Coming Events:
PNHP Monthly Meeting - October 27th, 7pm
Calendars
October
November

Remembering
Dr. George Martin 

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HJM is a blog that replaces Don McCanne's Quote of the Day. It arrives in your mailbox 2-3 times/week focusing on an issue or recent report of current interest, with commentary by Don and other health policy experts.
Read recent HJM's and Subscribe here
 

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State Organizations
advocating for
Health Care
is a Human Right

-Health Care for All Washington
-Health Care is a Human Right - Washington
-Vermont Workers Center
-Health Care for All Oregon
-Maine People's Alliance
-Whole Washington

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Organizations advocating for single payer, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All in Western Washington

*Health Care for All -WA
*Progressive Democrats of America
*Health Care is a Human Right - WA  
*Socialist Alternative
*Washington Community Action Network
*Backbone Campaign
*Whole Washington

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Coalition Partners



Health Care is a Human Right -
Washington  


Washington Against Nuclear Weapons

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Information
MORE COMING SOON

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Since 1987 Physicians for a National Health Program has advocated for reform in the U.S. health care system. A large part of our work involves mobilizing physicians, other health care workers, and the general public to actively advocate for enactment of a national, comprehensive, high quality, non-profit, publicly-funded health care system serving all residents of the United States.

NOTE - We will not have an October PNHPWA Monthly Meeting - Will pick up on November 18th, 7:00pm, with a Report Back on PNHP's Annual Meeting held in Chicago, Nov 13-15, focusing on strategy after we see what happens in the Mid-Term Elections. Many PNHPWA and WA SNaHP members will be attending.

PNHPWA August 27th National Meeting

"Winning Medicare for All: The Path Foreward"
Dr. Diljeet Singh, MD, DrPH
President of PNHP, lead the meeting

In place of our regular PNHPWA regular 3rd Wednesday time slot we joined in this important PNHP National Program - How can we move Congress to act? By building the kind of people-powered movement that they can’t ignore. PNHP has a plan to do exactly that, but it will take all of us working together with our coalition partners to succeed! We shared much more about our upcoming campaigns, how they’ll bring new people into our movement, and how you can get involved in this urgently needed push for Medicare for All. Watch the Meeting Here

We are looking for providers and patients to tell how they have been affected by Insurance Prior Authorizations and the WiSER Program. Please send us info at pnhp.washington@gmail.com - responseswill remain anonymous

* Health Care for All WA Webinar - "British National Health Service: Racial and Social Determinates of Health"
                                                                        with Clarence Spigner, DrPH

In contrast to our Healthcare system it sounds ideal - cradle to grave care, and zero deaths due to lack of care.

But wait, it isn’t perfect. Class inequalities in health persist in the UK. And racial inequalities in health persist in the UK.  

Register for the Meeting Here

* Shadow Hearing at Seattle's City Hall, - Wednesday, Oct 7th, 5:30 - 7:00pm - Bertha Knight Landes Room (1st Floor), Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Avenue, Seattle
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is hosting a shadow hearing on the WISeR Model, Medicare's Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction Initiative. Testimony and discussion will address delays and denials of care across the healthcare system and the need to rein in public and private payers that deprive patients of care. It will also spotlight the harms of the Trump Administration's push to expand prior authorization in Medicare through WISeR.  Register Here  

*Sign-On letter for Organisations and Individuals: National Single Payer's Declaration of Independence from the Medical Industrial Complex
* WPSR's Annual Health Justice Benefit Gala & Dinner was on Saturday, Sept 19th. Inspiring meeting. You can see details here.
* Northwest Health Law Advocates (NoHLA) - Mending Health Care with Community - Sept 25th Great Meeting! - subscribe to NoHLA's News
* PNHP's Annual Meeting will be held in Chicago, Nov 13-15, focusing on strategy after we see what happens in the Mid-Term Elections. Many PNHPWA and WA SNaHP members will be attending and our November PNHPWA meeting will be a "report back"
* International Community Health Services Foundation Newsletter
* Bend it like Booker - the 34th District Democrats put together a fabulous 25 hours of continuous progressive speakers, entertainment, on wide variety of topics. Shout-out to Organizer Rachel Glass. Here's a link to the 2025 program. Recent September 2026 program will be added when available
* Health Care is a Human Right -WA - September Newsletter
* Health Care for All Washington August eBulletin: LOTS of INFO about what's going on in WA State & Elsewhere -     Sign on the listserve to stay updated

Recent PNHPWA Monthly Meeting:

PNHPWA July 22 Meeting

"Disability Justice and Healthcare Reform"

Heather Barnett, MD, PhD and Rachel Prusynski, DPT, PhD
 

Dr. Barnett is a an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UW. She is the Director of the Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System, Her research focuses on improving health equity in the delivery of rehabilitation care.

