Healthcare-NOW

The President Wants You to Get Rich on Obamacare

From the New York Times – Tom Scully bolted through the doors and up the stairs to a private dining room on the third floor of the “21” Club. Scully, 56, is slightly taller than average and has tousled graying hair, an athletic build and a lopsided smile. He typically projects a combination of confidence…

Single-payer healthcare vs. Obamacare

“Medicare for all” isn’t perfect, but it does what the ACA can’t: Guarantee better healthcare and a simpler system From Salon – Whenever scandal arises in Washington, D.C., the fight between the two parties typically ends up being a competition to identify a concise message in the chaos — or, as scientists might say, a…

Single-Payer Prescription for What Ails Obamacare

By Amy Goodman for Truth Dig – “We apologize for the inconvenience. The Marketplace is currently undergoing regularly scheduled maintenance and will be back up Monday 10/7/3013.” You read it right, 3013. That was the message on the homepage of the New York state health insurance exchange website this past weekend. Yes, the Affordable Care…

Is Obamacare Enough?

Without Single-Payer, Patchwork U.S. Healthcare Leaves Millions Uninsured From Democracy Now – Despite helping expanding affordable insurance, “Obamacare” maintains the patchwork U.S. healthcare system that will still mean high costs, weak plans and, in many cases, no insurance for millions of Americans. We host a debate on whether the Affordable Care Act goes far enough…

Millions of Poor Are Left Uncovered by Health Law

From the New York Times – A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according…

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices

From the New York Times – Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers. From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in…

Health Spending Expected To Exceed Economic Growth

From Kaiser Health News – The nation’s total health spending will bump up next year as the health law expands insurance coverage to more Americans, and then will grow by an average of 6.2 percent a year over the next decade, according to projections released Wednesday by government actuaries. That estimate is lower than typical…

AFL-CIO Reaffirms Commitment to Single Payer–Demands Fixes to ACA

From All Unions for Single Payer – The just concluded AFL-CIO convention reaffirmed its commitment to a single payer health care system while demanding that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) be fixed to protect Taft-Hartley (multiemployer) plans, to end the excise tax, to make employers cover workers who average 20 hours a week, to require…

Shumlin Payroll Tax to Fund Single Payer Unpalatable to Business

By Andrew Stein for VTDigger.org – If Gov. Peter Shumlin pursues a payroll tax to fund a publicly financed health care system, he will meet heavy resistance from one of the state’s most influential business groups. Betsy Bishop, president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, says her organization and its members would not look favorably…

Health law’s ailments can be cured by single-payer system

All the shortcomings of the healthcare restructuring result from the decision to leave it in the hands of private insurers. By Michael Hiltzik for the LA Times – With the Oct. 1 rollout of a major facet of the Affordable Care Act on the horizon, you’ll be hearing a lot about the glitches, loopholes and…