Healthcare-NOW

AFT Wisconsin endorses HR 676

From UnionsForSinglePayer.org – On October 27, 2012, at its convention in Manitowoc, AFT Wisconsin endorsed Congressman John Conyers’ bill, HR 676, a national single payer health care program that would implement Expanded and Improved Medicare for All. “AFT-W will … mobilize our members and our community at the grassroots to encourage other members of the…

My Life Under Medicare For All

By Adam Chimienti for Counterpunch – Now that the astronomically expensive corporate election of 2012 is behind us and we are grappling with the devastating reality of a post-Hurricane Sandy United States, maybe it’s time to focus on Medicare for All. That is, maybe it’s time for renewed action on a national health insurance program…

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…

Romney, Obama can do better on health care access

By Ray Stever – In the first presidential debate, President Barack Obama pointed out that his “Obamacare” was practically the same health care plan as the one that Gov. Mitt Romney established in Massachusetts. Not only is it the same plan, but it was put together by many of the same advisers. In other words,…

Worse Than War: Deaths from Uninsurance

‘We’re not done with health care reform yet’ By Johnathon Ross for Common Dreams – A recently released Census Bureau report reveals that 48.6 million Americans lack health insurance. We know that being uninsured is dangerous to your physical and fiscal health. Research has shown that for every million uninsured, 1,000 preventable deaths occur due…

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 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…

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.…

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…