We've received a report that Billionaires for Wealth-Care found out about our zombie march for single-payer health care and are now planning to show up to protest. We must be prepared to take them on, in addition to the politicians they fund. So I'd recommend you skip lunch. In the words of one Zombie for Single-Payer: "Come help us eat the CEOs and politicians. Because they deserve it."
*** Thursday, September 24th ***
ZOMBIES for SINGLE PAYER HEALTH-CARE
*** Face-off Vs. ***
BILLIONAIRES for WEALTH-CARE
*** Choose Sides and Come Join the Debate ***
(Zombie make-up provided; bring yer own billionaire outfits and signs)
THURSDAY, Sept. 24th
3:00 pm: Gather on Coffman Plaza, University of Minnesota
for political theater, zombie make-up, music, followed by a
4:00 pm March to Sen. Klobuchar’s office for a
Community Rally for Single Payer from 4:30pm to 6:00pm
outside Klobuchar’s office: 1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Demand Congress put people before profits and pass single-payer
PRESS RELEASE Excerpt:The health care debate is heating up fast. With tens of thousands of lives and billions in corporate profits at stake, two groups who previously operated in a more underground capacity are now surfacing to make their case to the public.
As one representative from "Zombies for Single Payer" explained: "A new study published in the Journal of Public Health last week estimated that 44,000 of us die each year for lack of health insurance. Without insurance, you're a dead-[person] walking. Our group has risen from the grave to have a voice in this debate, and to feast upon the insurance executives and politicians who refuse to support genuinely universal health coverage. Join us Thursday for a rally at the University of Minnesota and a march on the Senator's office."
Meanwhile, the insurance CEO's have announced a counter-demonstration. Head spokesperson for "Billionaire's for Wealth-Care" and CEO of Minnetonka based United Health, Stephen Hemsley stated: "We are very alarmed by reports of stirrings and anger from below. Health care should be for those who can pay, not a right for the unwashed mass mobs of the living dead. Its a free country, right? I mean, I wouldn't be the highest paid insurance CEO if we couldn't pick and choose only the healthiest people to sell coverage too, and let the sick, the pregnant, and the old to fend for themselves."
This Thursday the two groups are scheduled to face-off at the U of M in the battle for public opinion, and have called on their respective supporters to join them.
*** Zombie March called by Socialist Alternative - http://www.socialistminnesota.org/
more info at ZombiesForSinglePayer.blogspot.com
*** Rally at Klobuchar’s office called by MN Universal Health Care Action Network - http://www.uhcan-mn.org/
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
New Study: 44,000 Die Every Year From Lack of Health Insurance
Previously, Zombies for Single Payer has cited an Institute of Medicine study that stated that 18,000+ people died from lack of health insurance every year. Based on the increasing number of Americans without health insurance, we claimed that over 20,000 people die because they don't have health insurance. A new study, from the Harvard Medical School, has proven that this claim is false. We apologize profusely.
It turns out that 44,000 Americans die every year simply because they don't have health insurance. To quote Dr. Andrew Wilper, lead author of the new study: “the uninsured have a higher risk of death [...] even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease – but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
Co-author Dr. Woolhandler says: “the whittled down version that Senator Max Baucus is proposing would leave 25 million uninsured. That translates into about 25,000 deaths annually from lack of health insurance. Absent the $400 billion in savings you could get from a single payer system, universal coverage is unaffordable. Politicians in Washington are protecting insurance industry profits while sacrificing American lives.”
This is why we are marching. These 44,000 people are who we represent. Let's get real. Let's get angry. Let's get dead.
Brett
http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber09182009.html
44,000 Americans a Year Die From Lack of Health Insurance
Meet the Real Death Panels
By RUSSELL MOKHIBER
More than 44,000 Americans die every year – 122 every day – due to lack of health insurance.
That’s the startling finding of a new study – Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults – that appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The 44,000 dead a year estimate is about two-and-a-half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine in 2002.
The Harvard-based researchers found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.
“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health,” said lead author Dr. Andrew Wilper. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease – but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
“Historically, every other developed nation has achieved universal health care through some form of nonprofit national health insurance,” said study co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor of medicine at Harvard and a primary care physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Our failure to do so means that all Americans pay higher health care costs, and 45,000 pay with their lives.”
