IT'S ABOUT OUR Health and Our Health Care in Colorado! And, we want to VOTE FOR the ColoradoCare* Initiative#20 in November 2016! We need affordable, quality health care for all Coloradans! We need it now! We cannot wait! . . . *(previously known as the "Colorado Health Care Cooperative") . . . TWO YEARS AGO, starting in May of 2013, over 700 Coloradans, yourself included, signed our petition stating: "VOTE FOR the Colorado Health Care Cooperative in 2013!!!" When you signed this petition in 2013, your signing was communicated to your state elected officials, including Governor John Hickenlooper, and members of the Colorado State House and Senate. Our intent was to have the State Legislature refer the "Cooperative" to the November State ballot that year so all registered voters could make the decision for/against universal health care in Colorado. WE SAID: As my Colorado Senator or Representative, I’m asking you to VOTE to send the Colorado Health Care Cooperative to the voters of Colorado as a referred measure on November 5, 2013.” We added: “It’s our Health and our Health Care! We Coloradans have the right to make the decision for ourselves at the ballot box!” We further declared: “It’s about our Health and our Health Care in Colorado! And, we want to VOTE FOR the Colorado Health Care Cooperative in November 2013! We need affordable, quality health care for all Coloradans NOW! Let us vote! Let us decide! We need it now! We cannot wait!” EVEN BEFORE THAT, in late 2011 through early 2013, many of us, including you possibly, over 1450 Coloradans, signed an earlier petition stating: "We need affordable, quality health care for all Coloradans! We need it now! We cannot wait!" This earlier petition also went to the same set of decision-makers in Colorado, and was delivered personally to Governor Hickenlooper's office, while our elected representatives in the State House and Senate were notified by emails. BOTTOM LINE RESULTS ACHIEVED SO FAR (as I see it) were that . . . The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was affirmatively accepted in Colorado, and despite some strong opposition, Colorado created its own marketplace, known as a State Exchange, and accepted Medicaid expansion even though the U.S. Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion "voluntary" for states in June 2012. So far, Colorado's "uninsured rate" has fallen from ~17% to ~11% . . . so I would argue that Colorado very much still needs what our earlier petitions have been asking for and seeking to promote as a unique, Colorado solution . . . Everyone covered . . . Billions of dollars saved . . . Comprehensive health prevention and health care benefits . . . In the ColoradoCare Health Plan now referred to as ColoradoCare Initiative#20 . . . Designed in Colorado for a healthier Colorado . . . LESSONS LEARNED: It’s up to us, the citizens and registered voters of Colorado, to make this happen . . . so now in 2015, it’s past time for us to do what needs to be done to GET OUR VOTE FOR the ColoradoCare Initiative#20 in November, 2016 . . . Gather ~100,000 valid voter petition signatures by October, 2015 . . . This really is up to us! . . . To do! . . . or not . . . That is TODAY'S BIG QUESTION! . . .

In 2013, a sit-in at the Center for Care and Discovery ended with the violent arrest of four Trauma Center Coalition protesters, one of them a graduate student. Now, nine protesters are being arrested while advocating for trauma care. Glass was shattered in their faces, and they were forcibly removed from a University building. The lack of a Level I Adult trauma center on the South Side of Chicago is a disgrace. City officials, the Illinois Department of Public Health, and doctors from across the city agree that the facility is desperately needed, and yet, the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), “at the forefront of medicine” refuses to address the Trauma Center Campaign -- a community demand now more than five years old. We urge the University of Chicago to drop the charges against these protesters, and act with urgency to address the lack of trauma care on the South Side of Chicago.

As federal guidelines are updated under ObamaCare, and are on track to go into effect January 1, 2016, private insurance and Medicare coverage for a procedure that millions of women currently get at no cost will be affected. In 2015, the American Cancer Society estimates 231, 840 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. 40,290 of them will die. Even more alarming is that number could surge. The National Institutes of Health predicts the number of U.S. women diagnosed with breast cancer could increase by as much as 50 percent within the next 15 years. Many of these deaths can be prevented with regular mammograms and early detection. So why aren’t they? Ask the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The Task Force, an independent, volunteer panel of experts in preventive care and evidence-based medicine regularly reviews the scientific data about breast cancer screening. The group recently posted a draft recommendation that the benefit of mammography screening increases with age, with the 50 to 74 age group benefiting the most. Yet they recommend women over 50 only get a mammogram every other year. The Task Force found that mammography screening may not be necessary at all for women in their 40s. This means ObamaCare and Medicare will no longer cover annual screenings beginning 2016. The American Cancer Society continues to recommend mammograms every year for healthy women beginning at age 40. Is the USPSTF looking to increase the breast cancer death rate? When the Task Force issued similar guidelines back in 2009, it took an act of Congress to ensure mammography coverage for women younger than 50. This new legislation eliminates private insurance coverage and Medicare coverage of annual mammograms for women over 40. Is an act of Congress again necessary to preserve these lifesaving procedures? What can you do? Be heard. Call or email your Congressman. [Contact info: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/] Call your insurance provider. Push for annual mammography coverage for women in their 40s under the Affordable Care Act. Save your own life and those you love.

