Healthcare-NOW

White House Summit In Denial On Regulating Health Care Costs

By Jamie Court for the Huffington Post— “Prevention” was the word of morning at the White House Western forum on health care reform in downtown LA. Led by Oprah’s Dr. Oz, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire, the assembled “stakeholders” rattled off how prevention pays in health care. 20% of the patients…

Suffering and Dying for Healthcare in Las Vegas

By Donna Smith— Happy Easter everyone. Happy season of new life and blooming flowers. It’s the season of rebirth and regeneration. So, if that’s the case, then what the hell is up with letting thousands of people wait and suffer and die because we do not have the money to treat their illnesses anymore? In…

Universal health coverage in spotlight at L.A. forum

But the White House-organized event is light on details. By Lisa Girion and Noam Levey for the LA Times— Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles — Even as President Obama toured Europe his administration pressed its healthcare reform campaign Monday in Los Angeles with a forum co-hosted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who lost his bid…

Democrats seek compromise on health care plan

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR for the Associated Press— WASHINGTON — Democrats are seeking a compromise on a bigger government role in insurance coverage as part of President Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul. At issue is whether middle-class workers and families should have the option of a government-sponsored plan that would compete with private insurers. Obama…

Something is Rotten at PBS

By Russell Mokhiber for Counter Punch— Last year, former Washington Post reporter T.R. Reid made a great documentary for the PBS show Frontline titled Sick Around the World. Reid traveled to five countries that deliver health care for all – UK, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan – to learn about how they do it. Reid found…

An Open Letter to Congress: Help Me or I Will Die

By Donna Smith– U.S. Representative Eric Massa of New York said this week that in the 86 days since he took office, he has received many letters from his constituents. Some are general letters supporting him or proposed legislation; some letters express disagreement with some of what Congress is working on. Other letters begin with…

‘Sick Around America’ disappoints

By Mark Almberg for PNHP— “Sick Around America,” a Frontline documentary about the dysfunctional U.S. health care system, aired March 31 on PBS. Billed as a sequel to the widely hailed “Sick Around the World,” a 2008 Frontline production featuring veteran Washington Post correspondent T.R. Reid, the new documentary was eagerly awaited by U.S. supporters…

Single-payer health reform bill introduced in Senate

Would save $400 billion on bureaucracy, enough to cover all 46 million uninsured Americans Challenging head-on the powerful private insurance and pharmaceutical industries, Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a single-payer health reform bill, the American Health Security Act of 2009, in the U.S. Senate Wednesday. The bill is the first to directly take on the…

Congressmen will talk about health reform

By Cathleen F. Crowley for timesunion.com— As the nation grapples with improving the health care system and making it more affordable, a contingent of people believe the answer is a single-payer system. But advocates worry that their idea is being sidelined. Representatives of the single-payer movement were initially locked-out of health care summit called by…

Iowa Demonstrations in the News

Demonstrators met outside, and inside, the Presidential Health Forum in Des Moines, Iowa on March 23. Here is some of the press that single-payer supporters drew that we have so far. Protests at White House healthcare hearing in Iowa Reuters The Villagers are Restless for Real Healthcare Reform TPM Protesters outside and inside White House…