New DU Group: Single Payer Health Insurance Systems Group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=411

Mission statement: The Group is a place to inform, debate, discuss, learn, teach, share, strategize, and organize on promoting and getting single payer health insurance systems adopted locally, statewide or nationally in the US. The Group is also a place to document and archive information and events, so please cross post articles, discussions and information of these issues from other forums or sources to this group.

FYI.

On edit: the focus of this Group has narrowed slightly since it was announced this morning. It was intially a Group for health care reform, it is now dedicated to discussions of single-payer health insurance.

:D Good to see.

It will make it so much easier to consolidate all the bits and bytes of info that need to be brought together.

:thumbsup:

:loveya:

I like the way you guys take care of things here.


:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

:kick:

:applause:

:kick:

show on the topic of single payer for those who did not see it and those of us who would like to see it again. I am personally too computer illiterate so can someone else please provide the link. If not, I am sure it can be accessed by going to the PBS webpage.

Leave Obama-style health care "reform" in the high-traffic GD, but hide single-payer in a separate, lower traffic forum. Gee, thanks. How soon until the admins start locking single-payer threads opened in GD and sending them to the low-traffic specialized forum?

Will SPHC-related threads in GD now be shunted off like 9/11 threads? (For the record, I am FOR shunting off the 9/11 threads)

It doesn't sound like it:

..so please cross post articles, discussions and information of these issues from other forums or sources to this group.

but asking for cross-posts may simply be to lessen the distress of the authors to locked GD threads.

....(as is done with Israel Palestine issues, and other "taboo" topics)?

and smart arguments and resources for doing battle FOR single payer out in the bigger world of DU and beyond.

While it is true that posts made in the group can't be recommended and don't go out to the greater community, it is also completely OK and encouraged that posts made to the group that someone wants to share are also cross posted to a forum that does go out to the greater community.

Hears the deal. Groups are requested and petitioned for by people interested in a specific topic as a way to both focus and archive information. Sometimes they are asked for so that there isn't contention. But other times they are asked for so that people interested in a topic can collect, document, and retrieve information quickly and easily.

That was the reason this group was petitioned for by various people interested in promoting single payer.

When you post a single payer related thread to GD or Health or GD-P or LBN, for instance, please also cross post it to the single payer systems group. That way people looking for information can find it quicker and easier.

....to remove the post from General Discussion (as is often done in the case of issues involving Israel and Palestine). In these cases, if the post is made to GD or GD-Presidential, a moderator may move it out of sight to "Israel/Palestine" where it is ineligible for greatest page.

posting on the Israel/Palestine issue as there are also rules pertaining to the 9/11 forum and the rules are specific to those groups, not to other groups. I'm not going to get into whether the rules as regards I/P and 9/11 are good or bad, I'm just pointing out that there are no rules (other than the normal regular rules of good citizenship) that pertain to any of the different flavors of health care reform. And getting a group doesn't change anything.

This same misunderstanding happens any time anyone petitions for a new group and they get the group they wanted. So that's why I'm attempting to disseminate this information so there is less misunderstanding.

Be good to each other!

Thanks for the answer--it's just what I wanted to hear.

posts elsewhere, please also cross post to the single payer group.

For instance, one of the projects I want to do is collect a bunch of links to pro single payer groups and post them all in one place in one thread.

If I did that in GD, it would be gone in a day or three.

Due to the lower traffic in an archive group, it's far easier to find and access.

Heck then you can cross post it again in a week or two to GD, and more people can get involved.


Or you know where to find it to send it to your cousin in E St Louis.

The point isn't obscurity, the point is retrievability.

and not as equivalent to the Guns forum, where all threads advocating a minority position are shunted. I really hope you're right. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I will do as you suggest.

by comparing them w/ single-payer when they are the subject of discussion in GD? Or will I be warned that all such talk belongs in the special forum?

I'll add this to my forums!

Is this another example of DU ruling beyond the pale a policy position taken by the Democratic Party, the Democrats in Congress and the Democratic Administration -- ie a strong, competitive public option?

I mean, how did the outcome of the debate get determined before the group even started?

I, for one, eagerly await an answer.
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The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate
-Noam Chomsky, Linguist, foreign policy critic

They're leaving the official position threads in the high-traffic GD. The question is the opposite: Will single-payer threads still be allowed to be posted there as well?

Second thought was maybe it's just a way to enhance focus
on the all important PHOTO threads?
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The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate
-Noam Chomsky, Linguist, foreign policy critic

We want to be able to access information quicker and easier pertaining to single payer and to document the struggle to achieve single payer.

Here's something you can do to put your mind at rest. Go to GD or Health Or GD-P and start a post that says 'I am strongly in favor of congress passing a single payer health care system for the uS now! - and see what happens.

I can tell you what will happen. The same thing that would have happened last week, or last month. most people will agree with you and a few may debate you. Someone surely will post "Obama never promised single payer" or some variant.

No change at all.

But if you find an article about a spontaneous rally where 80 people went to your city council and asked them to pass a resolution asking congress to pass a single payer resolution, post it to Health or GD or GD-P and then also post it in the Single Payer Health Insurance Systems Group, so that people intered in single payer can find it quickly and easier, instead of wading through 40 million posts about some lady feeding her ducks Draino (or some such thing) in GD.

See, the single payer insurance group is a resource FOR people who are interested in getting a single payer system in the us. It's not an attempt to mussle anyone, it's not a way to keep info out of the broader community, it's a way to catalog info, loosely speaking.

what is going on in GD - not an alternate discussion that decreases discussion in GD.

Coming up with a good solution to the health care crisis that we can get through congress is going to be very difficult - especially since a lot of people (including our leaders) throw around a lot of words either without knowing their meaning (or cynically hoping that we do not).

We need everyone to understand all of the various options, and what each includes or doesn't include so we can understand what we are supporting/opposing and can have intelligent discussions with our congress-critters (and neighbors, etc.). We need to be able to respond to someone who calls for health care just like our senators, and let them know that what they are calling for is not a single payer plan, but just a very good employer sponsored health insurance. If we don't understand what is being proposed or rejected we can't effectively agitate for the change we want. Conversations about all of the options need to take place among all of us so we can learn from each other and about all of the various options so, for example, if we do come up with a merged public plan/insurance company option it has a shape that can morph easily into single payer rather than needing to toss it out and start from scratch.

We also need a resource room for single payer. I'm very skeptical about our ability to get this through congress now - even though it is ultimately what we want. Even if we don't get single payer now, having a concentrated area where we can go to find accurate information about what has worked, what hasn't worked, where there might be the most wiggle room for movement on single payer, etc. would be crucial to preserving what we learn this time around so we can leverage it next time to make more progress.

people who are interested in solutions other than single payer to start a group and to archive information.

caves that no one other than the really interested ever venture into.

I am not optimistic about single payer this time around - BUT I don't want discussion stifled, and I don't want to have to reinvent the wheel next time around (and if we archive a bunch of stuff that isn't needed because we get it this time around I'll be thrilled).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5817233&mesg_id=5817233

It's the link to the thread on the congressional hearings on single payer and the link to Cspan (i don't have cable or I'd watch it on tv)

:fistbump:

*oops, meant to reply to OP. Replied to your post, but thanks for the Q&A.

utilize the resources available here at DU!

Way to go DU!