Healthcare-NOW

Opt-out bill could give states more flexibility on health reform

They would have to provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as the national law. From amednews.com – Washington — A bill to accelerate states’ ability to opt-out of parts of the national health reform law could give states more flexibility to continue working on their own brands of health system reform.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Let’s Save Medicare!

The Deficit Commission just released the chairman’s mark to propose how to reduce the national deficit, a problem integrally linked to the rising cost of healthcare. Among its draconian ideas, the cochairs proposal would require Medicare recipients to pay more out of pocket costs for the services they receive–meaning higher copays. Studies show that cost…

Medicare for All Co-Sponsors Returned to Congress by Big Margins

From PDA – As AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka has said, this election was about jobs. This election was also about health care and the progressive change that was promised but not delivered. The voters punished the corporate Democrats who helped block legislation to help working people, the unemployed, and those without health care. The Republicans…

Being SiCKO in a Tea Party Nation

By Donna Smith – RENO, Nevada — I ventured backward in my memories to the fall of 2006 and wondered what might have happened differently if the Tea Party ruled this nation. It’s not that I am thrilled with the current state of political reality, but I am worried that if the trend toward more…

How Health Reform will Lead to Single Payer

There are a lot of opinions about the new law and what that means for single-payer health care. Healthcare-NOW! staff is really interested in hearing your opinions on this new article from Tikkun. By Lauren Reichelt for Tikkun – This week I am in Denver at a different kind of Health Care Reform rally. Community…