single payer
GRITtv: Sen. Bernie Sanders: We're All In This Together on Health Care
"The USA has got to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to everyone as a right, not a privilege," says Senator Bernie Sanders, who this week is introducing a new bill in Congress that would provide a single-payer health care system, administered at the state level, that would treat health care as a human right. Sanders' home state of Vermont is on its way to being the first state in the country with a single-payer plan, but he notes that all Americans should have that same right. Senator Sanders joins Laura from Washington, D.C. via Skype to explain his bill, why it matters, and why he thinks Vermont can lead the nation to a better health system.
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: Vermont Closer to Single-Payer Healthcare
The Senate and the House of Representatives agree: single-payer health care is the only way to provide real coverage for all. Insurance companies are never going to do the right thing and put people before profits, so the only option is to go around them, and politicians in both houses have voted to create a real health care system. In Vermont, that is. Mary Gerisch of the Vermont Workers Center joined us last month here on GRITtv to explain the grassroots organizing campaign that finally resulted in victory in the state legislature. She noted that two years ago, they were told that it was not politically possible to pass single-payer legislation, but they didn't take no for an answer. The insurance companies will no doubt keep fighting this bill—even one small state single-payer plan could provide a powerful example for the rest of the country. Already, California Democrats are reviving a bill that would create single-payer care in that state—and it's already moved out of the Health Committee. We've spoken before to Wendell Potter, formerly a CIGNA executive, about the way the health insurance industry fought national health care reform, and we know that misinformation, attack ads, and millions of dollars will be flowing Vermont's way as the bill moves through reconciliation and toward the governor's desk. But for now, Vermont—and all of us--should be celebrating the proof that a grassroots campaign can lead to victory for single-payer advocates and progressives in general. We're that much closer to recognizing health care as a human right. And much closer to the big fight which will show really, which side our for-profit insurers are on. Keep an eye on Vermont, people. An alternative model. . . the US has invaded small countries for less. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: May 6, 2011
Osama bin Laden was the reason given for invading Afghanistan in 2001--but he was found in 2011 in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan people have dealt with ten years of occupation, and Malalai Joya has been speaking out against it for that long. Malalai joined Laura in studio before the death of Bin Laden was announced, but in a later email she told GRITtv: "One of the main excuses of the US occupation is now gone. The struggle for independence, democracy, and freedom should get easier, but it won't. Not without an end to occupation." In other words, it won't change much from the picture she presents here. The circle of life doesn't end when people begin a life behind bars. Incarcerated women give birth; others become gravely ill. Do prisoners have the right to comfort as they approach death? If so, who will provide it? These are real questions that many working in the prison system have ignored--but not everyone. Our documentary of the week goes behind the walls of the maximum security Iowa State Penitentiary, where a prisoner-staffed hospice program has been touching the lives of patients and caregivers alike. Filmmaker Edgar Barens spent six months embedded with program participants, and the resulting film is the intimate Prison Terminal. We've followed Vermont's struggle for single-payer healthcare for a while now, and this week the grassroots movement saw victory as the State Senate passed the bill, which now heads to Governor Peter Shumlin for his signature. Last week, Sam Mayfield attended a rally in support of the bill in Montpelier and sent us this report on what Green Mountain Care means to the people of that state. Comic Hari Kondabolu has a few words for people who don't realize that "African" is not a language. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Rallying For Universal Healthcare in Vt.
We've followed Vermont's struggle for single-payer healthcare for a while now, and this week the grassroots movement saw victory as the State Senate passed the bill, which now heads to Governor Peter Shumlin for his signature. Last week, Sam Mayfield attended a rally in support of the bill in Montpelier and sent us this report on what Green Mountain Care means to the people of that state. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Mary Gerisch: Universal Health Care for Vermont
The single-payer health care plan that recently passed the Vermont state assembly "is truly an example of democracy at its finest. It is the people of Vermont banding together as human beings and as a community," according to Mary Gerisch of the Health Care is a Human Right campaign of the Vermont Workers Center. Organizing around human rights framework, Mary notes, helped unite the people around a universal plan that leaves no one out. Mary joins Laura in studio to explain how Vermonters managed to do the impossible, why she's sure the Senate will do the right thing, and how other states can follow Vermont's lead. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Michael Moore & Donna Smith: Still Sicko
"Sooner or later people are going to realize that decisions about whether one lives or dies should not be predicated on 'How much money can I make off this?'" says Michael Moore, looking back at his film Sicko with Donna Smith of National Nurses United. They both note that it's the health care workers who are leading the fight for a better system for all, even as those workers are under attack themselves. To kick off our new series, The Nurses' Station, Michael and Donna joined Laura in studio for a look back at Sicko and a conversation about what has changed since the film was made, and why it's not enough. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: March 18, 2011
"Sooner or later people are going to realize that decisions about whether one lives or dies should not be predicated on 'How much money can I make off this?'" says Michael Moore, looking back at his film Sicko with Donna Smith of National Nurses United. They both note that it's the health care workers who are leading the fight for a better system for all, even as those workers are under attack themselves. To kick off our new series, The Nurses' Station, Michael and Donna joined Laura in studio for a look back at Sicko and a conversation about what has changed since the film was made, and why it's not enough. "It wasn't public workers or high school students or single mothers on Medicaid who plundered public treasuries or caused the meltdown on Wall Street. Talk of shared sacrifice is hollow when all the blame and concessions are forced on working families and those who can afford it the least." So wrote Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. Rose Ann joins us via Skype to give us her thoughts on the attacks on workers and the role of the nurses' unions in the fight. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Sen. Bernie Sanders: Aggressive Class Warfare
"Many important issues facing working people don't get the attention they deserve, and other issues get a whole lot of issues because they're sensational or if they divert attention," says Senator Bernie Sanders of the media's failures these days. He notes that we're now seeing a newly aggressive push from corporate interests and the politicians they sponsor, making attacks that have little to do with deficits. Senator Sanders joins Laura via Skype from Washington, D.C. to discuss the assault on programs that aid working families, the way the media helps conservatives wtih framing, and his state of Vermont's steps toward single-payer healthcare. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Donna Smith & Wendell Potter: Fixing Health Care For Real
As Republican freshmen head to Congress, many of them are riding a wave of promises to repeal "Obamacare." As Jamie Court noted on our show last week, one of the most unpopular elements of the bill is the mandate that Americans purchase private health insurance. But Wendell Potter, former health insurance industry insider, notes that that is the part of the bill that is most popular with the insurance companies that bankrolled those same Republicans. Donna Smith of National Nurses United (and of Michael Moore's health care film Sicko) asks, meanwhile, if there's any value at all created by the private health care industry. We try to answer that question with Donna and Wendell in our studio, as well as the question of what luck Republicans will have with repeal, and what can be done on a state level.
GRITtv: Bernie Sanders: Taxing Oil To Pay For Health Care
"We have to deal with the deficit in a progressive way," says Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Instead of cutting services in the name of some myth of austerity, Sanders suggests cutting tax loopholes and subsidies to oil companies in a new bill he just put forth in the Senate. The money we take in making oil companies pay their fair share could pay for extending unemployment benefits and health care. Meanwhile, Sanders also tells us about his home state's plan to push toward a single-payer health care system, lowering costs, and providing true universal care for all. He thinks they can do it.
