New Daily Show Post on Medicaid Expansion

The lack of Medicaid expansion is hurting many in the 19 states that have refused to take federal money.  The daily show has a segment that aired last night on it's impact in South Carolina (Stephen Colbert's home state).  The arguments for expansion sound very similar to those for a single payer system.  Pennsylvania is listed as implementing the expansion which is actually still in limbo here as described in related posts.  

As an aside Julie Sokolow and Healthy Artists are featured in the New York Times on artists' struggle with health insurance.  Many of whom are now adversely affected by the lack of Medicaid expansion. 

A Crusader on What Ails Artists

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

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MEDICAID, MEDICAL INSURANCE, HEALTH CARE and the CORBETT PLAN Op Ed by President Dave Steil

 

No Medicaid Expansion = Higher Health Insurance Premiums

 

Tom Corbett to PA's Working Poor: “Drop Dead!” (Part 1) (See all four parts.)

Medicaid Expansion Update

 

Video from the Friedman Pittsburgh Talk is now Available

In an earlier post I showed the slides from the talk by Gerald Friedman on the economic impact study he conducted for Health Care for All PA.  He also gave talks in Lancaster (shown on PCN) and Philadelphia.  

Julie Sokolow of Healthy Artists has put together a video of his talk incorporating his slides.  The full slides from his talk are shown here.

Pennsylvania single payer november 2013 131103 from University of Pittsburgh

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New Time Magazine Article on Healthcare Costs with 

Stewart Discussion Real Reasons for High Medical Costs

Ferlo's Inspirational Speech on Single Payer

The war of words over the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is heating up once again as the date for implementation approaches in Jan 1, 2014.  Some in Congress such as Sen. Ted Cruz R-Tx are openly talking of shutting down the federal government to defund the act.

A new inspirational talk on the advagntages of a single payer system has been posted by the Healthy Artists Project by State Sen Jim Ferlo D and can be seen above.  

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Julie Sokolow Has a Video Entered Into a Competition at Challengepost

Julie Sokolow of Healthy Artists has produced a three minute video titled A Healthy Democracy which can be seen above.  She has also written many blog posts on Michael Moore's website on healthcare.  Her video is entered into a competition at challengepost.com

You can vote for her video and watch other submissions by clicking here.  Voting ends next Thursday May 16. 

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Healthy Artists Julie Sokolow Featured on Michael Moore.com

Julie Sokolow's poster contest was a big success with the winning poster being featured at the right.  Her documentary film project Healthy Artists is featured on Michael Moore.com with an article by her and can be read below.  Other Healthy Artist videos can be seen here at the Videos from Healthy Artists tab above.

“Healthy Artists” Film Series Captures the Heart of Single-Payer

 

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Healthy Artists Video on Bicyclists Injury

 

Santorum: No One Has Ever Died Because They Didn’t Have Health Care | The New Civil Rights Movement

 

The Healthy Artists Movie Poster Exhibition Jan 4

January 4th 2013:

20 of Pittsburgh’s favorite artists compete to design a poster representing the Healthy Artists documentary series (www.healthyartists.org)  and win the hearts of judges from the Criterion Collection, MASS MoCA, Warhol Museum, and Steeltown Film Factory.  Artists include: Stephanie Armbruster, David Bernabo, Seth Clark, Doug Dean, Corey Escoto, Jenn Gooch, Mundania Horvath, Jasen Lex, Jim Rugg, Andy Scott, Lizzee Solomon, and Hyla Willis.

 

The United States is the only industrialized nation not to offer some form of healthcare to its citizens, points out Julie Sokolow, local documentary filmmaker and founder of the arts and social-justice organization Healthy Artists. "Why aren't more people engaged with this?" she asks. Why aren't more people demanding that this country catch up with the rest of the world? Perhaps people need a little extra inspiration -- and maybe young people can lead the way, Sokolow posits. That's where Healthy Artists comes in. On Jan. 4, 2013, 7-10 pm, at Modern Formations Gallery [4919 PENN AVE., GARFIELD, Healthy Artists will open “The Healthy Artists Movie Poster Exhibition,” a month-long show of art urging young people to become as involved in the health-care issue as they were in presidential politics when Barack Obama originally ran. In conceiving the exhibition, Sokolow's thoughts turned to the power of the now-iconic blue-and-red "Hope" poster of Obama created by Shepard Fairey for 2008. For the Jan. 4 event, Healthy Artists has gotten 15 local professional artists and five student artists each to create a movie-style poster around the group's original effort, a documentary film series on artists discussing their work and their difficulties with health care. As Sokolow points out, these young creatives are in an age bracket -- 19 to 29 -- who make up 30 percent of this country's 49 million uninsured. "Artists are just a metaphor for anyone who has a dream they want to accomplish," she says. "Anyone with a dream can relate to that." But instead of gathering terrible stories of medical bankruptcy and untreated illness, Healthy Artists "is highlighting how having health care would liberate so many people. It's about making life easier for people and people not feeling shackled to jobs because they need the healthcare the job provides. If we're the greatest country on earth, we should be investing in our citizens as the other countries are. "We want people to recognize that it's to their benefit to get involved, that they can use their talents to get involved," she adds. "We want to create new ways to be an activist." Healthy Artists is teaming with Be Well! Pittsburgh -- which earlier got a Sprout Fund grant to compile health-care options for the uninsured -- and Original Magazine to help publicize the issue. Healthy Artists -- itself the recipient of a Sprout Fund grant -- will also team with Healthcare 4All-PA to present the latter's study on Jan. 4 concerning how a single-payer healthcare plan would benefit Pennsylvania. An effort to create a single-payer healthcare is currently underway in Vermont. After the exhibition and the other work of Healthy Artists and its collaborators, Sokolow hopes another city will be inspired by Pittsburgh. More information on the exhibition's opening night (which includes free food, drink and music from the Harlan Twins), as well as on the exhibition's artists and judges, is available at the Healthy Artists website. Do Good: Looking for additional ways to help with the healthcare issue? Volunteer with Healthcare 4All-PA by clicking here. 

