Healthcare-NOW

Action Alert: End WellPoint’s Greed

On May 18th, Dr. Rob Stone plans to deliver a resolution to WellPoint/Anthem, the largest health insurance company in the US, calling for it to return to its charitable, non-profit roots at their upcoming shareholder meeting in Indianapolis. WellPoint, like all health insurance companies in the nation, is a parasitic middleman that enriches its executives…

After the Reform: Aiming High for Health Justice

By Margaret Flowers, M.D. for Tikkun Magazine – As we sit here on the other side of the recent health reform process, we have an opportunity for reflection. There were many times during the past year and a half when passage of a health bill seemed unlikely. However, in the end, the White House and…

Which Health Care Reform Proposal is Good for Business?

Single Payer is the Surprising Clear Winner By Ivan J. Miller – Download the full report here. A new health care system could improve the bottom line for most businesses, reduce the impact of government related regulation, and free employers from managing employee health care. A redesigned health care system using single payer financing offers…

Patients protest doctor’s dismissal

By Kevin Kelley for Westlife – About 50 protesters demonstrated in front of St. John Medical Center Sunday afternoon to protest the termination of Dr. George Randt’s contract with Cuyahoga Physicians Network. Cuyahoga Physicians Network is a for-profit practice organization owned and managed by the Sisters of Charity Health System. Randt had been seeing patients…

Universal health care advocates rally in Vermont

By Associated Press – MONTPELIER, VT — Hopeful that Montpelier can do what Washington didn’t, hundreds of people who want single-payer health care gathered in Vermont’s capital Saturday, staging a noisy, sign-waving march and rally. The medium was the message — busing or driving in from Bennington, Rutland, Brattleboro, Burlington and elsewhere, they sang songs…

4 million likely to pay health fine

By Kim Dixon – WASHINGTON (Reuters) – About four 4 million people in the United States could be fined for failing to buy health insurance when the health overhaul law is fully in force in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Thursday. Most individuals must buy health insurance under the landmark legislation passed by…

On the Individual Mandate

The Women’s Economic Agenda Project sends us a handout on the individual mandate to purchase health insurance that’s included in the recently-signed healthcare legislation. You can download the handout here.

NJ Labor Council & Oregon NALC Convention Push Single Payer Summit

Three more labor organizations have gone on record in support of the Maine State AFL-CIO Federation’s call for the national AFL-CIO to convene a labor summit “to build a social movement powerful enough to win single payer.” In New Jersey, the April meeting of the Bergen County Central Trades & Labor Council unanimously endorsed the…

Vermont Legislature Votes to Begin Designing ‘Single-Payer’ System

By Associated Press – MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont lawmakers made clear Friday that recently enacted federal health care reform did not go far enough toward a public model, passing legislation that could bring to the state the “public option” health insurance rejected by Washington or even a Canadian-style single-payer system. By a vote of 91-42,…

PBS ombudsman: Ignoring single payer was a mistake

Single-Minded About Single-Payer: The Ombudsman Column By Michael Getler, PBS, April 23, 2010 – PBS’s venerable public affairs and investigative series Frontline is, I confess, a favorite of mine, and has been for as long as I can remember watching public television. For me, Frontline, along with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” is the best of what…