002-05:002009-09-10T01:30:39.740-05:00Maher on Obama and health care: Right again <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ewmruk69SIo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ewmruk69SIo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:arial; font-size:85%;">Bill Maher: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-maher12-2009jun12,0,7966784.story">Enough with the Obamathon</a></span></div><br /><br />Sorry if you've seen this already. I don't have cable, so I see these things when they come around on YouTube. Bill Maher is absolutely right here. Pres. "Go with the Flow" Obama is not giving us the leadership we expected or deserve.<br /><br />The way he and the Democrats in Congress are kowtowing to the GOP in the name of a useless bipartisanship is a crying shame. Now is not the time to turn the other cheek and try to prove how much better your manners are than the Republicans'. Too many lives are on the line. Use your power while you have it.<br /><br />We should all stop basking in the relief that Bush is gone, and push Obama into doing the things we need him to do. <br /><br />Stop making nice, Mr. President. Fight for us. History will judge you on what you achieve, not on how you look on TV.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-28100841593493382212009-06-18T09:00:00.009-05:002009-06-18T18:30:06.303-05:00Have you signed on to universal health care?<div style="text-align:center;"> <br /><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/vgVT19TPios&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/vgVT19TPios&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:85%;font-family:arial;">Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)</span><br /><br />Please go to <a href="http://sanders.senate.gov/petitions/index.cfm?uid=7fd59f2e-88e1-477a-8eaf-762a5b050809" target="_blank">Sanders' Web site</a> <span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;">right now</span> and sign the petition!<br /><br />Everybody in. Nobody out.</div>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-1916297938895721902009-06-17T10:08:00.006-05:002009-06-18T02:36:57.633-05:00Chronic recognition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://duncancross.net/2009/06/patients-for-a-moment-first-ever-editio/" target="_blank"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 74px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SjkHUvaAcPI/AAAAAAAAAWA/p3M1opWNxVQ/s400/patientforamoment.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348314085383500018" /></a><span style="font-style:italic;">Ill and Uninsured in Illinois</span> has gotten a tiny bit of recognition lately. The blog was accepted to Blogburst, a blog syndication service, which means a couple of my posts appeared on the <span style="font-style:italic;">Chicago Sun-Times'</span> and <span style="font-style:italic;">Daily Southtown</span> Web site. (This seems to have generated about five click-throughs to the actual blog so far, and there's no compensation, in case you were wondering.) More gratifyingly, <a href="http://duncancross.net" target="_blank">Duncan Cross</a> very kindly invited me to participate in the very first <a href="http://duncancross.net/2009/06/patients-for-a-moment-first-ever-editio/" target="_blank">Patients for a Moment</a>, a new patient-centered blog carnival, which launched today. It's a fine start. Go take a look.<br /><br />One of the linked posts that particularly struck me was at <a href="http://gettingclosertomyself.blogspot.com/2009/06/continuum-of-disclosure.html" target="_blank">Getting Closer to Myself</a> on how to talk about one's illness. This is something I've been struggling with; most of my friends and acquaintances have no idea how sick I've been — what they think about why I've dropped out of sight I don't know. Probably they don't much care. I haven't told many people, in part because I still have hopes of finding a job when I get through all of this, and a reputation as a sickly person in the relatively small circle of my field will be hard to overcome. I never expected to be so ill for so long.<br /><br />Duncan's comments, which linked my <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/retail-clinics-no-answer-to-medically.html">post on retail clinics</a> to a thoughtful post from <a href="http://mythreadedbliss.typepad.com/a_blessed_mess/2009/06/cant-sleep-.html" target="_blank">A Blessed Mess</a> on the financial problems of chronic illness, sent me to look up just what chronic illness is.<br /><br />I hadn't before now thought of myself as chronically ill. However, since the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics defines a chronic illness as one lasting three months or more, and this bout of decrepitude has lasted since late December, I guess I am. But it's the health-care system that's made me a chronic invalid.<br /><br />Five years ago, when I had health insurance, I had an episode. It lasted a few weeks — four, maybe six altogether — during which time I had an emergency room visit, a follow-up with a specialist, three outpatient medical procedures and a number of intervening doctor visits. I had to take about a week off work, all told. And then it was all over and I was fine.