[ [link removed] ]Democratic Socialists for Medicare for All

Dear John,

Enjoy this month’s issue of All In, the DSA Medicare for All newsletter.
Read on for more from M4A at the national convention, updates from the
Democratic primary debates, and news on DSA M4A victories across the
country!

In solidarity,

Dustin Guastella
DSA Medicare for All Campaign Committee

 

[1]BANNER: All In: The DSA M4A Newsletter

 

Last weekend, more than a thousand elected DSA delegates from across the
country met in Atlanta for the biennial national convention. There, we
deliberated on dozens of organizational and political priorities for the
coming two years, including Medicare for All.

[ [link removed] ]In the time since our campaign was adopted at the last convention in
2017, we’ve been working nonstop with all of you to build a mass movement
for a truly single-payer Medicare for All program. It has been both
challenging and successful.

In line with other priority campaigns, [ [link removed] ]our national committee
collaborated on a report that was delivered to the national convention.
The report detailed these challenges, successes, and the overall arch of
our campaign. Additionally, our report listed several recommendations to
guide our strategy and bolster our resources for the next two years. The
overwhelming support from delegates for our report gives us the momentum
we need to ramp up our efforts and mobilize even more working-class people
to fight for Medicare for All.

The convention was also a time for us to bring Medicare for All activists
together in more focused settings. We hosted a [ [link removed] ]star-studded panel with
longtime healthcare activist Michael Lighty, journalist Natalie Shure,
Physicians for a National Health Program president Adam Gaffney, and
national coordinator for the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, Mark Dudzic
(watch here). There was also a [ [link removed] ]hands-on workshop with Austin DSA on how
to organize local campaigns in the fight for Medicare for All (watch
here).

DSA’s recommitment to Medicare for All comes at a critical time. Our
tireless campaigning has pushed Medicare for All to the center stage and
into [ [link removed] ]an exciting turning point for our movement. [ [link removed] ]HR 1384 has reached
118 cosponsors, making it the official Democratic Party position in the
House. Meanwhile, on the presidential debate stage, [ [link removed] ]Bernie “I wrote the
damn bill!” Sanders is continuing to champion Medicare for All — [ [link removed] ]he
even predicted attack ads that aired during the debate! As the largest
grassroots socialist organization in the United States with more than
55,000 dues-paying members, we’re proud of what we’ve built together and
now it’s time to see it through. We can build on this momentum and finally
cement healthcare as a human right in America. We’re going to win, and
we’re going to do it together.

From the campaign

News from the M4A blog and the broader campaign

[ [link removed] ]Medicare for All is so good that Joe Biden has no choice but to lie
about it, writes Tim Higginbotham. The topic of healthcare took center
stage during both nights of Democratic debates in late July, and it’s no
surprise that Biden came out hard in defense of Obamacare (his line that
“the criticism of Obamacare is a bunch of malarkey” was meant to sting but
instead was met with weak applause). He also championed his own plan —
essentially the Affordable Care Act 2.0 — which makes [ [link removed] ]no attempt to
fundamentally change the current healthcare system. His talking points
about Medicare for All are disingenuous half-truths and in some cases,
outright lies. We’re not fooled.

In what has so far been one of the most inspiring displays of solidarity
during presidential campaign season, [ [link removed] ]Sen. Bernie Sanders orchestrated
a 2,000-person rally in just 36 hours to save a Philadelphia hospital. But
it’s not just any hospital, write members of Philly DSA: Hahnemann
Hospital largely serves low income-individuals and people of color, making
it a lifeline for many who already struggle to keep their heads above
water. The hospital was purchased in 2018 by an investment banker who
seemingly planned to make money off the prime real estate it occupies.
Instead, he bankrupted it. “A hospital is being converted into a real
estate opportunity in order to make some wealthy guy even more money,
ignoring the health-care needs of thousands of people, that is pretty
crazy,” Sanders said during the rally. Philly DSA members write that
Sanders effectively recruited the local union movement to help, while
stressing during the speech that the hospital would not have to close
under a Medicare for All system. Ultimately the rally was a show of
strength for our movement: [ [link removed] ]it’s about treating healthcare as a human
right, not a vehicle for corporate profits.

Medicare for All is a pretty simple idea, so why are so many media
organizations reporting people are confused about it? [ [link removed] ]A few of the
reasons are obvious, writes Rian Bosse. For one, many Democratic lawmakers
and 2020 presidential candidates have intentionally sent mixed messages
about Medicare for All, while the for-profit healthcare industry has deep
pockets it’s using to misinform the public. But Democratic lawmakers and
insurance industry execs aren’t ordinary people, and their messages don’t
reflect what people want. “Confusion about Medicare for All is not a sign
that voters don’t want Medicare for All,” writes Bosse. “Medicare for All
is a straightforward idea that resonates with ordinary people, and it’s
our job to make sure that big pharma and the insurance industry’s
confusion campaign is revealed to be the ugly lie that it is.”

News

Related news articles, essays, articles from outlets beyond the campaign

On Medicare’s 54th birthday, we must pledge to defend and expand it,
[ [link removed] ]writes Luke Thibault in Jacobin. Despite its weaknesses, Medicare is
one of America’s most beloved social programs because it’s a universal
program not based on charity. Millions of people use it or know someone
who does — and it works well. Medicare’s universality makes it an engine
of solidarity, binding large swathes of the population together in a
collective project. By covering both the working class and the middle
class, Medicare combats the politics of resentment that otherwise fuels
the Right’s agenda.

