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.

Download a Flyer for the Benefit Concert here.

“SINGING FOR SINGLE PAYER”

Friday, November 12th, 7-9 pm
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
(15 St. Paul Street Brookline, MA 02446)

Performances by:
Joyful Voices of Inspiration – A Gospel Group
Ryan Schmidt – Folk/Indie Rock
Damaged Care – Healthcare Comedy with Dr. Barry Levy
Treble on Huntington – Acapella Group
Outrageous Fortune – Jazz Blues, Dan Dick & Chris Welles

If you have any questions, please contact Pat Berger at 617-566-6847.

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.

TIME: Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 2PM to 5PM
PLACE: Ryles Jazz Club, 212 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA 02139
TICKETS: $35 standard admission, $10 for students - please donate what you can!

Click here for a purchase form to take out an ad in our Program Book!

Join Mass-Care and the Universal Health Care Education Fund on April 17 for:

• Keynote speaker Donna Smith! Donna was featured in Michael Moore’s film ‘SiCKO’ after she and her husband were forced to sell their home and move in with their daughter due to medical debt - they were insured at the time. Since then, Donna has become one of the nation’s leading organizers for single-payer health reform and works for the California Nurses Association, leading their efforts to pass Medicare-for-All legislation in Congress out of their Washington, D.C. offices.
• Honoring the work of Arky Markham, a stellar single-payer activist from the Franklin Hampshire region, as well as Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, one of Mass-Care’s most important allies on health care advocacy.
• The Joseph Lillyman Jazz Band.

Our annual fundraising gala for Mass-Care and the Universal Health Care Education Fund is coming up on April 17, from 2 to 5PM at the Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge! It has been a frustrating year in health care reform, with efforts to advance even moderate reform faltering on the national stage. However, Mass-Care and UHCEF have been effective in educating and pressuring the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to fight for truly fundamental reform, and we are turning to the next round of state-level reform for better opportunities to win single payer legislation, which can set an example for the nation.

Mass-Care and UHCEF recently helped to launch the Massachusetts Campaign for Health Care Justice, which will be a pro-active campaign to rejuvenate the single payer movement in the state and build a solidarity network between communities struggling under the current health care system. We need to continue advocating for our communities when health reform is initiated from above, but we can’t afford to be reactive in our politics, and need to build movements shaping the next round of health reform from the grassroots.

We need your help to do this! This will be the second full year of recession for our non-profit. Mass-Care does not accept money from the health care industry, and we rely almost exclusively on support from individuals and member organizations. Please support Mass-Care’s efforts by placing an ad in our annual event program booklet, by listing your name as a supporter, or joining us at this event!

Last week Mass-Care joined over 100 activists, unions, legislators, and community organizations at a spirited organizing meeting in downtown Boston to launch a Massachusetts Campaign for Health Care Justice. Given the faltering efforts at national health reform, the campaign will attempt to organize a renewed push for Medicare-for-All legislation particularly at the state level, while building a mobilization network capable of supporting workers, patients, and communities struggling to maintain access to health care. The web-site for the new campaign, which includes its mission statement, campaign proposal, calendar of meetings and events, and endorsement form for organizations who want to get involved, is here:

http://masscare.org/massachusetts-campaign-for-health-care-justice/

For Immediate Release

October 6, 2009

Contact: Mark Gallagher, 781-396-2900

http://markey.house.gov

Markey To Host Health Care Reform Town Hall Meeting This Monday

Medford, MA – U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Malden), a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, today announced that he will host a health care reform town hall meeting this Monday evening in Arlington.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is one of three committees with jurisdiction over health care policy. In the coming weeks, the House will consider landmark health care reform legislation.

“We are embarking on an historic debate on a long-overdue effort to reform our nation’s health care system,” said Markey. “It is important for me to present the case for this vital legislation to my constituents and listen to their thoughts and concerns as the House is preparing to vote.”

WHO:            Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Malden)

WHAT:          Health Care Reform Town Hall

WHEN:          6:30 p.m. EST, Monday, October 12, 2009

WHERE:         Arlington Town Hall, 730 Massachusetts Avenue

Representative John Tierney has scheduled two upcoming town hall meetings in the North Shore, which will focus on health reform. Representative Tierney has been one of the champions on the House of single payer reform and a strong public option. If you live in his district, please attend these forums to support Rep Tierney, as across the country these town hall meetings have been extremely important expressions of public opinion, and have been hotly contested. Your vocal presence WILL make a difference.

Here are details on the North Shore meetings:

Saturday, October 10th, 10 am - 11:30 am, doors open at 9:30 am
Salem State, Main Stage Auditorium (seats 750 people)

Monday, October 12th, 7 pm - 8:30 pm, doors at 6:30 pm
North Shore Community College, DANVERS campus, Berry Building (seats 200 people)

Last night President Obama delivered a powerful speech on health reform to a joint session of Congress. The President was able to articulate the reasons so many of us put our time, our passion, and our heart into changing this health care system, which needlessly harms so many. We share the President’s vision, but we write to you with real concern about the road-map laid out in the President’s speech, as all too often in the United States our policy has proven inadequate to meet our ambitions.  Below: the good and the bad in President Obama’s address. Read the rest of this entry »

Representative Barney Frank, who has been a strong supporter of single payer reform and an active member of the Progressive Caucus in Congress, is holding a second town hall meeting in Wellesley this Saturday, September 12, 2PM at Mass Bay Community College. If you are from Rep Frank’s district or know someone who is, please attend this town hall meeting and thank the Representative for continuing to support single payer reform, and advancing the movement to make health care a right this Congressional session. Also, please ask Rep Frank if he will support the Weiner amendment, which would replace the current bill in the House with the single payer bill, and if he will support the Kucinich amendment, which would allow states like Massachusetts to experiment with single payer reform and receive necessary federal waivers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Labor Day comes every year, but the opportunity to cure our country’s ailing health care system comes once in a lifetime!

Join with more than 2,000 expected allies from across the state in a march and rally to show our support for real health care reform. Come out to help send our elected officials back to work in Washington D.C. with a message from the people of Massachusetts: we want health care that puts people before profits, and we want it now!

Monday, September 7th

11:00 A.M.

Rally at Boston Common

(near the Gazebo)