November 2012 – Healthcare-NOW

Obama: $400 Billion in Safety Net Cuts

President Obama’s opening position on a “cliff deal” includes $400 billion in “savings” (cuts) to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security over ten years. This is unacceptable. We can’t allow any deal to pass that threatens Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. We know improved Medicare-for-all is the solution–it would save Medicare, halt out-of-control healthcare costs, ease…

Lobby, Organizing Materials for Protecting Medicare

Many single-payer activists and supporters have been thinking about, or already started, planning an event to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security the week of December 10th (International Human Rights Day). To help, we created a number of resources you can use for a lobby visit or event. Download this letter (.doc) to sign and…

Dec. 10 – Rally to Stop the “Grand Bargain”

As you know, President Obama is seeking a “grand bargain” to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” coming at the end of the year. We already know that President Obama is willing to raise Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67 and cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security by $650 billion. We need to stop any…

Opening Positions On The Cliff Deal: Deja Vu All Over Again

By Robert Reich – So the bidding has begun. According to the Wall Street Journal (which got the information from GOP leaders), the President’s opening bid to Republicans is: — $1.6 trillion in additional tax revenues over the next decade, from limiting tax deductions on the wealthy and raising tax rates on incomes over $250,000…

Welcome to the Future of Your Health Insurance. It Sucks.

By Yves Smith for Naked Capitalism – There have been numerous reports about the shortcomings of Obamacare which its boosters have either ignored or shouted down. And troublingly, the attitude is often “I got mine” as in “My kids are now covered under my policy” without questioning what the narrow and broader issues are. Well,…

Anthem Blue Cross seeks to raise individual policyholders’ rates

By Chad Terhune for the Los Angeles Times – California’s largest for-profit health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, is seeking to raise rates an average of 18% for more than 630,000 individual policyholders, drawing scrutiny from regulators and the ire of consumers already struggling with soaring premiums. Some Anthem customers may see rates rise as much…

CEOs Underfund Employee Retirement, Demand Cuts For Elderly

By Christina Wilkie for Huffington Post – A group of high-profile corporate CEOs are lobbying Capitol Hill this week to put Social Security and Medicare cuts at the forefront of deficit reduction negotiations. Their own retirement funds, however, are secure: The coalition includes 54 CEOs who have amassed combined pension assets of more than $649…

Eastern Panhandle Single-Payer Action Network at PEIA Hearing

From Journal-News.net – Members of the Eastern Panhandle Single-Payer Action Network (EPSPAN) provided information to public employees attending the recent PEIA hearing in Martinsburg. EPSPAN advocates “improved Medicare for all,” a publicly funded health care system that is privately delivered. Spokesperson Lynn Yellott described improved Medicare for all as a “system where healthcare dollars go…

AFT Wisconsin endorses HR 676

From UnionsForSinglePayer.org – On October 27, 2012, at its convention in Manitowoc, AFT Wisconsin endorsed Congressman John Conyers’ bill, HR 676, a national single payer health care program that would implement Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. “AFT-W will … mobilize our members and our community at the grassroots to encourage other members of the…

Americans Reject ‘Grand Bargain’ Cuts to Social Security and Medicare

By Kenneth Quinnell for AFL-CIO Blog – Reflecting what voters said in AFL-CIO’s election-night poll, a poll conducted on behalf of Democracy Corps and the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF) shows that voters strongly reject proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare. When asked which was more important, 70% of respondents said that protecting education, Medicare and Social…