PNHP – Healthcare-NOW

With Hippocratic Oath, Doctors Pledge Allegiance to Patients, Not Profits

By Dr. Philip Caper for Bangor Daily News – The Maine Medical Association recently updated a 2008 poll of their members that asked the question, “When considering the topic of health care reform, would you prefer to make improvements in the current public/private system (or) a single-payer system, such as a ‘Medicare-for-all’ approach?” In 2008,…

IAM Transport Lodge Endorses HR 676

Local Lodge 1635 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) has endorsed HR 676, national single payer health care legislation, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers (D MI). The bill is named the “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.” Jessica Morris, Recording Secretary, reports that the local lodge took this action “because…

Med Students Lobby for New Yorkers’ Health

By Claire Hughes for TimesUnion.com – Doctors must advocate for their patients’ health — with supervisors who approve procedures, for instance, or insurance companies that pay for services. On Tuesday, dozens of doctors-to-be tried different advocacy skills — lobbying state lawmakers to advance proposals they believe will improve New Yorkers’ health. “If we are not…

Is Obamacare Enough?

Without Single-Payer, Patchwork U.S. Healthcare Leaves Millions Uninsured From Democracy Now – Despite helping expanding affordable insurance, “Obamacare” maintains the patchwork U.S. healthcare system that will still mean high costs, weak plans and, in many cases, no insurance for millions of Americans. We host a debate on whether the Affordable Care Act goes far enough…

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…

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…

Government insiders misappropriate funds to Medicare Advantage insurers

By Don McCanne for PNHP – U.S. to boost rather than cut payments to health insurers By Sandhya Somashekhar The Washington Post, April 1, 2013 The Obama administration reversed itself Monday, scrapping plans to cut by 2.2 percent the rates paid to health insurers that take part in the Medicare Advantage program. The insurance industry…

Canadian Example Offers a Possible Path to Curbing US Medicare Costs

By Mike Mitka for News@JAMA – While Medicare costs continue to rise and Democrats and Republicans promote various plans to curb such spending, 2 researchers suggest politicians look north to Canada for solutions. In a Research Letter published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the authors compare Medicare spending from 1980 through 2009 in…

Single-Payer Activists Protest Obama and Romney

From Free Speech TV and Democracy Now – Both President Obama and Mitt Romney appeared together in New York Thursday night (Oct. 18, 2012) for the annual Al Smith memorial charity dinner. Outside the event, a group of protesters including physicians and medical students rallied to call for a single-payer health insurance program.

Private Insurers Profit by Ripping Off Medicare

Researchers say private programs like Medicare Advantage just add waste; Call for reformed, expanded Medicare for All From Common Dreams – New research by health care experts concludes that privately run insurance plans designed to supplement the Medicare system serve no truly useful purpose and instead of helping seniors receive better care, Medicare Advantage plans…