JUNE 7-9: Left Forum + Healthcare Panels

The Left Forum hits town this weekend! June 7-9th at Pace University, 1 Pace Plaza, NYC

There are going to be a number of great panels discussing issues all across the board. Below is a list of Healthcare related panels.

See the full list here. Ticket info here.

SATURDAY 10:00am – 11:50am Session: Session 1
Session	Room	Panel
Session 1	W511	Environmental Genocide: Politics and Public Health
		Dr. Margaret Flowers Secretary of Health for the Green Shadow CabinetMarsha Coleman-Adebayo Green Shadow Cabinet Walter Tsou Physicians for a National Health Program Rue Stevens Environmental Activist

SATURDAY – 12:00pm – 1:40pm Session: Session 2
Session	Room	Panel
Session 2	W511	The Political Economy of US Healthcare, the Medical Industrial Complex and the Affordable Care Act.Robert Chernomas Chair, University of Manitoba Robert Kemp Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Louisiana Matt Anderson co-editor of the online journal Social Medicine. Francesca Lo Basso National Nurses United

SATURDAY – 3:40pm – 5:20pm Session: Session 3
Session	Room	Panel
Session 3	W511	Organizing for Health Care Justice in the Age of Austerity and the Affordable Care Act
		Ben Day of Healthcare-NOW!Mark Dudzic of Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Health Care Dr Deb Richter of Vermont Health Care for All PNHP NY-Metro’s Martha Livingston, Ebiere Okah, Len Rodberg, & Laurie Wen

SATURDAY – 5:30pm – 7:10pm Session: Session 4
Session	Room	Panel
Session 4	W604	The Domino Effect: Growing the Healthcare Is a Human Right Movement, One State after AnotherAnja Rudiger of National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) James Haslam of the Vermont Workers’ Center Sergio Espana of United Workers Jennie Perkl of Maine people’s Alliance Download Flyer here
Session 4	W511	Ecological Crisis and the Catastrophe of Environmental Illness Benjamin Barson Chair, Scientific Soul Sessions Linda Thompson Co Chair Green Party of Connecticut Dr. Margaret Flowers Secretary of Health for the Green Shadow Cabinet Cecile Lawrence Green Party, New Yorkers Against Fracking Zoltan Vaci GeoCleanse International

SUNDAY – 10:00am – 11:50am Session: Session 5
Session	Room	Panel
Session 5	W511	Health Care Struggles in Embattled Communities Matt Anderson Department of Family & Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center Robb Burlage Community & Labor Health Study Group Shepard P. McDaniel The Peoples Survival Program Cleo Silvers Selikoff Center, Mt. Sinai Medical Center Alondra Nelson Department of Sociology, Columbia University Joaquin Morante Occupy Sandy Medical Relief Toni Lewis Healthcare Division, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Johanna Fernandez Departments of History & Political Science, Baruch College/City University of New York (CUNY)
SUNDAY – 3:00pm – 4:50am Session: Session 7
Session	Room	Panel
Session 7	W511	No More Budget Cuts on Our Backs! Fight Back with a Robin Hood Tax!Jennifer Flynn Chair, Health GAP and U.S. Robin Hood Tax Campaign Francesca LoBasso National Nurses United Amanda Devecka-Ranier National People’s Action

May 9: Save SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Rally To Save SUNY Downstate Medical Center 

Thursday May 9th @ 4:15 pm

Please join hundreds of Brooklyn Clergy, residents, patients and Downstate workers at a RALLY TO DEFEND SUNY DOWNSTATE (More info here)

4:15 pm: Interfaith Service at Mt. Zion Church of God, 203 E 27 St, Brooklyn [MAP] (Betw. Church Ave and Linden Blvd) SUBWAY:No. 2 to Church Avenue Station.

5 pm: March to Rally at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 470 Clarkson Ave [MAP]

To download a flyer to promote the event, please CLICK HERE.

May Day Solidarity: Healthcare is a Human Right

Healthcare advocates – UNITE in Union Square on May Day!

 

12Noon – 5:30 – Assemble in Union Square

 

5:30PM – March to City Hall

 

12N – 5:30pm – Assemble in Union Square

Healthcare for the 99% will be tabling in Union Square (southwest corner of the park) from 12Noon until the march starts at 5:30p. All healthcare advocates are welcome to join us! – Everyone will have to bring their own tables.

 

5:30pm – March for Healthcare as a Human Right

~ In solidarity with the larger May Day march ~

March departs at 5:30pm from Union Square to City Hall

Bring your signs, banners, and chants – as we march together with one message that unites us all – Healthcare is a Human Right!

 

< Sign up for Text Message Alerts >

Text “@healthcarefor99” to the number 23559

Contact us at: owshealthcare@gmail.com

 

For a full schedule of May Day events go to:

The Official OWS May Day Website

The Official OWS May Day Facebook Page

Today – ‘Life or Debt’ – A Day of Free Healthcare and Education

Join Strike Debt, Healthcare for the 99%, Occupy Town Square, and MANY others on March 23 for a day of free healthcare, radical education and a march to highlight community hospital closings.

In response to our broken and bankrupt health care system, Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative has just made a big announcement: Strike Debt has bought and abolished $1 Million in medical debt. They are using this “buy” to highlight the profound inhumanity and inequality of our medical payment system and to create a vision of a world where healthcare is truly treated as a right.

Event info here.

