Category Archives: Healthcare

Do Not Despair

Tune: Old McDonald Had a Farm
By: Laurie Rostholder

The Brits and Obama wiretapped me
That’s what 45 says.
A Muslim English conspiracy
Against the future prez.
With a tweet tweet here,
And a tweet tweet there,
Twittering bullshit everywhere.
The Brits and Obama wiretapped me,
That’s what 45 says.

Pruitt says it’s not CO2,
Making our planet warm.
And the EPA must go,
As it does corporate profits harm.
Islands shrinking here,
Glaciers melting there,
Climate chaos everywhere.
Pruitt says it’s not CO2,
Making our planet warm.

Breitbart Bannon wants the system to blow.
He’s tired of everyone.
A war with China would be a great show.
That’s his idea of fun.
Neo Nazis here.
White supremacists there.
Racist hate mongers everywhere.
Breitbart Bannon wants the system to blow.
He’s tired of everyone.

The Ryan Death Plan shrinks Medicaid,
And makes old people pay more.
The rich will get the greatest care,
While millions are shown the door.
With more death here.
Bankruptcies there.
Crappy health care everywhere.
The Ryan Death Plan shrinks medicaid,
And makes old people pay more.

Rick Perry is the chosen head,
Of a department he once called Oops.
To think he’s in charge of nuclear waste,
Should give us all the poops.
With no more progress on energy that lasts.
Innovative research a thing of the past.
Rick Perry is the chosen head ,
Of a department he once called Oops.

And here’s one that we shouldn’t  forget,
Our friend named Vladimir.
This happy guy seems far away,
But he’s really very near.
Creating distraction without working hard.
Drinking vodka to our discord.
And here’s one that we shouldn’t forget.
Our friend named Vladimir.

There’s so much more to sing about.
And commitments we must make.
To prevent our country going to hell.
And keep each other safe.
Undocumented, Queer, Black, Trans, and Brown,
Muslims, Jews, Women, all our old and young.
We stand up for what’s so unfair.
And we will not despair.

Resist!   Resist!  Resist!  Resist!

New Year’s Vision

  • tune: Deck the Halls

Tax the rich; don’t starve the poor, Fa la la la la la la la la
Let’s end homelessness for sure, Fa la la…etc
Raise the wages, increase welfare, Fa la la etc….
Share the wealth and cut the warfare, Fa la la etc….

Let’s pass healthcare legislation, Fa la la la la la la la la
That will cover all the nation, Fa la la, etc…
Clean up all the air and water, Fa la la etc…
Let’s take no more steers to slaughter, Fa la la etc….

Join the grannies, fight by golly, Fa la la la la la la la la
End all this nuclear folly, Fa la la, etc..
Build a world where children thrive, Fa la la etc..
Do it while you’re still alive, Fa la la etc…

Medicare Song

tune: When I’m 64

What will we do, where will we go?
When we’re 84?
Will there be a line-up at the emergency door?
Will we kick the bucket in the corridor?

What will we do, where will we go?
When we’re 85?
Will there be health care
Or will it be wealth care
IF we’re still alive?

Medicare

  • tune: Yesterday
    Ming Chen

Medicare doesn’t cover all my aches and pains,
Still my supplemental’s quite a strain.
Oh, I still need my Medicare.
Medicaid: it’s a safety net for working poor.
Cut it back and show them to the door.
Society is gonna pay.

  • Chorus:
    I said, let’s try change, they said no, they wouldn’t play.
    I feel something’s wrong, how I long for single paaaay-er.

Yesterday nurses had the time to really care.
Now they haven’t got the time to spare.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Yesterday, doctors ordered needed pills and tests.
Now insurance bureaucrats know best.
There’s got to be a better way.

  •  Chorus

Managed care lets big business make a lot of dough.
Single payer is the way to go!
We can improve on yesterday.
Yesterday, health care was a simpler game to play.
Now Congress wants to take away
My health care plan from yesterday.

A Prayer for Medicare

  • tune: Hole in the Bucket

Patient:
There a pain in my stomach, dear doctor, dear doctor,
There’s a pain in my stomach and I’ve got a cough.
Can I get an appointment, if you’re not too busy
Attending conventions or out playing golf?

