Barack Obama – Page 4 – Healthcare-NOW

Will You Cry for Me, John Boehner?

Tired of the political theater in Washington, DC? Want to tell real stories by real people who need real change from Congress? As House Republicans make their futile attempt to repeal health reform, join us in launching the “Will You Cry for Me, John Boehner?” campaign. Because we know Speaker of the House Boehner has…

GOP Launches Bid To Repeal Health Care Law

By Julie Rovner for NPR – The formal title of the two-page bill the House is scheduled to vote on Wednesday is “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.” But in the wake of the recent shootings in Arizona that killed six people and critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), the phrase “job-killing” was barely…

Let’s stop pretending it was a government takeover of healthcare

By Deborah Burger for The Hill – If the Obama healthcare bill is just a “government takeover,” why are healthcare industry CEOs being rewarded with so much money? The alleged expropriation of healthcare by big government is, of course, a major story line of the right and the new leadership of the House which is…

Health-reform advocates have little to fear from judge’s ruling

By Ezra Klein, Washington Post Staff Writer – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee (and part-owner of a Republican campaign-consulting firm that fought the health-care overhaul legislation), has, as expected, ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional. So why are reform advocates so unexpectedly pleased? There are two reasons, but first, let’s…

House Passes Bill Averting Cut in Medicare Reimbursements

From the NY Times – The House gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that would avert a 25 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors by freezing reimbursement rates at current levels until the end of next year. The bill goes now to President Obama, who hailed the action by Congress and promised…

Majority Of Deficit Commission Endorses Plan; Not Enough To Make It Automatic

From NPR – As expected, a majority of the bipartisan commission charged with crafting a plan to slash the nation’s soaring budget deficits and national debt, has endorsed a blueprint for how to tackle those daunting problems. But, also as expected, the plan did not get the super-super-majority 14 (out of 18) votes necessary to…

Deficit Commission Slashes Taxes For Wealthy, Corporations, While Raising Retirement Age And Cutting Spending

By Ryan Grim for Huffington Post – WASHINGTON — The president’s deficit commission report, scheduled for a vote by the full panel on Friday, proposes to slash tax rates for corporations and for high earners. The top tax rate is currently 35 percent and is scheduled to rise to 39.6 percent in 2011. The commission…

Can We Count on You to Call Congress?

The Co-Chairs of the National Fiscal Commission have proposed carving up Social Security and Medicare like a Thanksgiving turkey. They want to increase the retirement age to 69, deeply cut benefits for middle-class workers, reduce annual Cost of Living Adjustments, increase healthcare costs to patients, and reduce Medicare reimbursements to providers. We need your help…

Rally for Healthcare Sanity

Have you heard? On October 30th, Jon Stewart is organizing a rally in Washington DC to “restore sanity,” while Stephen Colbert is organizing a counter demo to “keep fear alive.” Sounds a little bit like Healthcare-NOW!’s campaign to implement a national universal healthcare system as the only sane answer to our healthcare crisis. Yet, corporate…

The Midterm Elections and Medicare For All

By Dr. Quentin Young – As we approach Nov. 2, it’s fair to say that in many ways the distortion of political discourse in our country has never been worse. Extreme right-wing personalities – reincarnated Know-Nothings – are elbowing their way into the nightly airwaves via paid advertisements and Fox News. Billionaires are lavishly funding…