Healthcare-NOW

Artists Take Stage for Single-Payer Health Care in Minnesota

From theuptake.org – To educate Minnesotans about the need for single-payer health care, the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition (MUHCC) held the “Artists on Stage for Health Care” at Saint Paul’s Park Square Theatre in the historic Hamm Building. The event featured local artists, singing, drawing and dancing, to broadcast the same message: the current…

89 Arrested Protesting Paul Ryan’s Medicaid Cuts

By David Nather for Politico – Capitol Police arrested 89 disability rights protesters late Monday for occupying the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building in a demonstration against Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicaid plan, which they said would force people with disabilities to live in nursing homes rather than in their own homes. The protesters…

Activists decry exclusion of undocumented workers from Vermont’s H.202

By Anne Galloway for Vtdigger.org – An undocumented Mexican migrant worker named Javier wouldn’t give his full name or say what county he lives in for fear of deportation. In spite of his apprehensions, however, he stood in front of the Statehouse on Sunday and told a crowd of May Day activists that the health…

In Florida, H.M.O.’s Would Treat Medicaid Patients

By Lizette Alvarez for the New York Times – DAVIE, Fla. — A crucial experiment in the future of Medicaid is playing out in Florida, where both houses of the Legislature are vying to find ways to drastically cut costs, manage care and reduce waste and fraud. The cuts and changes being sought by the…

Thousands of single payer supporters to converge on Montpelier May 1

Major statewide rally on May 1st will call for adoption of strongest possible final version of H. 202 Montpelier, VT — Statehouse — Thousands of Vermonters supporting the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign will converge on Montpelier for a march and rally this Sunday, May 1st at 11am. The event will highlight the achievements…

Republican and Democratic Plans for Medicare and Medicaid Misguided

Push for Privatization will Accelerate Costs and Deaths By Margaret Flowers, M.D. for FireDogLake – Leadership in Washington recognizes the damage our soaring health care spending is doing to our entire economy. Although their rhetoric differs, recent budget proposals from both Republicans and Democrats mistakenly place the blame on Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to and…

What we’re not being told about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan

The mainstream media has failed to report that the Ryan plan is a privatization program that will hand $30tn to insurers By Dean Baker for the Guardian – The film Casablanca features one of greatest moments in movie history. With Humphrey Bogart standing with a smoking pistol over the body of the dead Gestapo major,…

Vermont Senate gives initial OK to single-payer health care bill

By Anne Galloway for VTDigger.org – The spirit of order and compromise was upon them. The Vermont Senate passed the universal health care reform bill in a 21-8, largely along party lines on Monday, after just five hours in the Green Room. (Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, voted aye; Bobby Starr, D-North Troy, voted nay.The senators will…

As If Privatizing Medicare Wasn’t Enough

By Jonathan Cohn for the New Republic – By now, virtually everybody has heard about the Medicare voucher scheme that House Republicans want to implement starting in 2022. Instead of getting comprehensive, government-run insurance, seniors would have to enroll in private insurance, using a federal subsidy too skimpy to pay for adequate coverage. According to…

America Needs a Single Payer Health Care System

Even if Obama’s overhaul works as planned, there will still be 23 million Americans lacking health insurance in 2019. By Kay Tillow for OtherWorlds.org – More than a year after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, our nation’s health care delivery and coverage remain the disgrace of the…