April 2010 – Healthcare-NOW

Action Alert: Save Primary Care at St. John’s

Dr. George Randt and his colleague are board-certified internists who have had a contractual relationship with St. John Medical Center covering some 2,500 patients for several years. These two doctors have excellent records with the hospital, high patient satisfaction and retention rates, and have never had an unfavorable review. This past month they were notified…

Temple Unions Ratify New Contracts and Declare Victory after Strike

After 28 days on strike, the members of PASNAP, the union that represents 1500 nurses, professionals and technical employees at Temple University Hospital, voted overwhelmingly to accept the new contract agreements. After three ratification votes held throughout the day, the total members voting was 1075 with 97% in favor. “Temple provoked this strike in an…

4 million likely to pay health fine

By Kim Dixon – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – About four 4 million people in the United States could be fined for failing to buy health insurance when the health overhaul law is fully in force in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Thursday. Most individuals must buy health insurance under the landmark legislation passed by…

On the Individual Mandate

The Women’s Economic Agenda Project sends us a handout on the individual mandate to purchase health insurance that’s included in the recently-signed healthcare legislation. You can download the handout here.

NJ Labor Council & Oregon NALC Convention Push Single Payer Summit

Three more labor organizations have gone on record in support of the Maine State AFL-CIO Federation’s call for the national AFL-CIO to convene a labor summit “to build a social movement powerful enough to win single payer.” In New Jersey, the April meeting of the Bergen County Central Trades & Labor Council unanimously endorsed the…

Vermont Legislature Votes to Begin Designing ‘Single-Payer’ System

By Associated Press – MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont lawmakers made clear Friday that recently enacted federal health care reform did not go far enough toward a public model, passing legislation that could bring to the state the “public option” health insurance rejected by Washington or even a Canadian-style single-payer system. By a vote of 91-42,…

PBS ombudsman: Ignoring single payer was a mistake

Single-Minded About Single-Payer: The Ombudsman Column By Michael Getler, PBS, April 23, 2010 – PBS’s venerable public affairs and investigative series Frontline is, I confess, a favorite of mine, and has been for as long as I can remember watching public television. For me, Frontline, along with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” is the best of what…

Listen: Discussing the Fair Elections Now Act

If you missed last night’s national conference call on the Fair Elections Now Act, you can listen to it here. We had about 70 people on this call, and we’d like to thank you for participating, and donating. This call’s success means that we can keep organizing national conference calls in the future. Thank you…

Everybody In, Nobody Out: At Temple and Beyond an Injury to One is an Injury to All

By Donna Smith – When you see the faces of the members of PASNAP (Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals) on strike at Temple University Hospital and perhaps most especially when you see the faces of their children walking on the picket line with them, you embrace the reality of why these brave…

NESRI Submits UPR Report on Economic and Social Rights in the U.S.

National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) coordinated a joint submission on Economic and Social Rights in the U.S. to the United Nation’s Universal Period Review. The report, entitled “Toward Economic and Social Rights in the United States: From Market Competition to Public Goods,” was prepared in collaboration with seven partners and allies and has…