93 cosponsors for HR 676

The number of cosponsors for this legislation has crept up in the last Congress, to 93. The list below, in alphabetical order by co-sponsor, shows the date at which the representative signed on to this important legislation:

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 1/24/2007
Rep Baca, Joe [CA-43] - 9/17/2007
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] - 6/13/2007
Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 6/15/2007
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 12/11/2007
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 2/27/2007
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] - 4/17/2007
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 11/9/2007
Rep Carson, Andre [IN-7] - 7/10/2008
Rep Carson, Julia [IN-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 1/24/2007
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 2/16/2007
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/24/2007
Rep Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5] - 4/22/2008
Rep Clyburn, James E. [SC-6] - 4/24/2008
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 2/7/2007
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] - 2/12/2007
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 3/21/2007
Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 9/29/2008
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/24/2007
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/24/2007
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 1/24/2007
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 3/7/2007
Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 4/30/2007
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] - 1/29/2007
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/24/2007
Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] - 7/23/2007
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 9/18/2008
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/24/2007
Rep Jefferson, William J. [LA-2] - 6/26/2007
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] - 1/24/2007
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 2/13/2007
Rep Jones, Stephanie Tubbs [OH-11] - 5/23/2007
Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] - 2/12/2007
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 9/24/2007
Rep Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5] - 4/17/2007
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/24/2007
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lantos, Tom [CA-12] - 10/1/2007
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 1/24/2007
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9] - 10/9/2007
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 1/29/2007
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 1/24/2007
Rep McNulty, Michael R. [NY-21] - 1/24/2007
Rep Meehan, Martin T. [MA-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 9/20/2007
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 1/24/2007
Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] - 1/22/2008
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 1/29/2007
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 2/27/2007
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 3/21/2007
Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] - 2/16/2007
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] - 1/24/2007
Rep Richardson, Laura [CA-37] - 9/20/2007
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 1/24/2007
Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 2/6/2007
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 5/8/2007
Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39] - 4/23/2007
Rep Sanchez, Loretta [CA-47] - 9/20/2007
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 4/17/2007
Rep Scott, David [GA-13] - 9/20/2007
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] - 1/24/2007
Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 2/7/2007
Rep Solis, Hilda L. [CA-32] - 2/12/2007
Rep Sutton, Betty [OH-13] - 3/27/2007
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 6/12/2007
Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6] - 9/6/2007
Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 1/24/2007
Rep Udall, Tom [NM-3] - 2/27/2007
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] - 1/29/2007
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/24/2007
Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9] - 1/24/2007
Rep Welch, Peter [VT] - 5/3/2007
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 1/24/2007
Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/24/2007
Rep Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3] - 2/27/2007

Those adding their names in 2008 were James Moran (VA), Emanuel Cleaver (MO), James Clyburn (SC), Andre Carson (IN), Rush Holt (NJ), and Donna Edwards (MD). Sponsor John Conyers has a frequently-updated list of endorsements and co-sponsors on his website.

Call to Action Health Care Reform 2009

Another mostly misguided proposal for reforming our health care system has surfaced this month. It, “Call to Action Health Care Reform 2009,” comes from Montana Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. See it at http://finance.senate.gov/healthreform2009/finalwhitepaper.pdf

Eighty-seven pages long, the Call to Action plan claims to be a “comprehensive but not exhaustive exploration of every health care issue that can or should be considered.” The document does present intelligent discussion of the many problems with our health care system and offers workable solutions to some of them, but the claim that it explores every health care issue that can and should be considered is totally false.

In fact, the one most important issue of all is totally ignored, the proper role of the for-profit private insurance industry in administering health care expenditures. By contrast, H.R. 676, a bill in the House sponsored by Representative John Conyers and 90 other congressmen, emphasizes the problems created by the private insurance industry and rightly seeks to get that industry out of the health care financing business altogether. That needs to be done because the private health insurance industry is merely a funds-sucking tapeworm in the gut of the American health care financing system, one that funnels off a huge portion of the funds that should be used to pay for health care.

Rather than to address this serious problem, Senator Baucas’s proposal calls for more investment in for-profit private health insurance. He wants to require that everyone be forced to buy health insurance, and that taxpayers subsidize the industry by supplementing the funds it receives from those who cannot afford to pay its high premiums. Senator Baucus is being disingenuous in ignoring the real problem here, but at least he is honest enough to admit that his plan will increase rather than decrease the cost of health care in the United States. That, we do not need.