Doctor:
I wish I could help you, but you’ve got no money,
And I can’t afford treating patients like you.
There’s a hole in my pocket, my life style is slipping.
I used to have three cars—now I only have two.

Patient:
But if you won’t treat me I might get pneumonia,
Iliitis, bronchitis or something much worse.
And hospitals say they can’t take more patients.
They can’t find the money for one extra nurse.

Doctor:
Then phone up Bill Clinton, dear patient, dear patient,
Newt Gingrich and all of those nice GOPs.
You can’t expect doctors to care about patients.
We might lose our money and catch some disease.

Patient:
But what do we do if we cannot afford you?
What do we do if we start to feel ill?
Doctor: We could sell you our CD, we call it “Dear Doctor.”
It comes with advice and a free headache pill.

Healthcare Song

  • by: Canadian Grannies
    tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

Governments are pussy-footing ‘round and ‘round the Block
Hinting here and hinting there at Privatizing talk,
At universal Medicare they’re starting now to balk,
And it’s now full speed ahead.

  • Get sick, You’ll make somebody richer. (3X)
    It’s for-profit healthcare now.

Two-level medicine Is great if you’re on top.
Too bad that all the rest will have to wait until they drop.
Medicine’s a business that will never have to flop
And it’s now full speed ahead.

  • The sicker we get, the richer we will make them (3X).
    It’s for-profit healthcare now.

It’s cheaper to run healthcare as a public institution;
But there’s no profit to be made, So banish that solution.
Politicians, we suspect, Have made a resolution,
And it’s now full speed ahead.

  • Get sick, You’ll make somebody richer. (3X)
    It’s for-profit healthcare now.

Single Payer Blues

  • by Kay Thode
  • tune: St. James Infirmary

I went to the insurance company.
They turned my claim down there,
Said it wasn’t covered,
And they really didn’t care.

O, I went to see my doctor,
And he said he couldn’t spend
Fifteen minutes with me!
Such things have got to end.

Oh, my pills they cost me plenty,
And I know I’m going broke.
This new fangled health care,
Truly is no joke.

So, send Congress a message:
Pass single payer now!
We all really need it—
It’s good for us, AND HOW.

Saints- Health/Mental Health

  • tune: When the Saints Come Marching In

When care is spelled L-O-V-E,
When care is spelled L-O-V-E,
How I want to be in that number,
When care is spelled L-O-V-E.

  • Variations:

When health care is a right for all…

When mental health gets parity…

When people’s needs come first of all…

When facts are known and stigma ends…

When the message is that treatment works…

When care and hope give us new strength…

Rock-a-bye Baby

  • from the E-Vine

Rock a bye baby, don’t you get sick.
Or your Mom and your Da-ad will go broke real quick.
Grandpa and Grandma wish it weren’t true–
Big rich insurers don’t care about you.

Rock a bye tax cuts helping the rich
You’re out of luck–if YOUR kid gets sick
Health care insurers rake in the cash
If you are POOR, they’ll treat you like trash

Rock a bye profits that’s what they love.
Kids and grand-PA-rents merit a shove.
Everyone IS in danger it’s true,
Cuz big rich insurers don’t care about you.

Real Health Care We Cry!

  • by Monica Zucker
  • tune: Rye Whiskey

Chorus:
It’s health care, real health care,
Real health care we cry!
Single payer’s the only
Solution to fly.

Insurance ain’t health care—
It’s profits galore.
You pay all your money—
They always want more.

If you get anything
Worse than the flu,
Don’t bother applying—
They won’t cover you.

Insurers buy Congress
Which won’t hear our pleas.
We know that insurance
Won’t fix our disease.

Oh, give us real health care,
Not just for a few.
We’ll choose our own doctors
And hospitals, too.

Repeat Chorus

Oh Medicare, My Medicare

  • words by Sol Abrams, Corinne Willinger & Adele Rolider, NYC Raging Grannies
  • tune: O Tanenbaum

Oh Medicare, my Medicare
With all those plans, are you still there?
Can I stay indestructible,
With such a high deductible?
So Congress please go very slow,
Don’t make me join an HMO.
You’ve given me an awful scare,
Don’t privatize my Medicare.

