Coming Events:
PNHPWA Next Monthly Meeting - Wed, Oct 15th, 7pm
Program & Speakers - TBD
Remembering
Dr. George Martin
George M. Martin, M.D. passed away on December 17, 2022 at the age of 95. A renowned geroscientist, George was devoted to nurturing the next generation of physicians and scientists. He was equally passionate about the need for universal health care and was an active member of the Washington Chapter of PNHP.
The George M. Martin Student Scholarship Fund provides financial support for medical students to participate in PNHP conferences and events, in the belief and hope that the next generation of physicians will realize the vision of a national health care plan that provides health care for all.
Donate to the GM Student Scholarship Fund Here
So far, more than $20,000 has been donated
PNHP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and your donation to this scholarship fund is tax-deductible; our tax ID# is 04-2937697.
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HJM is a blog that replaces Don McCanne's Quote of the Day. It arrives in your mailbox 2-3 times/week focusing on an issue or recent report of current interest, with commentary by Don and other health policy experts.
Read recent HJM's here
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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
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
Coalition Partners
Health Care is a Human Right -
Washington
Get Activist's Toolkit
Washington Against Nuclear Weapons
Information
Dr. Gerald Friedman's economic analysis of how a state single plan would affect our state
Right click to download Hi-Resolution copy
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.
PNHPWA October15th, 7:00PM Monthly Meeting
"No Care Anywhere: An Analysis of Healthcare
Professional Shortages and Hospital Closings"
Suzanne Gordon - co-founder of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute
This will help healthcare reform advocates get a detailed state by state picture of how the American healthcare non-system is failing to provide basic services particularly in rural America.
Suzanne is an award-winning journalist and author who has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine and others. She was the co-editor of the Culture and Politics of Health Care Work series at Cornell University Press. She is the author, editor, or co-author of 23 books. Her books on veterans’ issues include Wounds of War: How the VA Delivers Health, Healing, and Hope to the Nation’s Veterans and The Battle for Veterans’ Healthcare: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Policy Making and Patient Care and Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs.
Coming Attractions:
No Kings Day
Saturday, Oct 18th, Seattle Center
PNHPWA will be there with our banner near the HCHRWA table and will carry on march that will start and end at Seattle Center. Please be there for what may be the biggest demo in US history!
Past Events:
PNHPWA September 17th, 7pm Monthly Meeting
"The WISeR Debacle - Now's the Time to Organize Against It "
Pam Crone and Robby Stern from PSARA
Hope you were able to attend this important meeting. We had a very good turnout with folks from across the country.
We took a deep dive into a "Pilot Project" from Trump's CMS CMMI that will bring lots of harm to residents of Washington State and 5 other states. It's called, ironically, "WISeR" - the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction project. It's scheduled to begin in January, 2026. What it does is introduce into the TraditionalMedicare program the need for prior authorizations and potential subsequent denials for 17 procedures, medications, and medical devices recommended by our health care providers. These are features of Medicare Advantage insurance. You can take a look at more info on WISeR here - an article by Wendell Potter and Rachel Madley of Center for Health and Democracy, a letter to CMS from the AMA, and a letter to CMS from WA Rep. Susan DelBene.
Our meeting featured two Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA) stalwarts leading the charge against WISeR in our state:
Pamela Crone is a lawyer and PSARA’s former lobbyist representing clients in Olympia for 20 years. She’s an institution in herself, full of advice about how to get things done, knows everyone in Olympia, and elsewhere you’d need to contact to get your requests across to legislators and others capable of moving the ball forward.
Robby Stern retired from the staff of the WA State Labor Council in 2008. He has been a key member of PSARA serving as President for nine years. He presently serves as the President of the PSARA Education Fund, Chairs the Social Security Works WA coalition, and, speaks at meetings of many progressive organisations.
PSARA has a more than 25-year history of organizing for justice and equity. It has lots of experienced organizers and resources across the state and is respected nationally for its work. PNHPWA has worked closely with PSARA for several years.
PSARA puts out a monthly newsletter, The Retiree Advocate, with lots of useful information.
We highly advocate joining PSARA. You don’t have to be retired. It’s advocacy affects all generations. Joining only costs $20/year. You can join here
PNHPWA has had a long and productive relationship with PSARA on a number of health issues and recommends joining. It's monthly "The Retiree ADVOCATE" is must reading to keep up with many developing justice issues.
