Delegates from 30 states so far are supporting the Democratic party platform for guaranteed healthcare, and there's more to come.  Congressman John Conyers, a certified healthcare hero and single-payer trailblazer, is the first signator.

Norman Solomon writes about the efforts, which are being led by Progressive Democrats of America, who testified today before the platform committee.

The statement urges the convention to adopt a platform plank to "guarantee accessible health care for all" in the United States, to "create a single standard of high quality, comprehensive, and preventive health care for all" -- and to "eliminate financial barriers that prevent families and individuals from obtaining the medically necessary care they need."

A Hawaii activist went to one platform meeting and found widespread support for single-payer healthcare.

As you might recall, a few years ago, Mitt Romney came up with a terrible plan in Massachusetts that masqueraded as healthcare reform, while in reality serving to sell insurance products.  Sandi Eaton, RN, from the Mass Nurses Association updates us on the Bay State's problems:

Massachusetts pays the most in the nation for its health care, and yet it's plagued by an ongoing crisis of access, affordability, and quality....If Massachusetts is a model, it's a model of what not to do.

The problem was that the assembly was not allowed to consider Canadian-style single-payer health care--which would eliminate private insurance companies--as an option. It was off the table.

So a new bureaucracy was established, the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Board, with broad powers to set rates, approve cut-rate private policies, and define affordability.  Subsidies are offered on a sliding scale for those earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line (about $63,000 for a family of four). Those earning below the line are covered free.
The tangle of private insurance companies, with their expensive bureaucracies and profits, remains in place.

Other than the hundreds of millions of dollars in the budget subsidizing insurance corporations, how's that working out?

For many, paying for health care without the threat of bankruptcy or giving up other necessities of life remains impossible. Governments and many employers are staggering, too. Rising costs for public employees' and retirees' health insurance has led to round after round of service cutbacks, affecting every resident who uses public services. Attempts at cost-shifting have provoked strikes by teachers and turnovers in city halls.

We should at all costs avoid this mistake on the federal level.  Remember: do no harm.

Up in Oregon, Dem Senatorial candidate Jeff Merkley (shout out to his nurse wife!) has endorsed HR 676.  Go Jeff.  Unfortunately he's also endorsed the so-called Wyden bill, which is just terrible, but I guess I can't blame him for rooting for helping out his home state buddy.

And in case you're wondering why insurance corporations want to keep our current healthcare system...Aetna's second-quarter profits rose to $480.5 million.