Dr. Prusynski is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation, Division of Physical Therapy, at UW. She co-directs the Advancing Health Services & Policy in Rehabilitation (ASPIRe) Lab in the Department of Rehab Medicine and holds multiple leadership roles in the American Physical Therapy Association.

This was a wonderful meeting with lots of information with which we should all be familiar.

Watch a Video of the meeting here
Links to some things discussed are appended at the end of the video. 

Here is a link to the Meeting Slides https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:5d6d40be-f240-497d-bf76-e827067bc68f

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Recent PNHP Critical Research

PNHP Webinar "Moral Injury in Medicine: The Human Costs of Practicing in a Profit-Driven System"

PNHP National hosted a Webinar on March 24th on the results of the survery of more than 1200 providers about the problem of limitations of providing their patients with the treatment they need because of constraints of for-profit insurance and their workplace that puts pressure on them to withhold the care their patients need to save costs to the busineses.
           
It reported what physicians shared, key themes, and what the data reveals about the financialization of healthcare; and provided concrete ways you can engage with our report — from using the findings in local advocacy and publications to organizing with colleagues to build collective power. This isn’t just a presentation of findings. It’s a launch point for action! You can read the full report here
View a Video of the Webinar Here

“Taking Advantage: How Corporate Health Insurers Harm America’s Seniors”
You can download the an interactive PDF version of the report. Lots of important info here to help us in our work. Spread the word & PDF link.

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Delays. Denials. Unexpected out-of-pocket costs. Everywhere people with so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans turn, they encounter barriers to the care they need—and the care their physicians have prescribed.  Join us to learn about the many ways that corporate health insurers harm seniors and people with disabilities—and how YOU can fight back. 

The program included:

* Sen. Elizabeth Warren urging advocates (and her fellow legislators) to stand up and reclaim Medicare as a public program
* Dr. Ed Weisbart presenting a new report on the harm caused by Medicare Advantage corporations, researched by Physicians for a National Health Program
* Personal stories of patients and physicians who have been harmed by Medicare Advantage corporations

We also had suggestions on how YOU can take action to end the abuses of corporate health insurance, dramatically improve the traditional Medicare program, and put the U.S. on a path to a Medicare-for-All system that brings everybody in and leaves nobody out. You can watch the video of the Webinar here

“Our Payments, Their Profits"

PNHP has published a groundbreaking report—developed by our policy committee and reviewed by independent health policy experts—that quantifies the extent of Medicare Advantage overpayments.   Our research and this report estimate that Medicare Advantage plans overcharge taxpayers by a minimum of 22% (or $88 billion) per year, and potentially by up to 35% (or $140 billion) per year. Read the study here.

Med Advantage Fact Sheet one pager to accompany surveys and petition

“Removing the Middlemen from Medicaid"

Find out how states could save millions of dollars for their Medicaid residents by removing the profit motive from the entities managing state Medicaid plans. It would be $82,000,000 for Washington State - that could be used for their underserved!!!


MedicaidManagedCareHomepage

Things You Can Do Now

 There are potentially disastrous things going on in Washington DC that may well diminish the access to health care that we do have. Click on this toolkit several of our allies put together for contacting our representatives to ask them to help stop attacks on Medicaid. Here is a Medicaid defense resource list. You can find a Congressional directory at this link: House Telephone Directory

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Since 1988, PNHP has been organizing so that everyone in the US has the health care they need. Watch this 5 minute video reflecting that 37 years of activism

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PNHP National Calendar - click here to see what other PNHP chapters are offering online in terms of webinars.

Join Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action. PSARA has been doing amazing andeffective organising work around all the social justice issues in our area for many years. It is leading the charge against Medicare in the Pacific Northwest, and indeed, buttressing efforts of other progressive health reform organisations across the country. Please take a look at the PSARA website and its monthly newsletter, The Retiree Advocate, and consider joining to help support its groundbreaking work

The George Martin Student Scholarship Fund now has more than $24,000 in contributions providing support for the 5 SNaHP Chapters in our region

PNHPWA Web Site - pnhpwash.org
PNHPWA Email - pnhp.washington@gmail.com
PNHPWA YouTube Channel  

Coalition Partner Websites
Health Care for All Washington
Health Care is a Human Right Washington
Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action
Whole Washington