Our hard work is paying off: Medicare for All is now the official
Democratic Party position in the U.S. House. Sanders speechwriter and
former journalist David Sirota tweeted the news Aug. 1, saying that
[ [link removed] ]Rep. Jayapal’s legislation has an official majority in the House with
118 co-sponsors. Conversations about a single-payer system would have been
unthinkable just a few short years ago, but now it’s become one of the
most important issues ahead of 2020. We’re not settling for anything less
than a universal, single-payer system that’s free at the point of service.
Everybody in, nobody out.

“The insurance has been great until I got to a point that I really needed
something for survival,” [ [link removed] ]a woman who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer
told the Associated Press. Anthem Blue Cross denied Kim Lauerman a drug
that helps prevent infections and fever during chemotherapy, and when she
ended up getting an infection, she missed vital chemo sessions. She now
worries her advanced cancer may return because her treatment was cut
short, while doctors and hospitals worry about the outsized control health
insurance companies have over patient care. “No independent research
tracks how frequently insurance issues delay or curtail care nationally,
but doctors say they’ve seen a marked increase in difficulties over the
last few years,” the AP reports.

[ [link removed] ]Kamala Harris doesn’t support Medicare for All and she never did, Tim
Higginbotham writes in Jacobin. Although she calls her plan Medicare for
All, it’s far from it. Her plan would further privatize Medicare and
ultimately keep private insurance in control of healthcare. Not to mention
it would take ten years to implement, which essentially signals she has no
intention of even taking her own plan seriously. “Harris has long
masqueraded as a supporter of Medicare for All, but the rollout of
KamalaCare finally gives us clarity,” Higginbotham writes. “She will fight
on behalf of insurance companies, not against them.”

Joe Biden claims his healthcare plan will insure 97 percent of Americans,
but what about the lives of other 3 percent? [ [link removed] ]Matt Bruenig of People’s
Policy Project writes that up to 125,000 people could die within the first
10 years from lack of health insurance. That’s 125,000 human lives lost
because of a system we can reform, if we choose. “Needless to say, this is
not acceptable,” Bruenig concludes. “No Democrat should be running on a
health plan that does not provide universal coverage.”

Sick patients shouldn’t have to battle pharmacies for the life savings
drugs they need. Under Medicare for All, they wouldn’t have to.
[ [link removed] ]Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, add a frustrating, and sometimes
deadly, obstacle patients must navigate to get the drugs they need. In
short, insurers often form partnerships with particular PBMs and require
that patients receive drugs only from those pharmacies in a sequence set
by the PBM, not the doctor. The result is that “pharmacy benefit managers
have the authority to trump a doctor’s medical judgment without seeing
patients or knowing their full medical history, and without accountability
for the consequences of what happens to sick people.“ Thousands of
patients are denied life-saving medications this way, and doctors are
hamstrung by the complicated system. “I can’t call them and say, ‘Hey, by
the way, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense,’ because they are hiding
behind all these processes,” said one doctor. “And we are struggling
here.”

Chapter spotlight

A look at what locals are doing around the country

Austin DSA gave [ [link removed] ]an incredible presentation at the DSA National
Convention about how to run a successful pressure campaign. The chapter
successfully pressured Rep. Lloyd Doggett to co-sponsor the House Medicare
for All bill by organizing a strategic campaign and building a local
coalition. [ [link removed] ]They shared the slides from their presentation here.

Charleston DSA [ [link removed] ]hosted a discussion featuring healthcare activist and
Medicare for All champion Michael Lighty on Aug. 8. He touched on the
recent devastating events in Mississippi, [ [link removed] ]in which children were left
sobbing in the streets after their parents were arrested by ICE in the
largest immigration raid in a single state in U.S. history. “Health
justice must cover everyone in the country, regardless of their
immigration status,” he said. “Medicare for All is a powerful,
class-based, universal response to violence, misogyny, white supremacy and
xenophobia as it would address health impacts and greatly improve the
material positions of women, people of color, immigrants, and all working
people.” [ [link removed] ]You can watch Lighty’s full speech here.

Michigan chapters [ [link removed] ]Bricks & Roses DSA and Detroit DSA put another win
on the board by successfully pressuring Rep. Dan Kildee to co-sponsor H.R.
1384 this month, bringing the current total to 118 co-sponsors! Earlier
this year, the Detroit chapter also [ [link removed] ]successfully pushed for the
removal of Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Dan Loepp from Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer’s transition team. Keep up the outstanding work!

Twin Cities DSA hosted a Medicare for All forum on July 18th with Rep.
Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Illhan Omar. [ [link removed] ]Catch up with their live-tweet
thread or [ [link removed] ]this video for highlights from the event. “The American
healthcare system is broken,” Rep. Ihlan Omar told the crowd. “It is a
moral imperative we fix it, and Medicare for All will do that.”

SnoCo DSA continues to run a [ [link removed] ]robust canvassing operation in the
suburbs outside Seattle, Wash. Our comrades in the PNW are out knocking on
doors talking to their neighbors about Medicare for All regularly on
weekends and looking great while doing it! For tips on running your own
canvass, [ [link removed] ]check out our Organizing Guide.

Social media

The best stuff from our feeds

🎂 [ [link removed] ]“No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of
modern medicine... No longer will young families see... their own hopes
eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral
obligations to their parents.”

🐗 [ [link removed] ]Even the feral hogs get healthcare under M4A

😘 [ [link removed] ]Keep it simple

🐕 [ [link removed] ]Just a normal day in America

🥚 [ [link removed] ]M4A is healthcare that’s bigger than before

🐱 [ [link removed] ]So this is why everyone was talking about Cats

🎤 [ [link removed] ]Cardi/Bernie vid when?

 

Newsletter graphics and design by Stephen Gose.
Content written by members of the DSA M4A communications subcommittee.


 
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