Writer: Marty Levine 
Source: Julie Sokolow, Healthy Artists

The First Year of the PUSH Healthcare for All PA Blog

Your doctor, your choice

This is one of the slogans we believe in here at Healthcare for All PA.  It has been one year since we set up this blog.  The popular posts listed on the right are the top 5 for the last 30 days and since the blog began.  A more comprehensive list of the 10 most popular posts, out of 110 total, since the blog began, according to the built in stat counter, are listed below.

1.  Bob Mason's Letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

This one has received a lot of hits due to excellent writing by state VP Bob Mason on how the state Department of Public Welfare has dropped hospital care for newborns.


2.  Santorum: No One Has Ever Died Because They Didn’t Have Health Care | The New Civil Rights Movement

While running for president last winter Senator Santorum denied that anyone dies due to a lack of health insurance.  This post got a big response as it debunked his statement.

3.  Healthy Artists Video on Bicyclists Injury

This video post received a big response among the Pittsburgh's cycling community.  It is pro Affordable Care Act which we acknowledge does some good but needs big improvements.

4. Special Screening of Tony Buba Documentary on Braddock Hospital Closing

There was a big turnout for the special screening of the documentary 'We Are Alive' in early November.  It is about the struggle to keep Braddock Hospital open and it's impact on the community.

5.  Mike Stout & the Human Union Band Concert 

The blog was used to promote the concert by Mike Stout's band to raise money for PUSH and the Thomas Merton Center.

6.  If Vermont Won't Have Single Payer What Will it Have?

This post which discussed whether Vermont's Single Payer plan is really single player.  also received a big response and was published in the Thomas Merton Center's New People.

7.  The Supreme Pennsylvania Medicaid Decision

There was a huge upsurge in traffic in the wake of the Supreme Courts decision which upheld the Affordable Care Act in June.  The initial euphoria was tempered by the part which allowed the states to opt out of Medicaid expansion.  



8. Moving Backward

Blogger Lloyd Stires did an excellent skewering of the plan Paul Ryan-Ron Wyden plan to fix Medicare.

9.  Dan Onorato's Happy New Year

Lloyd Stires also gave the activist community an important heads up as outgoing County Executive Dan Onorato, after losing his bid to be governor of PA, was given a lucrative job by Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield. 

There are many other posts of which we are proud.  Many of these are linked to in the posts above and the tags below.  We encourage you to check them all out as well as the battles promise to continue rage on over the affordable care act in the coming year and we will continue to PUSH for single payer in Pennsylvania.

10. New Census Uninsured Data Out: White & Female Rates Getting Worse in PA

gender	%2010	MOE +/- %	% 2009	MOE +/- %	% 2008	MOE +/- %
Male	13.3	0.3	13.3	0.3	11.7	0.3
Female	10.8	0.3	10.0	0.2	9.5	0.2

 
The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates or SAHIE from the Census Bureau show that the uninsured problem in Pennsylvania was spreading to women and whites while remaining steady in African Americans and Hispanics in 2010.  This is their most recent year available.

Healthy Artists on the Future of Health Care

Do you have a right to quality (lifetime) (affordable) healthcare?

Healthy Artists has posted a video on YouTube of testimonials by uninsured artists at their Dazzletine event. 

Healthy Artists and Dazzletine Presents Review

Below is a Summary of the Healthy Artists event on August 24. 

Partying Down with Artists and Activists

On Friday evening, August 24th, Healthy Artists threw a one-of-a-kind party at Assemble uniting health care advocates, young people, and artists. First, health care advocates, including the Merton Center’s Molly Rush and Be Well! Pittsburgh’s Jude Vachon took the stage. Their talks covered issues such as the Affordable Care Act, Single-Payer, and Voter ID issues. The talks were followed by a creative workshop in which young people and artists created around the issue of health care reform and presented their ideas to the audience. Afterwards, local conceptual artist/folk-singer Jenn Gooch played, followed by the indie glam-rock Dazzletine.

