Coming Events:
PNHPWA Sept Monthly Meeting - Wed, Sept 18th, 7pm

September Calendar
October Calendar

Remembering
Dr. George Martin 

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State Organizations
advocating for
Health Care
is a Human Right
...
-Health Care is a Human Right - Washington
-Vermont Workers Center
-Health Care for All Oregon
-Maine People's Alliance
-Whole Washington

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Organizations advocating for single payer, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All in Western Washington

*Health Care for All -WA
*Progressive Democrats of America
*Health Care is a Human Right - WA
*United for National HealthCare - Bellingham
*Socialist Alternative
*Washington Community Action Network
*Backbone Campaign
*Whole Washington

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Coalition Partners



Health Care is a Human Right -
Washington

Get Activist's Toolkit


Washington Against Nuclear Weapons

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Information

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Dr. Gerald Friedman's economic analysis of how a state single plan would affect our state


Right click to download Hi-Resolution copy

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New WHST PowerPoint


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It's Time to Add Your Voice

Since 1987 Physicians for a National Health Program has advocated for reform in the U.S. health care system. A large part of our work involves mobilizing physicians, other health care workers, and the general public to actively advocate for enactment of a national, comprehensive, high quality, non-profit, publicly-funded health care system serving all residents of the United States.

September 18th, 7:00pm PNHPWA Monthly Meeting Public Health Seattle and King County "Health, Well-Being, and Racial Equity – Every Day for Everyone in King County"   Mia Shim, MD, MPH and Matias Valenzuela, PHD Public Health - Seattle and King County - is a network for 39 cities including Seattle and unincorporated areas. Dr. Shim is the Interim Health Officer for Public Health Seattle & KC. She has a very interesting background and experiences serving vulnerable populations here and abroad for most of her professional career. She believes addressing racial inequities, health disparities, and social determinants of health is critical to improving population health. Her bio sketch isavailable here. Dr. Valenzuela is  Director of the Office of Equity and Community Partnerships for Public Health-Seattle & King County. Since 2000, he has worked here, including as a lead for Equity and Social Justice at its inception in 2008, and in 2015, its first Director, spearheading a countywide effort to address the root causes of inequities, especially racism, working with all county agencies and the community. In the COVID-19 response, he directed Community Mitigation and Recovery. He was also co-lead in the County's team for the declaration of Racism as a Public Health Crisis in 2020. Previously in Matías's career he was a print ad broadcast journalist in the US and abroad. He has been a Fulbright professor in Nicaragua, and he is an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the UW's School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He currently serves on numerous local and national boards and advocacy groups. Drs. Shim and Valenzuela will speak at 7:15pm. Register Here Past Events WA Single Payer Health Care Leadership Summit "The Case for Single-Payer and How We Get There" August 28th Featuring Rose Roach, National Coordinator, Labor Campaign for Single Payer This meeting brought together 44 representatives of 28 Washington organizations committed to single-payer healthcare to figure out how to best collaborate to create the path for implementation of single-payer at the Washington State and national levels. PNHPWA Board Members Hugh Foy and David McLanahan represented our chapter. It was an extremely positive and exciting meeting. You can watch the morning session video featuring Rose here. And the Late Morning Session video herewhere attendees discussed Rose's presentation and working together in our state. Is Medicare Advantage Driving Your Provider to Despair? and WHY Should You Care? PSARA Webinar - July 9 Physicians for a National Health Program Past-President Dr. Carol Paris and President-Elect Dr. Diljeet Singh, discussed how insurance companies force providers into crises of conscience, thereby adversely affecting both providers and patients. The insurers require practices like prior authorization that lead to delays and denials of care, which providers know will be injurious to their patients. Watch Video of Webinar here Future Events HCFAWA Second Wednesday Speaker Series - POSTPONED from Sep't 11th, RESCHEDULED to Wed Oct 9th, 7:00pm "How WA State is Putting "Affordable" into Affordable Health Care The OIC's Final Report Senior Health Policy Advisor, Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Jane Beyer, J.D. will break down the approach, the new study, and the final recommendation with the five policy options that could improve health care affordability for all Washingtonians! More info and register here. Mon, Sept 30th: PNHP National Day of Actions " Fight Corporate Health Insurance Greed: Reclaim Medicare!" Several PNHP chapters across the country will gather to speak out and call attention to the issue of Medicare privatization. Goal of the Action is to highlight egregious behavior of insurance corporations, and reinforce the importance of strengthening publicly financed health insurance programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP, over privatizing them - and to engage new people into the growing anti-privatization fight . Stay tuned regarding any PNHPWA plans to participate. PNHP Annual Meeting in Chicago November 15 - 17th This year's PNHP Annual Meeting is purposely being held after the November 5th national elections with the major goal of working out strategies to best move ahead on implementing Improved Medicare for All. We will have several PNHPWA members and several student members of WA SNaHP chapters attending. Our sponsorship is facilitated by the George Martin Student Scholarship Fund. At last year's meeting in Atlanta we proudly had the largest number of SNaHP'ers there. Actions to Take Defend Washington from Bad Initiatives  Defend Washington (No on 2117, 2109, and 2124) is seeking volunteers to participate in leafleting events across the state. This entails attending the event, attending a briefing overview of effective canvassing practices, and distributing educational materials to voters already likely to support the 3 campaigns. This will all be done without door-knocking or initiating conversations with residents. Sign up here: https://mobilize.us/s/YvBLdC or here https://www.mobilize.us/no2117/event/669326/  Volunteer with No on 2117here! No on Initiative 1066 attacking Climate Change legislation - Info here   Sign on Letters: No on 2019 is looking to get 100 folks to sign on to our sign-on letters supporting No on 2109. Can you personally sign on and help get the word out? We have three different letters that we are currently promoting: Health care: https://bit.ly/No2109_Healthcare Childcare: https://bit.ly/No2109_Childcare Parents: https://bit.ly/No2109_Parents   “Skullduggery Be Damned!”  Click here to watch PSARA’s webinar on why you should vote NO on the initiatives. (Note: Webinar begins at 57 seconds into recording)     PNHP Releases Research Report titled “Taking Advantage: How Corporate Health Insurers Harm America’s Seniors.” You can download the an interactive PDF version of the report. Lots of important info here to help us in our work. Spread the word & PDF link. June 3rd PNHP Webinar "Taking Advantage: How Corporate Health Insurers HARM America's Seniors" Delays. Denials. Unexpected out-of-pocket costs. Everywhere people with so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans turn, they encounter barriers to the care they need—and the care their physicians have prescribed.  Join us to learn about the many ways that corporate health insurers harm seniors and people with disabilities—and how YOU can fight back.  Our program included: * Sen. Elizabeth Warren urging advocates (and her fellow legislators) to stand up and reclaim Medicare as a public program * Dr. Ed Weisbart presenting a new report on the harm caused by Medicare Advantage corporations, researched by Physicians for a National Health Program * Personal stories of patients and physicians who have been harmed by Medicare Advantage corporations We also had suggestions on how YOU can take action to end the abuses of corporate health insurance, dramatically improve the traditional Medicare program, and put the U.S. on a path to a Medicare-for-All system that brings everybody in and leaves nobody out. You can watch the video of the Webinar here New - PNHP National Calendar - click here to see what other PNHP chapters are offering online in terms of webinars - such as the PNHP NY Metro Chapter meeting, May 14th, 4:30pm PDT,  on "On the Rise: Doctors Unionizing and Organizing for Single Payer"

