Healthcare Forum Features Wisconsin Assembly District 21 candidates

by Julia Greene | Tuesday, October 28, 2008

A Healthcare Forum in South Milwaukee for Wisconsin Assembly District 21 candidates drew a large crowd on Wednesday Oct 22, 2008. The Forum was sponsored by Healthcare United and Wisconsin Citizen Action. Candidate Glen Brower and State Senator Jeff Plale fielded questions from participants on both national and state solutions to the healthcare crisis.
Healthcare United activists were out in full force. Cindy Kroll, RN who works as a hospice nurse, asked the candidates what they would do about the “profiteering” she witnesses everyday in the healthcare industry. She cited the large profit margins by health insurers, and the profits and building and technology arms race of the hospital industry while they scale back on nursing care for patients. One speaker talked about her experience with the individual insurance market and how she and her family have gone into near bankruptcy and do not have access to healthcare for their illnesses due to being rejected for pre-existing conditions. She noted that it was this same individual market for health insurance that the McCain plan hopes to expand.
Mardell Kaluzny, RN, a retired Nurse Educator and a Republican stated that she spent a lot of time educating legislators on healthcare both Democrats and Republicans. Mardell, a Republican, feels that healthcare is a complicated policy area and its up to healthcare professionals like her to explain how the system works.

In addition to all the candidate races in Wisconsin, there is a healthcare referendum on the November 4 ballot. The referendum asks for affordable and accessible health care to all Wisconsin residents at the same quality that state legislators get.

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Healthcare United Participates in the Citizen Action of Wisconsin Press Conference

by Patrick Flaherty | Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Healthcare United participated in the Citizen Action of Wisconsin press conference (10/7/08) releasing their report on the increasing cut of healthcare spending that health insurance premiums have on divert to waste and profit. You can find the report here.

Janice Bice-Allen, a Green Bay psychotherapist, spoke at the press event, as did US Rep. Steve Kagen (the two are pictured together at the event).

 

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Update from Wisconsin

by Patrick Flaherty | Monday, October 06, 2008

Healthcare United is on the move in Wisconsin. We’ve held meetups of caregivers across the state as we work to create a healthcare system that functions better for us and our patients.

October is a busy month with the excitement of the Presidential race. We’re busy educating other healthcare professionals about our great new nonpartisan comparison of the healthcare voting records of Obama and McCain, with weekly phonebanks in Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison. Those who aren’t coming in for phonebanks are calling from their own homes using our website’s “take action – make calls” section.

On October 6, healthcare workers who live in US Rep. Steve Kagen MD’s district met with his office to discuss their concerns about the healthcare system and what they would change. We’re busy working with JOSHUA, a network of churches working on social justice issues, to host a healthcare issues forum between US Rep. Kagen and his challenger John Gard. In Oak Creek, WI, south of Milwaukee, we’re holding a similar healthcare issues forum for candidates for the 21st Assembly, Glen Brower and Rep. Mark Honadel, on October 22 at 6pm at the Oak Creek Community Center, 8580 S Howell Avenue. On Wednesday, October 15, at 7pm, we’re holding a conference call about why RNs and other healthcare workers need to get involved with Sandy Pasch RN, who is shaking things up by running for office (RSVP for the toll-free conference call at patrickf@heatlhcareunited.org).

For more information about Healthcare United in Wisconsin, call (414) 257-1035.

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Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express Covers Healthcare United’s Voter Registration Efforts

by Brad Levinson | Thursday, June 26, 2008

Healthcare United was featured in an article published yesterday by the Shepherd Express of Milwaukee.  The piece covers our efforts to mark Juneteenth through our new voter registration drive.

An excerpt:

Juneteenth 2008 celebrated, as it always does, the day in 1865 on which slaves in Texas learned that they had been emancipated. But this year's Juneteenth celebration also was a day of action for Milwaukee's African-American residents and health care professionals who want the next president and elected officials to address the wide racial disparities in health care.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Healthcare United and their allies were at the Juneteenth gathering on June 19, where they registered voters and urged Milwaukeeans to make health care an important electoral issue. "We have to actively engage in the political process," said Clarene Anderson of the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin. "We have to force the change that needs to occur."

Before the event, national SEIU representatives stopped in Milwaukee as part of a national "Road to Health Care" bus tour aimed at drawing attention to how members of racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately disadvantaged by America's broken health care system.

Click here to read the full article.

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From Wisconsin: Yesterday’s Juneteenth Events

by Brad Levinson | Friday, June 20, 2008

Wisconsin Healthcare United's Patrick Flaherty and volunteer Bill Martin register voters yesterday at Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration, one of the largest in the country.

To read more about yesterday's celebration, please visit One Wisconsin Now's great recaps here and here.

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