Healthcare-NOW

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…

Action Alert: Save Primary Care at St. John’s

Dr. George Randt and his colleague are board-certified internists who have had a contractual relationship with St. John Medical Center covering some 2,500 patients for several years. These two doctors have excellent records with the hospital, high patient satisfaction and retention rates, and have never had an unfavorable review. This past month they were notified…

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…

TONIGHT: Let’s Discuss the Fair Elections Now Act

TONIGHT, April 22, join Healthcare-NOW! for a discussion with leading advocates of the Fair Elections Now Act at 8pm Eastern. Featured speakers include: Frank Kirkwood of CitizenFundedElections.org and the Western PA Coalition for Single-Payer Health Care Chris Melody Fields, Common Cause’s Director of Outreach Moderated by: Katie Robbins, National Organizer for Healthcare-NOW! Here is the…

Frontline Disguises Single-Payer Advocates as Public-Option Promoters

By Peter Hart for FAIR – The PBS program Frontline on April 13 offered a look at the White House drive for healthcare reform titled Obama’s Deal. Like a previous Frontline special about the U.S. healthcare system, the program failed to adequately include single-payer. But the way the show did it this time was remarkable.…

Action Alert: Expect Better from PBS

Recently, we announced Frontline’s new program, “Obama’s Deal,” which included a segment that featured single-payer advocates arrested in the Senate Finance Committee protesting the exclusion of single-payer witnesses from the proceedings. It exposed some of the sordid deals struck by congressional lawmakers and the White House with the health insurance industry and Big Pharma. While…