Call for Improved Medicare for All in Drop Two Words — Over 65 — Campaign
Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—June 26, 2012. Building on an amicus curiae brief filed by 50 doctors and two organizations calling for a ruling against the mandate forcing Americans to buy insurance, three doctors and three lawyers spoke at the Supreme Court yesterday urging a campaign to “drop two words, ‘over 65′” from the Medicare law. These experts on the law and on health policy will be at the Supreme Court on Thursday morning as well as available throughout the day of the decision.
The three doctors who spoke included Margaret Flowers, MD, a pediatrician from Baltimore who emphasized the importance of “getting politics out of health care and demanding health care for every person in the United States, not just some of the people here. It is time for evidence-based solutions that we know work. We can stop preventable deaths and suffering by immediately expanding Medicare to cover everyone in the United States.” Carol Paris, MD a psychiatrist in Southern Maryland described how “corporate medicine undermines health care” and results in her spending more time talking to patients about how to “maneuver through the health care system to pay for their prescription drugs and doctor visits rather than discussing their health situation.” She is leaving the United States to practice medicine in New Zealand where they have “a sane approach to health care.” When she is not practicing medicine she will return to the U.S. to advocate for Medicare for All. George Pauk, MD of Arizona emphasized the cost savings and efficiency of a single payer system that would save money while providing health care to all.
Oliver Hall, the attorney who filed the amicus brief, explained how the group only opposed the mandate, not the regulation of the insurance industry or the expansion of Medicaid. The amicus argued that the mandate went beyond the powers of the federal government. Another attorney, Russell Mokhiber who directs Single Payer Action emphasized how both the corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans sought to protect the insurance industry while “we seek to replace the insurance industry with a national public insurance, improved Medicare for all.” The final attorney to speak, Kevin Zeese who co-directs Its Our Economy, urged the public to “demand the Congress drop two words — over 65 — from the Medicare law to immediately make health care available to everyone in the United States. Health care is a human right that every person should have.”
Below is more information on the participants:
- Margaret Flowers MD is a pediatrician from Baltimore and single payer advocate who co-directs, Its Our Economy.
- Carol Paris, MD, is a psychiatrist in Southern Maryland who is closing her private practice in the United States and moving to New Zealand, where the healthcare system is fairer to patients and to providers than it is in the United States.
- George Pauk MD has experience in research and practice of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, and teaching medical students and nurse practitioners. He has served in positions on the staff of the University of Maine, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Texas.
- Oliver Hall is the lawyer who wrote the brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of 50 single payer doctors.
- Kevin Zeese is an attorney who co-directs It’s Our Economy, one of the organizations that signed the amicus brief.
- Russell Mokhiber is an attorney who directs Single Payer Action, one of the organizations that signed the amicus brief.
More information:
Video of Press Event at Supreme Court, http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL88CB8068C7ACA980
Amicus Curiae brief, http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/brief.pdf.
“The Supreme Court Should Rule with the People” by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, http://itsoureconomy.us/2012/06/the-supreme-court-should-rule-with-the-people/
Single Payer Action, www.singlepayeraction.org
Its Our Economy, www.ItsOurEconomy.US