“Even the most liberal version of the House bill would leave 17 million people uninsured,” Woolhandler said. “The whittled down version that Senator Max Baucus is proposing would leave 25 million uninsured. That translates into about 25,000 deaths annually from lack of health insurance. Absent the $400 billion in savings you could get from a single payer system, universal coverage is unaffordable. Politicians in Washington are protecting insurance industry profits while sacrificing American lives.”
The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking education, income and many other factors including smoking, drinking and obesity into account.
It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.
Previous estimates from the Institute of Medicine and others had put that figure near 18,000.
The methods used in the Harvard were similar to those employed by the Institute of Medicine in 2002, which in turn were based on a pioneering 1993 study of health insurance and mortality.
Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease.
An increase in the number of uninsured and an eroding medical safety net for the disadvantaged likely explain the substantial increase in the number of deaths associated with lack of insurance.
The uninsured are more likely to go without needed care.
Another factor contributing to the widening gap in the risk of death between those who have insurance and those who don’t is the improved quality of care for those who can get it.
The research, carried out at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, analyzed U.S. adults under age 65 who participated in the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 1986 and 1994.
Respondents first answered detailed questions about their socioeconomic status and health and were then examined by physicians.
The CDC tracked study participants to see who died by 2000.
The study found a 40 percent increased risk of death among the uninsured. As expected, death rates were also higher for males (37 percent increase), current or former smokers (102 percent and 42 percent increases), people who said that their health was fair or poor (126 percent increase), and those that examining physicians said were in fair or poor health (222 percent increase).
“The Institute of Medicine, using older studies, estimated that one American dies every 30 minutes from lack of health insurance,” said study co-author Dr. David Himmelstein. “Even this grim figure is an underestimate – now one dies every 12 minutes.”
The authors broke down the 44,840 deaths by state.
California leads the nation with 5,302 deaths due to lack of health insurance per year.
Texas follows closely behind with 4,675 deaths due to lack of health insurance per year.
Texas also had the highest rate (in 2005) of uninsured citizens — 29.7 percent.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of Corporate Crime Reporter and founder of http://www.singlepayeraction.org/
It turns out that 44,000 Americans die every year simply because they don't have health insurance. To quote Dr. Andrew Wilper, lead author of the new study: “the uninsured have a higher risk of death [...] even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health. We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease – but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
Co-author Dr. Woolhandler says: “the whittled down version that Senator Max Baucus is proposing would leave 25 million uninsured. That translates into about 25,000 deaths annually from lack of health insurance. Absent the $400 billion in savings you could get from a single payer system, universal coverage is unaffordable. Politicians in Washington are protecting insurance industry profits while sacrificing American lives.”
This is why we are marching. These 44,000 people are who we represent. Let's get real. Let's get angry. Let's get dead.
Brett
http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber09182009.html
44,000 Americans a Year Die From Lack of Health Insurance
Meet the Real Death Panels
By RUSSELL MOKHIBER
More than 44,000 Americans die every year – 122 every day – due to lack of health insurance.
That’s the startling finding of a new study – Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults – that appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The 44,000 dead a year estimate is about two-and-a-half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine in 2002.
The Harvard-based researchers found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their privately insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.
“The uninsured have a higher risk of death when compared to the privately insured, even after taking into account socioeconomics, health behaviors and baseline health,” said lead author Dr. Andrew Wilper. “We doctors have many new ways to prevent deaths from hypertension, diabetes and heart disease – but only if patients can get into our offices and afford their medications.”
“Historically, every other developed nation has achieved universal health care through some form of nonprofit national health insurance,” said study co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor of medicine at Harvard and a primary care physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Our failure to do so means that all Americans pay higher health care costs, and 45,000 pay with their lives.”
“Even the most liberal version of the House bill would leave 17 million people uninsured,” Woolhandler said. “The whittled down version that Senator Max Baucus is proposing would leave 25 million uninsured. That translates into about 25,000 deaths annually from lack of health insurance. Absent the $400 billion in savings you could get from a single payer system, universal coverage is unaffordable. Politicians in Washington are protecting insurance industry profits while sacrificing American lives.”
The study, which analyzed data from national surveys carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assessed death rates after taking education, income and many other factors including smoking, drinking and obesity into account.
It estimated that lack of health insurance causes 44,789 excess deaths annually.
Previous estimates from the Institute of Medicine and others had put that figure near 18,000.
