As orchestrated efforts continue to disrupt civil discourse on the future of health insurance coverage in America, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Monday night about these tactics.  Sanders talked about the staged, anti-health insurance reform protests taking place at town meetings across the country. “The fact of the matter is that these people talk about freedom, and what they are doing is trying to disrupt town meetings, which is the absolute opposite of what freedom of discussion is about. The reason for that is that they are afraid to debate the real issues, the fact that we have a disintegrating health care system…”  Sen. Sanders frequently holds town meetings across the State of Vermont.  He allows Vermonters of all political persuasions and opinions to ask questions and make statements.

"In the United States Senate, we have one huge hero,” Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association told a Capitol Hill rally on Thursday.  You may remember Donna Smith from “Sicko,” Michael Moore's documentary on the dysfunctional health care system in America. The 2007 movie recounted how Donna and her husband, Larry, were forced to move into the basement of their daughter’s home in Denver after they lost everything following major illnesses and surgeries. She had cancer. Larry had heart disease. Although they were insured, they went bankrupt. Today, she works as a community organizer for the California Nurses Association, a leading advocate of a single-payer program. Donna Smith is “one huge hero.”

As Senate and House committees work on different versions of health care legislation, Senator Bernie Sanders said that “at the very least, you‘ve got to give the American people an option of choosing a public plan in competition with the private insurance companies.” A public plan, like Medicare for all Americans, would not have the administrative costs, the huge CEO compensation costs, and the general bureaucracy that that drive up consumer costs to support the bloated private insurance industry. The senator made the case for reform during an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show.

WASHINGTON, July 13 – The Senate health committee today voted 23 to 0 for an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would double penalties for health care fraud.

As the health panel continued to hammer out health care reform legislation, Sanders said it was critical to address the billions of dollars in fraud and abuse committed by major corporations in the health care industry.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Homeless teenagers at a central Colorado shelter are feeling the effect of the government's economic stimulus package. It's the feeling of a dentist's drill.

The 20 runaway youths living at the Urban Peak shelter had no regular dental care until this spring, when a $1.3 million stimulus grant to a community health center paid for a mobile dental and medical clinic to visit once a month. The residents now get medical and dental screenings, and cavities filled, right from their shelter's parking lot.

Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.  The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.

Senators Say that Any Efforts to Reform Health Care Should Include Choice of Affordable, Federally-Backed Insurance Pool

Senator Sanders spoke at a Capitol Hill rally hosted by the California Nurses Association. As part of National Nurses Week, the association was showing their strong support for Sander's state-administered, single-payer health care legislation, S. 703, and a similar proposal in the U.S. House.

This is a collection of stories by people who have been denied coverage by their health insurance provider. You can watch video and read the stories of everyday Americans struggling against the insurance industry. GuaranteedHealthcare.org is a project of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and patients and community groups around the country.

As swine flu spreads around the country, it's only appropriate that the next political donnybrook may concern health care.

Holding signs declaring that health care is a human right, hundreds of Vermonters rallied outside of the Statehouse Friday afternoon in what quickly became the Woodstock of health care reform demonstrations.

Dr. John Matthew of Plainfield traveled to Washington, D.C., Thursday and told lawmakers that building a new network of primary care doctors needs to be the first step toward major health care reform in the country.

"If our legislation is passed, it will not only keep people healthy by providing medical and dental care and low-cost prescription drugs, it also will save billions of dollars by helping people stay healthy and stay out of hospitals and emergency rooms," Sen. Bernie Sanders said as he chaired a hearing of the Senate health committee on legislation to provide primary health care for all Americans. His legislation, the Access for All Americans Act, would authorize $8.3 billion annually at the end of five years to expand the number of Federally Qualified Health Centers from 1,100 to 4,800.

As Congress Prepares to Pass Budget with Funds for Health Care Reform, 16 U.S. Senators Outline How a Public Plan Option Could Reduce Costs, Improve Quality of Care, and Ensure Universal Health Coverage by Protecting Access

Our health care system is disintegrating.

Forty-six million people lack any health insurance, more are underinsured, we spend far more per capita than any other country, and our health care outcomes lag behind other industrialized nations. We remain the only major county without a national health care program guaranteeing health care for all.

In addition to the healthcare surveys, Vermont Workers' Center has worked with local organizing committees and partner organizations to convene healthcare human rights hearings around the state, to begin sharing Vermonters' healthcare stories in our communities. For each hearing, the center has brought together a community listening panel, comprised of local religious leaders, healthcare professionals and representatives from community organizations. Working with local organizing committees and

Key to Cost Control and Quality Coverage
By Jacob S. Hacker, Ph.D.

Leading political figures, including President-Elect Barack Obama, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, and former-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle are proposing to offer a new public insurance option to Americans who lack employment-based coverage. The public plan would be similar to conventional Medicare (the "public Medicare plan," as distinguished from private plans that contract with Medicare) in that

There are now 47 million people who have no health insurance, in large part because health coverage has become unaffordable for many hard-working families. Some 22,000 American citizens needlessly die every year because they lack health insurance.