Healthcare-NOW

The Honest and Just Path to a Sustainable Medicare

By Jessica Schorr Saxe – In January 2009, at the age of 63 1/2, my friend Carol Bentley was laid off her 10-year job without warning. In a one-two punch, her health insurance ended the next day. She could not afford COBRA. Desperate about her medical expenses, she was rescued when federal stimulus money temporarily…

Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry job

Few people embody the corporatist revolving door greasing Washington as purely as Elizabeth Fowler By Glenn Greenwald for the Guardian – When the legislation that became known as “Obamacare” was first drafted, the key legislator was the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, whose committee took the lead in drafting the legislation.…

Raising The Medicare Age May Be Good GOP Politics

But Single-Payer Is The Better Solution For All Americans By Rick Ungar for Forbes – As the GOP pursues its ‘War on Entitlements’ as a part of the fiscal cliff ballet, the notion of raising the age for entering Medicare has been gaining steam as a focal point of reform for the financially stressed government…

GOP leaders offer ‘fiscal cliff’ counterproposal

Would Raise Medicare’s Eligibility Age to 67 By Lori Montgomery for the Washington Post – House GOP leaders endorsed a debt-reduction plan Monday that would raise tax collections by $800 billion over the next decade, but they refused to budge on higher tax rates for the wealthy, the central issue dividing Republicans and Democrats. In…

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…