October, 14 2009, 01:18pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lacy MacAuley, (202) 445-4692, lacy@massey-media.
Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW! (330) 618-6379, info@healthcare-now.
Kai Newkirk, Mobilization for Health Care for All, (310) 703-3046, info@
Citizens and Health Care Providers Will Risk Arrest at Health Insurance Offices in Nine Cities Across the Country Tomorrow
Civil disobedience is part of a national mobilization to end insurance abuse and win real health care reform
WASHINGTON
Citizens and health care providers are participating in sit-ins at
health insurance offices in nine cities across the country tomorrow to
call for real reform that addresses the real cause of the health care
crisis, the insurance companies. Within the past 16 days, over 700
people have signed up to risk arrest by sitting down in an insurance
company office and refusing to leave, demanding the immediate approval
of lifesaving doctor-recommended treatment and an end to denial of
care. About 100 of those participants are risking arrest a health
insurance company office tomorrow.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - SCHEDULE OF SIT-INS
1) New York, NY, 10am EST, United HealthGroup / 1 Penn Plaza / 10119
Contact: Omar Kutty / omarkutty@hotmail.com / 773-576-2559
2) Washington, DC, 10am EST, Wellpoint / 655 15th St NW
Contact: Kevin Zeese / kzeese@earthlink.net / 301-996-6582
3) Palm Beach, FL, 11:30am EST, Humana / 2056 Vista Pkwy
Contact: Rick Ford / floridianshealth@aol.com / 561-601-9150
4) Boston, MA, 12:00p EST, Cigna Office / 2223 Washington St / 02462
Contact Ben Day / 617-723-7001 / director@masscare.org
5) Cleveland, OH, 10am Central, Medical Mutual / 2060 E 9th St / 44115
Contact: Drew Smith / drewsmith86@gmail.com / 330-703-0556
6) Portland, OR, 10am, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield / 100 SW Market / 97201
Contact: Chris Lowe / 503-788-2543 (preferred) 503-913-3980 / clowe@igc.org
7) Phoenix, AZ, 4-6p, United Healthcare / 2390 E. Camelback Road Suite 300 / 85016
Contact: Dan O'Neal / 480-650-0746 / dan@pdamerica.org
8) Los Angeles, CA, 10am, Anthem Blue Cross / 801 S. Figueroa St. / 90017
Contact: Sam Pullen / samuelbpullen@hotmail.com / 760-275-7874
9) Reno, NV, 11am , United Healthcare 5190 Neil Road #420 / 89502
Contact: Lisa Stiller 775-232-2823 / 775-746-1313 / koffeenut@yahoo.com
The actions are the start of a national movement, coordinated by the group Mobilization for Health Care for All,
of people who are fed up with the state of health care in this country,
fed up with the state of the health care debate in this country, and
are putting themselves on the line for real health care reform.
Chanting messages such as "patients not profits," participants in the
actions are expected to say that insurance companies that deny people
the care that they need for profit are the real death panels. They will
show that the legislation currently in the limelight fails to address
the real problem, the insurance companies.
The mobilization was launched two weeks ago when 17 people were arrested at an Aetna office in downtown New York City (read New York Times city blog write-up). Last week, 7 were arrested at a Cigna office in downtown Chicago (see Associated Press article). (View videos of New York sit-in and Chicago sit-in on YouTube.)
"The health care bill being voted on this week is a giveaway to the
insurance industry," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Prosperity
Agenda, one of the groups that launched the national mobilization. "If
it were passed, tens of millions of Americans will be forced to buy
overpriced insurance, which will result in hundreds of billions in new
annual revenue for the insurance industry and continued deaths and
suffering due to insurance abuse and denials."
National efforts are part of the Patients Not Profit campaign of the Mobilization for Health Care for All.
The mobilization was launched by several national organizations. the
actions are coordinated in cooperation with local groups based in each
city and give people an outlet for their frustration and even outrage
about insurance company abuse. The groups advocate for Medicare for
All, a public single payer health care plan that expands Medicare to
cover everyone.
"This will be one of the largest campaigns of nonviolent civil
disobedience since the civil rights movement," stated Kai Newkirk,
national coordinator for the Mobilization for Health Care for All.
"It's just beginning and will continue and build until the insurance
companies no longer stand between us and the care we need."
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Progressives Say Military Budget Should Be Cut as Biden Floats $30 Billion Increase
"There is simply no reason for taxpayers to continue to pay for outrageously high budgets rife with waste, fraud, and abuse," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
Mar 10, 2023
Progressive lawmakers on Thursday voiced dismay that President Joe Biden is requesting a nearly $30 billion increase in U.S. military spending just months after the Pentagon failed its fifth consecutive audit, admitting it could not properly account for more than half of its trillions of dollars in assets.
Biden's budget framework for fiscal year 2024 calls for $886 billion in overall military spending—up from the current level of $858 billion—with $842 billion going to the Pentagon. More than half of the $1.7 trillion of discretionary spending in Biden's proposal is reserved for the military, which would get $170 billion for weapons procurement and $38 billion for nuke modernization.
Defense Newsreported that the president's budget would boost spending on "new drones, combat jets, hypersonic missiles, and submarines."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement late Thursday that the president's Pentagon blueprint requests "$26 billion more than Congress allocated in the previous budget—which itself was $63 billion more than the $773 billion the President requested for FY2023."
"This is a never-ending cycle of increased funds without accountability," said Jayapal. "There is simply no reason for taxpayers to continue to pay for outrageously high budgets rife with waste, fraud, and abuse. A recent CBO study confirmed that the Pentagon could cut $100 billion per year without compromising on national defense. This is long overdue. Progressives in Congress have been at the frontline of this fight for decades, and we will continue to push for sensible, targeted defense policy that prioritizes our national security over profit-hungry military contractors."
Given that roughly half of the Pentagon's annual budget has historically gone to military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the National Priorities Project (NPP) noted Thursday that around 25% of Biden's total discretionary budget would likely wind up in the coffers of private companies.
"This military budget represents a shameful status quo that the country can no longer afford," said Lindsay Koshgarian, NPP's program director. "Families are struggling to afford basics like housing, food, and medicine, and our last pandemic-era protections are ending, all while Pentagon contractors pay their CEOs millions straight from the public treasury."
Led by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), progressive lawmakers have been working for years to enact modest cuts to the Pentagon budget and redirect the savings toward healthcare, education, and other social investments.
But those efforts have repeatedly fallen short in the face of bipartisan opposition.
In 2022, Lee's proposal to cut $100 billion off the military budget's top line was defeated by an overwhelming vote of 78-350, with 141 House Democrats joining nearly every Republican in voting no. (NPP points out that $100 billion would be enough to send every U.S. household a $700 check or hire a million elementary school teachers.)
In a statement Thursday, Lee said she is "disappointed" that the president's new budget "continues the regressive trend of increasing our bloated, wasteful defense budget year after year with little oversight." Last month, Lee and Pocan reintroduced legislation that would reduce the U.S. military budget by $100 billion.
Top Republicans, meanwhile, signaled Thursday that they will try to pile more money on top of Biden's historically large military budget request as they simultaneously pursue cuts to Medicaid and food benefits.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, lamented that Biden's budget "proposes to increase non-defense spending at more than twice the rate of defense."
"The president’s incredibly misplaced priorities send all the wrong messages to our adversaries," said Rogers. "On the House Armed Services Committee, we are focused on building an NDAA that provides our warfighters with the capability and lethality to deter and, if necessary, defeat the grave threats facing our nation."
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) sent a similar message, calling Biden's military budget request "woefully inadequate" and a "serious indication of President Biden's failure to prioritize national security."
But analysts argue that ballooning military spending does little to bolster U.S. national security. As William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft wrote Thursday, "We can make America and its allies safer for far less money if we adopt a more realistic, restrained strategy and drive a harder bargain with weapons contractors that too often engage in price gouging and cost overruns while delivering dysfunctional systems that aren’t appropriate for addressing the biggest threats to our security."
"The Congressional Budget Office has crafted three illustrative options that could ensure our security while spending $1 trillion less over the next decade," Hartung noted. "A strategy that incorporates aspects of these plans and streamlines the Pentagon budget in other areas could be sustained at roughly $150 billion per year less than current levels."
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While blasting the White House's proposed $886 billion in military spending as "madness," progressives on Thursday also praised portions of U.S. President Joe Biden's fiscal year 2024 budget for sizable social investments that could lead to "broader opportunity, greater economic and health security, lower levels of hardship, and a nation where everyone can thrive."
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Still, the scope of the budget—which includes significant funding for the climate, childcare, democracy, education, healthcare, housing, violence prevention, and more, made possible in part through tax hikes for wealthy individuals and corporations—was celebrated by the likes of Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
"President Biden's budget is driven by what we know works: investments in the people who keep our economy running."
"President Biden's 2024 budget invests in people and communities and creates a 21st century tax system that supports these investments to build toward an economy that works for everyone," Parrott said. "It lays out an agenda that would move us closer to a nation where everyone—regardless of their background, identities, or where they live—has the resources they need to thrive and share in the nation's prosperity."
Erica Payne, the founder and pesident of the Patriotic Millionaires, declared that "President Biden's proposed budget is the most ambitious tax plan we've seen from a president in decades—and a clear emphasis of the values that he and the Democrats stand for: investing in our country, fighting off corporate profiteering, protecting the social safety net, and doing so all while reducing our nation's budget deficit."
"The wealthiest Americans and corporations can easily afford to pay more—and hundreds of patriotic millionaires and billionaires are ready and eager to do their part to make sure all Americans can thrive," Payne added. "Let's be clear: As President Biden's budget lays out—we can invest in America, expand the social safety net, fight income inequality, and do it all while lowering taxes for working people—if we simply require the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share."
The president's proposals to help American families include expanding the child tax credit from $2,000 per kid to $3,000 for those ages six and above, and to $3,600 for children under six; enabling states to increase childcare options for millions of kids; and funding a federal-state partnership that provides high-quality, universal, free preschool.
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Biden advocates for $59 billion in funding and tax incentives to increase the affordable housing supply; $10 billion to remove barriers to affordable housing developments; and $10 billion to address racial and ethnic homeownership and wealth gaps. The president proposes providing $4.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program—and allowing states to use some of that money to provide water bill assistance to poor households, since a related program expires at the end of 2023.
Along with fighting for billions of dollars to ease hunger, the administration aims to pour money into high-poverty school districts as well as improve the affordability of higher education by increasing the discretionary maximum Pell Grant by $500, expanding free community college, and subsidizing tuition for students from families earning less than $125,000 enrolled historically Black, tribally controlled, or minority-serving institutions.
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In terms of healthcare, Biden pushes for putting billions of dollars into tackling cancer, increasing funds for veterans exposed to environmental hazards, and providing $471 million for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity rates, especially among Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women. He also wants to expand coverage of mental health benefits and make historic investments in the behavioral health workforce.
The president advocates for making healthcare premium cuts permanent and providing Medicaid-like coverage to individuals in states that have not expanded their programs under the Affordable Care Act. There are also provisions to cut prescription drug costs, improve Medicaid home and community-based services, and expand the National Health Service Corps as well as programs that train and support nurses.
Biden would also extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund by at least 25 years. In addition to investing in Social Security Administration staff, a White House fact sheet says that the Biden administration "looks forward to working with the Congress to responsibly strengthen Social Security by ensuring that high-income individuals pay their fair share."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said that "while the conservatives' approach is to 'cut, cut, cut!' earned benefits for future generations of retirees, President Biden's budget would fortify Medicare for the future by asking the wealthy to pay their fair share."
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While welcoming Biden's efforts to protect Medicare, Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen, also suggested that "looking ahead, the administration should crack down on Medicare Advantage plans that profit by cherry-picking healthy seniors and restricting care for enrollees; expand dental, vision, and hearing benefits for Medicare enrollees; work with Congress to cap out-of-pocket expenses for seniors; and take a bolder stand against Big Pharma greed by expanding drug price negotiation to bring down the prices of more drugs sooner and cover all Americans, not just people on Medicare."
On the climate front, the budget proposes spending $4.5 billion on clean energy, $16.5 billion on climate science and clean energy innovation, and over $24 billion on conservation and to help build communities' resilience to devastating storms, drought, extreme heat, floods, and wildfires. The administration also pushes for investing nearly $2 billion in environmental justice efforts.
A coalition of over a dozen green groups stressed in a joint statement Thursday that "as our country deals with inflation, high energy prices, public health crises, biodiversity loss, and climate change, it is now more important than ever that Congress fully funds the agencies responsible for addressing these critical issues."
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, said that "President Biden's proposed budget—especially its investments in clean energy, jobs, and an end to oil and gas subsidies—is the kind of thing young people in this country want to see ahead of 2024."