<br /><br />This new episode, without insurance, has been pretty much the same, treatment-wise. But the timing has been much different. I <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/03/15-hours-at-stroger-hospital.html">became ill</a> in late December. I <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/02/wait-for-cook-county-health-care.html">didn't get to see a specialist</a> until late March. I had the first procedure in late April, with follow-up a month after that. A second procedure took place early this month, and my follow-up isn't until the end of the month. I'm guessing a third procedure will be needed, just like last time, so that'll be another two months. For all of this time, I've been too ill to leave my house, and for much of it, too sick even to work at home. I need a job, and yet I'm in no condition to look for work.<br /><br />This isn't the fault of the beleaguered Cook County Health and Hospitals System. It isn't my fault. This is America's fault. <br /><br />Thanks, Duncan, and also thank you to the bloggers who've added me to their blogrolls. Meanwhile, I invite your comments on this blog and suggestions on what I might do to get the word out further. By the way, please note the little star and the green doodad below. The star lets you promote a post on The Windy Citizen, Chicago's version of Digg. The green Share This icon makes it easy to share on Digg, Facebook or a variety of other social networks.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-57192528145851500492009-06-16T10:00:00.010-05:002009-06-17T03:36:12.736-05:00Health-insurance pirates: 'Go ahead and die!' <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/bk23AtoTzMM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/bk23AtoTzMM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-family:arial; font-weight:bold; font-size:85%;">Pirates of the Health Care-ibbean.<br />Music by the Austin Lounge Lizards.</div></div><br />This is brilliant! Why hasn't it gone viral? <br /><br />Embed it in your blog! Digg it! Post it on Del.ico.us. Please, somebody, put it on national TV!<br /><br />Chicagoans, of course, will be reminded of the legendary Steve Goodman. Yes, the health-insurance industry is nothing less than the "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHopQAOLKA8" target="_blank">Lincoln Park Pirates</a>," all growed up:<br /><blockquote>"I've got mine, and I feel fine, so go ahead and die!"</blockquote><a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/obama-and-meaning-of-change.html">How Chicago is that</a>? As the late Mike Royko used to say, <span style="font-style:italic;">"Ubi Est Mea."</span><br /><br />Funny as it is, though, it's also frighteningly true:<br /><blockquote>"Senators and congressmen make up my scurvy crew<br />They swab my decks and cash my checks<br />And cast a vote or two.<br />When the universal health-care serpent rears its ugly head<br />My press gang fires broadsides <br />And my crew ensures it's dead."</blockquote>According to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204075.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-style:italic;">Washington Post</span></a>:<br /><blockquote>"Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer's debate.... Their total health-care holdings could be worth $27 million, because congressional financial disclosure forms released yesterday require reporting of only broad ranges of holdings rather than precise values of assets."</blockquote>Do they really think we're so dumb as to believe that people with such investments in the status quo will vote fairly on reform? And over and above that, of course, are millions in <a href="http://www.americaforpurchase.com/american-injustice/congress-bought-off-by-health-insurance-companies/" target="_blank">direct donations</a> from insurers and pharmaceutical companies and <a href="http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/on-health-care-whos-hooked-on-special.html" target="_blank">their PACs</a> accepted by Sen. <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/obamas-hope-baucuss-nope.html">Max Baucus</a> (D-Mont.) and other key players in the heath-care reform debate. Plus other close relationships, such as the wife of Sen. <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/tell-chris-dodd-to-support-single-payer.html">Chris Dodd</a> (D-Conn.), who, the <span style="font-style:italic;">Post</span> points out, has remunerative positions on the boards of four health-care companies.<br /><br />Weigh, hey, let's tow 'em away!Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-85322200110033950802009-06-14T10:30:00.002-05:002009-06-14T10:30:00.556-05:00Horrifying health ministries: Inspiration for health co-op plan? <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/mantegna/2/dead_chr.