Oh Medicare, my Medicare
Why don’t you pay for long-term care?
Insurance premiums are insane,
My nest egg’s going down the drain.
The rotunda of the Capitol Dome
Will soon become my permanent home.
The whole Congress will see me there,
My misery I’ll make them share.

Let’s all support John Conyer’s Bill
To help us all when we fall ill.
It covers you, it covers me,
Yes, everyone in our country.
It’s managed by the USA,
With few deductions
From take-home pay.
And each of us will find it fair.
Put everyone on Medicare.

Medicare Battle Hymn

  • from E-vine
  • tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the wonders of a single payer plan
In nineteen sixty-five the Congress said, now, yes we can
They passed a single payer plan, they called it Medicare
And we’re so glad it’s there.

Chorus:
The lobbyists will try to fool ya
THEY-Y–will think up lies to scare ya
They work for corporations who are surely not your friends
So don’t believe their spin.
We’ve got to stand together and to fight for what is fair
to educate the public and to make them all aware
that what we need is public FI-nance linked to private care
You’ll be so glad it’s there!

Chorus

Look Around You

  • Shirley Morrison and Kay Thode
  • tune: Clementine

Look around you, see the people
Who are working everyday
For the kind of world we all want,
Where healthy children laugh and play
A world with no more nuclear arms,
Guns are banned and want is rare,
Where all races live together,
Everyone has good health care.

  • Equal rights and equal wages,
    Social justice on the earth,
    No pollution on the planet,
    A new world will come to birth.
    Look around you see the people
    Who are working everyday
    For a world of peace and plenty
    Where the grandkids laugh and play.
     

It Ain’t Necessarily So

  • Lyrics by Salt Spring Raging Grannies of Canada to Tune by George Gershwin
  • Note: The full title of this song is “All Purpose Comprehensive Rant about Everything That Is Wrong with the Whole World.” Seattle Grannies may make up verses for occasions.

CHORUS
It ain’t necessarily so,
It ain’t necessarily so.
The corporate media
Would like to mislead ya,
It ain’t necessarily so,

(Environment)

Salt Spring’s not gone to the dogs.
Trees are just unemployed logs.
We mustn’t get madder
Just ‘cause Taxada
Is trashing our watershed bogs.

Don’t worry about greenhouse gas–
The doom and gloom won’t come to pass.
Remember the looting
We get from polluting
All goes to the governing class.

CHORUS

(Food)

Genetically modified food
Is certified legally good.
Ignore all the rumors—
Just be good consumers.
Don’t ask all those questions—it’s rude.

Hormone-laced beef is just swell.
Just look at our own NHL.
No need for inspection
Of bovine injection—
Don’t you want to be macho as well?

(Big Business)

We always promote human rights.
We worry, and can’t sleep at nights.
But sooner or later
The gangster dictators
Who buy our arms must see the light.

Our banks are the best ever seen.
The profits they make aren’t obscene.
We like the adoption
Of enormous stock options
For CEOs fleeing the scene.

Drug company profits are small.
They’re lobbying hardly at all.
When they hear generics
They go into hysterics
For fear that the share prices will fall.

Africa’s dying of AIDS,
But drug barons got to get paid.
They say they feel saddened,
But they hold the patent.
Take aspirin and sit in the shade.

Free trade’s the best way to go.
Only subversives say no.
We’ll follow the factories
South and drink daiquiris.
Viva Low Wage Mexico!

CHORUS

(Schools)

Our school rooms are all well-supplied.
Whoever denies it has lied.
They depend for kids’ readers
On corporate leaders
Who peddle their Pepsi inside.

(Health)

Health care is our most sacred trust.
We’ll give you some time to adjust.
In a matter of urgency
Camp in Emergency
And sit till you’re gathering dust.

CHORUS

(WTO)

Quebec’s got a Big Business Fair.
It’ll be just like Tienamin Square
They admit it’s a pity
To barb-wire the city,
But people might try to get there.

(Defenses)

Women should man submarines,
‘Cause women are fighting machines.
If the ship isn’t celibate
The brass won’t think well of it
Unless there are separate latrines.

