Healthcare-NOW

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…

Healthcare-NOW! Talks with Drs. Himmelstein and Woolhandler

Join Healthcare-NOW! members and supporters for a special evening of discussion with the founders of the leading national single-payer advocacy group, Physicians for a National Health Program, Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein. As 2010 comes to a close, what have we learned in our advocacy for single-payer healthcare? Join us for an analysis of…

Will the Wyden/Brown state waiver enable single payer?

By Don McCanne MD for PNHP – The initial reaction to S. 3958, The Empowering States to Innovate Act, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), is that the bill will enable states to bypass the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and set up their own…

Victory – Medicare Safe for Now

We did it! The Deficit Commission did not garner the 14 votes needed to send their proposal to Congress to cut Social Security and Medicare. With your help, on November 30th, the National Call In Day to protect Social Security and Medicare, we shut down the Capitol switchboard twice. The same day, single-payer activists delivered…

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…

New Outreach Guide

“Outreach Guide: Empowering Single-Payer Activists to be Organizers”, by Single Payer Now and Healthcare-NOW!, is now available for download. This Outreach Guide was designed to empower you— the dedicated activist — to become more involved in community outreach and education. The following components are fundamental in building our movement: community outreach, neighborhood meetings, fundraising events,…

No Cuts – Call Today!

Tell Congress: Don’t Cut Our Social Security and Medicare programs. CALL TODAY. Join today’s National Call Congress Day and tell your Representative and Senators to SAY NO to cutting our Social Security and Medicare. Call 866-220-0044 for the capitol switchboard and ask to be connected. Don’t know your Representative or Senators? Go here. The Co-Chairs…

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…

Health Activists Say “We Need to Make Health Care a Right for All People!”

Report Back from Healthcare NOW!’s Strategy Conference in Philadelphia on November 13 and 14, 2010 Healthcare-NOW! members renew support for national single-payer health care to make health care a right for all, start plans for divestiture campaign from private health insurance, and urge support for advanced state single-payer movements in Vermont and California. (Philadelphia, PA)…