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 338px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SjRjl20NyfI/AAAAAAAAAV4/cIk0wii999E/s400/deadchrist.jpg" border="0" alt="Andrea Mantegna, ca. 1490" title="Andrea Mantegna, ca. 1490" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347008159616453106" /></a><br /><br />Sen. Chris Dodd's health-reform site, now apparently closed after <a href="http://moderator.youtube.com/#15/e=6e348&t=6b076" target="_blank">26,363 votes on 514 entries from 484 people</a>, got a lot of traffic from members of so-called Christian health ministries, who were apparently coached to post repeating messages (they all used nearly the same language) calling for preserving their private health-care expense-sharing plans and to hell with the rest of us. (I guess we're destined to go there, anyway, in their view, so they don't mind if we suffer here on earth first.)<br /><br />Since the <a href="http://healthcare.change.org/blog/view/co-op_idea_isnt_half_a_loaf_--_its_half-baked" target="_blank">health cooperative idea proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad</a> (D-N.D.) seems based on the concept of these <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/20/business/20religion.html" target="_blank">unregulated health-insurance programs</a>, it's as well to understand how they work.<br /><br />Typically, the organization publishes a newsletter specifying named individuals' health-care needs every month, and members, who are required to tithe a specified amount monthly, send their donations directly to the sick person of their choice. So not only do you have to tell all your fellow members about your hemorrhoids or prostate trouble, if you're unpopular, I guess you die.<br /><br />According to the scheme most frequently cited, Peoria-based <a href="http://www.samaritanministries.org" target="_blank">Samaritan Ministries</a>:<br /><blockquote>"Whether anyone chooses to pay your medical bills will be totally voluntary. This publication should never be considered as a substitute for an insurance policy. Whether you receive any payment for medical expenses, or whether or not this publication continues to operate, you will always remain liable for any unpaid bills.<br /><br />"This is not a legally binding agreement to reimburse you for medical expenses you incur...."</blockquote><br />To participate in Samaritan Ministries, you must be certified by the pastor of your church as a born-again Christian who attends church three out of every four weeks, and who doesn't drink, smoke or have sex outside of heterosexual marriage. You must also practice undefined "good health measures." <br /><br />No expense under $300 is covered; payments cap out at $100,000 per illness. No preventative medicine, regular checkups or routine tests, such as colonoscopy. No chiropractic or osteopathic treatments. No treatment for mental illness or resulting suicide attempts. <br /><br />If you have cancer, diabetes or a heart condition before you join, no expenses related to those conditions will be paid for, ever. A 12-month symptom- and treatment-free period applies to other pre-existing conditions. They also won't cover any sexually transmitted diseases contracted by, er, having sex. <br /><br />They do, however, cover the expenses of birthing lots of Christian babies.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-71386606861307183682009-06-13T09:00:00.001-05:002009-06-14T02:13:53.441-05:00Health Wonks' health reform roundup <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.healthwonkreview.com/" target="_blank"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 45px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SjMy0mqetWI/AAAAAAAAAVo/DKvXEPDrnN0/s200/wonksm.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346673061932217698" /></a>I'm a little behind on things this week — struggling with two ailments while trying to get a little work done has sapped my energy — so I'm just getting to <a href="http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001558.html" target="_blank">the latest edition</a> of <a href="http://www.healthwonkreview.com/" target="_blank">Health Wonk Review</a> at <a href="http://www.joepaduda.com/" target="_blank">Managed Care Matters</a>.<br /><br />This time out, it's a wide-ranging compendium of views on health-care reform, including my own <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/retail-clinics-no-answer-to-medically.html">post on retail clinics</a>, which author Joe Paduda links in a flattering way to the eloquent <a href="http://covertrationingblog.com/primary-care-in-america/the-death-of-primary-care-medicine-is-official" target="_blank">DrRich's discourse</a> on the death of the primary care physician.<br /><br />I particularly like Paduda's own <a href="http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001489.html" target="_blank">solution for reform</a>, which goes further than any proposal being considered in Washington now — not "Medicare for All" but Veterans Administration health care for all. Paduda does a good job of refuting the anti-reformers' assertion that the government can't do anything right (which, oddly enough, seems to be promulgated largely by people who were staunch supporters of the government for the past eight years).<br /><br />It's definitely worth taking a look.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-9064159151218676422009-06-08T17:30:00.001-05:002009-06-11T23:09:15.507-05:00Springfield on health-care reform <br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/Si0Nq_Oa8BI/AAAAAAAAAVg/Qg4Nq26GoAg/s400/capitol1874.