April 2012 – Healthcare-NOW

May 1 – A Day Without the 99%

For more than 120 years, May 1 has been celebrated internationally as a day to honor workers and commemorate the suffering they have endured – and continue to endure – in their struggles for equity for all in the workplace. Building on the history of May Day, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is calling…

Debt Collector Is Faulted for Tough Tactics in Hospitals

From the New York Times – Hospital patients waiting in an emergency room or convalescing after surgery are being confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside. This and other aggressive tactics by one of the nation’s largest collectors of medical debts, Accretive Health, were revealed on Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general,…

89,000 Poor Penn. Kids Slashed from Medicaid

By Michael Hinkelman and Catherine Lucey for Philly.com – Kheli Muhammad was trying to schedule a routine pediatrician’s appointment last summer when she discovered that her 2-year-old son, who has a congenital heart disorder, had been kicked off the Medicaid rolls. The 30-year-old mother of two boys was stunned. “It is written in stone that…

How to Organize a Healthcare Teach-In or Speak Out

On March 14 we organized our first ever skill-building call for our members and activists on how to organize effective teach-ins and speak-outs. Listen to the call here: Organizing Teach-Ins and Speak Outs You can also download a simple two-sided handout (.doc) on how to hold a successful speak-out or teach-in that includes: An overview…

The Power of Universal Health Care

By Winthrop C. Dillaway III for NJ.com – In 2009, when President Obama began his term of office, the U.S. health care system was painfully dysfunctional. He announced an initiative for health care reform. Early on, “universal health care” garnered thought and attention. Unfortunately, with the ensuing debate and politics, the concept of universal health…

Knoxville-Oak Ridge CLC endorses HR 676, Improved Medicare for All

From Unions for Single Payer – President Suzanne Coile reports that the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Area Central Labor Council unanimously endorsed HR 676, national single payer health care legislation, at its April, 2012 meeting. “Everyone completely agreed on HR 676,” said Coile, “and all of us are totally opposed to any kind of voucher system.” Coile…

Fool’s Gold: US Healthcare System Cheats Patients

By Donna Smith – In case any one of us needs reminding, the profit-driven healthcare system in America is broken. Driven by its primary motivation to make money, there is little that compels those currently in control to care about patients like you and me. We are most assuredly a necessary component of the healthcare…

Funding a National Single-Payer System

By Gerald Friedman for Dollars and Sense – Download “Funding a National Single-Payer System” here (.pdf). Don’t like the Obamacare (or Romneycare) mandate? Single-payer is a viable—and more redistributive—alternative. “The Expanded & improved Medicare for all act” (hr 676) would establish a single authority responsible for paying for health care for all Americans. Providing universal…

Single-Payer Activists’ Views on the Individual Mandate

The Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act hearings last month renewed debate over the individual mandate within the single-payer movement. As expected, there are a wide variety of views on this issue. It’s important to take some time to reflect on some of the arguments made about the mandate. This is by no means comprehensive, but…

Recession Boosted Hospital Expansions Into Affluent Areas

By Jordan Rau for KHN – Amid the recession, hospitals have been aggressively establishing footholds in affluent areas outside their traditional market boundaries as they fight for the patients with the best insurance, according to a new study. The paper, published in Health Affairs, found hospitals “wooing” EMS workers that service well-off neighborhoods, even sprucing…