Solidarity Forever: a Labor History of Medicare for All

Mark Dudzic, National Coordinator for the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, joins us again to take a deep dive into the recent history of Medicare for All organizing within the labor movement, including the political calculations made during the failed Clinton health reform push, the changing landscape for unions through the Affordable Care Act, labor’s…

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Don’t Privatize Medicare

From Ida Hellander, Director of Policy and Programs at Physicians for a National Health Program, appearing in Truthout March 26, 2015 The bipartisan “Doc Fix” legislation (H.R. 1470, now H.R. 2) and proposed amendments will undermine traditional Medicare and advance the goal of privatization, according to Dr. Don McCanne in a series of posts to…

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CLCs to AFL-CIO: Act to Expand Social Security Financing & Pass Improved Medicare for All

By Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676 – Four central labor councils have passed an identical resolution calling upon the September AFL-CIO convention to organize an offensive campaign for expanding Social Security financing and passing improved “Medicare For All” legislation. The resolution, which was initiated by the Troy Area Labor…

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Winning Medicare for All? “I Like Our Chances”

Despite insights, Time magazine’s cover story falls short on remedy By James Kahn for Common Dreams – In his recent Time magazine article, Steven Brill paints a vivid and rather depressing picture of the perverse malfunctioning of our health care system – overpriced and technology-addicted – and he acknowledges some of the advantages of Medicare.…

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The Honest and Just Path to a Sustainable Medicare

By Jessica Schorr Saxe – In January 2009, at the age of 63 1/2, my friend Carol Bentley was laid off her 10-year job without warning. In a one-two punch, her health insurance ended the next day. She could not afford COBRA. Desperate about her medical expenses, she was rescued when federal stimulus money temporarily…

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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…

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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…

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When Medicare Isn’t Medicare

By Wendell Potter for the Huffington Post – Let’s say you have a Ford and decide to replace everything under the hood with Hyundai parts, including the engine and transmission. Could you still honestly market your car as a Ford? That question gets at the heart of the controversy over who is being more forthright…

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Why Medicare is the Solution–Not the Problem

By Robert Reich for RobertReich.org – Not only is Social Security on the chopping block in order to respond to Republican extortion. So is Medicare. But Medicare isn’t the nation’s budgetary problems. It’s the solution. The real problem is the soaring costs of health care that lie beneath Medicare. They’re costs all of us are…

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How Libby, Montana Got Medicare for All

By Kay Tillow – In 2009 when the Washington beltway was tied up with the health care reform tussle, Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the all powerful Senate Finance Committee, said everything was on the table–except for single payer. When doctors, nurses and others rose in his hearing to insist that single payer…

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