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344943364936232978" /><br /><br />Following health-care reform has made me realize that I don't know as much as I ought to about how my state government works, not when you get down to the nitty-gritty details. <br /><br />As an excuse, I grew up in another state, so I learned something else when seventh-graders in Illinois learned that stuff, and I haven't had much call to study the state's legislature's detailed workings till now. I used to get all I needed to know from the newspapers, but our local papers no longer seem to employ reporters to cover the daily happenings in Springfield, and the principal news source about the state Capitol is a paid-subscription blog. So I've just been trying to track what I can through the state Web site. <br /><br />As best as I've been able to determine, here is the status of the various health-care bills that came up in the 96th Illinois General Assembly, now recessed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What passed</span><br /><ul><li><a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=3923&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=46751&SessionID=76' target='_blank'>Illinois H.B. 3923, Insurance Rate Fairness</a><br />Requires insurance companies to spend atleast 75 percent of premium dollars on medical care rather than on executives' salaries, marketing and profits; establishes an Office of Consumer Health Insurance to conduct reviews of claims and rate increases; streamlines application process with a standard form for individuals and small groups. <span style="font-style:italic;">Passed the House and Senate in different forms. Final action deadline extended till Nov. 30, 2009, so it could still fall apart.</span></li><br /><li><a href='http://ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2325&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=44245&SessionID=76&SpecSess=&Session=&GA=96' target='_blank'>Illinois H.B. 2325, Continuing Coverage</a><br />Extends state COBRA rights from nine to 12 months. <span style="font-style:italic;">Passed both houses.</span></li><br /><li><a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=0233&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HR&LegID=47587&SessionID=76&GA=96&SpecSess=0' target='_blank'>Illinois H.R. 0233, Urge Congress-Universal Health</a><br />A House resolution urging the U.S. Congress to enact Rep. John Conyers' <a href="http://johnconyers.com/healthcare" target="_blank">Medicare for All Act</a>. <span style="font-style:italic;">Adopted.</span></li></ul><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What failed</span><br /><ul><li><a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=311&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=40472&SessionID=76' target='_blank'>Illinois H.B. 311, Healthy Illinois Act</a><br />Single-payer universal health-care. <span style="font-style:italic;">Died in committee. Urge your rep. to reintroduce and support it in the fall veto session.</span></li><br /><li><a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=1331&GAID=10&SessionID=76&LegID=42427' target='_blank'>Illinois S.B. 1331</a> and <a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1801&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=43583&SessionID=76' target='_blank'>Illinois H.B. 1801</a>, Family and Employers Health Care Act<br />A program to make health insurance plans and HMOs affordable and accessible to small employers and individuals. <span style="font-style:italic;">Died after second reading. </span></li><br /><li><a href='http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=1855&GAID=10&GA=96&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=44713&SessionID=76' target='_blank'>Illinois H.B. 1855, Medicaid Access</a><br />Extension of Medicaid to indigents aged 50 to 64 and the disabled. <span style="font-style:italic;">Died after second reading.</span></li></ul><br />For those of you who also need a primer on Illinois government, here's a <a href="http://www.ctbaonline.org/legglossary.htm">guide</a>. What's not very clear to me is what causes a bill that's gotten to a second reading to fizzle before it comes to a third reading and final vote. I'm also unsure of what may and may not be reintroduced in the fall session, but e-mail from my state rep. said it was possible H.B. 311 might return then. I hope so.<br /><br />I suppose we should be urging our representatives and senators to get it together over H.B. 3923, but I can't get too excited over it. The insurance companies will find a way to finagle it somehow.<br /><br />Frankly, I'm very unhappy with what my legislators have managed to achieve this session, and I don't see the furor over Blagojevich as any excuse.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-20124451113436853422009-06-07T09:00:00.007-05:002009-06-12T22:25:31.071-05:00Tell Chris Dodd to support single-payer! <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">UPDATE:</span> After commentary from 484 people, Sen. Dodd has stopped accepting opinions at the YouTube SenateHub site. You can still contact him through more <a href="http://dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130" target="_blank">traditional means</a>.