The methods used in the Harvard were similar to those employed by the Institute of Medicine in 2002, which in turn were based on a pioneering 1993 study of health insurance and mortality.
Deaths associated with lack of health insurance now exceed those caused by many common killers such as kidney disease.
An increase in the number of uninsured and an eroding medical safety net for the disadvantaged likely explain the substantial increase in the number of deaths associated with lack of insurance.
The uninsured are more likely to go without needed care.
Another factor contributing to the widening gap in the risk of death between those who have insurance and those who don’t is the improved quality of care for those who can get it.
The research, carried out at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, analyzed U.S. adults under age 65 who participated in the annual National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 1986 and 1994.
Respondents first answered detailed questions about their socioeconomic status and health and were then examined by physicians.
The CDC tracked study participants to see who died by 2000.
The study found a 40 percent increased risk of death among the uninsured. As expected, death rates were also higher for males (37 percent increase), current or former smokers (102 percent and 42 percent increases), people who said that their health was fair or poor (126 percent increase), and those that examining physicians said were in fair or poor health (222 percent increase).
“The Institute of Medicine, using older studies, estimated that one American dies every 30 minutes from lack of health insurance,” said study co-author Dr. David Himmelstein. “Even this grim figure is an underestimate – now one dies every 12 minutes.”
The authors broke down the 44,840 deaths by state.
California leads the nation with 5,302 deaths due to lack of health insurance per year.
Texas follows closely behind with 4,675 deaths due to lack of health insurance per year.
Texas also had the highest rate (in 2005) of uninsured citizens — 29.7 percent.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of Corporate Crime Reporter and founder of http://www.singlepayeraction.org/
Monday, September 14, 2009
Zombies for Single-Payer interviewed on MPR!
For those that aren't aware, I paid a visit to the recent Obama rally in Minneapolis, advertising the Zombie March for Single Payer. I was interviewed by a few different journalists, including Minnesota Public Radio. They didn't get everything right (I was there as a ZOMBIE, I was there supporting SINGLE PAYER health care), but it's still good that I'm quoted in this public radio broadcast:
'While the Teamsters made their pitch with coffee, 24-year-old United Auto Workers union member Brett Hoven took a more graphic approach. Hoven wore a ripped white t-shirt painted to look bloody. He colored his face to look bruised and his nose dripped with fake blood.
"I'm literally dying for health care," he joked.
Hoven has been laid off from his job at the St. Paul Ford plant. He's a member of the Socialist Alternative. He says people are trying to use the word "socialism" to give the Obama plan a bad name.
"They say 'socialists' like it's pejorative," he said. "But the fire department is socialized, education in this country is socialized."
Friday, September 11, 2009
September 24th-Zombie March for Single-Payer!
Over 22,000 people die every year for lack of health insurance. We are marching to be their voice. The U.S. for-profit medical system “rations” based on ability to pay, while costing more per capita for worse care than any other industrialized nation. The medical corporations are a powerful lobby and donate millions to both parties, snuffing out any hope for genuine change from Washington. Only a movement from below can win a free, universal, single-payer “Medicare for all” system like in Canada and Europe, allowing policy and medical decisions to be made based on human need, not corporate profits.
Thursday Sept. 24th
3:00 pm: Gather on Coffman Plaza
For speakers, music, zombie make-up and info tables
4:00 pm: March to Sen. Klobuchar’s office
4:30 pm: Community Rally for Single-Payer
Outside Klobuchar’s office: 1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Demand Congress put people before profits and pass single-payer
Zombie March called by Socialist Alternative - www.SocialistMinnesota.org
ZombiesForSinglePayer.blogspot.com
Rally at Klobuchar’s office called by MN Universal Health Care Action Network
Thursday Sept. 24th
3:00 pm: Gather on Coffman Plaza
For speakers, music, zombie make-up and info tables
4:00 pm: March to Sen. Klobuchar’s office
4:30 pm: Community Rally for Single-Payer
Outside Klobuchar’s office: 1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Demand Congress put people before profits and pass single-payer
Zombie March called by Socialist Alternative - www.SocialistMinnesota.org
ZombiesForSinglePayer.blogspot.com
Rally at Klobuchar’s office called by MN Universal Health Care Action Network
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Hello to our undead brothers and sisters in Chicago
I was recently introduced to another blog of like-minded, undead single-payer activists. Apparently we're not the only ones that think that dressing up like zombies and advocating Medicare For All is a good idea:
http://www.stopthezombieapocalypse.com/
Check out the latest post on a successful intervention at a Town Hall meeting in Chicago, complete with pictures. I only hope we can do them proud by turning out the zombie horde on September 24th.