The host of the event was the unique organization, Healthy Artists. The group produces a free to watch, online documentary series in which young Pittsburgh artists discuss their lives, their work, and their experiences with the current health care system. The topic of health care particularly affects the young artist demographic; many artists work non-traditional jobs and part-time jobs that do not provide health insurance. Additionally, the largest uninsured pool in the U.S. is comprised of young people in the 19-29 year age range. Healthy Artists aspires to give voice and exposure to these young artists, while bringing vitality and artistry to a serious social justice issue that has yet to fully connect with a youthful population.

To watch the series and learn about future events, visit: www.healthyartists.org

Julie Sokolow is a filmmaker, musician, and writer, living in Pittsburgh, PA. She is currently directing a feature documentary entitled Aspie Seeks Love and she also produces the Healthy Artists documentary series.

**Related Post**

Mike Stout & the Human Union Band Concert 

 

HEALTHY ARTISTS & DAZZLETINE PRESENTS

HEALTHY ARTISTS & DAZZLETINE PRESENTS

THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE
@ Assemble – 5125 Penn Ave
Friday, August 24th from 7-10pm
$5 suggested donation
free drinks

MICRO-TALKS, CREATIVE WORKSHOP, CONCERT

Micro-Talks from Health Care Advocates: Rob Cullen of WhatIfPost.com, Molly Rush of The Thomas Merton Center and PUSH, Jude Vachon of Be Well Pittsburgh, Julie Sokolow of Healthy Artists

Creative Workshop: Party-goers will free-associate through words and images on what they want for the future of health care.  It can be realistic or fantastical.  You can use your imagination and your experience with the current health care system.  We will provide paper, art supplies, and inspiration, as well as info about the health care systems here and abroad.  Write a poem, draw a picture, write a flash fiction piece.

Dazzletine Concert: The glam-rock band, Dazzletine, will deliver a spectacular performance. Oh, and, dance party!

Healthy Artists Video on Bicyclists Injury

Any day now the Supreme Court of the United States or SCOTUS will announce it's ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare.  Julie Sokolow at Healthy Artists has produced another video clip profiling an artist, Daniel Menges who experienced an injury while riding his bicycle and was aided by the Affordable Care Act.  While we agree that some are helped by the Act who weren't before (because this person could be kept on his mother's insurance until he's 26)   Many cyclists are uninsured making them vulnerable to injury by cars and bad roads and trails.  Cycling has many health and environmental benefits and should be encouraged.  Bike Pittsburgh advocates for safer riding conditions for cyclists.  You can read about their efforts on their blog.

There still are many improvements that need to be made to the ACA as are spelled out in this website.in posts below and in the tabs above.

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Ed Grystar on the Other Possibilities Network

 

STOP Obamacare in Pennsylvania and the Uninsured

 

Racial and Gender Differences in Pennsylvania's Uninsured 

 

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Congratulations to Healthy Artists

Julie being presented the People's Choice award by Ron Gaydos

Congratulations to Healthy Artists and Julie Sokolow on winning the people's choice award at the 2nd annual 2012 PROGRESSIVE VISIONS - SHORT VIDEO CONTEST (there were only five of us there out of about 100 attendants to vote for their entry out of seven entries).  The three videos that made up their entry can be seen below.

**Update**

I forgot to congratulate the group Hip Hop on L.O.C.K. on winning the jury prize for the same contest.  Links to all of the video entries are forthcoming here. 

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Health Care 4 All PA on PCTV! 

 

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Occupy Healthcare Rally/Progress PA Recap

Health Care 4 All PA on PCTV!

I received this message from Julie Sokolow at Healthy Artists.

Hi All,

I'm happy to announce that a 30 minute Health Care 4 All PA program will soon air ten dates on PCTV!

The description is:   Dynamic interviews with students, doctors, politicians, activists, artists, and more reveal what Pittsburgh thinks about universal health care.

The 30 minute program combines 8-10 different journalistic mini-segments that have been building on our youtube channel over the past year.  After each segment, our website is advertised as well as the location of our Squirrel Hill office.  We might be seeing some new faces in the office due to this exposure!  Here are the dates the show will air.  Feel free to forward this email along to interested parties:

The following 10 dates are scheduled for the program "Health Care Reform Perspectives - The health care reform debate”  on Comcast channel 21 or Verizon Channel 47 or streamed live on http://www.pctv21.org/ and here

Monday 6/4/2012, 7:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Tuesday 6/5/2012, 12:00 PM, Channel PCTV

Thursday 6/7/2012, 8:00 PM, Channel PCTV

Saturday 6/9/2012, 5:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Monday 6/11/2012, 7:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Tuesday 6/12/2012, 2:00 PM, Channel PCTV

Thursday 6/14/2012, 8:00 PM, Channel PCTV

Saturday 6/16/2012, 2:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Monday 6/18/2012, 7:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Tuesday 6/19/2012, 10:00 AM, Channel PCTV

Thursday 6/21/2012, 9:00 PM, Channel PCTV

Saturday 6/23/2012, 12:00 AM, Channel PCTV

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