@Washington Square Park
9:30am – all day: Free education, legal advice, performances and music
2pm – 5pm – Rally & March to highlight community hospital closings

@Judson Church
9:30am – 1:30pm: Health Fair w/ medical practitioners donating services
5:30pm – 7pm: Continuation of health fair

This action is part of a week of actions all around the country declaring a Healthcare Emergency: It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”.

Contact: rjaction@strikedebt.org
Hashtags for the action: #lifeordebt #M23 #strikedebt

PROTEST: Strike Private Health Insurance

THURS, MARCH 21 - It’s time to take our message to the streets –
U.S. Healthcare – It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”.

Join Strike Debt, Healthcare for the 99% and allies for an important day of action!

4PM – Assemble in Bryant Park
4-5PM – RALLY & Speak-Out
5PM – MARCH!

Facebook Event: Strike Private Health Insurance – March and Rally

Download and Print Fliers:

Full Sheet Flier, 1/2 Sheet Flier, Spanish Flier

Hashtags for the action:
#lifeordebt #M23 #strikedebt

JOIN US on Saturday, March 23 - Life or Debt: A Day of Free Healthcare & Education

A MESSAGE FROM STRIKE DEBT:

Today, when you buy health insurance, you’re making a bet that doesn’t pay off. And it’s not just a bet with money, it’s a bet with your life. In response to this broken system, Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative has taken action: we have purchased and abolished $1 Million of medical debt.

These actions are part of a week of actions all around the country declaring a Healthcare Emergency: It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”.

Call to action:
http://strikedebt.org/lifeordebt

Contact: rjaction@strikedebt.org
Hashtags for the action: #lifeordebt #M23 #strikedebt

Action: U.S. Healthcare – It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”

Exciting actions coming soon… Join Us!

March 21 – Strike Private Health Insurance – March and Rally

March 23 – Life or Debt: A Day of Free Healthcare & Education

A MESSAGE FROM STRIKE DEBT:

Today, when you buy health insurance, you’re making a bet that doesn’t pay off. And it’s not just a bet with money, it’s a bet with your life. In response to this broken system, Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative has taken action: we have purchased and abolished $1 Million of medical debt.

These actions are part of a week of actions all around the country declaring a Healthcare Emergency: It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”.

Help us get the word out! Download and Print Fliers

Full Sheet Flier, 1/2 Sheet Flier, Spanish Flier

Call to action:
http://strikedebt.org/lifeordebt

Contact: rjaction@strikedebt.org
Hashtags for the action: #lifeordebt #M23 #strikedebt

If you won’t be in New York, join us in bringing this action everywhere! Already, actions are planned in California, Maryland, Colorado, Vermont and Minnesota. Wherever you are,

Protest a closed community hospital
· Support a struggling community hospital
· Protest a private insurance company
· Protest a pharmaceutical company
· Do a creative direct action!
· Organize a healthcare or debt speak out
· Organize a free health screening or health fair
· Organize free legal advice and debt/financial guidance
· Provide free education about debt and/or healthcare

 

Take Action! U.S. Healthcare: It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”

Join Strike Debt for a Week of Action to Declare a
Healthcare Emergency: It’s a Matter of “Life or Debt”

March 16 – March 23

In the U.S., healthcare is a bankrupt system run on debt:

• 62% of personal bankruptcies are linked to medical bills. ¾ of people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills had health insurance when they incurred those bills.
• 86% of doctors begin their professional lives with medical school debt. This debt limits medical school to the upper classes and forces even socially-minded young doctors to choose lucrative specialties. The restrictive cost of nursing school further reduces the availability and quality of primary care.
• Community hospitals deemed “unprofitable” are being closed left and right because they have fallen too deeply into debt.

These debts are literally killing patients, students, providers and communities. They deepen the already entrenched inequalities that divide races, classes, and genders. Our healthcare system doesn’t make us well; it prolongs our illnesses in the name of profit.

In reaction to this system, Strike Debt’s Rolling Jubilee initiative will make a big announcement in March. We have bought and abolished a large amount of medical debt. Though this will provide real relief to thousands of people who need it, it is only crumbs in light of the 70 million who still owe money on medical bills.

We want to use the attention this buy will generate to highlight the profound inhumanity and inequality of our medical payment system and to create a vision of a world where healthcare is truly treated as a right. We demand the cancellation of all medical debts and a radically transformed healthcare system based on everybody’s need for wellness and not the 1%’s desire for wealth.

Strike Debt is calling for a week of education and organizing culminating in a day of action in New York City on March 23.

If you’ll be in New York, save the date. Stay tuned for updates.

If you won’t be in New York, join us in bringing this action everywhere! Wherever you are,

• Protest a closed community hospital
• Support a struggling community hospital
• Protest a private insurance company
• Protest a pharmaceutical company
• Do a creative direct action!
• Organize a healthcare or debt speak out
• Organize a free health screening or health fair
• Organize free legal advice and debt/financial guidance
• Provide free education about debt and/or healthcare

Some helpful slogans and messages:

• Healthcare: a Matter of Life or Debt
• Debt on Arrival
• End Medical Debt
• Strike Medical Debt
• Healthcare is a Human Right
• Medical Knowledge Put Me into Debt
• Single-Payer Now
• Medicare for All
• Isn’t Being Sick Bad Enough?
• Cause of Debt: [Heart Attack, Diabetes, Private Hospital]

Hashtags for the action: #lifeordebt #M23 #strikedebt
Contact: rjaction@strikedebt.org

www.strikedebt.org, www.rollingjubilee.org