Healthcare-NOW

A Difficult Pill to Swallow

The path to single payer health care through challenging concentrated wealth By Margaret Flowers, M.D. The efforts in recent years to pass health care reform at the state and national levels have provided important lessons for the single payer movement. Corporate control of the political process and media message has proven to be a primary…

The Devilish Detail of Obama’s Speech

By John Nichols for NPR – President Obama has erected what is likely to be the left flank in the debates of the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—the so-called “super-committee” that will define so much of this fall’s fiscal and economic discourse. That flank is sturdier than some of the president’s critics on…

Vt. governor picks panel for single-payer health plan

From Boston.com – MONTPELIER – A health care policy specialist will lead Vermont’s Green Mountain Care board, the panel that will be responsible for implementing the state’s single-payer health care system, Governor Peter Shumlin said yesterday. Advocates for the plan say the single-payer system will help control health care costs and guarantee coverage for Vermonters…

Muslim Council of America Opens Free Health Clinic in Braddock, PA

The official opening and dedication of the Braddock Free Health Clinic will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 10:30 AM at the Braddock Municipal Building, 415 Sixth Street, Braddock, PA 15104. Dr. Mohammad Akhtar, president of the Muslim Council of America, which is sponsoring the clinic, will host the event. Dr. Akhtar said,…

Meet Our New Director of Organizing

Exciting news! Please join me in welcoming Healthcare-NOW!’s new Director of Organizing, Vanessa Beck. Vanessa comes to us from Chicago where she was a founding member of Chicago Single-Payer Action Network and recently received a graduate degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago. Vanessa is joining the team in Philadelphia, PA and will…

Single-payer: Sensible health plan

A Charleston Gazette Editorial – CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Some federal courts are ruling that America’s breakthrough 2010 medical reform is kaput because government cannot force people to pay for health insurance. (Governments force people to buy car insurance. What’s the difference?) If the historic reform eventually is killed, we hope it leads to a better…

If U.S. is Serious About Debt, There’s a Single-Payer Solution

An STL Today editorial – If America truly is serious about dealing with its deficit problems, there’s a fairly simple solution. But you’re probably not going to like it: Enact a single-payer health care plan. See, we told you weren’t going to like it. But the fact is that everyone who has studied the deficit…

Simplifying US Healthcare Could Save $27.6 Billion a Year

By AFP – Find the study at Health Affairs. US health care spending could be cut by billions a year if doctors spent the same amount of time and money dealing with insurance plans as their Canadian counterparts, according to a new study. Canada has a “single-payer” system for health care financing, under which doctors…

Debt Ceiling Deal Threatens Medicare, Medicaid

With a decision finally reached this afternoon on the debt ceiling, both the President and Congress have put Wall Street and the wealthy in front of the needs of their constituents. Our most important social insurance programs are squarely on the chopping block. The spending cuts will only exacerbate the economic crisis and people’s suffering.…

Medicare’s 46th Anniversary Roundup!

July 30th was Medicare’s 46th anniversary and we’ve been celebrating all over the country. Improved Medicare-for-all supporters in 21 states organized over 45 events, rallies, birthday parties, and congressional visits aimed at preventing cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while also calling for Medicare-for-all as the solution to, not the problem with, our national…