On Tuesday, May 15, the Massachusetts Senate is scheduled to vote on a single payer amendment introduced by Senator Jamie Eldridge. To find out who your Senator is, enter your address here and scroll down to your ‘Senate in General Court.’ This is a fast-moving bill, so your call can really make a difference!

Here’s what the amendment does: it instructs the state to estimate, every year, what the state of Massachusetts would be saving under a single payer plan that would guarantee publicly-provided, comprehensive care for all residents in the state. If by mid-2014, or any year thereafter, we find that we would be better off under single payer, the state will have to develop a single payer implementation plan and start putting it into practice - much like Vermont is currently doing.

Click here to download the one-page Eldridge amendment, and click here for a short summary. If you are interested in a summary of the whole Senate bill, you can click here.

Massachusetts voters have, for the second straight election, overwhelmingly affirmed their support for single payer health reform by turning in majority ‘Yes’ votes in all fourteen districts where local single payer ballot questions appeared on November 2. The ballots spanned 80 different cities and towns in a state of 351 municipalities, winning in every city and town except two. Five of the districts backing single payer reform voted for Scott Brown in last year’s special senate election, which was largely seen as a referendum on national health reform, showing that the goal of improved and expanded Medicare for All is supported by a diverse range of communities across the state. It is also striking that in a year of political change, and in a year of drawn-out economic suffering, residents recognize that single payer health reform offers the promise of a more just and humanitarian health care system, which would actually cost us less as a society and lift the burden of sky-rocketing health costs from thousands of households, employers, and taxpayers.

Similar local referendum questions passed overwhelmingly in ten representative districts in 2008, and we look forward to building momentum for the state’s single payer bill even further this coming legislative session, which begins in January 2011.

Mass-Care also wants to extend its congratulations to the Vermont single payer movement. Peter Shumlin was elected Governor of Vermont running on a single payer platform. This is incredibly exciting as the Vermont legislature recently commissioned Dr. William Hsiao, the designer of Taiwan’s single payer health care system, to draft an implementation and impact study for a potential single payer plan in Vermont.

Below are the final results reported by the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Elections Division.

Join Mass-Care and the Universal Health Care Education Fund on MARCH 29 for:

• Jamie Eldridge and John Bonifaz speaking on the future of health care reform
• Honoring single payer advocates Senator Pat Jehlen,Dr. Bernard Lown, and Tim Macchio
• Participatory workshops on health care activism

Click here to learn more about the Ben Gill annual fundraiser.

On January 10, Representative Frank Hynes and Senator Steve Tolman will refile the Massachusetts Health Care Trust (S.755), which would bring single payer health care - first rate health coverage for all residents - to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Click here to see a fact sheet on the Massachusetts Health Care Trust.
Click here to see the full text of the Massachusetts Health Care Trust.

Call your legislator TODAY to ask them to cosponsor the bill that will bring universal, comprehensive health care to everyone!

Contact the Mass-Care offices if you would like help in finding out who your legislators are, or would like advice on talking with your legislators about single payer: we are at info@masscare.org or 617-723-7001.

Let’s build the number of co-sponsors before January 10!

Mass-Care will be holding its monthly Coordinating Committee meeting this coming Saturday, September 9th, at 10AM on the Clark University campus in Worcester.. We will meet in Room J321A on the third floor of the Sackler Sciences Building. Directions to Clark and the room on campus are below. (more…)

John Kerry will be speaking on the health care crisis this July 31 at Faneuil Hall. Click here to RSVP. See how the national health care debate will be shaping up this year, and ask Kerry to support the growing single payer movement!

Below is from the Kerry Campaign:

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On July 31, I hope you’ll join me to wade into a debate that underscores everything that’s at stake here at home — the struggle for health care that works for everybody. (more…)

We will only win comprehensive, universal health care by building a movement from the grassroots. We need your voice, your commitment, and your support to build a campaign for single-payer health care that cannot be ignored. By becoming a Mass-Care member and pledging to help others fighting for better access to health care, we can win healthier communities and dignity for all in Massachusetts.

Either print out this post or download the Mass-Care Membership Pledge Form and mail them in to Mass-Care at 8 Beacon St., Suite 26, Boston, MA 02108. (more…)