Archive for March 2009
As Obama Hosts Summit on Healthcare, Marginalized Advocates Ask Why Single-Payer is Ignored
From Democracy Now!— President Obama hosted a White House summit Thursday on reforming healthcare. While President Obama said every idea must be considered, the idea of creating a single-payer national health insurance program appears to have already been rejected. We speak to Harper’s senior editor Luke Mitchell, author of the article “Sick in the Head:…
Read MoreGupta Ends Surgeon General Candidacy
By Gardiner Harris for the New York Times— Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon, has withdrawn from being considered for surgeon general, CNN reported on Thursday. Several other candidates are now under serious consideration, including Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University,…
Read MoreAHIP Demos Next Week in DC!
The American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade group that develops the policies that keep profit first in our health care system while leaving over a third of the population uninsured or with inadequate coverage, is meeting next week at the Ritz Carlton in Washington DC (1150 22nd Street, N.W. Either Dupont Circle Metro or…
Read MoreWhite House Healthcare Summit: Today 1PM
Watch the White House Summit live at 1pm today (March 5) at c-span.org. Click “Live TV/Radio” on the top right. Click “C-SPAN 3” under “Live Streams.”
Read MoreHoward Dean: ‘I Don’t Think We Should Impose Single-Payer On Everybody’
Some political pundits have portrayed former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) as a wacky liberal caricature, whose online supporters spam blog comment sections in favor of single-payer health care. But during an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, Dean described parts of his own health care philosophy as conservative. Rather than advocating for a broad overhaul of the…
Read MoreWe Have Good News/Tomorrow’s Demo. Cancelled
Because of all your calls and emails, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), our ally in support of single-payer healthcare, received word that Dr. Oliver Fein, president of PNHP, has been invited to participate in tomorrow’s White House summit on healthcare. He will therefore be joining Rep. John Conyers in the meeting as a…
Read MoreWhite Coats To Crowd the White House Gate Thursday
EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO PNHP PRES. INVITATION TO SUMMIT Thanks for all your calls to the White House!!! March 5, 12pm -1pm The White House Lafayette Park, Washington, DC Doctors criticize exclusion of single-payer advocates from summit President Obama is holding a Healthcare Summit on Thursday, March 5th. Over 120 are expected to be in…
Read MoreAction Alert: Let Single-Payer In!
On Thursday, March 5, 2009, the White House will host a summit on how to reform the healthcare system. The 120 invited guests include lobbyists for various interest groups including the private-for-profit insurance industry (AHIP), some members of Congress including Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus who has already ruled single payer “off the table,” and…
Read MoreAction Alert: Tell Sen. Baucus To Stop Pressuring CBO
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who ruled single-payer “off the table” before he even started considering healthcare reform, is now pressuring the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to favorably judge his health plan as financially sound–even though it isn’t. According to CongressDaily (2/25), Baucus, other lawmakers, and “some special interest groups have not been…
Read MoreMass. healthcare reform is failing us
By Susanne L. King— Massachusetts Has been lauded for its healthcare reform, but the program is a failure. Created solely to achieve universal insurance coverage, the plan does not even begin to address the other essential components of a successful healthcare system. What would such a system provide? The prestigious Institute of Medicine, part of…
Read More