It's Time to Add Your Voice

Since 1987, Physicians for a National Health Program has advocated for reform in the U.S. health care system. A large part of our work involves educating health professionals, and others, about the benefits of a single-payer system - including fewer administrative costs and providing comprehensive health insurance for all residents of the United States.

PNHPWW September 16th Monthly Meeting

The Saving Lives Campaign

Cuba and the COVID-19 Pndemic



Breaking News:

1. Tribute to the life and work of Kevin Zeese - Saturday, Sept 19th, 12 noon - see below for info & link.

2. Demonstration at ICE Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma - Sunday, Sept 20th, 1PM, against the forced sterilization of immigrant detainees - see info below

We had a wonderful September meeting focused on the "Saving Lives Campaign in Collaboration with Cuba." We discussed how our chapter's founding was related to a trip to Cuba in 2005 by two chapter co-founders, how we have helped support students from Seattle who have benefited from a free medical education at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana (ELAM), how we have much to learn from Cuba's experience in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic both in Cuba and via its Henry Reeve Brigades that are working in more than 20 other countries, how we in the US can advocate for collaboration with Cuban health care workers, and work to end the economic sanctions the US places on Cuba and some other countries that are interferring with their ability to combat the virus.

We provided an overview of the Campaign strategy to promote collaboration of US and Cuban medical professionals, pass resolutions at local and national levels to advocate for collaboration in clinical trials of medicines and treatments, and to end US economic and travel sanctions on Cuba.



We were fortunate to have two outstanding speakers. Cindy Domingo, longtime Chief of Staff to retired King County Councilmember Larry Gossett and Chair of the US Women and Cuba Collaboration, talked about what has been done across the country in the way resolutions to local, state and national legislatures and labor councils to promote collaboration and end the sanctions the US places on Cuba and other countries that adversely affect their ability to fight the virus.

Sol Bockelie, current 5th year medical student at ELAM, graduating in 2021, talked about his experience at the largest medical school in the world, which has provided free medical education to 29,600 students from more than 122 countries, including 200 students from the US. We showed some video of 2020 US graduates.

You can view a video of the meeting here

Here are some links to support the Saving Lives Campaign:

1. Next Saving Lives Campaign national Zoom - Wed Sept 23, 5PM Pacific time.

Link - https://zoom.us/j/97331377036 - Meeting ID: 973 3137 7036 - +1 253 215 8782

2. Sign a petition to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to nominate the Cuban Henry Reeve International Medical Brigades for the next award. Click here to add your name:

3.. Join/Endorse the Saving Lives Campaign to expand medical and scientific collaboration between the U.S. and Cuba

4. Spread the word in the search for potential, qualified candidates, students from economically deprived and communities of color, for 7 year, free, ELAM training opportunity. Application info by contacting the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace.

5. Saving Lives Campaign "Dear Colleagues" letter.

6. Seattle Cuba Friendship Committee

7. US Women and Cuba Collaboration

8. IFCO Cuba Buzz newsletter signup

Kevin Zeese: Rest in Power

Kevin Zeese, longtime powerful advocate for improved Medicare forAll and all the other social justice issues passed away peacefully in his sleep a few days ago. Kevin, along with his partner Margaret Flowers, founded Popular Resistance, an invaluable source of information for social justice advocates. They participated in a PNHPWW's Annual Public Meeting and some Monthly Meetings. Kevin will be sorely missed, but we will always have his example. Kevin's sons and Margaret are holding an online vigil for him on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12 noon PT on Zoom. Register at bit.ly/KevinZeese. It will be livestreamed at Facebook.com/PopularResistanceOrg and YouTube.com/PopularResistanceO

Protest at the Northwest Detention Center Tacoma

Sunday, September 20th, 1 PM

Protest the crimes against female detainees - sterilization procedures without their consent - but also call for ICE to be disbanded and the NWDC to be closed. Not only is it unethical to be performing these medically unnecessary procedures on immigrants, but it is additionally a public health catastrophe to be holding detainees in these facilities during a pandemic, especially considering that several NWDC employees have tested positive for COVID-19 and have continued working in close quarters with detainees.

Join outside NWDC for a rally lead by family members and loved ones of those inside. You'll hear from family members of detainees and other community members.

** The families ask that attendees bring flowers and letters of support to place on the fence to show support for all of those inside NWDC **

Future Events

PNHPWW October 21st Monthly Meeting - Topic TBD

October 2,9,16,23,30 - Northwest Health Law Advocates series of webinars "Pandemic Response: how do we center Health Equity" - For more information and to register click here.

