There are a couple of weeks left in the August recess, which is when Congress is out-of-session, and our Representatives and Senators return to their districts to speak with constituents. As you have probably heard by now, this has been an opportunity for groups trying to defeat health care reform to mobilize residents around town hall meetings, and to raise unfounded fears about government playing a role in our health care system. Mass-Care participated in an extremely effective counter-mobilization outside Congressman Tierney’s office in Peabody, where a large coalition of labor, community, health care, and faith organizations turned out 150 people to support Rep Tierney’s work backing single payer and a strong public option. Read the rest of this entry »

Ask Whole Foods to Support

Real Health Care Reform!!

Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey has declared that health-care is not a basic human right, and the privilege of being healthy is only for people who can afford it.

Join us this Friday August 21^st as we inform Whole Foods customers about the company’s efforts to stall real reform, and let Chief Executive John Mackey know that we will fight for everyone to have quality, affordable health care.

Friday August 21^st

Framingham

12pm - 2pm

Whole Foods

575 Worcester Rd

Cambridge

4:30pm – 5:30pm

Whole Foods

115 Prospect Street, Central Square

For more information, contact:

Framingham: Jim Carvalho, UFCW 1445

781.727.9036, jim_carvalho@yahoo.com

Cambridge: Jake Williams, Mass Jobs With Justice

860.281.9792, jake@massjwj.net

As you have probably heard, opponents of health reform have been disrupting town hall meetings with Congresspeople around the country, perpetuating sensational and inaccurate claims about the impacts of public health insurance. The groups behind this effort - largely bankrolled by the health care industry - have called for a rally outside of Representative John Tierney’s Peabody district office tomorrow, Thursday the 13th, at 1PM. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday the Boston Globe wrote a factually inaccurate editorial titled “Mass bashers take note: Health reform is working,” and we need you to write a letter to the editor asking the Globe to correct their mistake and take the sustainability of health reform seriously:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/08/05/mass_bashers_take_note_health_reform_is_working/ Read the rest of this entry »

An Open Letter to Bill Keller, Executive Editor, New York Times, and Clark Hoyt, Public Editor, New York Times

Dear Bill Keller and Clark Hoyt – For the first time in the span of a generation, national health care reform is back on the horizon, and I’m writing to you to step back for a moment into the history of the Times’s reporting on health care reform. Last year I began a research project with two researchers from Harvard Medical School, Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, to look at the history of major state health reforms such as TennCare, the Oregon Health Plan, MinnesotaCare, and many others. A sweeping health reform bill had been passed into law in Massachusetts in 2006 that was being hailed as a unique, first-of-its-kind bipartisan strategy to achieve universal or near-universal health coverage without raising taxes or adding new regulations on the health care industry. We initially set out to find how unique the Massachusetts health reform law really was compared to previous state efforts, and to see if by analyzing the outcomes of those earlier reform efforts we could learn some lessons about what to expect in Massachusetts.

What we found surprised us Read the rest of this entry »

TIME: Saturday, April 4, 2009 from 2PM to 5PM
PLACE: Ryles Jazz Club, 212 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA 02139 (click here for directions)
TICKETS: $35 standard admission, $10 for students - please donate what you can!

Join Mass-Care and the Universal Health Care Education Fund on April 4 for:

• Dr. Gordon Schiff, past President of Physicians for a National Health Program, speaking on the role of single payer organizing and the momentum for national health reform.
• Jimmy Tingle! The best local stand up comedian; he has appeared on the Tonight Show, Conan O’Brian, Larry King, HBO NPR, PBS, and Comedy Central.
• Honoring the work of Mass-Care’s local coalitions: Berkshire Mass-Care/PNHP, the Cape Care Coalition, and the Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition.
• The Joseph Lillyman Jazz Band.

Click here to take out an ad in our event program book!
Click here to download a pdf flyer for the event!
Click here to download an invitation to the event!

Our annual fundraising gala for Mass-Care and the Universal Health Care Education Fund is coming up on April 4, from 2 to 5PM at the Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge! President Obama and Congress have promised national health reform this year, and with all eyes on Massachusetts our voice is more important than ever.

Mass-Care and UHCEF recently helped to organize a Congressional Briefing in Washington, DC about whether the Massachusetts health reform is an adequate model for the nation. We helped to organize petitions signed by around 500 physicians and over 40 labor leaders explaining to Congress that fundamental reform is needed. With each month we are building the grassroots movement in the state, and trying to have an impact on national health reform.

We need your help to do this! This is an extremely difficult year for non-profits to survive. 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 by purchasing your tickets now. Download the ad form below, and write your check out to Mass-Care to support our political work, or make a tax-deductible contribution to the Universal Health Care Education Fund to support our educational work.

Thank you so much for your continuing support. We hope to see you on April 4th at the Ryles Jazz Club for inspiration and fun!

Click here to take out an ad in our event program book!
Click here to download an invitation to the event!

National Lessons from State Health Reform: The Massachusetts Case Study from New Words on Vimeo.
Date and Time: 02/25/2009 2:00pm - 4:00pm (EST)
Where: 2226 Rayburn House Office Building.
Read the rest of this entry »

Coming up on Wednesday February 25, from 2PM - 4PM in Washington, DC Mass-Care is helping to host an important briefing to Congress on whether the Massachusetts health reform is an adequate model for the nation. The forum includes testimony from David Himmelstein, MD, Sandy Eaton, RN, State Senator Jamie Eldridge, Peter Knowlton, Mary Ford, Robert Gaw, and Arthur MacEwan, MD.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP! Ask your Congressperson and his or her health care aide to attend this important forum. Members of Congress can join the committee, chaired by Congressman Eric Massa from New York, which will ask questions of the witnesses. Below is an open invitation to the briefing, along with a letter to Members of Congress asking them to join the panel committee. Give your Congressperson’s D.C. office a call and ask them to learn more about what lessons state reform has to offer for the nation!

Announcement of the Forum:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/announ.pdf

Invite your Representative to Attend
http://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/inv.pdf

Yesterday around 500 Massachusetts physicians signed an open letter asking Congress not to use the Massachusetts health reform as a model for the nation, and calling for single payer health reform. On the same day a letter signed by over 40 labor leaders in Massachusetts said the same thing: Massachusetts reform is not working for working people, and we need effective relief from rising health care costs and eroding benefits. If that wasn’t enough, Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program released a detailed analysis of the Massachusetts reform in practice, showing that it has had a modest impact on residents’ access to care, and that it is costly and will be unsustainable for the state in the long-run.

All of these documents are available from the Public Citizen web-site here:

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=28

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP! The largest circulation papers in Massachusetts have not covered this story, or have only covered it online.

Send the Public Citizen press release to your local papers, or write an op-ed yourself! Please cc us at info@masscare.org so we can follow all the great work you’re doing.

Mass-Care is reintroducing an updated single payer bill to the legislature at 10AM on January 13.  Can you join us at the State House and ask your legislator to become a cosponsor? Or could you call in from home or work that day? Please let us know by sending an email to info@masscare.org or calling the offices at 617-723-7001! Read the rest of this entry »