</span><br /> <br /><br /><div style="text-align:center;"><object width="500" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/eT3V3PIiJQA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/eT3V3PIiJQA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="315"></embed></object></div><br />Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, invites you to submit your ideas and vote up or down those of others <a href="http://www.youtube.com/senatehub">here</a>.<br /><br />I wonder whether anyone will actually pay attention to this, or whether it's just a political ploy. <br /><br />Dodd asserts: "Many people like what they have. They don't want to change. They don't want us fooling around with it. And certainly our intention is if you like what you've got, then you keep what you've got." <br /><br />Yet I've read every one of the <a href="http://moderator.youtube.com/#15/e=6e348&t=6b076" target="_blank">153 ideas</a> that are there as I write, and by far the vast majority are calling for change, and most of those want single-payer. <br /><br />Anyone who's had any serious illness and had to deal with the denials, the paperwork, the expense and lack of coverage entailed in the private-insurance system doesn't want to keep what they have. Those of us who don't have coverage don't want to keep what we have.<br /><br />The only people who want to keep what they have are healthy people who haven't had any real interaction with their insurance companies. And, of course, people who work for insurance companies.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-34510147445370274992009-06-06T09:00:00.002-05:002009-06-06T09:00:00.998-05:00Discouragement<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 276px; height: 293px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SioWfsbiLFI/AAAAAAAAAVY/QERZy8B5SRQ/s400/fetal-r.jpg" border="0" alt="It hurts" title="It hurts" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344108641586916434" /><br /><br />I haven't written about my own situation in a while. Partly because I find writing about myself difficult, especially when there's no good news to report. This week I have good news and bad news.<br /><br />The good news is that treatment is progressing. Slowly, but it's happening. The bad news is that I now have another ailment on top of the one I started with, and although I <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/retail-clinics-no-answer-to-medically.html">got some treatment</a> for that, too, I feel worse. I'm frightened and discouraged, both by my own deteriorating condition and by the fact that health-care "reform" seems to be progressing in <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/06/can-we-have-worse-health-care-than.html">ominous ways</a>.<br /><br />So Max Bau<span style="font-style:italic;">CA$H</span> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/06/05/ST2009060504116.html" target="_blank">met with single-payer</a> advocates and apologized. But, of course, he said it's too late. <br /><br />Among other discouraging things that's happened lately is a conversation I had when I was at Stroger Hospital last week, being prepped for treatment. During a lull in the proceedings, I said to the anesthesiologist, "So what do you think about single-payer health care?"<br /><br />"I never heard of it," she said.<br /><br />I thought maybe she just wasn't familiar with the term itself and explained. "Oh, socialized medicine," she said. No, I said, and explained further. "I'll have to look into it."<br /><br />But here we have medical personnel at a large, overburdened public hospital in the hometown of <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/" target="_blank">Physicians for a National Health Program</a> ... and they don't know about single-payer? And <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/obamas-hope-baucuss-nope.html">neither do the patients</a>?<br /><br />Stroger Hospital, and other places like it, should be a prime recruiting ground for single-payer advocates. There, if anywhere, people understand what's wrong with our health-care system.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-62016242904630038492009-06-05T09:00:00.003-05:002009-06-05T23:03:52.717-05:00Can we have worse health care than today? Yes we can!<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 386px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/SigtdXqKbnI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/itQXodoSRZQ/s400/barack-obama-black-sox.jpg" border="0" alt="Black Sox Scandal" title="Black Sox Scandal"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343570940465409650" /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial; font-size:95%; font-weight: bold;">Say it ain't so, Barack. Say it ain't so.</div><br /><br />Well, I never would've thought it.