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Clearing the FOG Radio will discuss medical debt and bankruptcy in the United States.

Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee is preparing to announce a large purchase of medical debt. But instead of collecting on it, they are going to erase it!

The United States is the only wealthy nation in which people face such significant financial barriers to accessing health care that they avoid it or go into debt or bankruptcy as a result of medical illness or cost.

Our guests are Thomas Gokey and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler. We will explore why medical debt exists in the US and what we can do to end it.

Thomas Gokey is a visual artist who works in two-dimensional media, video, performance and sculpture. He is an, adjunct professor at Syracuse University and a member of Strike Debt.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler is a primary care physician and professor of public health and medicine at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College . She is a co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program and author of several leading academic studies on medical bankruptcy. She lived and practiced medicine in Massachusetts and will speak about the impact of the health law there that is very similar to the new federal health law.

Watch the show live on UStream’s Economic Democracy Media channel.
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Find our website at ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.

In the News:

NY1 Video: Brooklyn Residents Rally to Save Interfaith Medical Center

“A grassroots effort is underway to keep Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant open as a full service hospital.”

Brooklyn Paper: LICH – State Wanted to Save Hospital Before Killing It

“Activists filed suit in a bid to halt the shut-down, winning a temporary restraining order that keeps the school from taking any action to close the hospital — including talking with the state Department of Health, the agency that will make the final decision about whether the hospital can be shuttered — until a March 7 hearing.”

NY Post: Mt. Sinai & Continuum Announce Merger Plans

“One industry insider described Continuum’s financial condition as ‘fragile’.”

Download Event Flier Here

Find out more here

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Thursday, Feb. 14
@ 6 pm
@ Kane Street Synagogue, 236 Kane St., Brooklyn

Nurses, patients, & neighbors
Unite to Save LICH!

Hundreds of caregivers, neighbors,
and elected officials are building
a powerful mass movement to save LICH!

The SUNY Board of Trustees took an illegal and
improper vote to close LICH. The good news: We were
there in force — chanting, singing, and telling our stories.

They snuck out the back door of their own meeting –
without adjourning. Since they abandoned their official
duties, we took matters into our own hands — and voted
unanimously to rescind their decision!

We can and will save LICH! Governor Cuomo and
the Health Dept. can step in any time to save LICH.

We’re building the movement to make them. Join us!

Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator of the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer announces:

“In the US, health care is not a right, it’s a business—the biggest, most profitable business in the history of capitalism,” Dudzic says. “Those are the kinds of entrenched interests you’re up against. That’s why we are building a powerful social movement to take them on.”

Read the full article here.

The newly adopted definition of “affordable” health insurance means that federal financial assistance will not be available for millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford employer-based family coverage even if it is prohibitively expensive.

It’s not news that a for-profit healthcare system leaves millions without care, or with inadequate care. And it’s worth pointing out that a market-based model fails even on its own terms: for-profit healthcare is more expensive and less efficient than a public system.

“If [Americans] were to consider the additional private spending on health care as a form of tax — an indispensable cost to live a healthy life — the nation’s tax bill would rise to about 31 percent from 25 percent of the nation’s G.D.P. — much closer to the 34 percent average across the O.E.C.D.”

Healthcare-NOW! NYC is proud to announce the performance of a one man show, Mercy Killers, by one of our very own: writer, actor, and activist, Michael Milligan.

Monday, November 19 at 8pm

The Harold Clurman Lab Theater presents
Mercy Killers
a one-man show written and performed by Michael Milligan

This performance will be a benefit for Healthcare-NOW! NYC.

The show will be followed by a talk back led by members of
Physicians for a National Health Program and Healthcare-NOW! NYC

Mercy Killers is free and open to the public.

Reservations via Smart Tix required. Click here to confirm your seat.

31 W. 27th St., New York, New York 10001

Michael Milligan’s breath-taking performance of a shattered man in the throws of a healthcare nightmare, made only worse by the twists and turns of insurance companies, truly humanizes the vast inequities of America’s for profit health insurance system. You will be talking about ‘Mercy Killers’ long after the curtain draws.

Facebook Event Info Here

THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT:

A Variety Show & Telethon to Benefit the 99%: to Buy and Abolish Debt

Organized by Occupy Wall Street and Strike Debt

 Watch the event LIVE online at The Rolling Jubilee.org  Thurs, Nov 15th, 8-11pm

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Special guests include: Janeane Garofalo, Jeff Mangum from Neutral Milk Hotel, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Lizz Winstead, The Yes Men, Matt Taibbi, and many more!

Members of Healthcare for the 99%, Healthcare-Now NYC, Donna Smith from National Nurses United, and Steffie Woolhandler of Physicians for a National Health Program will be participating in the Telethon addressing Medical Debt.

DONATE LIVE!
$25 (abolishes an estimated $500 worth of debt)
$50 (abolishes an estimated $1000 worth of debt)
$100 (abolishes an estimated $2000 worth of debt)
$250 (abolishes an estimated $5000 worth of debt)

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FREE! VIEWING PARTY in NYC
Church of the Village
201 W 13th Street, New York NY 10011 (just off 7th Avenue) More Info Here
Join friends to watch the event, join discussions, break-out groups, and more!

NOT IN NYC?
Host a local viewing party with your friends or colleagues for “The People’s Bailout” telethon!

WHAT IS A ROLLING JUBILEE?
Check out this short video for more info. Read the FAQ here (bottom of page).

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Share your Medical Debt story

Share the event on facebook

Sign up online at The Rolling Jubilee and follow @StrikeDebt on Twitter.

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Robin Hood Tax Rally

11 am • Monday October 22nd

Congressman Charles Rangel’s Office
163 W 125th St   (@125th and 7th Ave)

On Oct 2nd we told Rangel we would be back – Join us as we rally outside of Congressman Charles Rangel’s office to demand that he support the Robin Hood Tax. A Robin Hood Tax, would place a .25% tax on Wall Street speculative trading which could generate $350 Billion a year to bolster our economy and fund a universal healthcare system. The Movement is now a Bill in Congress – if you aren’t able to attend the event  contact your representative to demand that they Support the Bill.

This action is in solidarity with Act Up, Health Gap, Healthcare for the 99%, National Nurses United, and VOCAL

Download fliers here.