CHORUS

(Finally)

We sing ‘cause we don’t want to curse.
We’re alive, and we don’t need a hearse.
But if there’s a screw-up
We plan to wake you up
Or everything’s sure to get worse.

Healthcare- yet again

  • Nancy Galland, Maine Raging Grannies
  • tune: A Bicycle Built for Two

Healthcare, healthcare,
What am I gonna do?
I’m half crazy
Trying to pay for you. I can’t afford my Blue Cross,
And Single Payer cuts costs,
So let’s defeat
With feet on the street
Profiteering from healthcare blues.

Congress, Congress
Give us your answer true,
Are you crazy?
What are you gonna do?
If we can’t afford to pay bills,
And wait until we’re too ill.
We’ll lose our work
Without help or perks—
There’s better care in the zoo!

Healthcare

  • tune: Yellow Submarine
  • Chorus:
    We still want a health care bill for all,
    A health care bill for all,
    Single payer bill for all.
    We still want a health care bill for all,
    A health care bill for all,
    Single payer bill for all.

Now they passed a crappy bill
That does not give us a thrill.
Throwing women back in time.
Out from the fifties we’ll need to climb.
And the coverage not for all.
Leaving people in the ER hall.
Insurance profits up again.
Another version of the same old sin.

Chorus

We will not give up the fight
Until we get this damn bill right.
Though this order may be tall,
Demand medicare for all.

Chorus

Healthcare Song

  • by Corinne Willinger of the NYC Raging Grannies
  • tune: Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?

Oh Dear, what can the matter be?
We all need healthcare with coverage for you and me.
We should be charged an affordable healthcare fee.
Why don’t we have it right now?

Adults and children want healthcare for everyone
Millions of people who need it find they have none.
One little illness can make families come undone.
Why don’t we have it right now?

Seniors have health care and they call it Medicare.
We can improve it and give everyone their share.
We’ll fight for Conyer’s bill, so Congress, be aware!
We must have healthcare right now.

Oh Dear, what can the matter be?
We all need healthcare with coverage for you and me.
We should be charged an affordable healthcare fee.
Why don’t we have it right now?

We will have Healthcare RIGHT NOW!

 

Grandma’s Fate

  • by Jeanne Lorimer
  • tune: I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

Will they pull the plug on Grandma?
Will they pull the plug one day?
That is just what I’ve been hearing,
If Obama has his way!

If that is what you believe, dear
I’ve something here for sale:
(Speak)  The Brooklyn Bridge, The Eiffel Tower and Buckinham Palace, too!

So, my friend, I need to ask you
To listen to the TRUTH:
Grandma’s really safe
As safe as she can be.
The choice is up to her, you see!

(Speak) WE ALL HAVE A CHOICE!

Goodbye, Birth Control!

  • tune: Goodnight, Ladies

Who needs mammograms this year?
Planned Parenthood, we do fear,
Misuses funds we hold so dear.
The wars on women rage.

  • Chorus:
    Maybe we just won’t have sex
    Won’t have sex, won’t have sex
    Maybe we just won’t have sex,
    And then we’ll see what’s next.

Parenthood must not be planned,
Contraception must be banned,
Have more kids, we understand,
The wars on women rage.

  • Chorus

Pregnant once again this year,
How far along does it appear?
We’ll probe your wombs to make it clear!
The wars on women rage.

Refrain: Goodbye Boehmer!
Goodbye Cantor!
Goodbye, Mittens,
We’re going to leave you now!

  • Chorus

Buy, Buy Our Brand!

  • by: Monica Zucker
  • tune: Bye, Bye, Blackbird

Buy our little purple pill—
It will cure your every ill.
Buy, buy our brand!

If you feel the least bit sick,
Trust in us—our ads are slick.
Buy, buy our brand!

Millions die in other lands
Cause they can’t afford our brands.
Buy, buy our brand!

So pay the price—and buy some more.
Our goods are flying from the store.
Buy, buy our brand!

Get your doc to specify our brand name.
Reject generics even though they’re just the same.

We’ve got purple pills galore,
And patent rights forevermore!
Our brand! Buy, buy!