<br /><br />Of all my nightmares over health care, the one I never thought would come to pass is a system <span style="font-style: italic;">worse </span>than we have now. Yet it's looming on the horizon: A system in which everyone is <span style="font-style:italic;">forced </span>to buy health insurance from the big, greedy insurance companies who continue to practice their current deceitful schemes to get out of actually providing coverage. And if you don't pay, you either face fines, or have to fill out a lot of humiliating paperwork detailing your impoverished state in order to qualify for the privilege of doing without decent health care.<br /><br />That's the <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/35458-1.html">plan being considered</a> by senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy and, yes, Pres. Barack Obama. And they call themselves Democrats?<br /><br />I can't write anymore, I'm too appalled.<br /><br />Please, Barack, say it ain't so.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-85379018020921445682009-06-04T09:00:00.009-05:002009-06-12T22:23:47.265-05:00Retail clinics no answer to medically underserved <br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">UPDATE:</span> I unfairly maligned Walgreens' nurse-practitioner for not doing any tests; in subsequent research I learned that my new illness is best diagnosed clinically in its early stages. On the other hand, the dosage of antibiotics she prescribed was too little, as I found out when I phoned my doctor. He told me to take the pills twice as often and twice as long, and graciously phoned in another prescription, so I was spared the price of an office visit. However, he said that if that doesn't clear up the symptoms, I will need to see a <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/02/wait-for-cook-county-health-care.html">specialist</a>.</span><br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 400px; height: 204px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/Sid-EPuGD3I/AAAAAAAAAVA/h8qPHj_0Zgo/s400/takecare3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343378094302826354" /><br /><blockquote>(<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hl5uRJQky9ShjfgZQ7k5db2psNAwD98DFHH00" target="_blank">AP</a>) — "Walk-in retail clinics in grocery and drugstore chains can help the uninsured find health care, proponents say. But a new study suggests most retail clinics aren't in the poorest neighborhoods.<br /><br />"Like most businesses, they go where the money is — to more affluent neighborhoods, which already happen to be well-served by other medical resources....<br /><br />"The study's results suggest financial incentives may be needed to lure the clinics to low-income neighborhoods, said study author Dr. Craig Pollack of the University of Pennsylvania....<br /><br />"Open late and on weekends, the clinics use nurse practitioners to give shots and treat minor ailments such as sore throats and rashes. Visits typically cost $40 to $75, and prices are posted so consumers know what they're paying. People pay cash or use insurance....<br /><br />"Industry leaders said retail clinics were designed to offer convenient care, not as the health care system's safety net. But they play a role, industry officials acknowledge. The clinics' own research shows 30 to 40 percent of patients say they don't have a primary care provider, said Tine Hansen-Turton of the Convenient Care Association, a trade group representing most of the clinics.<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hl5uRJQky9ShjfgZQ7k5db2psNAwD98DFHH00" target="_blank">...</a>"</blockquote><br />Retail clinics like <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/03/little-help-for-few.html">Walgreens' Take Care</a> are quick and convenient. They're open evenings and weekends, and you don't need an appointment. If you don't have insurance, they're somewhat <a href="http://www.healthpopuli.com/2008/09/retail-clinics-cheaper-per-visit-but.html" target="_blank">less expensive</a> than a visit to most doctors.<br /><br />Under our present health-care system, they do have a role. But they're a stop-gap, not a replacement for a primary-care physician. If you catch the flu or sprain your ankle on the weekend, they can save you a trip to the emergency room. But if your flu turns into pneumonia, or the ankle remains weak and needs physical therapy, they won't offer you followup care. For that matter, they can't x-ray your ankle to see if it's actually broken. If you have a chronic condition that needs monitoring, they don't do that, either.<br /><br /><div style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;">* * *</div><br />Recently, I visited a Take Care clinic because of an illness I self-diagnosed ... with help from Dr. Google. Dr. G told me that it's one of those things that can get very bad if left untreated, so I thought I'd better get checked out. I didn't want to go to the <a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/03/15-hours-at-stroger-hospital.html">Stroger Hospital emergency room</a>, and the retail clinic seemed like the least expensive alternative. <br /><br />The nurse-practitioner took a short medical history, did a very brief exam, listened to my description of my symptoms, said it looked as if I was right, and prescribed antibiotics. It cost $68.