Blogs
Medical Care: Is It a Right?
Posted by Alice A. Chenault, MD, Physicians for a National Health Program
October 22, 2010
When I was handed the microphone at a recent town hall meeting, I asked Sen. Jeff Sessions if medical treatment should be the right of every U.S. citizen. The crowd roared “No!” The senator agreed. This got me thinking about what we mean by “rights…”
…Medical neglect — failure to provide necessary medical treatment for one’s injured or ill child — is legally defined as a form of child abuse, with penalties ranging from loss of custody of the child to imprisonment of the parent. This puts families without health insurance or money to buy medications at greater risk of these punishments than the wealthy. Doesn’t that violate our Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of “equal protection of the law”? Read in full
Minnesota Health Plan Wins at Convention
Margaret Anderson Kelliher scored an impressive victory this past weekend in Duluth. Importantly -- so did the single-payer Minnesota Health Plan -- and, therefore, all of us. On Saturday morning, Ms. Kelliher delivered a written commitment to John Marty, the Plan's architect and chief author, to do all she can to pass the legislation within two years. Read More
DULUTH CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES MINNESOTA HEALTH PLAN
On Monday April 12, 2010,the Duluth City Council, by a 6-3 vote, passed a resolution in favor of the Minnesota Health Plan. Read More
Rep. Grayson (D-FL) introduces HR 4789- Medicare Buy In
Introduced only days ago on March 9th and already up to 65 cosponsors!
Excerpts from Rep. Grayson's Blog Diary:
"Let's face it. Health insurance companies charge as much money as possible, and they provide as little care as possible. The difference is called profit. You can't blame them for it; that's what a corporation does. Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, health insurers got to rip you off. And if you get really expensive, they've got to pull the plug on you. So for those of us who would like to stay alive, we need a public option...
...And they face no real competition because it costs billions of dollars just to set up a national health care network. In fact, the only one that's nationwide is . . . Medicare. And we limit that to one-eight of the population. It's like saying that only seniors can drive on federal highways..."
MN Progressive Projects reports on MUHCC
by Dan Burns
2-14-2010
The Blog comments on MUHCCC efforts to pass sinlge-payer health caer in Minnesota and on other states' efforts.
Slouching Toward Health Care Reform
Posted by Robert Reich
December 17, 2009
Huffington Post
...Real reform has moved from a Medicare-like public option open to all, to a public option open to 6 million without employer coverage (still in the House bill), to a public option open only to those same people in states that opt for it, or about 4 million (the original Harry Reid version of the Senate bill), to no public option but expanded Medicare (the Senate compromise) to no expanded Medicare at all (the deal with Joe "I love all the attention" Lieberman).
In other words, the private insurers are winning and the public is losing...
Read the entire post
Bob Cesca: The Health Insurance You Have Sucks
The president likes to say, "If you like the health insurance you have now..." The problem is that much like your utter lack of financial security in a system that's been gamed by corporate criminals, the health insurance you have now... sucks.
Lessons on Health Reform From Latin America
Posted on Truthout
September 16, 2009
Carmelo Mesa-Lago
from El Pais
...The intensity of this (the U.S. Health Care) debate, and the degree of anxiety provoked by the alleged threat of a government takeover, is surprising to Spaniards, other Europeans, Canadians and Latin Americans, many of whom are covered by public health care or social insurance programs in which the government plays a predominant role in the administration of health care provisions and regulation of the increasingly marginal private sector...
Bob Cesca: "Healthcare Reform Named After Kennedy Must Not Suck"
If they're going to name the final healthcare reform bill after Senator Kennedy, we ought to be demanding with voices as powerful and booming as the late senator's...
The bill must not suck.
But if it does, perhaps they should name it after Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley. The Blame Baucus and Grassley for This Sucky Act...
...Without a public plan, mandates would transform what would otherwise be a landmark reform bill into a massive and perpetual handout to the healthcare industry. You and I would have no choice but to pay a monthly tribute to the worthless bastards at UnitedHealth, CIGNA, Aetna and Blue Cross every month until we died, went broke or reached the age of 65.
Top Health Care Companies Spent More than Half Million on Congressional Trips
Sam Stein, Huffington Post
June 26, 2009
Over the past eight years, some of the largest and most politically active pharmaceutical and health care companies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private trips for members of Congress and their staffs...
...The pharmaceutical and health products industry as a whole has, in 2009 alone, already spent more than $66.5 million lobbying Congress. PhRMA, in particular, has come out against plans for a public option for insurance coverage. And as these groups with a vested interest in the outcome of the debate gear up for a summer of legislative combat, groups who follow money in politics worry that sponsorship of congressional travel may give some a leg up on the competition.