Cooley Dickinson Hospital (a nonprofit) in Northampton, MA is in merger/acquisition talks with Mass General, Baystate Health (both nonprofits), and Vanguard Health Systems. Vanguard is a profit-driven corporation that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VHS.

I am trying to show that legalized drugs in this country can be more dangerous than over-the-counter remedies.

President Obama has appointed former Monsanto VP and lobbyist Michael Taylor to become senior advisor to the FDA's commissioner. This unthinkable linkage between food safety and corporate interests that have little regard for the public health must be stopped. This example of a "fox watching the henhouse" is inexcusable. President Obama must reverse this unimaginably dangerous policy and isolate the FDA from corporate influence.

We could have single payer health care in our country. Every person with a social security number could be billed one dollar for each year of your age, me I'm 59 so I would pay that every month instead of the $127 that I pay plus the five thousand or so that my employer pays each year. It would be less expensive for medicare people as they pay right around a $100 a month.

The Medicare In Home Rule refuses wheelchairs or home chore assistance for people with degenerative neuromuscular disabilities until they have become completely paralyzed. It also refuses to provide wheelchairs if people leave their homes, except for doctor visits. This not only creates painful isolation, it costs taxpayers more because without household help and access to exercise and and social opportunities - both of which help alleviate pain - medical conditions worsen and nursing homes may become the only option. Many negative things result at that point, but included among them are: 1. More money spent by Medicare for conditions that could be avoided; 2. More taxes paid at the state level, because when people run out of money Medicaid becomes the primary payor.

Improved Medicare-for-All as a single-payer health plan is sometimes called could coverage everyone at a lower total cost with better health results as is done in all other wealthy countries. By drastically reducing administrative costs as Medicare already does and jettisoning expensive and reprehensible incentives based on profit-maximization rather than health maximization, single-payer is both logical and moral.

Stop protecting the Doctor's, Hospital Administrators, Medical Staff, CareGivers to the Mentally Ill. These Professions need to be held ACCOUNTABLE for their actions and non-actions when attending to the Mentally Ill. A Mentally Ill person does not have their total faculties to make appropriate decisions for themselves and when they are in the care of others - The OTHERS need to be held ACCOUNTABLE for the care of or lack of care of and not be protected by the system making the Victim be victimized twice; one by their illness the other by the system! "Follow-Up" Feature on WSVN-7, aired 1/5/2011 > http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI90716/ News Article by Sun-Sentinel News > http://southflorida.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-hk-baker-act-death-20101204,0,325097.story "Initial" Feature on WSVN-7 end of 2010. http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/investigations/MI90053/

The Institute of Medicine on 7/29/11 reported that the FDA process of clearing implanted medical devices for the U.S. market is fatally flawed and should be scrapped. Joint replacement is now the #1 expenditure of Medicare. The FDA charter must be updated from the 1976 OLD version to provide substantially greater safeguards for patients.

We need your help because people have a right to die at home among people who love them and in familiar environments. Expedited Medicaid Waiver application reviews for home health care are no longer available to hospice patients because we have reached our maximum number of program participants. We must create and reserve 200 "slots" for hospice patients and continue the city's previous efforts to expedite these applications.

Currently the FDA is mostly funded by application fees submitted by big pharmaceutical corporations for approval of their newest drugs. Its top tier officials are also former execs from these same companies. The FDA operates autonomously with no accountability to any branch of government, yet they're responsible for our public health. Time for reform!

Federal and State governments are turning to Medicaid for cuts in the very cost-saving community living programs and these cuts would force people with disabilities and the elderly into more expensive institutions.

This petition has to do with getting rid of insurance companies handling health care. It is time that we join the rest of the developed world in providing health care for all individuals who are citizens or legal tax paying residents of this country with adequate health care that will be covered by any hospital or doctor. It is time that we look at health care as we do police protection and public education. It should be funded by taxes instead of premiums to insurance companies. Everyone should have opportunities for the same kind of care. Doctors and hospitals should not have the right to refuse to care for you because of how your health care is covered. There would no longer be an issue of remaining in your job because of the health care benefits that are provided. You would not lose coverage because you lost your job.