Other Past Events

Lack of Health Coverage Linked to 500 Missouri Deaths in 2006......

Each week in Missouri, ten residents die as the direct result of having no health insurance, reports Families USA, a national consumers organization.

Families USA noted the following about the number of Missouri deaths:

---In 2006, nearly 10 working-age adults died each week due to a lack of health insurance.

---Between 2000 and 2006, an estimated 2,800 adult deaths, between the ages of 25 and 64, were linked to a lack of insurance.

Among adults between ages 55 and 64 years, the lack of health insurance is now the third leading cause of death, following heart disease and cancer, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

The consumer organization based its analysis on studies by the non-partisan, national Institute of Medicine and the Urban Institute.

Health Care Advocate Award
2006

William Lacy Clay Jr., U.S. Congressman from St. Louis area’s First District, received the first annual Health Care Advocate Award on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2006 from the Missourians for Single Payer at MOSP’s annual meeting in the Holiday Inn – Oakland Park. Congressman Clay was presented with an original ceramic Advocate’s Award Bowl, designed by Patricia Singley, St. Louis ceramic artist and member of the MOSP board of directors.

Of Missouri’s Congressional Delegation of 11 legislators, Rep. Clay is the only member who supports single payer, which he has shown by serving on Congress’ Universal Health Care Task Force, chaired by Rep. John Conyers of Detroit, Michigan. “During Congressman Clay’s legislative career, both in Missouri’s capitol and now in Washington, D.C., his actions and votes have shown that he believes that health care is a basic human right, not a privilege for those with financial means,” says Julia Lamborn Gettinger, president of MOSP.

Rep. Clay was first elected to the U.S. House in 2000. Previously, he had served 17 years in both chambers of the Missouri Legislature. He worked to secure the state’s landmark Hate Crimes Law, which covers criminal acts motivated by race, ethnic origin, religion, and sexual orientation. He helped pass bills that aid the elderly and the disabled. In Congress, he’s been a consistent critic of the Iraq war and voted against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution. He co-sponsored a recent bill urging President Bush to develop a plan for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country. He has backed bills to reform the nation’s electoral system, such as requiring paper trails for any new electronic voting machines. Rep. Clay voted for the Kyoto Protocol and opposes drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve. He is the sponsor of bills to ban various chemical toxins in our food supply and workplace.

Congressman Clay serves on two House committees: the Financial Service Committee and the Committee on Government Reform. He also is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census, which has jurisdiction over housing and urban development.

Rep. Clay and his wife, Ivie Lewellen Clay, reside in St. Louis and have two children, Carol and William III. The son of William L. “Bill” Clay Sr. of St. Louis, who served in the U.S. Congress for 32 years, Rep. Lacy Clay earned a bachelor of science degree in government from the University of Maryland. He attended Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and holds honorary doctorate degrees from Lincoln University and Harriet–Stowe State University.

2010 Annual Event
DR DAVID GILL TO DELIVER HEALTH CARE SUNDAY ADDRESS

In 21 years as an emergency room physician, Dr. David M. Gill of Bloomington, IL saw too many patients face shortened life spans because they couldn’t afford insurance. To change this shameful face of American medicine, he’s running for United States Congress in central Illinois’ 15th District.

As the Annual Health Care Lecturer on Sunday, April 25, Dr. Gill will tell why he’s taken this big step—and why Congress should enact a bill to expand Medicare for all Americans. He will speak at 11 a.m. in the Auditorium of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd., sponsored by Missourians for Single Payer Health Care.

“As a physician who has long served in the last line of defense for patients jeopardized by our failed system, we must stop permitting large insurance and pharmaceutical companies to run roughshod over all other American businesses and citizens,” Dr. Gill has said. “When we finally put in place a program which extends Medicare services to all American citizens, regardless of age, the boon to our economy will be like none ever seen before.”

Having served on the Board of Directors of the Clinton, IL hospital, Dr. Gill belongs to Physicians for a National Health Program. He worked as a dishwasher at age 13, after his father died. He worked his way through the University of Illinois in Urbana to earn both his undergraduate and M.D. degrees. He’s running for Congress with the help of hundreds of volunteers and numerous small campaign donations. He and his wife Elaine have six children.

2008 Annual Event
Donna Smith: “Beyond SiCKO”

The Ethical Society St. Louis’s Annual Health Care Platform Address, entitled “Beyond SiCKO!” will be given at 11 a.m., Sunday, April 20 (4-20-08) by a former victim of America’s broken health care system.

She is Donna Smith of Chicago, now a fulltime worker for universal health care as communications specialist for the 80,000-member National Nurses Organizing Committee. Her comeback from the wreckage of the nation’s millions of uninsured and “non-insurable” was rare and literally life saving.

Smith, 55, was a major voice in the documentary, SiCKO, directed by Michael Moore. The 2007 film followed the plight of a dozen families -- after their “full-coverage” insurance failed them when they needed it most.

Smith’s talk will be in the Ethical Society’s auditorium, 9001 Clayton Road. On April 19, SiCKO will be shown at 7:30 p.m., also in the auditorium. Donna’s husband, Larry Smith, who appeared in SiCKO too, will join her to introduce the film and answer questions after its free showing.

The couple had been forced to file for bankruptcy in 2005-- after mounting debts from their increased premiums, deductibles, co-pays and other expenses. Larry had undergone several heart surgeries; then Donna Smith had to have surgery for early stage uterine cancer.

With their savings gone and their huge debts, they had to sell their “dream home” in South Dakota. No longer able to do heavy lifting, Larry lost his machinist’s job. They moved into a small room in their daughter’s home in Colorado. Donna had to leave her editor’s job. They were down, but not out.

