National Nurses United

NewsBriefs_NN FNL 2/26/10 5:49 PM Page 5 all amendments (like the Stupak amendment to restrict abortion funding). On the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont tried to amend the Senate reform bill to include single payer, but in a procedural move, Republicans demanded a full reading of the 726-page amendment and Sanders was forced to withdraw it or have the entire bill be stalled or even defeated. So by December it seemed that the bills emerging out of both Houses of Congress were not only an awfully long way from Medicare for all but also contained troubling provisions that might make matters worse. Both bills contained an individual mandate that would compel every American to buy health insurance coverage, a windfall for the for-profit private insurance industry. Where the two Houses were most different in their reform legislation was in financing. The Senate bill sought to tax what were termed "Cadillac" health insurance plans while the House bill taxed the wealthiest Americans and stock and bond transactions as a funding source. Labor leaders were outraged by the Senate plans as many rank and file union members had helped campaign for Democratic candidates—including the President—who had promised they would never support taxing health insurance benefits. That struggle was still underway when January 19, 2010, rolled around and the election in Massachusetts changed the political landscape on the Potomac. The Senate lost its veto-proof super majority, and the future of any healthcare reform on a national level became much more murky. But within just a few days, the energy of the single-payer movement shifted to California, with the passage of single-payer legislation in the state Assembly. Stay tuned. As state budgets are strained to the breaking point by recession and by rising health costs, passage of single-payer legislation will becomes not only an ethical imperative but also a fiscal necessity. And because the struggle for a progressively financed, single standard of high quality healthcare for all is also a struggle for basic human rights for every patient, the nurses will lead the way wherever the battle needs to be fought, whether that is in Washington, DC, Sacramento, Harrisburg, or Springfield. —Donna Smith, NNU community organizer/legislative advocate in Washington, D.C. JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2010 Single-Payer Fight Moves to States F ederal health reform may have stalled, but the struggle for universal healthcare is alive and well in the states. That was the message heard around the country when California legislators passed SB 810, a bill that would create a Medicare for all system in the state, January 28. "This vote offers California the chance to chart a new course for the nation," California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee Co-president Geri Jenkins, RN, said of the bill's passage. "People will pay less, and no longer be denied care based on their income, age, location, or pre-existing health conditions." California is just one of several states currently considering legislation establishing single-payer healthcare, where care is publicly funded and privately delivered, and everyone is covered. With prospects for meaningful change at the national level ever-slimmer, nurses and other singlepayer advocates are shifting their focus to the states, aiming to convert the public's widespread sympathy for universal coverage into a political movement that can win real gains now. In Pennsylvania, a broad coalition is lining up behind Medicare for all…including moderate Republicans who see it as the best way to contain costs and improve care. At a recent state senate hearing, several Republicans joined Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals President Patricia Eakin, RN, in testifying in favor of a single-payer bill. "A healthcare system dependent on the business community to provide is not sustainable," said David Steil, a former Republican legislator who owns a small manufacturing company. "We are not always good negotiators in deriving the best and most economical healthcare plan for our employees. The fact that SB 400 relieves business of these responsibilities is a major benefit." Dwight Michael, a Republican physician, decried the amount of hours he and other doctors have to spend dealing with insurance industry paperwork. "This bill truly will give us more time to see patients," he said. Maine nurses are campaigning to set up a legislative commission to enact Medicare W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G for all—an initiative approved by voters years ago but never implemented. Single-payer bills are also making their way through state legislatures in Minnesota and Illinois. In Arizona, nurses are fervently opposing an insurance-industry ballot proposition that would make singlepayer illegal in the state. While Medicare for all faces intense opposition from the healthcare industry and its backers in government, it enjoys widespread and consistent public support. Most recent polls show close to two-thirds of Americans think the government should pay for a plan that covers everyone. Opponents of single-payer initiatives cite the budget crises facing many states. But a Medicare for all system could actually provide new revenue streams for states by reclaiming healthcare dollars that currently go into insurance industry coffers. "We spend $200 billion annually on healthcare in California," state Senator Mark Leno, SB 810's sponsor, said during a floor debate on the bill. "What this bill does is it takes that $200 billion and puts it into a scheme that will make better use of those dollars, removing this administrative waste that we currently have." SB 810 now must go before the California Assembly, which has passed similar bills in the past. While Governor Schwarzenegger has threatened to veto the bill, Californians' broad support for single payer leaves open several options for securing its enactment, including a ballot proposition sponsored by the legislature. Michael Lighty, director of public policy for National Nurses United, said a key factor in passing Medicare for all will be building coalitions among nurses, other labor unions, and small businesses. NNU will also focus on consolidating support for single payer among liberal organizations that officially back such a system but failed to advocate aggressively for it during Congressional debates. "Our message to those groups is, you tried something you thought was politically viable and it failed," said Lighty. "We have to go back to single payer because nurses know it's what works, and we have to fight for it." —Felicia Mello N AT I O N A L N U R S E 5

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