Healthcare-NOW

Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry job

Few people embody the corporatist revolving door greasing Washington as purely as Elizabeth Fowler By Glenn Greenwald for the Guardian – When the legislation that became known as “Obamacare” was first drafted, the key legislator was the Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus, whose committee took the lead in drafting the legislation.…

Welcome to the Future of Your Health Insurance. It Sucks.

By Yves Smith for Naked Capitalism – There have been numerous reports about the shortcomings of Obamacare which its boosters have either ignored or shouted down. And troublingly, the attitude is often “I got mine” as in “My kids are now covered under my policy” without questioning what the narrow and broader issues are. Well,…

Health Changes Spur Test of More Part-Time Workers

By the Associated Press – The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting costs from President Barack Obama’s health care law. Darden Restaurants Inc. declined to give details but said the test is only in four markets across the country. The…

Romney, Obama can do better on health care access

By Ray Stever – In the first presidential debate, President Barack Obama pointed out that his “Obamacare” was practically the same health care plan as the one that Gov. Mitt Romney established in Massachusetts. Not only is it the same plan, but it was put together by many of the same advisers. In other words,…

Worse Than War: Deaths from Uninsurance

‘We’re not done with health care reform yet’ By Johnathon Ross for Common Dreams – A recently released Census Bureau report reveals that 48.6 million Americans lack health insurance. We know that being uninsured is dangerous to your physical and fiscal health. Research has shown that for every million uninsured, 1,000 preventable deaths occur due…

TX Gov. Rick Perry Pressured to Expand Medicaid

By Ken Kenegos, Healthcare for All – Texas – On Friday September 21st, advocates for healthcare rights brought together by The Texas Organizing Project, SEIU, Good Jobs = Great Houston, Mi Familia Vota, Health Care for All Texas and others converged on the Texas State Capitol in Austin. Buses from Houston, San Antonio and Dallas…

Many States Not Prepared for Healthcare Law

By Sandhya Somashekhar for the Washington Post – More than three dozen states could be unprepared or unwilling to set up the insurance marketplaces called for under the 2010 health-care law, leaving at least part of the task up to the federal government, according to a new report. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia…

Why Obamacare is a Conservative’s Dream

By J. D. Kleinke for the New York Times – If Mitt Romney’s pivots on President’s Obama’s health care reform act have accelerated to a blur — from repealing on Day 1, to preserving this or that piece, to punting the decision to the states — it is for an odd reason buried beneath two…

Obamacare tax penalty to hit nearly 6M uninsured people

By the AP – Nearly 6 million Americans – significantly more than first estimated – will face a tax penalty under President Barack Obama’s health overhaul for not getting insurance, congressional analysts said Wednesday. Most would be in the middle class. The new estimate amounts to an inconvenient fact for the administration, a reminder of…

Obama Excludes Immigrants From Health Care Law

By Robert Pear for the New York Times – The White House has ruled that young immigrants who will be allowed to stay in the United States as part of a new federal policy will not be eligible for health insurance coverage under President Obama’s health care overhaul. The decision — disclosed last month, to…