June 2011 – Healthcare-NOW

Nonprofit Insurers: Reaping Profits at the Expense of the Consumer

By Wendell Potter for MichaelMoore.com – Nowhere are health insurers working harder to thwart reforms that could save consumers billions of dollars than in California. One measure they are especially determined to kill is a bill that would give state regulators the authority to reject rate increases that were excessive or discriminatory. The California Assembly…

Coburn, Lieberman seek to raise Medicare age to 67

By the AP – WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Senate rebels jumped into Congress’ cut-the-deficit competition on Tuesday, proposing to raise the age of Medicare eligibility to 67 and increase monthly premiums for millions of current beneficiaries. “We can’t save Medicare as we know it,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., who authored the plan with Republican…

Medicaid cuts could come from Democrats

By J. Lester Feder for Politico – Defenders of Medicaid have been fighting hard against Republican proposals to cut the program, but they’re just waking up to the threat of one proposed by the Obama administration. It’s an idea to change the way federal matching funds work and save money in the process — and…

AZ Man Makes $12 Too Much to Get Coverage for Heart Surgery

Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court announced that it will not be taking action to stop planned Medicaid cuts or an enrollment freeze. By Zaid Jilani for ThinkProgress – Since last year, low-income Arizonans have been feeling the impact of a series of brutal Medicaid cuts that officials predict will kick at least 135,000 people…

NOW Conference Calls for Medicare for All

The National Organization for Women wrapped up its 45th National Conference in Tampa, Fla. on Sunday, June 26, setting NOW’s policy and agenda for the coming year and looking toward the 2012 elections and beyond. Topping NOW’s policy agenda are improved Social Security benefits for women and a “Medicare for All” single-payer health care system…

U.S. Spent $8,100 Per Person On Health Care In 2009

By ThinkProgress – The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation’s new report finds that annual American health care spending is now at $8,100 per person in 2009, for a total $2.5 trillion dollars or 17.6 percent of the GDP in 2009. “Higher utilization of medical technology, rising treated prevalence rates for chronic diseases, and…

Should universal care advocates bite their tongues on single-payer?

By Mike Alberti for Remapping Debate – It was not so long ago that a universal, single-payer health insurance program administered and financed by the federal government looked like a viable policy option. Barack Obama supported a single-payer system on the campaign trail in 2008, and, in the early stages of the subsequent battle over…

Support for ‘Medicare-for-all’ Continues in US Congress

By Healthcare-NOW! – Sen. Bernie Sanders [I VT] introduced a revised version of the “American Health Security Act,” a national single-payer “Medicare-for-all” healthcare bill, calling for the right to healthcare for all. The Bill, designated as S 915 is an updated version of S 703, submitted in 2009, and joins Rep. Jim McDermott’s [D WA] companion bill in the…

Vermont Breaks Ground in Health Coverage for Migrant Workers

By Yvonne Yen Liu for New America Media – Vermont, land of rolling green hills dotted with black and white Holsteins and picturesque red barns. White people, everywhere, lots of them. Home of state-sanctioned town hall meetings that are models for participatory democracy. And now, the first state in our republic to enact universal health…

Single-Payer Hopefuls Press Their Cause

By David Gorn for California Healthline – Only in San Francisco can a guy wearing a rainbow rasta wig be a voice of reason. But there he was, among an estimated 400 boisterous protesters, trying to keep the sidewalk clear so pedestrians could pass through the colorful event. Event organizer Don Bechler also was busy…