-According to the 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report 1-2.9% of Tennessee's population is chronically homeless. -It costs the state $30,000-50,000 per chronically homeless person annually due to incarcerations, mental institute visits, and shelter accommodations. -Utah has reduced its homeless population by 91% through a free housing initiative called "Housing First."

Across the nation, states are moving towards easing marijuana penalties to fight back against prison overcrowding and save taxpayer dollars. But, right now, possession of more than 4 ounces of marijuana is considered a felony in Arkansas, punishable by up to 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It's time to change this.

I was Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at a top NY Hospital. Budget cuts and hospital mergers cut staff. When care was not safe I as always put my Patients best interest first as I should, however the Hospital runs as a business even if it cost lives. I was told to shut up or I will be destroyed for life. I was removed from schedule, my personal belongings taken, my sick time, all benefits forfeited and my life destroyed. We must have a "Good Samaritan law to protect Morally sound Hospital based Physicians"

Republican Member of Congress Rep. Dana Rohrabacher introduced legislation that would ban pregnant women from entering the United States. The law would require women entering the United States with B-1 or B-2 nonimmigrant visas to bring a note from a doctor certifying that either they are not pregnant or not expected to give birth during their time in the country. This outrageous legislation is anti-women and anti-family. Please urge your Members of Congress and President Obama to oppose HR 2484.

Healthcare is a top priority to life and liberty. But it is getting so expensive, most people are afraid they will lose their homes and everything they have ever worked to achieve if they become sick or injured and are unable to pay their medical costs. Many people cannot get a job that offers insurance. Many employers are now contracting out their labor or turning jobs into part-time positions so they won't have to pay the cost of employee healthcare. The federal government has tried to help low-income people with the cost of the affordable healthcare premiums. However, the State of Utah is not helping these people at all. Instead, Utah is blocking the funds that have been offered by the federal government to offset the high price of insurance. I know many college graduates who cannot get a job in our current job market, and cannot afford healthcare. Every time an illness or accident comes along, they grapple with whether they can get through it this time without seeing a doctor or if they should go to the doctor and get more and more in debt. If they need tests, or x-rays, or heaven forbid medicine, how can they possibly afford that without insurance? No wonder so many people are becoming homeless. No wonder we have so many people who wander the streets. No wonder we have so much crime and mental health issues on our streets. It is because a lot of people cannot afford to get the help they need and deserve! It's time that our lawmakers act to fix this problem in Utah.

“Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries, which have been treatable for decades, can once again kill.” - World Health Organization It’s not on the label, but the danger is real. Raising livestock and poultry on routine antibiotics is causing the growth and spread of superbugs—antibiotic-resistant bacteria—that could soon become one of the world’s #1 killers. We have a right to know when our food threatens our health. Seventy percent of medically-important antibiotics are used on livestock and poultry, often on animals that aren’t sick. This overuse can grow and spread drug-resistant bacteria, aka superbugs. If the meat that consumers purchase contributes to this rising public health crisis, that should be clear to see. Tell the USDA to label meat raised with routine antibiotics.

My sister is a breast cancer survivor. We need to support affordable copays for mammograms after the patients are cancer free to make sure the disease does not come back.

It is time for Kentucky to hear the voice of the people and repeal the failed attempt of cannabis prohibition. People need safe access to the specialized strains that they need for their conditions, not just whatever they can get on a black market. Cannabis can bring Kentucky into a new era. It can safely revive our failing economy by producing hundreds of new specialty businesses and creating well-paying jobs. The benefits and science behind the plant is well-documented. Make your voice heard and demand that the vote for the removal of prohibition is put on the ballot. After all, that is how democracy should work. Cannabis is safer than bourbon!

We refuse to let our hope be taken from us. Cannabis is MEDICINE.