Watch a Video of the Meeting here
PNHPWA August 20th, Monthly Meeting
"For Millions of Americans with Disabilities
Medicaid Means Freedom"
Bernard Carabello, DHL
We were honored to have Bernard Carabello join us from New York City to describe how Trump’s Big Bad Bill that slashes Medicaid will affect the disability community, lots of seniors, as well as millions of other low-income folks.
From age 3-21 years, Bernard, who has cerebral palsy, was a resident of the infamous Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, New York, that housed more than 5,000 people with physical and intellectual disabilities. Though the residents were supposed to receive schooling and physical rehabilitation, most of the time they did nothing other than lay around. After Willowbrook was exposed and shut down, Bernard was educated and has lived in his own apartment. He founded a statewide not-for-profit run by advocates with disabilities, and worked for 37 years for the State of New York, helping to improve the lives of people like him. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from the City University of New York in 2020 for his “extensive work in service to the Developmentally Disabled in Staten Island and beyond, as well as his extensive advocacy for the rights of those with Developmental Disabilities, all of which align with the highest ideals of the College of Staten Island and the City University of New York.”
Bernard retired and now must exhaust his limited savings to qualify for Medicaid that he will need to rely on to help fund his health care and daily living needs. With the current threat to Medicaid, unless we can turn this around, he and millions of others will likely suffer during the rest of the diminished time they have left.
This meeting included Mike Wilkins and Bill Bronston, physicians at Willowbrook who were fired for organising resident families to protest the conditions. This led to an expose by TV news reporter Geraldo Rivera that resulted in the shutdown of Willowbrook, deinstitutionalization, and was a milestone in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Also, we included a presentations from Annie Fitzgerald who shared her experiences as a lifelong disability activist and organizer in Washington State.
Watch a Video of the Meeting Here
More information:
1. Our Website is being modernized. Hopefully, by mid September we will have our new website with drop-down menues up and running.
2. More info on the effects of Trump's Congress Big Bad Bill.
Yale School of Public Health estimates 51,000 deaths.
Kaiser Foundation Fact Sheets on United States and Washington State Medicaid.
Kaiser Foundation - 5 Key Facts About Medicaid Coverage for People with Disabilities
Report on
Expected 330 Hospital Closures
Health Insurance will Cost More for Millions - Especially Rural Residents
John Geyman's Newest Book and Pamphlet!!!
John Geyman is previous long term Chairman of UW Dept. of Family Practice and Past President of PNHP. He has written so many books that have timely information of what we need to know as we fight now for healthcare for everyone in the US.
This book traces the history of health care in the U. S. over the last 50 years, and describes the ways whereby costs and other problems of health care can be resolved to the benefit of all U. S. residents. Everything we need to know is in easily retrievable format.
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Pramila knew we need a way to turn our anger, fear, and frustration into action and progress. That’s exactly why she launched The Resistance Lab, an in-depth organizing training to build our movement and give you the tools you need in this moment. The Resistance Lab is a series of trainings that are developed specifically for this moment. We look at how non-violent movements around the world have responded to leaders who seize power in authoritarian ways and the most effective tools and tactics to utilize in these moments. We offer frameworks to understand this moment at home, and incorporate interactive conversation with others to help create community and build our resistance movement. The scary truth is that democracies fall in a matter of months. So this is an immediate, urgent matter – and we need to quickly build our capacity to resist. 
PNHPWA participated in the NSP National Day of Action at West Lake Park along with several other co-sponsoring organizations including WA Physicians for Social Responsibility, Whole Washington, Workers Strike Back, the Green Party of Seattle, The Backbone Campaign, and more.
explaining in more detail. So far, more than 1,000 responses have been received. An analysis of the Survery will be published in the 4th quarter of 2025.
More Past Events
WA Single Payer Health Care Leadership Summit
August 28th, 2024
"The Case for Single-Payer and How We Get There"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 9th, 2024
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
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 corporationsWe 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.
PNHP Celebrates 35 Years of Activism
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.
PNHP Landmark Study!
PNHP has 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.
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
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 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.
Chris Currie's updated eBook "A Medicare for All Q&A"- Click here
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
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
Whole Washington
Watch most PNHPWA Previous Monthly Meetings
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:
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Email: pnhp.washington@gmail.com; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pnhpwashington/