Single-Payer – Page 6 – Healthcare-NOW

Bargaining Under the New Health Law

By Peter Knowlton for Labor Notes – Now that the Affordable Care Act has been blessed by the Supreme Court, will it help us at the bargaining table? Probably not. Much as NAFTA legitimized cross-border corporate exploitation of workers, the Affordable Care Act confirms the domination of health care in the U.S. by private insurance…

The Wrong Way to Save Money on Health Care

By Robert Reich – Employer outlays for workers’ health insurance slowed from a 9 percent jump last year to less than half that — 4 percent — this year, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Foundation. Good news? Our political class believes it is. The Obama administration attributes the drop to the new…

The Illusory Promise of Free-Market Healthcare Miracles

By Wendell Potter for The Center for Public Integrity – While listening to the promises to repeal ObamaCare during the Republican National Convention, I was reminded of what those of us in the health insurance industry said when our friends in Congress were able to block passage of President Clinton’s health care reform legislation 18…

VT Gov. Shumlin Pushes For Single-Payer Health Care At DNC

From Vermont Public Radio – Governor Peter Shumlin says he hopes Congress will amend the Affordable Care Act to allow individual states to implement a single payer health care system as soon as possible. Shumlin says controlling health care costs is critical to creating new jobs and he’s convinced that a single payer plan is…

ACA Vs. Single Payer: Bury the Hatchet?

From PNHP – The Nation, Aug. 28, 2012 PNHP note: The following exchange among PNHP co-founders Dr. Steffie Woolhandler and Dr. David Himmelstein, attorney Oliver Hall, and former health-insurance-executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter was prompted by an article by Potter titled “Healthcare advocates: Time to bury the hatchet” in the July 11 online edition of The Nation.…

Action Alert: Tell 12 Governors Not to Block Medicaid

Matthew Solis, 22, is a single father in San Juan, Texas with joint custody of his 4-year-old daughter. He works 25 hours a week for minimum wage while attending college full-time. He can’t afford private insurance, and he makes about $8,700 a year–too much to qualify for Medicaid in his state. Let’s change that. Obama’s…

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…

Patients Will Benefit from Medicaid Expansion

By Dr. Ed Weisbart for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Nearly 300,000 more Missourians could soon get access to health care if Missouri state officials decide to provide it. Unfortunately, recent comments by the state Legislature’s leadership cause us to believe that they seem poised to deprive Missourians of this basic human right. We, members…

Wisconsin’s Greater West Central Area Labor Council Endorses HR 676

From UnionsForSinglePayer.org – The Greater West Central Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, of Wisconsin, has unanimously endorsed HR 676, national single payer health care. The labor council, which represents affiliated local unions in Eau Claire, Chippewa, Dunn, Pierce, Pepin, Polk, St. Croix, Barron, and Clark Counties, released the following statement. “Millions of working people go without…