(The text of H.R. 676 is at www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.676:)

Dose of Reality: HR 676 and the presidential candidates' proposals

In the August Dose of Reality column, "HR 676: The Route to Affordable Health Care," Davis discusses why the proposal is "a dream bill...that does all the right things to create an affordable single-payer health care system."

In the July Dose of Reality, Davis looks at the health care plans of John McCain and Barack Obama:

I get the feeling that both the presidential candidates are happy to see the health care issue fade a bit, because neither of them has logically defensible positions on health care, nor do their proposals have any hope of reducing health care costs.

The primary problem in both candidates' proposals is the failure to address actual health care; instead they focus on health insurance. This failure or inability to distinguish between the two is one of the central problems in the national discussions about health care reform.

However, concludes Davis, "Obama's plan is far better than McCain's....Obama at least proposes moving in the right direction." Still, both senators would do well to take a leaf or two more from John Conyers' excellent House bill.

Mayors Back Universal Health Care

Yesterday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors unaninously adopted a resolution in support of the "United States National Health Insurance Act," H.R. 676. Known also as the "Improved and Expanded Medicare for All Act," H. R. 676 is sponsored by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and 90 members of Congress.

This is an excellent bill that, unlike the proposals of Senators Obama and McCain, actually addresses health care and guarantees everyone in the country affordable health care by forcing the highly profitable private health insurance industry out of the loop. That is a necessary action if the country is to have an effective health care system like that of all other modern countries.

The backing of HR 676 by the nation's mayors is highly significant because the mayors, far more so than most elected officials, are closer to the people and more free of pressure from the pressures of health insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry lobbying efforts that hope to maintain the staus quo. The fact that the mayors are backing HR 676 indicates that the public is increasingly in favor of universal health care. We may be closer to an effective universal health care system than many have thought possible.

Another four-star review from LibraryThing

A review from April 25 on LibraryThing:

The many charts and statistics he uses to illustrate his findings can be hard to understand at times, but believe it or not they accurately illustrate his point that the complexity of the American system creates expense. He skewers some fondly held myths about the U.S. Health care system and shines light on the health care systems in other nations. He also gives his prescription for how the U.S. Health care system can be changed.

Neil Davis has experiences in being a consumer of health care that most of us never hope to have, but which will become increasingly commonplace as the health care becomes increasingly broken. His answers to the health care crises (universal, uniform payments, distributed to patients regardless of ability to pay, regulation of drug companies) are well thought out and do not come from a place of a particular political ideology but instead from his own experiences and research. His book is well researched and a convincing call to radically overhaul the American health care system from someone who has experienced the worst that the American health care system has to offer.

John Conyers reprints a list of four myths about universal health care by Dr. Marcia Angell. Davis sums up an answer to her myth #4, "Claims the government can't do anything right," in his index (look up "Mistrust in government").

HR 676 Universal Health Care

I have been looking closely at health care reform and related matters for the past two years, and it seems like I learn something new every day. It embarrasses me to admit that just this week I became aware of HR 676 (The United States National Insurance Act) introduced into the House of Representatives by Rep. John Coyers (D-MI) in January 2007. This bill contains all the right provisions for setting up a first-rate universal health care system in this country. Unlike the proposals of the leading presidential candidates that continue the role of private insurance companies, HR 676 basically calls for eliminating them altogether, and turning the health care system into one having the delivery of health care as the first priority. In essence, the proposal calls for a complete conversion to a non-profit health care system.

The proposal has several key features. One is that it provides complete coverage for all medically necessary services including long-term care, prescription drugs, dental care and eye care. Another is that it provides for all United States residents and visitors. The act totally eliminates co-pays and deductibles, and it prohibits for-profit insurers from selling insurance covering services duplicating those provided by the universal health care system. Under this act, patients would have complete freedom of choice in providers, hospitals, clinics, and practices. In recognition that all this cannot happen in one day, the bill calls for a conversion to a not-for-profit health care system to take place over a period of fifteen years.

Financing for the program would be provided by an employer payroll tax of 4.75%, and employee payroll tax of 4.75%, a 5% health tax imposed on the top 5% of income earners and a small tax on stock transactions. The end effect would be a small reduction in overall health care spending.

I don’t see anything wrong with any provision of the bill; in fact it looks to be well thought out. One pleasing thing is that the bill is gaining support in Congress and elsewhere. When first introduced, the bill had 25 co-sponsors, and by April 2008 it had 90. Eighty-nine of these are Democrats, one is an Independent, but none are Republicans. No commentary needed here.

You can read the full text of the bill at:

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.676: