[Street] "Promoting" Mitt Romney: a big problem!
Jim Recht, MD
occupy at jimrecht.com
Wed Jan 4 14:40:21 EST 2012
Hi Katie and All:
Darn -- I'll be out of town this coming Monday.
Could we discuss it on Monday 1/16 -- assuming there will be an Outreach WG
meeting on 1/16? If not, how about at the 1/23 Outreach WG meeting?
Yours Truly,
Jim Recht
occupy at jimrecht.com
On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Katie Gradowski <katie at occupyboston.org>wrote:
> I think that would be fantastic. Maybe we can discuss it at Monday's
> outreach meeting?
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 6:01 PM, Jim Recht, MD <occupy at jimrecht.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All:
>>
>> I'd love to do another teach-in. I am the chairperson of the local
>> (Massachusetts) chapter of PNHP, and have a lot of experience leading
>> discussions and presenting on this issue. Actually, my PNHP colleague
>> Mardge Cohen and I did do a teach-in on November 5 (I think the video is
>> available online).
>>
>> Katie, could we set something like this up? How about as a Monday evening
>> Community Gathering (sort of like the talk last night on campaign finance
>> reform?)
>>
>> Yours Truly,
>> Jim Recht
>> occupy at jimrecht.com
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Brian K <bdubkwob at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> +1 To Jim's comments. Romney's Health Care reform in MA is not a model
>>> for the nation.
>>>
>>> Here is a more in-depth presentation of Physicians for a National Health
>>> Program's (PNHP) diagnosis of the MA reform.
>>> http://www.pnhp.org/mass_report/mass_report_Final.pdf
>>>
>>> I wonder: can we get PNHP to do a teach-in for Occupy Boston about the
>>> MA reform, so that we can spread this information more widely?
>>>
>>> Brian
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 10:09 AM, James Recht <occupy at jimrecht.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Katie and All:
>>>>
>>>> Thanks so much for this feedback. I think it's a good idea to focus on
>>>> Romney (though I would def support others who want to bird-dog the whole
>>>> bad bunch). But I'd argue that to be really effective in nailing Romney,
>>>> the message needs to be as simple and direct as possible. For example:
>>>>
>>>> "RomneyCare: great for profits, bad for health."
>>>>
>>>> "RomneyCare: Massachusetts' gift to the insurance industry."
>>>>
>>>> "RomneyCare: money-grubbing insurance companies WIN, families &
>>>> children LOSE."
>>>>
>>>> Regarding tonight's Street meeting: I will be running a little late but
>>>> will try to be there by 5:30 PM! Quick question: will this meeting end by 6
>>>> (so that people can attend the 6 PM Community meeting)?
>>>>
>>>> Yours,
>>>> Jim Recht
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 1, 2012, at 22:53, Katie Gradowski <katie at occupyboston.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hey Jim,
>>>>
>>>> I proposed this, as a joke action. Endorsing Romney in any capacity
>>>> will hardly help his campaign -- that's part of the point.
>>>>
>>>> That said, these are facts that I certainly wasn't familiar with, and
>>>> are certainly worth pursuing. We don't have to do this action, of
>>>> course (implicitly tying it to Obamacare is also highly problematic), but
>>>> I'd be interested to get your take on whether there's a good and thoughtful
>>>> way to do this, or whether we should just scrap it. There is, as yet, no
>>>> action planned -- it was an idea that I threw out, as a way to get the
>>>> creative juices going -- so I wouldn't worry about this being too far
>>>> along.
>>>>
>>>> Would you be interested in coming to the Street meeting tomorrow to
>>>> share your thoughts? It would be great to have your input!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> Katie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 10:02 PM, James Recht <occupy at jimrecht.com>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi All:
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm writing in response to proposals that OB lead a pro-Romney action
>>>>> at the NH primary. My understanding is that this would emphasize
>>>>> ex-governor's leadership in passing the MA Healthcare Reform of 2006 (aka
>>>>> "RomneyCare").
>>>>>
>>>>> I want to urge my sisters and brothers here to stop for a moment and
>>>>> reconsider! The prospect of Occupiers voicing support for RomneyCare is, to
>>>>> put it mildly, highly problematic. There are a number of reasons this is
>>>>> so, including the following:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) RomneyCare is not "universal healthcare" -- not by the wildest
>>>>> longshot. Yes, the law reduced the percentage of people in MA who have no
>>>>> health insurance at all (from 12% to about 6%) but there are still TENS OF
>>>>> THOUSANDS of us who have no health insurance here in Massachusetts --
>>>>> including lots of children and many, many immigrants (both documented and
>>>>> otherwise).
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) RomneyCare effectively forces every single state resident to
>>>>> purchase a health insurance "product" (aka a health insurance policy) from
>>>>> one of 5 private insurance companies. The result has been an unprecedented
>>>>> financial windfall for these corporations. United Healthcare, Blue
>>>>> Cross/Blue Shield, Celticare, etc. We are talking about some of the worst
>>>>> corporate hoodlums here!
>>>>>
>>>>> 3) The percentage of MA residents who have truly awful health
>>>>> insurance coverage (for example: deductibles of more than $1000 a year, no
>>>>> dental coverage, no maternity coverage, little or no prescription coverage,
>>>>> pitifully limited or non-existent mental health coverage) has more than
>>>>> doubled since the Romney law went into effect 5 years ago.
>>>>>
>>>>> 4) RomneyCare resulted in the near-collapse of the statewide
>>>>> healthcare safety net. Community providers like Boston Medical Center and
>>>>> Cambridge Hospital as well as the biggest providers of care to the
>>>>> undeserved in Western MA, have all struggled just to keep their doors open
>>>>> during the past 5 years. Substance abuse treatment has become difficult or
>>>>> impossible to obtain for most people. Primary care shortages continue to
>>>>> worsen. And just ask any public sector nurse what he thinks of Romney's
>>>>> "achievement!"
>>>>>
>>>>> 5) The cost of this massive growth of a private health insurance
>>>>> market in our state has exceeded even the most dire "worst-case"
>>>>> predictions, and it is largely responsible for the horrible economic
>>>>> situation the state is now in.
>>>>>
>>>>> And the list (of ways in which we residents of Massachusetts have
>>>>> truly gotten sold out in this regard) goes on. Please note that none of the
>>>>> above is controversial -- none of it is simply a matter of opinion. For
>>>>> more background on these issues, check out www.masscare.org (follow
>>>>> the link to their 2011 report).
>>>>>
>>>>> I appreciate that some people who didn't have health insurance before
>>>>> 2006, have been lucky enough to get a reasonably good policy since then.
>>>>> But this belies the bigger truth, which is that this law is basically a
>>>>> mechanism for transferring $$$ from the 99% to the health insurance
>>>>> industry. It's a testament to the power and skill of the conservative
>>>>> propaganda machine (aided by the Boston Globe, the "liberal" WBUR and
>>>>> others) that most individuals aren't familiar with these facts.
>>>>>
>>>>> (Why am I familiar with them? I'm a community-trained physician, and I
>>>>> have been fighting for true universal health care since the 1990's. For the
>>>>> past 5 years I have been working with an organization named *Physicians for
>>>>> a National Health Plan* (check us out at PNHP.org) advocating for
>>>>> laws that would put an end to the private health insurance industry and
>>>>> replace it with a socialized national insurance system. And I can tell you
>>>>> that when Ted Kennedy threw his support behind RomneyCare 6 years ago, it
>>>>> was a terrible betrayal. It was a huge setback for the progressive medical
>>>>> community -- one that we are still reeling from. But that's another story!)
>>>>>
>>>>> Yours,
>>>>> Jim Recht
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Due to the present financial situation, the light at the end of the
>>>> tunnel will be switched off to save on electrical costs until further
>>>> notice.
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Due to the present financial situation, the light at the end of the tunnel
> will be switched off to save on electrical costs until further notice.
>
>
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