Also posted on   Guaranteed Healthcare. Come to the new Guaranteed Healthcare blog and describe your healthcare and insurance horror stories.

So you're uninsured.

But like so many, you're hanging in because in a few years, you'll be eligible for Medicare.

Help has arrived.

Cross Posted on DailyKos

Now that the furor over Spitzer's prostitution-prosecution scandal has died down and Governor Paterson has been sworn in, things can get back to normal in New York's Capital Region. The region is home to the 21st New York Congressional District, where two amazing things are happening.

First, we have five announced candidates in a Democratic primary to fill retiring Representative Mike McNulty's seat, something that has never happened in the district before.

Second, out of all these five candidates, only one, Phil Steck, is distancing himself from the pack by joining local doctors and advocating for full, single-payer, universal health care. He's doing this for two main reasons: first, because it makes sense, and second, because no matter who gets elected President this year, once we have the White House, we're going to need Congressmen who are able to push him or her to keep their promises.

More below the fold.

NOTE: If you have relatives who are disabled or over the age of 65 who rely upon Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid as their sole means of receiving medical care, “ this is an article you probably want to read.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane & My Left Wing


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You see, the U.S. healthcare system is all about the hunters and the hunted.

The for-profit, Murder by Spreadsheet insurance industry are predatory hunters. The American people are the victims being scammed into buying shit junk insurance.

Predators come in many shapes and sizes.

You probably know that AARP was hugely influential in championing the horrific and corruption-laden Medicare D prescription drug benefit.

AARP is a brand in America. A brand is how a particular company or organization is perceived by its customers--in the case of AARP, vulnerable elderly Americans.

For earlier diaries describing the Congressional push to privatize Medicare at any and all costs, see August,September and October 2006.

The health insurance industry, represented by its trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) just won its first major victory during the 110th Congress.  It killed a plan to save the Medicare program as much as $8 billion in 2008, $65 billion over the next five years and $160 billion over the next ten years.  Congressional Budget Office, March 21, 2007 (PDF).

The title of this diary is a verbatim quote from a CSPAN caller this morning.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why there isn’t a public outcry against what is befalling our senior citizens. Our collective passivity, has resulted in enormous and untold hardship for America's elderly.

The recent budget proposal that President Bush submitted to Congress proposes to cut the growth of Medicare and Medicaid by over 100 billions dollars over the next five years while providing an additional 245 billion in spending on the occupations of Iraq an