While the Affordable Care Act increases the number of Americans with health insurance, it doesn’t control healthcare costs.  Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and politicians in other states have recognized this problem and are pushing for single payer.

And lots of lives. Enough said.

What: Speak-Out and Rally        When: FRIDAY, June 29th at 5PM
Where: At the former location of St. Vincent’s Hospital (7th AVE btw 12th and 13th ST).

Healthcare-NOW! NYC and fellow universal healthcare advocates will be standing in solidarity for a Speak-Out and Rally in response to the Supreme Court’s decision this week.

Regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision we still need a healthcare system that provides truly universal healthcare to everyone regardless of age, race, gender, employment status, or income level.

– Join us!

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Irrespective of the Supreme Court decision on the ACA, some states plan to move forward with their own healthcare reforms. Their primary concern is to provide universal, affordable coverage, something best achieved through single payer. “Never mind the mandate,” now is the time for single payer healthcare.

Even while opposition to the Affordable Care Act outweighs support among the public, a large majority–77%–says that if the mandate is struck down, Congress should get to work finding another, better way to fix our broken healthcare (non)system.

As the number of uninsured Americans grows, another, more insidious problem is growing as well: people who have insurance–even “good” insurance–and still can’t afford the care they need. This is only one such story.

Meanwhile, the ACA’s extension of benefits to adults under 26 is so popular, it might even survive if the Act is shot down. Robert Reich sees a possible return of the public option if that should happen. We see Medicare for all!

As New York City hospitals anticipate the Supreme Court’s decision on the ACA, their struggles reveal the perverse effects of a profit-driven healthcare system. Meanwhile, job-based health insurance costs jobs as costs continue to climb, and pricing remains inconsistent and obscure.

A New York Times article was written recently on the increase in price and demand for Brooklyn brownstones. To demonstrate its case, the article used an example of an owner who bought a brownstone for $50,000 in 1974 and sold it, to cover medial expenses, for $1.6 million this year. That anyone should need to sell a home, be it primary or not, to pay for medical expenses is beyond the pale. That it can be mentioned briefly in the article as a point not worth following further just tells us how immune we have become to the outrageousness of healthcare expenditures.

A new story from Consumer Reports highlights how extreme price variance can and do confuse many patients even if they have insurance.  And lack of transparency often means huge unanticipated bills.

Oregonians have joined the fight for single payer. With support from the Vermont Workers’ Center, which led the successful campaign for single payer in Vermont, a coalition of more than 50 unions and community organizations has come together under the name Healthcare for all – Oregon. The local Jobs with Justice chapter, which is spearheading the campaign, has made a national single-payer system its ultimate goal, with the best union health plans as the standard.