March 2011 – Page 2 – Healthcare-NOW

Owensboro Area CLC Endorses HR 676, Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act

At its regular meeting on March 7, 2011, the Owensboro Area Central Labor Council endorsed HR 676, the national single payer legislation reintroduced into the 112th Congress by Congressman John Conyers (D. MI). The council covers workers in Daviess, Hancock, Ohio, and McLean Counties in Kentucky. Donna Haynes, CLC President, stated: “We support this and…

In Vermont, Single-Payer Bill Set To Pass Health Care Committee

By Bob Kinzel for VPR – Montpelier, VT – (Host) The House Health Care Committee is set to approve a bill that sets Vermont on the path of a single payer health care system. The bill is one of Governor Peter Shumlin’s top priorities for the 2011 session. VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports. (Kinzel) The legislation…

Fort Lee Mayor and City Council Endorse Single-Payer Healthcare

On March 10, 2011, the Borough of Fort Lee, NJ endorsed a resolution supporting single-payer healthcare as proposed by HR 676, the “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.” Fort Lee’s endorsement is one of over 70 state and local governments that have already passed similar resolutions supporting HR 676. If passed through Congress, HR…

‘Deficit gurus’ launch assault on women’s health

By Claudia Chaufan – March is Women’s History Month. But this year, for the vast majority of women in America, there is little to celebrate. Over the past months, “deficit gurus” in the U.S. House of Representatives have unleashed the most devastating assault on women’s health in our nation’s history. If legislation already passed in…

Conference calls keep movement alive

By Bennett Hall for DemocratHerald.com – It’s 8 o’clock in the morning, and Betty Johnson and Mike Huntington are huddled around a cordless phone set up on a folding table in Johnson’s Corvallis living room. The two veteran health care activists listen intently to the voices coming over the speaker. A caller from Portland is…

Vermont’s Struggle for Single-Payer Healthcare

By Steve Early for the Nation – After years of political frustration, Earl Mongeon had to see it to believe it. Often, when he finishes his twelve-hour night shift at IBM in Essex Junction, Mongeon heads home for breakfast and a few hours of brush clearing on his sixty-acre lot in Westford. In mid-January, the…

‘Single payer’ still their goal

By Bennett Hall for the Corvallis Gazette-Times – Shortly after noon on Friday, state Rep. Michael Dembrow stepped to the microphone and addressed a crowd of about 150 people gathered on the steps of the Oregon Capitol in Salem. “You look so healthy,” he told his audience. “You must all have good health insurance.” The…

England ‘healthier than the US’

By Michelle Roberts for BBC News – People living in England enjoy better health than Americans, despite less investment in healthcare, research published in the US has revealed. Across all ages, US residents tend to fare worse in terms of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease markers, data on over 100,000 people show. The reason…

Forbes 400 or the SiCKO 12?

By Donna Smith – It’s a club I will never be in. Michael Moore told us about them this week. The Forbes 400. The richest 400 people in America. They own more stuff and have more cash and assets than half of the rest of us (roughly 150,000,000+ people) combined. But I had to dig…

Who Will Be Uninsured After Health Insurance Reform?

According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, 23 million people will still be uninsured after The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is fully implemented. 40 percent of those 23 million would be eligible for, but not enrolled in, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). A further 22 percent would…