The holiday season is a time to reflect on and cherish our relationships with family, friends, and others that we see every day. But for thousands of HIV patients in Los Angeles, this holiday season will mean the loss of the critical relationship they have with their local specialty pharmacist.
The present state of health care in this country to an increasing extent involves strangers caring for strangers, with patients' narratives and life stories no longer a key element guiding decisions about their own health care.
For large businesses looking to avoid increased health insurance costs, transitioning to mostly part-time staff (less than 30 hours a week) seems like an obvious loophole. But remember -- the ACA defines a large business as one with over 50 full-time equivalent employees.
In some places around the world, it is possible to arrange good health insurance for less than $100 per month. In some places, the cost of medical care can be so low that it can make more sense to pay for it as you need it, rather than insure against it. And, in some places, health care can be free.
Entrepreneurs and the self-employed account for a huge uninsured segment. Yet entrepreneurs and those who work for them shouldn't be without coverage, as health benefits help startups attract employees and keep them healthy.
No matter their political persuasion, cancer patients and caregivers will benefit from the next stages of Affordable Care Act implementation.
It is time for Americans to let the corporations we patronize and depend upon know that many of us want all workers -- especially low-wage workers -- to have civilized working conditions and access to health care. And we are willing to pay.
This is how you find yourself in a dentist's chair in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, inadvertently having a molar pulled without the benefit of anesthetic, crying and howling and kicking the floor while trying hard not to actually move your head.
The greatest threat to our national security comes from our indefensible and foolish neglect of our children today, which will be the seeds of our nation's undoing if we do not act with urgency. As we give thanks, let's also stand for children who need our voice.
We know that health reform can be complicated and time consuming. Not everyone has the time to sit down and learn the details of the new law -- even if they wanted to. But we also know that it's critical for consumers to know what's available to them and to take advantage of the benefits.
A medical portion in the proposed, $7.8 billion class-action settlement with BP will satisfy some residents who became ill from the 2010 spill but hundreds of others opted out because the agreement doesn't cover their chronic ailments and sky-high expenses.
What I didn't see coming, what I did not expect, was how ashamed everyone is about their lack of health coverage. I've been caught off guard, these last weeks, when friends and acquaintances have cornered me and whispered of their own non-insured situations.
Two years after the law was passed, and six months after the Supreme Court affirmed its legality, only now do we have the opportunity to explain the benefits of Obamacare to families, workers, and employees -- without the noise, distraction, and confusion of a political campaign getting in the way.
If health care leaders really cared a whit about the most vulnerable, millions of us would not be uninsured because of common industry practices -- practices like charging women and older people such high premiums that many have no option but to remain uninsured.
Every year our leaders honor our nation's veterans with flags and parades. Are they also about to betray them this year with a backroom deal?
Lawmakers should not shred the safety net that poor and working families depend on or shift costs to the states. Instead, they should make corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share in taxes, beginning with ending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2 percent of Americans.
Most Popular
