Medicare (old) – Healthcare-NOW

July 30th: Medicare’s 49th Anniversary

July 30, 2014 will mark the 49th anniversary of Medicare, our only publicly financed, universal health plan, which lifted a generation of seniors out of poverty. Each year Healthcare-NOW! coordinates Medicare’s birthday as a national day of action for single payer healthcare. Please email Ben to let us know if you would like to plan…

Action Alert: Don’t Eliminate Thousands of Immigrants’ Medicare Benefits

President Obama’s 2015 budget proposal would “involuntarily disenroll” some (fewer than 5,000) undocumented immigrants currently receiving some Medicare benefits–even those who have been paying into Medicare for decades–in order to realize minimal savings that will be offset by the costs to hospitals for treating the elderly uninsured. Tell President Obama that his proposal to cut…

NJ Resident Struggles for Long-Term Care, Calls for Medicare for All

From the Courier-Post – Mike Pollock calls himself a squeaky wheel. Since 2002, the Atco resident has fought with insurance companies, medical agencies and doctors after his wife, Kathy, 61, survived a brain tumor and later two debilitating strokes that left her partially paralyzed. After their private insurance and savings were exhausted, the Pollocks needed…

Medicare’s 48th Celebration Updates

We want to thank all of the single-payer activists all over the country for all of their hard work in organizing celebrations for Medicare’s 48th anniversary! There were over 30 actions this year and activists added five cosponsors to HR 676 along with many commitments to cosponsor once the August recess ends. Here are the…

Pause in Honor of Medicare

By Richard Propp, M.D. for the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) – At this time of year I usually start thinking about the passage of Medicare in July of 1965. How in the world did President Johnson decide to take on Congress to approve such a huge program for seniors? To sum it up, it was…

July 30 – Medicare Turns 48!

On July 30, 2013, Medicare turns 48! Tell Congress and the President that we should expand Medicare to cover everyone. Medicare has provided longer, healthier lives and basic health security for two generations of seniors, reducing uninsurance among those over 65 to almost zero, and having the single greatest impact reducing racial inequities in healthcare…

Saving Medicare: Lessons from Canada (Video)

Did you know that U.S. could have saved more than $2.15 trillion on Medicare since 1980 had it employed cost-saving measures similar to Canada’s? It’s true. Medicare spending on the elderly has grown nearly three times faster in the United States than in Canada since 1980. Costs grew more slowly in Canada despite a 1984…

Immigrants Contribute More To Medicare Than They Take Out

By Jordan Rau for Kaiser Health News – As Congress mulls changing America’s border and naturalization rules, a study finds that immigrant workers are helping buttress Medicare’s finances, because they contribute tens of billions a year more than immigrant retirees use in medical services. “Immigrants, particularly noncitizens, heavily subsidize Medicare,” the researchers wrote in the…

Will Medicare Survive?

Please go here to thank the “Medicare 111” and encourage them to stand strong on their commitment to protect Social Security and Medicare. Please Share This Action on Facebook Today, President Obama released a budget that would reduce Social Security benefits and shift healthcare costs onto seniors enrolled in Medicare. This proposed budget includes a…

Obama Budget to Include Cuts to Programs in Hopes of Deal

From the New York Times – President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects for a long-term deficit-reduction deal, administration officials say. In a significant shift in…