Nov 15th 2-4pm - Health Care for all WA Annual Meeting via Zoom. Details TBA

Historical Perspective on Pandemics







Hugh Foy recently gave a wonderful presentation to King County EMTs "Pandemics Then and Now







Kevin Zeese -

Rest in Power

On a sad note - Kevin Zeese, longtime powerful advocate for improved Medicare forAll and all the other social justice issues passed away a few days ago. Kevin, along with his partner Margaret Flowers, founded Popular Resistance, an invaluable source of information for social justice advocates. They participated in a PNHPWW's Annual Public Meeting and some Monthly Meetings. Kevin will be sorely missed, but we will always have his example. Kevin's sons and Margaret are holding an online vigil for him on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12 noon Pacific on Zoom. Register at bit.ly/KevinZeese. It will be livestreamed at Facebook.com/PopularResistanceOrg and YouTube.com/PopularResistanceOrg



Past Events

September 16th - Universal Health Care Work Group #6, 1-4pm via Zoom - More info on Work Group here

October 2,9,16,23,30 - Northwest Health Law Advocates series of webinars "Pandemic Response: how do we center Health Equity" - For more information and to register click here.

Nov 15th 2-4pm - Health Care for all WA Annual Meeting via Zoom. Details TB





PNHPWW August Meeting

WA Universal Health Care Work Group Meeting



We cancelled the usual PNHPWW third Wednesday August meeting to substitute the Universal Health Care Work Group's fifth meeting on August 25th.

The Group, of which PNHPWW President Sherry Weinberg is a member, is charged to look at three possible legislative routes to "universal health care" in our state, including a single, publicly financed option and making a recommendation to our state legislators for the next session beginning in January. More info on Work Group here. Here is Health Care for All Washington's summary of the meeting in which the single, universal, publically funded, privately delivered opton was the overwhelming favorite.







HCHR-WA General Meeting - August 11th

Racism is a Public Health Crisis

Co-Chairs of the HCHR-WA Policy Committee - Fathiya Abdi of the Community Health Network of WA and Sam Hatzenbeler of the Economic Opportunity Institute - discussed recent legislation; Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder of Black Lives Matters showed a video & discussed defunding the police; Rachel Erstad from SEIU 1199NW talked about their work with BLMs; and Aretha Basu, Community Outreach Manager for Seattle Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda talked about the efforts by the Council to overcome systemic racism. You can watch a video of the meeting here.



There is growing recognition that racism is a public health crisis. A key step in this development happened on June 6, when 7,000 health care workers marched from Harborview Hospital to Seattle City Hall in support of people of color, to declare racism a public health emergency, and to demand an end to police brutality against people of color. Following this, King and Pierce counties joined governments across the country in recognizing racism as a public health crisis and taking steps towards racial equity. Similar resolutions have been introduced in the US Congress and adopted by the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychiatric Association.

TAKE ACTION: CONGRESS MUST PASS A NEW CORONAVIRUS BILL

Health Care Is a Human Right WA is among hundreds of grass-roots coalitions and organizations which have called on Congress to meet the extraordinary needs of our country during our triple crises of public health, economic collapse, and systemic racism. We think the priorities outlined by former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich in his blog and shown below, are good ones.



>>> Please call 202-224-3121 THIS WEEK to tell Senators Murray and Cantwell and your US Representative to take action on these priorities. Many millions of families' welfare and many thousands of lives are at stake.





John Geyman's latest book and pamphlet just published "The horrific multiple costs, cruel denials of benefits, and huge entrenched commercial crimes driving the health care industry is described in this motivating, accurate report by Dr. John Geyman. This book points citizens towards Congressional action.

The intense focus has to be on the 535 members of Congress." —Ralph Nader, activist, founder of Public Citizen, and

author of Breaking Through Power: It’s Easier Than You Think.

Available for $15 plus shipping



Order Common Sense Here

Interviews on Ralph Nader Radio Hour: John appeared on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour on July 1st, 2020 to discuss his latest book:

Profiteering, Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Health Care - listen here





PNHPWW July 15th Monthly Meeting

Black Health Matters

North Carolina Medicare for All Coalition









We screened a very informative and moving webinar produced by the North Carolina Medicare for All Coalition. Speakers talked about their personal experiences with the structural racism of our health care system and called for action to achieve Medicare for All. Dr. Susan Rogers, MD, President-Elect of PNHP was a featured speaker. After the presentations, we had some time to discuss what we'd seen.

You can watch the video here



Past Events

August 11 - Health Care is a Human Right General Meeting - watch the video here



Future Events

August 25th - Universal Health Care Work Group Meeting - register for the meeting here

PNHPWW June 7th Monthly Meeting

Residency Unions:

Medical Residents Join the Labor Movement



Brenna Stroup

Executive Director, UW Housestaff Association





Brenna Stroup, Executive Director of the University of Washington Housestaff Association (UWHA) gave a very informative presentation that included UWHA's history, UW resident benefits in comparison with other residency and fellow programs, advantages for residents in joining a union, and the recent efforts to successfully come to an agreement on a new contract with UW. A Q&A session followed the presentation.



You can watch the video here - https://youtu.be/62_fvc1l78g PNHP Statement on Police Violence and Racism as Public Health Emergencies



Info about and how you can support Black Lives Matter - Seattle-King County









PNHP Web Site - Link for latest Coronavirus information

PNHP has a comprehensive web page about the pandemic. Click here to see the latest info.

