Healthcare – Page 7 – Healthcare-NOW

Coburn, Lieberman seek to raise Medicare age to 67

By the AP – WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Senate rebels jumped into Congress’ cut-the-deficit competition on Tuesday, proposing to raise the age of Medicare eligibility to 67 and increase monthly premiums for millions of current beneficiaries. “We can’t save Medicare as we know it,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., who authored the plan with Republican…

Medicaid cuts could come from Democrats

By J. Lester Feder for Politico – Defenders of Medicaid have been fighting hard against Republican proposals to cut the program, but they’re just waking up to the threat of one proposed by the Obama administration. It’s an idea to change the way federal matching funds work and save money in the process — and…

AZ Man Makes $12 Too Much to Get Coverage for Heart Surgery

Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court announced that it will not be taking action to stop planned Medicaid cuts or an enrollment freeze. By Zaid Jilani for ThinkProgress – Since last year, low-income Arizonans have been feeling the impact of a series of brutal Medicaid cuts that officials predict will kick at least 135,000 people…

NOW Conference Calls for Medicare for All

The National Organization for Women wrapped up its 45th National Conference in Tampa, Fla. on Sunday, June 26, setting NOW’s policy and agenda for the coming year and looking toward the 2012 elections and beyond. Topping NOW’s policy agenda are improved Social Security benefits for women and a “Medicare for All” single-payer health care system…

Vermont Breaks Ground in Health Coverage for Migrant Workers

By Yvonne Yen Liu for New America Media – Vermont, land of rolling green hills dotted with black and white Holsteins and picturesque red barns. White people, everywhere, lots of them. Home of state-sanctioned town hall meetings that are models for participatory democracy. And now, the first state in our republic to enact universal health…

Union Nurses Call for Single-Payer System

By Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today – Several hundred members of National Nurses United held a rally here on Tuesday to call for a single-payer healthcare system, an end to tax breaks for big corporations, and workers’ rights. The nurses started their march in front of the White House and walked across the street to…

British fear ‘American-style’ healthcare system

As leaders debate ways to reform healthcare, politicians repeatedly tell a worried public that Britain will not turn the National Health Service into an ‘American-style’ private system. By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times – Two years ago, Britons were outraged when U.S. politicians like Sarah Palin, in the debate over healthcare reform, turned this country’s…

Christie proposal to slash Medicaid by $540 million puts NJ at center of national debate

By the AP – TRENTON, N.J. — As states across the country look for ways to trim billions off their spending on Medicaid, New Jersey is garnering particular attention for a proposal that opponents characterize as an unprecedented and draconian attempt to balance the state’s precarious budget on the backs of society’s most vulnerable populations.…

Plans for Medicare’s Anniversary?

Medicare is making headlines daily. Republicans are threatening to eliminate the program, and Democrats aren’t impressing us with their ability to defend it. Regardless of the beltway politics, people across the country have been showing an outpouring of support for Medicare at town halls, and vocal advocates for Medicare-for-all like John Nichols and Robert Reich…

Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance

By Wendell Potter for Huffington Post – Of the many supporters of a single-payer health care system in the United States, some of the most ardent are small business owners who have struggled to continue offering coverage to their workers. Among them are David Steil, a small business owner and former Republican — yes, Republican…