Healthcare-NOW

Recession’s Toll on Health Coverage

From the New York Times – It’s a startling reminder that when people lose their jobs, they typically also lose their health insurance coverage. The share of children and working-age adults who had insurance through an employer fell 10 percentage points during the last recession, according to a study released on Thursday by the Center…

Health care law faces legal, fiscal pressure

From USA Today – More than half of Americans say President Obama’s health care law is unconstitutional as it heads to the Supreme Court this month, a new poll shows. At the same time, Congress’ official scorekeeper says the law could cost a bit more and leave more people uninsured than forecast. The combined dose…

Health Care Costs Will Be Higher Than Half Of Country’s Income By 2037

From Huffington Post – Health insurance will cost more than the median income of an American household by 2037 — and that’s the best-case scenario, two doctors contend in a new study. The reason: Wages for U.S. workers are stagnating and health care costs are rising so quickly that even if the health reform law…

What America Lost When Dennis Kucinich Lost

By John Nichols for The Nation – Dennis Kucinich is one of the strongest supporters of single-payer healthcare in the House. He co-sponsored HR 676 from the start. We at Healthcare-NOW! are sad to see him go and hope that he finds a way to continue his political career. See our founder, Marilyn Clement, pictured…

Stagehands Working for Single-Payer Health Care

By Marc Bussanich for LaborPress – The Affordable Health Care Act is two years old, and recently the Department of Health and Human Resources produced a report showing how the reforms enacted will save Americans enrolled in traditional Medicare about $3,500 over the next 10 years. But Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical…

Payne Supported Medicare for All

By Ray Stever – It is with great sorrow that the New Jersey One Plan One Nation coalition marks the passing of our strongest supporter and one of our oldest and dearest friends, Congressman Donald Payne. He cosponsored H.R. 676: The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act. This act will expand and improve Medicare…

Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

By Ezra Klein for the Washington Post – There is a simple reason health care in the United States costs more than it does anywhere else: The prices are higher. That may sound obvious. But it is, in fact, key to understanding one of the most pressing problems facing our economy. In 2009, Americans spent…

Medical bills can wreck credit, even when paid off

From the AP – Mike and Laura Park thought their credit record was spotless. The Texas couple wanted to take advantage of low interest rates, so they put their house on the market and talked to a lender about a mortgage on a bigger home in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs. Their credit report contained a…

Occupy Wall Street Gives Award to Pfizer: “Excellence in Profiteering”

Part of National Day of Action against corporate greed and corruption New York, NY – February 29 – Healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, and Occupy Wall Street activists gathered outside of Pfizer’s International Headquarters in New York City to protest the world’s largest drug company’s connection to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a right-wing,…

As Court Showdown Nears, Our Healthcare System Still a Mess

By Rose Ann DeMoro – With the approaching Supreme Court showdown on the President Obama’s 2010 health care law (the Affordable Care Act, modeled, of course, on Mitt Romney’s law in Massachusetts), the U.S. healthcare system remains a dysfunctional mess, as nurses bear witness to every day. In late March, the Court will devote six…