Health Care is a Human Right General Meeting



June 9th



Scaling the Solutions to Match the Crisis

We heard from US Rep. Pramila Jayapal; Colin Goldfinch, Senior Health Policy Advisor to US Senator Patty Murray; and State Senator Joe Nguyen. They discussed the dual health care and economic crisis and the way forward for the US and Washington State.



You can watch the video here



Watch most PNHPWW Previous Monthly Meetings

PNHPWW YouTube Channel





Valuable New Resources!!!

PNHP Kitchen Table Campaign - https://pnhp.org/kitchen-table-campaign/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=46d56500-b445-424a-9bd8-1678887f3116 - During each of the first six months of 2020, PNHP will focus on a specific, concrete “kitchen table” issue that requires fundamental reform (like single payer), not minor tweaks (like a public option), and how Improved Medicare for All would fix them. Offered are toolkits with lots of resources: January - "Surprise Billling"; February - "Racial Health Inequities"; March - "Rural Health"; April/May - "Pandemics and Public Health Emergencies"; June - "The Opiod and Addiction Crisis."



Medicare for All Facts - https://medicareforallfacts.org - Collated by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese of Health Over Profit - Most of what you need to know at your fingertips and continuously updated . Keep these links on your desktop.



For the latest news on health reform legislation - check PNHP articles of interest and opinion - or research a topic by clicking on the Google Custom Search image below:

Updated PNHP Slides for 2019

Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein presented the annual update on their extremely valuable set of health care reform slides at the recent PNHP Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.



You can view and/or download all the slides here (scroll down the page)

Recent Opinion on the Public Option:

Nation Magazine features an essay by Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein - "The "public option" on health care is a Poison Pill" - that lays out the facts and reasoning why the public option and the other "Medicare for some" plans that do not eliminate private insurance, as espoused by many of the presidential candidates, will delay us from getting where we need to be = health justice for all.















The "Pathway to Universal Health Care " resolution is funded. It directs the WA Health Care Authority to convene a work group on establishing a universal health care system in WA, funded with $500,000 from the general fund to contract with one or more consultants to do an actuarial and financial analysis of state universal system options. The work group must consist of a broad range of stakeholders with expertise in health care financing and delivery system - including consumers, patients and the general public, patient advocates and community health advocates.... Read Health Care for All - WA's commentary



NoHLA WA Legislative Wrap Up - There were many improvements made to health care this legislative session for Washingtonians. Please check out the Northwest Health Law Advocates (NoHLA) Legislative Wrap Up to learn more about other important bills. Medicaid Cuts in Washington State? One major setback - cuts may be coming to Washington state Medicaid patients. "The Legislature assumed Medicaid "program integrity" savings of over $350,000,000 starting in January 2020 that seem to be unachievable without making program cuts of some kind. NoHLA, HCFA-WA and many other stakeholders have expressed great concern about this highly unrealistic assumption."

How We Win - National Improved Medicare for All

Health over Profits for Everyone (HOPE) describes an in-depth strategy analysis on how the single payer movement can win National Improved Medicare for All (NIMA).

PDF; Word.docx



HOPE recently sent a letter to Rep. Jayapal regarding the need for transparency in updating HR 676 before it is introduced in February.





Some Important Recent Articles

Medicare for All legislation in the House - HR 676 ("updated" version to be introduced in the 2019 Congress), Senate - S 1804, and "Faux Single Payer legislation." and what would be essential for a state single payer plan::



1. HR 676 vs. S1804 - Analysis and Recommendations

2. Table of side-by-side Comparison of Medicare for All Public Plan Proposals

3. Aligning House And Senate Single-Payer Bills - Removing Medicare's Profiteering Incentives Is Key

4. Essential Elements of State Single Payer

5. Section by Section draft of Updated Medicare for All - Jayapal bill

6. Saving Lives Campaign Letter

Dr. Geyman's books:



Common Sense: US Health Care at a Crossroads in the 2018 Congress (pamphlet_



Crisis in US Health Care: Corporate Power vs. Tho Common Good looks at how, over the last 60 years, our health care system got to be where it is now - how it changed from a system devoted to patient care to one devoted to maximizing revenues.



The Human Face of Obamacare - Promises vs. Reality and What Comes Next shows the human face of the ACA as the stories of real patients and their families best illustrate continuing problems of our health care system. It also shows how many of the promises made by the Obama administration have not been kept.



How Obamacare is Unsustainable - Why we need a Single-Payer Solution for All Americans documents where the ACA fails and the fix we need.



Health Care Wars - How Market Ideology and Corporate Power Are Killing Amercians examines how our market-based system benefits the 1% at the grave expense and suffering of the 99%.



"Breaking Point - How the Primary Care Crisis Endangers the Lives of Americans" documents the crisis in primary care in the US and what we must do about it.



John's Web Site







