Healthcare-NOW

If Private Health Insurance Companies Are Evil, Why Are You Forcing Me to Be a Customer?

By Jon Walker for Fire Dog Lake – A big part of the final push for this health care reform effort is focused on how terrible the private insurance companies are. On the White House blog, communications director Dan Pfeiffer is attacking the huge premium increases and monopoly power of some private insurers. HCAN is…

Former Rep. Massa Claims He Was Forced Out over Healthcare Bill

From Democracy NOW! – Meanwhile, Democratic leaders in the House are scrambling to secure enough votes to pass the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform package. Intense pressure is reportedly being placed on some Democratic lawmakers to support the party line. New York Democrat Eric Massa is claiming he was forced out of Congress by…

Insurers Set To Raise Prices, Walk Away From Consumers

By Sam Stein for the Huffington Post – The market concentration for health insurance is so monopolized in some areas that insurance companies are willing to raise prices and lose customers in an effort to improve their bottom line, a leading insurance broker told Wall Street analysts on Wednesday. In a conference call organized by…

Obama’s Reprehensible Rhetoric Against Single-Payer

By Matthew Rothschild for the Progressive – When Barack Obama gave his “this is it” speech on health care reform on March 3, he once again swerved out of his way to hit advocates of a single-payer system. He said: “On one end of the spectrum, there are some who have suggested scrapping our system…

Eric Massa, Single-Payer Advocate in House, to Retire

By Patricia Murphy for Politics Daily – Rep. Eric Massa, a freshman Democrat from New York, announced Wednesday that he will leave Congress at the end of this term rather than run for re-election as planned. In a call with reporters, the congressman said his decision was based on a third recurrence of cancer, and…

When the Health Reform Truth Oozes Out: And it isn’t Just

By Donna Smith – Even the staging of the hand-picked doctors in starched white coats could not keep the truth of the healthcare reform process from oozing out of President Obama during Wednesday’s press event. Not just… “Everything there is to say about healthcare has been said and just about everyone has said it,” Obama…

Some companies drop health insurance, don’t tell employees

BY Mary Cornatzer – As if having to pay higher health insurance premiums each year isn’t bad enough, now workers have another worry: companies that drop their health insurance coverage and don’t bother to tell employees. It’s a practice that’s on the rise, says Kristin Milam with the state Department of Insurance. State law requires…

Domestic Violence: A Pre-Existing Condition?

By Amy Goodman – March is Women’s History Month, recognizing women’s central role in society. Unfortunately, violence against women is epidemic in the United States and around the world. Domestic violence is on the minds of many now, as reports published by The New York Times implicate New York Gov. David Paterson in an alleged…

The Single-Payer Health Debate We Should Have Had

By Bruce Bartlett for Wall Street Pit – There’s been a bit of a debate going on in the blogosphere lately about whether the Democrats should have proposed a more limited health reform plan in the first place. Such a plan might have gotten some Republican support or at least led to less intense Republican…

Healthcare Summit Ends in Deadlock; Single-Payer Advocates Excluded

From Democracy Now! – After nearly seven hours of televised debate, President Obama’s so-called bipartisan healthcare summit ended Thursday without any substantive agreement between Republicans and Democrats. Republican lawmakers remained staunchly opposed to using the federal government to regulate health insurance. We speak to Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor Trudy Lieberman and pediatrician Dr. Margaret…