Single Payer Videos

Brattleboro People's Forum On Healthcare September 29 2009. Sponsored by Vermont Workers' Center.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been a leader in Congress in the movement for single-payer health care, or Medicare for all, but he's also working with the Senate leadership to ensure that the bill that does pass, while it won't be single-payer, will contain more positive steps than negative ones. In this segment from Brave New Films, Sanders lays out the good (more coverage, no preexisting conditions), the bad (proposed tax on existing benefits), and the ugly (the Stupak amendment) in the current House and Senate plans.

Congressman Eric Massa speaks with Nicole Sandler about our involvement in Afghanistan and his vote against the Affordable Health Care for America Act

Congressman Dennis Kucinich speaks with Nicole Sandler about his no vote on HR 3962, and what we need to get real health care reform

With the astounding vote on the health care reform bill in the House this weekend, progressives were forced to consider what kind of compromises were worth making for health care. When certain people are excluded from health care simply because of who they are, how "public" would even a public option be? Tammy Johnson of ColorLines asks these questions and more in this commentary.

Andy Cobb used to be a "spokesjerk" for Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance, yet now he says "American health care is a mess and everybody knows it." Brave New Films takes a look at Andy's past work and gives you an opportunity to vote on where he should work next. Blackwater? Goldman Sachs? FOX News? Head to their Facebook page and vote!

Protesters in Syracuse, New York protested for single-payer, "Medicare for All" outside of Wellpoint last week. They spoke out against the proposed mandate and subsidies for private insurance companies in the coming health care reform bill. The arrest of one protester and the picket line were captured on video exclusively for GRITtv by Wilton Vought of Essential Dissent, as well as commentary by an Iraq veteran, who points out that more people die from lack of health care each year than died on 9/11.

Let's hear it for false fact studies from lobbyists! This one seems to have served as a declaration of war. Last week, America's Health Insurance Plans released a study claiming that healthcare reform would cause Americans' premiums to soar, and hey presto... Suddenly, the Democrats are acting like they're actually in a fight. Nancy Pelosi has vowed to bring a plan with a robust public option to the House floor, and even Senate leader Harry Reid Twittered his intention to strip insurance companies of their protections from anti-trust laws. Reid says that the law allows insurers to fix prices and monopolize markets in ways that are illegal and uncompetitive. Surprise surprise, some senior Democrats are starting to back him up. The President even mentioned the exemption in his weekly address. So are Democrats finally growing spine? Well, not so fast. Obama still won't commit to ending the exemption that allows insurance companies to do with our health what we don't let Microsoft do with computer software . And he hasn't declared a war for Medicare for all. Getting insurers to agree to cover everyone is nice -- but without a public option, it does nothing to drive down price. With new polls showing that public support for the public option has only increased since August, it's time for Obama to take a stand. Americans didn't elect a president of insurance, they elected a president of the country. It's Obama's job to lead on this issue, to fight for the promises he made on the campaign trail: a public plan to keep insurance companies honest, no individual mandate and no taxes on employer-provided care. It's time for the Democrats to fight for measures that will actually improve care, not just sound nice on CNN. Go for it.

Finally, organizer and activist Marilyn Clement has died at the age of 74 after a battle with cancer. Over five tireless decades, she held positions with just about every key civil rights and peace group from the Southern Christian Leadership conference to the Women?s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Fuelled by a fury about how many people die for no good reason, Clement worked tirelessly for quality healthcare for all, as founder and national coordinator of Healthcare-NOW! "Let?s hope the Democratic Congress gets the message," she wrote in January 2007. "The voters did indeed vote for a national response to the health care crisis. They desperately need it. The Democrats must get over the chilling effect of the Newt Gingrich attack that left them trembling in their boots." Then it was Gingrich, and the cost of health care was only up 73 percent since 2000. Now it's even more expensive than that, and there's a new cohort of private profit-insurers lobbying to keep the Democrats cowed and trembling. It's fitting that this week, the week of her death, the Nancy Pelosi announced that congress would finally, finally, vote on a single payer healthcare option. It's progress, in part thanks to Marilyn Clement who helped make it happen. But too late. Too little, way too late. Marilyn, however, would put a positive spin on things -- we're on the verge of change she said at the June 7th event in New York. And she made a pitch for a new geneartion of leaders to come up and carry on the struggle. Our thoughts are with her family.

Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon opposes Single Payer Healthcare and has taken hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from Health Insurers. He and Barak Obama want the 'Free Market' to decide how much we pay. The problem is that there never has been 'Free Market' with insurance companys rigging the system. One speaker states that we have good health care but it is the insurance companys causing the problems.From Portland Oregon Jobs With Justice:"Come help tell Senator Wyden we want everybody in and nobody out! Gather at the Federal Building (1220 SW 3rd Ave) at 11:45 to hear doctors, nurses and patients speak about our broken health care system and how we can fix it! ""We will be highlighting the huge campaign contributions from the medical industrial complex to Senator Wyden, and demanding that he represent his constituents. The majority of the American people believe that the best solution to our health care crisis is to get the insurance companies out of the way by creating a single payer system. We will then march to the Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield office at SW 2nd and Market to highlight Regence s campaign contributions to Senator Wyden and their outrageous rate increases over the last two years." (Disclaimer: Views and opinions presented here are for informational and educational purposes only and may not necessarily be those of the makers of this video)