"But President Biden has the power to act on climate and issues important to our generation without having to go through a Republican House," she noted. "He can reject the Willow Project, which goes against his own agenda to stop the climate crisis, and can do everything in his executive authority, like declaring a climate emergency and invoking the Defense Production Act, to jump-start our transition to clean energy."
Given the current conditions in Congress—with Republicans controlling the House and a Senate where the president's agenda is often thwarted by not only the GOP but also right-wing Democrats and a new Independent—Biden is certainly in for a battle.
That's especially the case considering that, as CBPP's Parrott noted, "the president's budget priorities stand in stark contrast with the emerging House Republican agenda—an agenda that pushes more tax cuts for the wealthy and profitable corporations, and holds the economy hostage by demanding deep spending cuts in areas like K-12 schools, healthcare, medical research, college tuition help, and help buying groceries as the price for raising the debt limit."
"Taken together, this emerging agenda would increase hardship and narrow access to opportunity; widen already large differences in outcomes by race, ethnicity, and geography; and hurt the country as a whole," Parrott warned of GOP lawmakers' priorities.
ProsperUs coalition spokesperson Claire Guzdar argued that "President Biden's budget is driven by what we know works: investments in the people who keep our economy running. Lowering costs for families, strengthening Medicare and Social Security, and delivering investments in healthcare, housing, and climate are key to widespread prosperity and economic growth."
"President Biden must now fight to enact this budget and continue to reject dangerous calls for austerity and cuts to programs that strengthen our communities and our economy," Guzdar added.
A U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing for the president's proposal is scheduled for the morning of March 15.
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Trump Likely to Face Criminal Charges Over Stormy Daniels Hush Money: Report
One legal expert called the report "huge news" indicating that an indictment of the former president is "imminent."
Mar 09, 2023
Former U.S. President Donald Trump may soon face criminal charges in connection with the payment of hush money to the adult entertainer Stormy Daniels, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing four unnamed "people with knowledge of the matter."
According to the Times, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office extended an offer for Trump to testify next week before a grand jury considering the evidence in the prospective case against the twice-impeached ex-president, who is seeking the Republican nomination for 2024.
As Times reporters William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess, and Jonah E. Bromwich noted:
Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.
In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.
Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race. It would also elevate Mr. Bragg to the national stage, though not without risk.
At issue is a $130,000 payment made to Daniels—an adult film star who claims she had an affair with Trump—by former fixer Michael Cohen during the last days of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump subsequently reimbursed Cohen for the payment. Cohen has not yet testified before the grand jury, but is expected to do so on an undetermined date.
"Trump has faced an array of criminal investigations and special counsel inquiries over the years but has never been charged with a crime, underscoring the gravity of Mr. Bragg's inquiry," the Times trio wrote.
The journalists further asserted that "Bragg could become the first prosecutor to charge Mr. Trump, but he might not be the last," noting that the Fulton County District Attorney's Office in Georgia is investigating whether the former president interfered in the 2020 election.
"And at the federal level, a special counsel is scrutinizing Mr. Trump's effort to overturn the election results, as well as his handling of classified documents," the reporters added.
Mark Pomerantz—one of two prosecutors involved with the Manhattan district attorney's investigation of the ex-president who resigned in protest last year—wrote in his new book, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, that "we developed evidence convincing us that Donald Trump had committed serious crimes" involving his finances and business practices.
"As we put the facts together, many of us came to believe that we had enough evidence to convict him, and we could present a solid case in court that would lead to a guilty verdict," Pomerantz related.
He continued:
I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the penal law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual statements of financial condition. His financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks, the national media, counterparties, and many others, including the American people.
Asked in a recent CBS "60 Minutes" interview what he would advise Bragg in regard to Trump, Pomerantz replied: "This was a righteous case. You should bring it. It's important. And if you made the wrong decision, make a better decision."
Bragg retorted that "after closely reviewing all the evidence from Mr. Pomerantz's investigation, I came to the same conclusion as several senior prosecutors involved in the case, and also those I brought on: More work was needed. Put another way, Mr. Pomerantz's plane wasn't ready for takeoff."
Separately, a New York jury last December found two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization, Trump's company, guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud. The former president's organization was subsequently ordered to pay a $1.6 million penalty for what a judge called "systemic, egregious fraud."
Also last December, the former congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the Trump's "Big Lie" unanimously voted to recommend federal criminal charges against the former president and some of his associates in connection with the insurrection. Given Trump's 2024 presidential run, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel.
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