Donna impulsively “fired off a terse reply” to Michael Moore who had appealed nationwide for families to film for SiCKO. Weeks later, Donna was astounded to learn that she and Larry were among the few selected from many thousands who answered Moore’s Internet appeal.

After the movie, Moore urged Donna to write for his website. She published hard-hitting updates about her nationwide bus tour to promote SiCKO and Congressional bill HR 676 for universal access to health care for all Americans. She testified eloquently before Congress for the bill, which has 88 sponsors. But many others fear industry’s retaliations if they support it.

In addition to her scores of campus, church and town hall talks, she founded the national organization, American Patients for Universal Health Care. Her energy and dynamic speaking and reporting led to her being hired by the California Nurses Association, which supports HR 676. She now works for the group’s National Nurses Organizing Committee.

After she and Larry had just moved to Chicago, she wrote a few weeks ago:

“How many other Americans have spent years, as I did, struggling with worries about health care and insurance and money and just staying afloat? For the past 20 years, my sleep patterns have drifted from bad to worse as our lives were upended by health concerns and made terrifying by the financial ruin that followed.

“Pressure and worry had robbed me of my sleep for so long that when I slept through the night on Sunday, I thought it a fluke. Then I slept through the night on Monday and again on Tuesday. Though on a hide-a-bed folded out into an apartment living room still jammed with unpacked boxes, my soul and my body have begun to heal.

---By Roger Signor

JIM HIGHTOWER

Mr. Hightower was the guest platform speaker at the St. Louis Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road, on Sunday, March 26th . He was brought to St. Louis by the Missourians for Single Payer for our 4th Annual Health Care event. He spoke for social justice and health care justice. He is a national radio commentator, columnist, public speaker, political sparkplug and author. These are titles of a few of the books he's written:

LET'S STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH

THIEVES IN HIGH PLACES: THEY'VE STOLEN OUR COUNTRY AND IT'S TIME TO TAKE IT BACK

IF THE GODS HAD MEANT US TO VOTE, THEY WOULD HAVE GIVEN US CANDIDATES

And as, Molly Ivins said: If Will Rogers and Mother Jones had a baby, he would be that rambunctious child, mad as hell with a sense of humor.

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We hear daily the grim bulletins on the global war on terror, with over 2,000 U.S. soldiers dead and more suicide bombings! And then there are the tens of thousands wounded. But do we hear about our homeland terrors?

2005 Annual Event
"We Won't Be Fooled Again"

April 1,2,3 was weekend full of fun and seriousousness as MOSP got the word out to the public and to law-makers about the importance of adopting Single Payer health care.

MOSP enjoyed publicity on KWMU where Julia Lamborn, MOSP President, and Mimi Signor, MOSP Vice President and Legislative Chair, were interviewed on "St. Louis in the Air" along with Congressman Kucinich on March 31st. There was a great deal of interest from the audience members who called in to the show and the host was both gracious and professional. The show is available on the KWMU archives by clicking on the link below.

MOSP on KWMU

The weekend officially began on April 1st with a merry Troupe of "Health Angels" performing street Theatre in several locations. The troupe was led by Jeannie Breeze, well known for her work on World Peace Day and A Department of Peace in St.Louis, MO.

April 2nd took on a more serious note with more than 50 citizens who lined up to testify about their feelings and thoughts on the state of health care today in front of US and State Congressional Representatives, as well as State Senators. The testimony was as varied as the people who presented it and discussion continued until long after MOSP had scheduled the daily event to end. MOSP is grateful to Richmond Heights Mayor Betty Humphreys who welcomed the elected officials, MOSP, and the other participants to Richmond Heights, where the event was hosted. In honor of our event, Mayor Humphrey announced that the weekend was officially "Healthcare Weekend" for the entire city of Richmond Heights. MOSP is also grateful to the following elected officals for coming in to hear the testimony: US Congressman Russ Carnahan, US Congressman Lacy Clay, JR, MO Senator Joan Bray, MO Senator Maida Coleman, who is the minority floor leader, MO Senator Patrick Doughtery, MO Representative Margaret Donnelly, MO Representative Barbara Fraser, MO Representative Jeannette Mott Oxford, and MO Representative Rachel Storch. MOSP is also grateful to all of the citizens who attended the event to give testimony, without whom, the event could not have been a success. We hope our law-makers heard you and will take your message back to their respective Capitols and help us get these changes made.

April 3rd was a very successful day when we had a standing room only crowd of more than 600 people for our guest speaker, Congressman Dennis Kucinich. The event was held at the Ethical Society, where there was a very large parking lot, and we filled that lot, the parking lot across the street, then had police standing along the street telling people they would have to go park in the Galleria Shopping Mall parking lot and walk to Ethical if they wanted to attend because it became so crowded! We regret that so many people had to be turned away because we ran out of space.

The people who arrived early enough to get into the event were not disappointed by Congressman Kucinich's speech. He was interupted several times by applause from the audience as he gave his assessment of health care in America and the only ethical way to approach the problems that exist. He encouraged everyone to read about a bill he and other congressmen, including Lacy Clay, Jr., have signed on to that would provide health care for all Americans, HR 676.

2004 Annual Event
Dr.Claudia Fegan and MoSP President, Julia Lamborn at the 2003 Annual Meeting. Dr. Fegan, Past President of Physicians for a National Health Plan, was the guest speaker.

2003 Annual Event
HEALTH CARE ETHICISTS SPEAK OUT
March 28 - 30, 2003, Missourians for Single Payer Health Care, along with cosponsors, hosted a 3-day program of interviews, speaking engagements, and debate. Dr. Linda Peeno, whose life is chronicled in the film, "Damaged Care", and Dr. Rudy Mueller, author of As Sick As It Gets addressed the subject, "Managed Care is Damaged Care."