Single-payer advocates hosting forum [The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.]

Oct. 29--MANKATO -- MANKATO -- Advocates for a single-payer health system are holding a forum Sunday at Minnesota State University to talk about the Affordable Care Act and their ideas for improving the state's health care system.

"It's about steps to gaining health care for all," said Sharon Schmidt of Savage, who organized the event, "MNsure and Beyond: The Minnesota Health Plan." It runs from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Though the Affordable Care Act expanded health insurance coverage for the poor, Schmidt and others are hoping Minnesota will pass a single-payer system they call the Minnesota Health Plan.

It is similar in concept to how Medicare already works to insure the elderly -- everyone would be covered, and all medical needs would be covered. Though some other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, have single-payer systems, no states have adopted it.

The event in Ostrander Auditorium begins with an overview of MNsure, the new health insurance exchange. That talk will be delivered by Paul Sobocinski, a farmer from Wabasso, and Megan Buckingham, a Gustavus Adolphus College graduate, both of the Land Stewardship Project. The group supports single-payer health insurance because of the difficulty beginning farmers face in getting health care.

Schmidt, who came from a farm near Tracy, said she hopes farmers will come to the forum.

"They're small businesspeople who have a hard time paying for insurance on their own," she said.

The forum will then move to a talk about a single-payer proposal from Chuck Sawyer, a board member for the group Health Care for All Minnesota.

Schmidt said the Affordable Care Act allows states to pass their own health care reforms starting in 2017. To meet that timeframe, a bill would need to start moving through the state Legislature in 2015, she said.

Attendees then move, at 3:50 p.m., to one of six breakout sessions.

What: A forum on mnSURE and a proposal for single-payer health coverage When: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Minnesota State University, Centennial Student Union, Ostrander Auditorium For more information: Visit growthandjustice.org/events and look to the left

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