LGBT/Pride Week
June is LGBT pride month. We have a variety of queer AAPI's, friends, families and allies posting about their experiences. Thanks to Be DeGuzman, one of APAP's 2009 Unsung Heroes, for coordinating this special week of posts.
To help with our upcoming hate crimes/Vincent Chin week (June 21) or Pacific Islander week (Aug), please let us know. If you have a topic you or your agency would like to coordinate, email us.
What's happening now? Congress is starting to hold hearings on health care reform. Three House committees with joint jurisdiction over health care reform legislation are working on a uniform bill this month, and Sen. Ted Kennedy is working to complete a Senate health care reform bill by June 25th. A plan of some form is going to be passed by October 15th.
What's the plan that Obama and other progressives are hoping for? The most important element for reform is the public plan - an affordable, not for profit option of health insurance. Here's the NYT's take on what this would be like. And here's the latest from Politico: Barack Obama's health plan takes shape
Wait, is this government-run health care? No. It's a combination of public and private plans. Americans would have a choice between a high quality affordable public plan or to keep the private insurance they have.
Health care reform won't happen without us!
Thanks for all that you do.
Naomi Rothwell
Health Care Liaison, APA for Progress (New York)
APAP is a national network of progressive Asian Americans and allies. We count on the support of our members and friends to continue our work of advancing progressive ideas. Please consider joining today.
Membership is just $20 per year and members receive discounts to events and merchandise.
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Um....what about single payer healthcare?
Speaking for myself I think the so-called "public plan" is little more than putting a bandaid on the broken pay or die system. Single-payer healthcare---something every other industrialized country, from Belgium to Japan, has had for decades---is the most progressive option available, and I'm disappointed to see APAP endorsing such a weak attempt at "reform."
For a truly progressive alternative, check out:
http://www.pnhp.org/
http://www.hr676.org/
http://singlepayeraction.org/
Junse, I'm a supporter of single payer too but that's not what is on the legislative agenda right now. I strongly urge you to set up your own blog on APAP and advocate for your position though.
Your first post could be on why Asian Americans should support single payer.
Hi Junse,
I agree with Allan. You should set up your own blog on APAP's site and advocate the position for single-payer. By the way, Naomi is only repping one perspective within APAP. As a national org, APAP hasn't endorsed any particular stance. Official endorsements are posted as "APAP Official Endorsement" otherwise, all posts are the word of individual posters. I hope you'll start publishing your position too!
Junse,
Japan is not single-payer. Neither is Sweden for that matter. It's important to note the different shades of socialized healthcare that is the standard for every industrialized nation, as you mention.
I think what you're advocating for is the Bismarck model that the UK employs. I think Canada does too.
I highly suggest you check this out http://tinyurl.com/6ctamy.
Look forward to your posts.
Hi Junse,
Great point. I'm glad you bring up the single payer point of view. There's practically a black out on that topic at the moment (a great article about that here). Doesn't help that I presented the public option as the only progressive pov! I'll also clarify in future posts that these are my opinions, not official APAP stances.
One reason I currently advocate for the public plan is that I think it's the first step towards more expansive reform. I see it as similar to SCHIP, which has slowly but surely provided millions of children with health care coverage. (The SCHIP expansion was the second major bill that Obama signed in his presidency.) I talked to a doctor over the weekend who said, "I remember before SCHIP and after SCHIP. And after is better."
SCHIP provides millions of kids with health care - and the public plan will aim to provide coverage for the 46 million Americans without health insurance. It's not perfect, but it's miles better than the status quo.
And there's still time to influence it. To make it more what you want to see.
- Naomi.
I think the fact that we're not even talking about single payer shows you how bad our side is on playing the expectations game. We allow the Republicans to start the debate on our 40 yard line. In our efforts to be realistic, we're always giving them ground. With their current push to kill the public option, we should push back not by saying "we want the public option", but by demanding single payer. Let them be on the defensive.
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