<br /><br />She did no tests. She had to look up the correct antibiotic in a book. I asked about followup care, and she advised me to see a regular doctor once I'd finished the medication. <br /><br />If Dr. Google and Take Care's APN are right, the pills will likely help me. If they're wrong, I'll have had — at a minimum — an unnecessary course of antibiotics that will do me no good.<br /><br />Would my treatment have been different had I gone to the doctor I used to see when I had insurance? Perhaps not. But I bet he'd have ordered a test before writing a scrip, and I'd know for certain whether I had the disease I feared, or something else.<br /><br />Of course, his price would have been higher, too.<br /><br /><div style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;">* * *</div><br />Even for the limited ailments and injuries they diagnose and treat, retail clinics aren't a substitute for having a regular doctor who knows you and your history. If you rely on on such clinics for your medical care, it's very possible that underlying problems will go on unrecognized. And, as this new study notes, they aren't even convenient for the people who most need health care options.<br /><br />To me, the existence of these clinics is just another symptom of our spotty, patchwork health-care system. Rather than offer financial incentives to create more for-profit retail health clinics in poor, underserved areas, it makes more sense to set up nonprofit or government-run clinics and offer incentives to doctors to work there.<br /><br />Why don't we have a medical version of <a href="http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/commitment.jsp" target="_blank">ROTC</a> in the United States? In Australia, <a href="http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/work-st-mrb-summ" target="_blank">government scholarships</a> subsidize the training of medical students who agree to spend six years working in underserved areas once they complete their schooling.<br /><br />Somehow, it seems typical of the state of America now that our government trains young people to make war, but not health care.Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2234919996895219751.post-86887210271905695702009-06-03T09:00:00.009-05:002009-06-03T17:38:16.932-05:00Health reformers' calendar<br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center; width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ogV7Wn6XI70/Sib1m2PNK8I/AAAAAAAAAU4/KshYiIC8e6M/s400/June_2009.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343228055664798658" /><br /><div style="text-align:center; font-weight:bold; font-size:120%;">Upcoming health-care reform events</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/june-6-organizing-for-health-care.html"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 6:</span> Organizing for America Health Care Kickoffs</a>. Rewrite the script!</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://www.cbhconline.org/issues/hcjc/summercelebration09.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 8:</span> Campaign for Better Health Care Summer Celebration</a>, 5:30 p.m., La Decima Musa Restaurant, Chicago, $50.</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://www.chispan.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 9:</span> Chicago Single Payer Action Network</a> meeting, 6:30 p.m. Access Living, Chicago.</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 14:</span> Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform</a> with U.S. Rep. <a href="http://www.janschakowsky.org" target="_blank">Jan Schakowsky</a> (D-9th), 2 p.m., Niles Senior Center, 999 Civic Center Drive, Room 127, Niles (southeast corner of Oakton Street and Waukegan Road).</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=dXN1ZXFqYWF2bXQ4NXR1ZTc4YTYwYjc2YjBfMjAwOTA2MTdUMTkzMDAwWiBjYmhjb25saW5lLm9yZ19ybm5hYzdraWNpa2hnZ3NvaWxsc2dlNjlxb0Bn&ctz=America/Chicago" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 17: </span>Health-Care Justice Discussion</a> by the <a href="http://www.cbhconline.org" target="_blank">Campaign for Better Health Care</a>, 2:30 p.m., Peoria Public Library.</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://www.chispan.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 23:</span> Chicago Single Payer Action Network</a> meeting, 6:30 p.m. Access Living, Chicago.</div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://www.1payer.net/action-alerts/313-national-rally.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 25:</span> Great American Sickout</a>, National Rally for Health Care for All Now. Those who can, gather at 10 a.m. at the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Those who can't, stay home from work and call the White House and all your representatives and senators. </div><br /><div style="text-indent: -2em; padding-left: 2em;"><a href="http://illinillinois.blogspot.com/2009/05/june-6-organizing-for-health-care.html"><span style="font-weight:bold;">June 27:</span> Organizing for America National Health Care Day of Service</a>.<br /></div>Ill and Uninsured in Illinoishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842061773157756533noreply@blogger.com0