Healthcare-NOW

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.…

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.…

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…

Massachusetts Labor Leaders Write to Obama Urging Passage of HR 676

Forty Massachusetts labor leaders have written President Obama to inform him of the failure of the much touted ‘Massachusetts Plan’ and to tell him that the passage of HR 676 is the best way to implement his own healthcare goals. The labor leaders state, “The chief problem with the Massachusetts plan is that it leaves…

Dr. Quentin Young: Marcia Angell or David Satcher for HHS secretary

Today, Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, called on President Barack Obama to nominate Dr. Marcia Angell or Dr. David Satcher to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Angell is a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.…

Are they listening?

As Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s choice for secretary of health and human services, flies across the country to attend community meetings on health care reform, and the Obama Web site solicits opinions and health care stories from citizens, those of us who support a single-payer national health insurance program hold our collective breath. Will the…

What is Bad Healthcare Reform?

There are two kinds of healthcare reform being promoted nationwide as the Obama Administration talks about providing healthcare for everybody in the United States. One kind continues to support corporate medicine urging everybody who can to continue paying premium prices and purchasing health insurance policies so that healthcare continues to be provided by insurance companies…

Single-Payer Health Push Rallies Behind Conyers

As Obama prepares to take office, many women’s advocates are backing a single-payer health insurance reform championed by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. With so many Americans uninsured and underinsured, it’s “past time for change” says Conyers. In December, President-elect Barack Obama invited Americans to hold more than 4,000 “health care house parties” and discuss medical…

Oppose Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General

The following letter was sent to members and supporters of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) by Dr. Quentin D. Young. Dear PNHP members and friends, The report this week that President-elect Obama is considering Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, for the position of U.S. surgeon general is deeply troubling. Among our…

Health Care Tops Agenda

Louisvillians had a strong message for President-elect Barack Obama yesterday: The nation’s health-care system needs either massive reforms or a complete overhaul. “Health care in this nation costs too much and is serving too few,” said Scott Wegenast of AARP Kentucky, one of more than 80 people who attended a community health-care forum at the…