Archive for April 2011
In Florida, H.M.O.’s Would Treat Medicaid Patients
By Lizette Alvarez for the New York Times – DAVIE, Fla. — A crucial experiment in the future of Medicaid is playing out in Florida, where both houses of the Legislature are vying to find ways to drastically cut costs, manage care and reduce waste and fraud. The cuts and changes being sought by the…
Read MoreThousands of single payer supporters to converge on Montpelier May 1
Major statewide rally on May 1st will call for adoption of strongest possible final version of H. 202 Montpelier, VT — Statehouse — Thousands of Vermonters supporting the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign will converge on Montpelier for a march and rally this Sunday, May 1st at 11am. The event will highlight the achievements…
Read MoreApril Newsletter – Nobody Wants to Cut Medicare
We just sent out our latest email newsletter to our list of supporters. If you don’t already get our email newsletters (sent about twice per month), you can sign up for them here. In this latest newsletter we highlight four important articles/issues from the past few weeks: Demand Pres. Obama Protect Medicare Thank you to…
Read MoreRepublican and Democratic Plans for Medicare and Medicaid Misguided
Push for Privatization will Accelerate Costs and Deaths By Margaret Flowers, M.D. for FireDogLake – Leadership in Washington recognizes the damage our soaring health care spending is doing to our entire economy. Although their rhetoric differs, recent budget proposals from both Republicans and Democrats mistakenly place the blame on Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to and…
Read MoreWhat we’re not being told about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan
The mainstream media has failed to report that the Ryan plan is a privatization program that will hand $30tn to insurers By Dean Baker for the Guardian – The film Casablanca features one of greatest moments in movie history. With Humphrey Bogart standing with a smoking pistol over the body of the dead Gestapo major,…
Read MoreVermont Senate gives initial OK to single-payer health care bill
By Anne Galloway for VTDigger.org – The spirit of order and compromise was upon them. The Vermont Senate passed the universal health care reform bill in a 21-8, largely along party lines on Monday, after just five hours in the Green Room. (Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, voted aye; Bobby Starr, D-North Troy, voted nay.The senators will…
Read MoreAs If Privatizing Medicare Wasn’t Enough
By Jonathan Cohn for the New Republic – By now, virtually everybody has heard about the Medicare voucher scheme that House Republicans want to implement starting in 2022. Instead of getting comprehensive, government-run insurance, seniors would have to enroll in private insurance, using a federal subsidy too skimpy to pay for adequate coverage. According to…
Read MoreAmerica Needs a Single Payer Health Care System
Even if Obama’s overhaul works as planned, there will still be 23 million Americans lacking health insurance in 2019. By Kay Tillow for OtherWorlds.org – More than a year after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, our nation’s health care delivery and coverage remain the disgrace of the…
Read MoreLove of Medicare chills tea party fever
By Clarence Page for the Chicago Tribune – Surprise, surprise! Faced with the prospect of Medicare cuts, even tea party folks find griping about “big government” to be a lot more fun than actually shrinking it. Seventy percent of those who identified themselves as supporters of the fiscally conservative movement in a new McClatchy-Marist poll…
Read MoreQuarter-Million Dead and Not Counting
By Donna Smith – After this past weekend of horrific storms and tornadoes, it was clearly appropriate for our elected officials to declare a federal disaster in some areas. With the designation comes some federal money and help for the storm-ravaged areas and residents. Few would quarrel with our government stepping up and stepping in…
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