Healthcare-NOW

Insurers’ commitment to healthcare reform is only skin-deep

The industry claims to have had a change of heart, but its position hasn’t changed at all. By Michael Hiltzik for the LA Times— The genius of modern marketing is pouring old material into new packaging. Over the years this has given us yogurt in tubes, prechopped salad greens in cellophane bags and, most recently,…

At Jefferson, Conyers backs Obama health stand

By Michael Vitez for the Philadelphia Inquirer— U.S. Rep. John Conyers. Jr. (D., Mich.) said today that President Obama won’t support single-payer universal health insurance now because he’s got too much on his plate – two wars and an economic crisis – and he’s got to settle for the health care reform he can get.…

Nurse’s insurance nightmare makes her a single-payer advocate

By Michael Vitez for the Philadelphia Inquirer— Marilyn Cawthon has been a nurse for 30 years. “All my life I provided health care to people,” she said recently. “I thought when I needed it, it would be there and wouldn’t drive me broke or crazy.” It nearly did both. Cawthon got the heart care she…

Media Blackout on Single-Payer Healthcare

FAIR study finds: Proponents of popular policy shut out of debate Major newspaper, broadcast and cable stories mentioning healthcare reform in the week leading up to President Barack Obama’s March 5 healthcare summit rarely mentioned the idea of a single-payer national health insurance program, according to a new FAIR study. And advocates of such a…

Talking About Health Reform, But Not About A Cure

By John Nichols for the Nation— Health care reform is a vital and engaging concern for America – and for Americans. But you would not know it from Thursday’s White House Forum on Health Reform, which was so narrowly focused and uninspiring that it almost made Hillary Clinton’s bumbling efforts of the 1990s look good.…

As Obama Hosts Summit on Healthcare, Marginalized Advocates Ask Why Single-Payer is Ignored

From Democracy Now!— President Obama hosted a White House summit Thursday on reforming healthcare. While President Obama said every idea must be considered, the idea of creating a single-payer national health insurance program appears to have already been rejected. We speak to Harper’s senior editor Luke Mitchell, author of the article “Sick in the Head:…

Gupta Ends Surgeon General Candidacy

By Gardiner Harris for the New York Times— Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon, has withdrawn from being considered for surgeon general, CNN reported on Thursday. Several other candidates are now under serious consideration, including Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University,…

Howard Dean: ‘I Don’t Think We Should Impose Single-Payer On Everybody’

Some political pundits have portrayed former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) as a wacky liberal caricature, whose online supporters spam blog comment sections in favor of single-payer health care. But during an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, Dean described parts of his own health care philosophy as conservative. Rather than advocating for a broad overhaul of the…

Mass. healthcare reform is failing us

By Susanne L. King— Massachusetts Has been lauded for its healthcare reform, but the program is a failure. Created solely to achieve universal insurance coverage, the plan does not even begin to address the other essential components of a successful healthcare system. What would such a system provide? The prestigious Institute of Medicine, part of…

Sen. Baucus: We Need Accurate Numbers not “Creative” Figuring

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who ruled single payer “off the table” before he even started considering healthcare reform, is now trying to pressure the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to judge the Baucus health plan financially sound. Baucus held a Finance Committee hearing last Wednesday (2/25/09) at which the sole witness was CBO…