Immigrants Contribute More To Medicare Than They Take Out

By Jordan Rau for Kaiser Health News – As Congress mulls changing America’s border and naturalization rules, a study finds that immigrant workers are helping buttress Medicare’s finances, because they contribute tens of billions a year more than immigrant retirees use in medical services. “Immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare,” the researchers wrote in the…

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New York Times Gets So-Called “Cadillac Tax” Wrong

By Benjamin Day, Healthcare-NOW! Director of Organizing – Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the Affordable Care Act’s “Cadillac Tax” will accelerate the erosion of quality health insurance as employers demand higher copays and deductibles from their workers to keep their premiums low enough to avoid the tax. While the Times is correct about…

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New Hampshire AFL-CIO Endorses HR 676

From UnionsForSinglePayer.org – “On Saturday, May 4th the New Hampshire AFL-CIO unanimously passed a resolution supporting HR 676 and the adoption of a national single payer health care system that covers all Americans for all necessary medical care including prescription drugs and dental,” reported President Mark MacKenzie. New Hampshire is the 42nd State AFL-CIO Federation…

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NC Could Save $18.7B by Adopting Single-Payer

By Jennifer Thomas for the Charlotte Business Journal – North Carolina could save as much as $18.7 billion next year on health-care costs if it changed the way it finances health care. The catch? That change would require a switch to a single-payer system in which one entity collects all health-care fees and pay related…

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10,000 Signatures for Universal Healthcare

By Tanique Williams for LegislativeGazette.com – New Yorkers from across the state — including hundreds of doctors, nurses, patients, labor unions, community organizations, faith groups, and seniors — delivered 10,000 signatures supporting a single-payer health care bill sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, and Sen. Bill Perkins, D-Harlem. The press conference was coordinated with Healthcare-NOW…

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Health Care for All Colorado Will Try for 2014 Ballot

By Michael Booth for the Denver Post – Health Care for All Colorado will shoot for a 2014 statewide ballot vote rather than 2013, supporters have decided. The progressive cause has launched an education effort across the state, but decided to take the extra year to gather support and earn enough of the tens of…

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Some unions protest Obamacare’s impact on Multiemployer Health Plans

By Kay Tillow – The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, also known as Obamacare, presents challenges to the multi-employer plans through which some unions bargain collectively to provide health care insurance for their members. These plans, often called Taft Hartley Plans, currently cover about 26 million workers, families, and retirees. Unless there is a…

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Unions break ranks on ObamaCare

By Kevin Bogardus for The Hill – Labor unions are breaking with President Obama on ObamaCare. Months after the president’s reelection, a variety of unions are publicly balking at how the administration plans to implement the landmark law. They warn that unless there are changes, the results could be catastrophic. The United Food and Commercial…

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Oregon Single-Payer Activists Keep Dream of Universal Healthcare Alive

In Oregon, a separate measure, giving state sponsorship of a comprehensive study on universal healthcare financing, makes its way through the Committee on Ways & Means. By Christopher David Gray for the Lund Report – May 15, 2013 — Wes Brain was uninsured last winter when a tonsillectomy showed signs of throat cancer. He qualified…

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