Healthcare-NOW

Love of Medicare chills tea party fever

By Clarence Page for the Chicago Tribune – Surprise, surprise! Faced with the prospect of Medicare cuts, even tea party folks find griping about “big government” to be a lot more fun than actually shrinking it. Seventy percent of those who identified themselves as supporters of the fiscally conservative movement in a new McClatchy-Marist poll…

Another poll shows Americans oppose Medicare cuts to deal with debt

By Jon Cohen and Dan Balz for the Washington Post – Despite growing concerns about the country’s long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey finds that Americans…

Handout on Threats to Medicare, Medicaid

With the help of some single-payer activists in New York City, we created an educational handout explaining how House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget proposal seeks to eliminate Medicare and gut Medicaid. Ryan claims privatizing Medicare and slashing Medicaid funds are necessary to solve the nation’s deficit crisis, but this handout illustrates how Medicare…

Action Alert: Demand Pres. Obama Save Medicare

Republicans want to privatize Medicare and slash Medicaid to reduce the nation’s deficit. President Obama says he wants to preserve Medicare and Medicaid, but his budget proposal looks to those programs to find savings. We agree that healthcare costs are a serious problem, but cutting Medicare and Medicaid won’t help. Instead, we need to take…

Obama’s ‘Shared Sacrifice’ Hits the Poor and Middle-Class Hardest

The Nation editorial – President Obama’s speech unveiling his deficit reduction plan contained few big surprises—by its very premise, it was destined to preserve the faulty assumptions behind the whole deficit discussion—but some of his words were welcome. The president called Social Security and Medicare fundamental American commitments and, in a rebuke to Congressman Paul…

Why Medicare Isn’t the Problem, It’s the Solution

By Robert Reich for RobertReich.com – I hope when he tells America how he aims to tame future budget deficits the president doesn’t accept conventional Washington wisdom that the biggest problem in the federal budget is Medicare (and its poor cousin Medicaid). Medicare isn’t the problem. It’s the solution. The real problem is the soaring…

Nurses to President Obama: Don’t Cut Healthcare, Retirement; Raise Corporate Taxes, End Wars

RNs Won’t Endorse Politicians who Vote to Cut Social Security In advance of President Obama’s speech Wednesday on the budget deficit, the nation’s largest union and professional association of nurses today called on the President to oppose any cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – and strengthen the nation’s economy by restoring fair taxes…

Listen: The Threats to Dismantle Medicare and Medicaid

Thanks to everyone who participated in the national discussion on the threats to privatize Medicare and Medicaid on Monday, April 11th. If you missed the call, you can listen to it here. [audio:https://www.healthcare-now.org/wp-content/uploads/mp3/privatizemedicare.mp3] Or download an MP3 file of the call here (right click and save as). Featured speakers included: DeAnn McEwen, California Nurses Association/National…

Paul Ryan’s Plan to Destroy Medicare

Editorial from The Nation – As an opening salvo from Republicans in the 2012 budget debate, the plan offered by Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan—supposedly a model of “seriousness” and “courage” next to overzealous Tea Partiers and Democrats silly enough to want to keep the government minimally functional—is remarkable mostly for its cynicism. Consider Ryan’s approach to…

Discussion on Threats to Privatize Medicare

The Republican 2012 budget eliminates Medicare. If successful, Medicare will change from a guaranteed set of benefits to limited vouchers to buy private insurance, as well as reduce Medicaid funding by turning it into a block grant system. This is outrageous. Healthcare-NOW! and Physicians for a National Health Program invites you to join a national…