Archive for June 2009
The Policy That Dare Not Speak Its Name
By Robert Kuttner for Huffington-Post – I’m sure I’m not the only reader who noticed the juxtaposition of two front page stories in Sunday’s New York Times dealing with health care. The first article cited a new Times-CBS poll showing that 72 percent of Americans favored a government run health plan comparable to Medicare, which…
Read MoreHealth care costs to rise 9% in 2010
By the AP – Employers who offer health insurance coverage could see a 9% cost increase next year, and their workers may face an even bigger hit, according to a report Thursday from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Costs will rise in part because workers worried about losing their jobs are using their health care more while…
Read MoreCanadian health care: Fact vs. fiction (Video)
From the Real News – As the debate over health care reform heats up in the United States, a sub-debate of increasing significance is that of the Canadian system. Natalie Mehra, a critic of the current health care system in Canada, is an even stronger critic of those Canadians in the US decreeing the failure…
Read MoreWell, Well… Going to Healthcare Hell
By Donna Smith – We’ve learned some remarkable things over the past few weeks about healthcare reform in these United States. Remarkable, tragic, sad, disgusting and unacceptable truths about what we’ve put up with for decades and what we are about to see written into law unless we rise up. It was Jesus Christ who…
Read MoreFour California AFSCME Locals and District Council Endorse HR 676
Four AFSCME locals and a Northern California based District Council have endorsed HR 676, national single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). The four locals are AFSCME East Bay Regional Parks, Local 2428; AFSCME Local 2019; Pleasant City Employees’ Association, AFSCME Local 955; and AFSCME Local 444. The Oakland-based AFSCME District Council…
Read MoreAction Alert: Why are Single-Payer Supporters so Furious?
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, said, when asked about the “public option,” “Can you say flat out that it’s just never going to be single-payer health insurance?”: “Oh, I think that’s very much the case. And again, if you want anybody to convince people of that, talk to the single-payer proponents who…
Read MoreLawmakers Reveal Health-Care Investments
By Paul Kane for the Washington Post – Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer’s debate. The list of members who have personal investments in the corporations that…
Read MoreDr. Chris McCoy: “Dear AMA: I Quit!”
From Democracy NOW! – President Obama is ramping up efforts for his proposed overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system. On Monday, the President spoke at the annual conference of the American Medical Association in Chicago, opening a week in which healthcare will dominate attention in Congress. Obama’s speech before the AMA on Monday came just…
Read MoreNew Report Casts Exclusion of Single Payer as a Question of Democracy and Human Rights
At a critical moment for health care reform in the United States, The National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) has published an in-depth assessment of single payer proposals, finding that a single payer system goes further towards meeting key human rights principles than market-based plans. The question of whether national leaders will consider a…
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