Keep it ghoulish!
Brett
p.s.-I'll leave you with a post on their site from a couple of weeks ago:
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Take Action to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse: Support Single Payer Universal Health Care!
The Zombie hordes are upon us. As the undead shamble across our world, devouring humans and spreading their disease, we find the private health insurance companies to be woefully inadequate in preventing the Zombie outbreak from spreading to apocalyptic proportions.
Only a universal single payer health care system would stop the Zombie Apocalypse. Under the private insurance companies, many people who are bitten by Zombies, can not afford to see a doctor who would be able to treat the bite and prevent that person from becoming a Zombie. It seems that the Undead Panels are the Billing Departments of the Insurance Companies, denying care to the poor simply because they can not afford it.
A universal single payer system would guarantee that all are provided medical treatment by creating a national public health insurance, which covers all the needs of everyone. Patients would still have a choice of doctor and hospital, and the cost would be paid by the government.
Many say that this will mean a raise on taxes. Maybe, if you make more than a million dollars a year. A small progressive income tax hike on the richest of the rich, people like Bill Gates, George Soros and Donald Trump, would more than cover the cost of providing health care to all and preventing a Zombie outbreak. Alternatively, the war in Iraq could be ended and the money spent on the war could be redirected towards health care for all. Besides, isn't a small tax raise a small price to pay to prevent
A Zombie epidemic would be tragic, brother would devour brother, society would collapse, and the smell would be horrendous. However all of this can be thwarted if we allow for those who are sick to be able to gain the health care they need, and prevent the spread of such diseases.
That is why we are calling on the victims of the Zombie virus, and the victims of the Health Insurance Industry, to stand up and speak out in support of single payer universal health care. Organize Zombie rallies, picket at Town Hall meetings in full zombie garb, forward this to your friends and organize for equal healthcare for all!
http://www.stopthezombieapocalypse.com/
Check out the latest post on a successful intervention at a Town Hall meeting in Chicago, complete with pictures. I only hope we can do them proud by turning out the zombie horde on September 24th.
Keep it ghoulish!
Brett
p.s.-I'll leave you with a post on their site from a couple of weeks ago:
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Take Action to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse: Support Single Payer Universal Health Care!
The Zombie hordes are upon us. As the undead shamble across our world, devouring humans and spreading their disease, we find the private health insurance companies to be woefully inadequate in preventing the Zombie outbreak from spreading to apocalyptic proportions.
Only a universal single payer health care system would stop the Zombie Apocalypse. Under the private insurance companies, many people who are bitten by Zombies, can not afford to see a doctor who would be able to treat the bite and prevent that person from becoming a Zombie. It seems that the Undead Panels are the Billing Departments of the Insurance Companies, denying care to the poor simply because they can not afford it.
A universal single payer system would guarantee that all are provided medical treatment by creating a national public health insurance, which covers all the needs of everyone. Patients would still have a choice of doctor and hospital, and the cost would be paid by the government.
Many say that this will mean a raise on taxes. Maybe, if you make more than a million dollars a year. A small progressive income tax hike on the richest of the rich, people like Bill Gates, George Soros and Donald Trump, would more than cover the cost of providing health care to all and preventing a Zombie outbreak. Alternatively, the war in Iraq could be ended and the money spent on the war could be redirected towards health care for all. Besides, isn't a small tax raise a small price to pay to prevent
A Zombie epidemic would be tragic, brother would devour brother, society would collapse, and the smell would be horrendous. However all of this can be thwarted if we allow for those who are sick to be able to gain the health care they need, and prevent the spread of such diseases.
That is why we are calling on the victims of the Zombie virus, and the victims of the Health Insurance Industry, to stand up and speak out in support of single payer universal health care. Organize Zombie rallies, picket at Town Hall meetings in full zombie garb, forward this to your friends and organize for equal healthcare for all!
Satirical video on the defeat of "Socialized Medicine"
An effective way to illustrate what a world where everything is privately-run would look like:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/eb6ae8b232/we-defeated-socialism-insurocorp?rel=player
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/eb6ae8b232/we-defeated-socialism-insurocorp?rel=player
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