Amendment to Grant States Right to Implement Single Payer Passes Committee Today

Today witnessed the landmark passage of the States Single Payer Amendment which would remove federal barriers to implementation of a single payer health care system at the state level. This bipartisan vote signifies the prominence of the single payer solution as the plan favored by a majority of Americans.

The amendment introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) during the Education and Labor Committee's consideration the health reform bill -- H.R. 3200 -- passed by a bipartisan margin of 25-19. The amendment would free states from Employer Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulations that have been used by insurance companies to tie down states with litigation, preventing them from implementing progressive health care solutions.

I have introduced single payer legislation for many years now because it is the only system that can fully solve our health care crisis. Frankly, it is the only way to take health care decisions out of the hands of for-profit insurance companies, and give them back to doctors and patients.

Our broken health care system burdens our business community and allows many of our fellow citizens to suffer or die unnecessarily. Two-thirds of our nation's personal bankruptcies can be attributed directly to medical expenses. Many of these bankruptcies are suffered by those already insured because insurance companies refuse to pay for urgently needed care.

Adoption of a single payer system will allow us to cover everyone without costing any more than we currently spend. The sooner we adopt a uniquely American single-payer system, the sooner we can start enjoying a healthier and more prosperous America. Affirming states' rights to pursue a single payer system in H.R. 3200 makes it a better bill and brings more support for its final passage.

Comments

[Sarah14]

This is great - several states have tried to enact some form of state single payer arrangement, only to be derailed by the courts. Massachusetts and San Francisco are the only ones that haven't met that fate. Washington State has a catastrophic single payer model that's been introduced into the legislature two years in a row - now maybe it can actually be implemented if the federal stuff either doesn't pass or passes in an unpalatable version.

[drkazmd65]

Thank you again for your service Rep. Kucinich,... I just wish you were my Rep.

Thank you Rep. Conyers as well for your efforts.

Now if only that passes intact, AND my state of MD choses to implement it,....

I wonder if Rep. Paul would support this - it would appear to be a State's rights issue.

[FlyingEagel]

This is great. One more wall being torn down; let's hope it gets signed into law.

[IowaKid]

I would rather have Single Payer for the whole nation. The problem with the state Single Payer system is what happens if you get sick or need medical care in a state that doesn't have a Single Payer system?

[jonbw]

single payer is simply the state being the only insurer. It will stil pay for your care in other states

[longhorn33]

Never going to happen. If one of the blue state can pass, a domino effect will happen.

Canada's single payer system started with one province.

[JoeSchmuk]

Wow! Bravo! how the hell did that pass?

[jmpurser]

I HOPE that state based single payer can make a difference. Certainly nothing else in this bill will. But I really don't see how you can make a meaningful state based single payer system and have it work. Good luck with it.

[lovethesinner]

The only reason I didn't vote for Dennis Kucinich in the presidential primary, is that I knew he'd do more for the country right where he is. This is a real achievement that gets us closer to a real solution than anything else that's been talked about so far. Once single payer is successful in a few states, all the states will adopt it. In the end, democracy is the only real defense against tyranny.

Dennis, (the menace of tyranny) triumphs, again!

[drkazmd65]

Sd, but true lovethesinner,... Dennis Kucinich would have made an interesting (disruptive to the status quo) President. But he probably does more good where he is for the country as a whole.

I'm just glad his own district sees fit to keep re-electing Mr. Kucinich.

[RomeRog]

Isn't this the way Canada achieved a national single payer model, one region at a time?

[JoeSchmuk]

FYI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(Canada)

[army193]

America has had 60 years to figure this out...How bright is America again?

[Raster]

It's not "brightness" that's involved. It's a suffocating system of political corruption with legalized bribery in the form of "campaign contributions" by business interests and front groups. During the last almost 70 years, since early WW II, we have created monsters: the private health insurance industry, Big Pharma, medical care (mostly hospitals) industry, AMA, and parts of the medical equipment and supplies industry that have been and mostly still are vigorously opposed to any "public option" health coverage plan, most of all single-payer on the federal or state level.

[tomasedison]

the Supremes keep insisting that political cash amounts to free speech and cannot be limited

[DavidDial]

Actually allowing each state to develop its own approach to health care as opposed to making one huge across the board change at the federal level might be a very smart way to go about things.

[rssrai]

This is good, but the health care reform bill has to pass to get this thru. I am glad this is in the house bill, but it could go by the wayside when congress goes to reconcile both bills. But, this is a good start.

[TJCole]

Thank God for Dennis Kucinich...he should be President.­...obvious to us all now..!

[Poboy]

I believe this may be the first vote in Congress for single payer.

25 to 19

Let's see who are the 25

and

the 19.

Thank You Rep. Kucinich for showing true leadership as always.

And you too, Rep Conyers, because you have been on this before Kucinich, I believe.

Now let's strip all the rest of that crap out the bill and ram it through the House and then the Senate.

[fcsakes]

I'm feeling a little bit of that Hope that surged through me on Nov 4, 2008.

[000Jade000]

BTW, Rep. Conyers, when I started reading through the latest health care bill, I remembered what you said when you came to Rochester to talk with us about single payer... the part about messing around with the mouse trap and turning it into a huge behemoth of a mess. IMO, the pending health insurance reform legislation is a big fat mess.