Healthcare-NOW

Post Election Deficit Deal Threatens Medicare and Social Security

The solution is Improved Medicare for All By Kay Tillow – After the November election, there will be a major effort in Congress to pass a budget deal that will make cuts in Social Security, raise the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age, and perhaps more–unless we act to stop it with a solution that…

Overhaul offers multi-billion dollar growth opportunity for health insurers

By the AP, Washington Post – The health care overhaul is poised to pour billions of dollars into an insurance industry thirsty for customers, according to health care consultant PwC. The massive federal law aims to cover millions of uninsured people and will take a major step toward that goal in 2014, when the government…

What President Obama isn’t saying about Medicare

By Jonathan Martin for Politico – President Barack Obama wanted to make the differences with his GOP opponents crystal clear at a rally in senior-heavy Melbourne, Fla., earlier this month. “Here’s the bottom line,” Obama said: “Their voucher plan for Medicare would bankrupt Medicare. Our plan strengthens Medicare. No American should have to spend their…

Raise the eligibility age for Medicare?

By Aaron E. Carroll, M.D. for The Wall Street Journal – Whenever a debate begins on how to cut Medicare spending, someone “sensibly” suggests raising the eligibility age to 67 from 65. The reasons for this are always presented as obvious “facts”: People are living so much longer than they did when Medicare was enacted…

Obama More Flexible on Medicare Privatization Than Rhetoric Suggests

By Margot Sanger-Katz for NationalJournal – In his convention speech in Charlotte, President Obama vowed to block the Republican Medicare reform plan because “no American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.” But back in Washington, his Health and Human Services Department is launching a pilot program that…

Women and the Future of Medicare

By Zerlina Maxwell for EBONY – While the debate over the future of Medicare rages on, one critical aspect is being overlooked: the direct connection between the GOP’s ‘war on women’ and the future of the social safety net. The end of Medicare will impact women the most. “Women live on average 7 years longer…

On Medicare Vouchers and Cuts

Medicare is the main issue for both major political parties. Republicans Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney’s platform is to privatize Medicare and gut Medicaid, but Republicans are not alone in their attacks on our social safety net. Ryan developed his Medicare plan with Democratic Senator Ron Wyden last year. Ryan’s proposal (deceptively titled the “Path…

US Healthcare Most Expensive, Still Not the Best

By Drs. Karl Engelman and James B. Field for islandpacket.com – Despite spending 17.8 percent of our gross domestic product, 50 percent to 90 percent more than Western European nations, the U.S. has lower quality, efficacy, efficiency, and by far, the least universal coverage, with 16 percent, or 50 million people, uninsured. The Commonwealth Fund…

Ryan’s “premium support” proposal for Medicare: Myths and facts

By Ida Hellander, M.D. for PNHP – Background: “Premium support” or voucher proposals for Medicare are a mainstay of conservative health policy. They have been defeated for over three decades, starting with President Reagan’s FY 1981 budget proposal. They are a key feature of “managed competition” — type reform proposals. Although President Clinton embraced managed…

The CEO Plan to Steal Your Social Security and Medicare

By Dean Baker for Truth-Out.org – Many people are following the presidential election closely with the idea that the outcome will have a major impact on national policy. However, according to Steven Pearlstein, a veteran Washington Post columnist and reporter, it may not matter who wins the election. In a column last week, Pearlstein told…