Healthcare-NOW

Obama administration unlikely to block Arizona plan to cut 250,000 from Medicaid rolls

By N.C. Aizenman for the Washington Post – The Obama administration would permit a controversial plan by Arizona’s governor to cut an estimated 250,000 impoverished adults from Medicaid, despite a provision in the new health-care law barring states from tightening their eligibility standards for the program, federal officials said Wednesday. Gov. Jan Brewer (R) formally…

Ariz. may require hospitals to check citizenship

By Michelle Price for the Washington Post – PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers want to widen Arizona’s illegal immigration crackdown with a proposal to require hospitals to check on whether patients are in the country legally, causing outrage among medical professionals who fear becoming de facto immigration agents under the law. The medical industry ripped the…

The Insurers’ Real Agenda for Change

By Wendell Potter for the Huffington Post – The media had lots of health care news to obsess about last week. A federal judge ruled the health care reform law unconstitutional, and Senate Republicans tried in vain to repeal the law. But most of the press paid virtually no attention to a potentially much more…

David Bos – In Memoriam

By Lisa Larges – David Bos, a Presbyterian Minister, friend and ally who died this past week was a man with the soul of a poet and the heart of a prophet. The two flowed together in a kind of serene loveliness – David, as I knew him, was gracious and easy, thoughtful in what…

Conyers Reintroduces “Expanded & Improved Medicare For All” Bill (HR 676)

Citing Rising Health Care Costs & Other Systemic Problems With For Profit Health Care As Reason To Move Forward With Non-Profit, Publicly-Financed Health Care Download HR 676 here (.pdf). Download a summary of HR 676 here (.doc). See the full list of Congressional cosponsors here. Washington DC- Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), a long-time national…

Single-payer is still needed to ensure health care for all

By Madeline Zevon for LoHud.com – By 2019, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will improve health-care access by extending health insurance to 32 million more people than are now covered — 16 million through Medicaid starting in 2014, and the rest through subsidies to help lower-income people to afford health insurance. Although the…

Enrollment in high-risk insurance pools lagging behind predictions

By Amy Goldstein for the Washington Post – More Americans have been signing up for special health plans designed for people with medical problems that caused them to be spurned by the insurance industry, according to new government figures. But enrollment continues to lag significantly behind original predictions. The number of people who have bought…

February Single-Payer Newsletter

We just sent out our latest email newsletter (see it here). If you’re not on our email list, you can sign up for them here. February’s single-payer newsletter includes these articles: Dr. King and Health Reform By Claudia Fegan, M.D. – “There are 50 million Americans who are uninsured. African Americans are represented disproportionately among…

State Budget Cuts Are Bad for Your Health

By Bill Boyarsky for Truthdig.com – The budget cuts being proposed in state capitals around the country may sound vague and abstract, but what they boil down to are many scenes of misery. Picture, for example, an asthmatic kid waiting several hours in an emergency ward for treatment that will allow her to resume normal…

A Better Approach to Health Care

As the current health law comes under attack and our national deficit continues to grow, single-payer plans are gaining more and more interest. By Margaret Flowers, MD for YES! Magazine – Last month, fulfilling a campaign promise, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to repeal “Obamacare.” The vote was primarily a symbolic gesture. House…