 

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PNHP Celebrates 35 Years of Activism

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Since 1988, PNHP has been organizing so that everyone in the US has the health care they need. Watch this 5 minute video reflecting that 37 years of activism.

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PNHP Landmark Study Released!

PNHP has just published a groundbreaking report—developed by our policy committee and reviewed by independent health policy experts—that quantifies the extent of Medicare Advantage overpayments.   Our research and this report estimate that Medicare Advantage plans overcharge taxpayers by a minimum of 22% (or $88 billion) per year, and potentially by up to 35% (or $140 billion) per year. Read the study here.

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Med Advantage Fact Sheet one pager to accompany surveys and petition
1.Medicare Beneficiary short Survey - online and  print versions
2. Physicians short Survey - online and print versions
3. Medicare Advantage Petition for everyone to sign - to demand Congress and President Biden protect Medicare beneficiaries by cracking down on insurance company abuses and by significantly improving the traditional, public Medicare program 

Big News! - Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped their Improved Medicare for All bills on May 16th. House M4A bill section-by-section, summary and text available here. So far, in Washington State ONLY! Pramila Jayapal and Adam Smith are Sponsors. You can reach our other House & Senate members to urge them on - info to reach them by phone or mail here. If you need some guidance in speaking with your rep, our national coalition partners at Healthcare-Now have created a toolkit, including a script to help.

Join Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action. PSARA has been doing amazing and effective organising work around all the social justice issues in our area for many years. It is leading the charge against Medicare and ACO-REACH in the Pacific Northwest, and indeed, buttressing efforts of other progressive health reform organisations across the country. Please take a look at the PSARA website and its monthly newsletter, The Retiree Advocate, and consider joining to help support its groundbreaking work.

Other News:

The George Martin Student Scholarship Fund now has more than $24,000 in contributions! It's providing support for the 5 SNaHP Chapters in our region

PNHP's 35th Anniversary Celebration
Why did you join PNHP - who brought you in? Was it a mentor, a colleague, a friend, or someone else entirely. We would love to hear how you joined our movement.

Contact dixon@pnhp.org for guidelines about recording a short video telling your story. 

Must Watch - Kip Sullivan's presentation: "Do We Really Have  To Kick Out the Insurance Companies?"  Click VIDEO and SLIDES to view his talk.

PNHPWA Web Site - pnhpwashington.org
PNHPWA Email - pnhp.washington@gmail.com
PNHPWA YouTube Channel
PNHPWA Instagram

Coalition Partner Websites
Health Care for All Washington
Health Care is a Human Right Washington
Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action

For the latest news on health reform legislation - check PNHP articles of interest and opinion - or research a topic by clicking on the Google Custom Search image below:

	Other News: Make our PNHPWA social media more useful. Please submit/share important info, articles, events to/on our Facebook site - https://www.facebook.com/pnhpww PNHPWA YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx_TkWg9tFnCKGnO9F-iEeQ - There are 15 Annual PNHP Meeting slideshows of the plenary presentations and workshops that you can review and use the information for local activities, presentations, LTE ’s etc. You can see the list of slideshow topics with links to them by clicking here. For the latest news on health reform legislation - check PNHP articles of interest and opinion - or research a topic by clicking on the Google Custom Search image below: