Single Payer

With the Affordable Care Act Hanging by a Thread, It's Time for Single-Payer

Pearl Korn | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Heritage Foundation, John Conyers, Progressives, Mitt Romney, Single Payer, Democrats, Barack Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Gop, Affordable Care Act, New York State Assembly, Medicaid, Medicare, Massachusetts, Unions, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Politics News
Pearl Korn

Progressives and all other rational human beings should ramp up their efforts to build the movement for single-payer and work to ignite the Occupy movement on this issue.

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If the Health Care Mandate Is Struck Down, Single-Payer Becomes the Best Choice

Sarah van Gelder | Posted 04.11.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, President Obama, Individual Mandate, Medicare for All, Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Single Payer, Health Care, Politics News
Sarah van Gelder

Most Americans favor many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. But the overall plan rests on forcing you and me to buy insurance from the same companies that have been driving up the costs of health care all along.

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Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Medicare for All Would Be Constitutional

Miles Mogulescu | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Supreme Court Health Care Reform, Commerce Clause, Supreme Court Health Care, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Individual Mandate, Medicare for All, Single Payer Healthcare, Single Payer, Scalia Health Care, Supeme Court Obamacare, Obama Health Care Reform, Health Care Law, Medicare, Health Care, Politics News
Miles Mogulescu

From the standpoint of constitutional law, overturning the Affordable Care Act could put dangerous constitutional restraints on Congress's ability to forge national solutions to national economic problems. That's a dangerous precedent that goes far beyond health care policy.

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The "Individual Mandate" Is a Great Advance for Freedom

Jesse Larner | Posted 06.02.2012

Read More: Unconstitutional, Supreme Court, Liberty, Charles Krauthammer, Freedom, Ron Paul, Affordable Care Act, Individual Mandate, Single Payer Healthcare, Obama, Single Payer, Libertarian, Jeffrey Toobin, Health Care, Barack Obama, Politics News
Jesse Larner

Libertarians are fond of saying, "Your right to swing your fist ends where my chin begins." The idea is that the only legitimate limits on freedom of ...

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Single Payer Declared As Supremes Nix the Mandate

Ellen R. Shaffer | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Health Care Reform, Single Payer, Comedy News
Ellen R. Shaffer

The top .01% of the U.S. wealthy were given the option of life at sea with video simulation games stroking their egos, and periodic air-lifts of supplies; or five years of pro bono work as classroom assistants in newly revitalized elementary schools.

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If Health Care Reform Falls, Look in the Mirror

Karen Dolan | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Justice Kennedy, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Single Payer, Health Care, Public Option Health, Scotus Health Care Reform, Aca Supreme Court, Aca Scotus, Politics News
Karen Dolan

While Americans who want affordable health care for all wring our hands and keep a stiff upper lip, blaming the misinformed conservative ideologues in Congress, in the Supreme Court, and in Tea Party get-ups, perhaps we should take a long look in the mirror.

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Defending the Indefensible: Getting Beyond Insurance and Obamacare

Bob Jacobson | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Public Health, Supreme Court, US Supreme Court, John Roberts, Obamacare, Health Care, Obama Administration, Health Care Decision, Barack Obama, Obamacare Decision, Single-Payer, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Universal Health Care, Medicare, Medicaid, Romneycare, Politics News
Bob Jacobson

I opposed President Obama's health care "reform" bill, because it began life already a slave to the insurance company-spawned ideology of health care as a market commodity and not a basic human right.

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Health Care Jujitsu

Robert Reich | Posted 05.26.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Health Care Reform, Individual Mandate, Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Single Payer, Health Care, Politics News
Robert Reich

With a bit of political jujitsu, the president could turn any defeat handed to him by the Supreme Court in the Affordable Care Act case into a victory for a single-payer healthcare system -- Medicare for all. Here's how.

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Republican Ignorance and Contraception

Lincoln Mitchell | Posted 05.13.2012

Read More: Catholic Church, Birth Control, Rush Limbaugh, Abortion Rights, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Rick Santorum, Blunt Amendment, Contraception, Religious Intolerance, Sandra Fluke, Republican Party, Obama Administration, Marriage Equality, Politics News
Lincoln Mitchell

The contraception discussion has become like a forest of small-mindedness, intolerance and anger out from which the far right and, increasingly, the Republican Party in general, cannot find a way.

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As the Old Guard Liberals Exit Congress, a New Breed Must Take Their Place

Pearl Korn | Posted 05.13.2012

Read More: National Organization for Women, Russ Feingold, Congress, Rush Limbaugh, Afghanistan, Dick Durbin, Progressives, Alan Grayson, Green Energy, Single Payer, Citizens United, Veterans, David Gill, Nafta, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich, Cleveland, Marcy Kaptur, Chicago, John Kasich, Term Limits, Iraq, Chicago News
Pearl Korn

Who will pick up the mantle of this unabashed progressive voice in the House? Who will stand in Dennis Kucinich's place and demand that our government do the right thing by the People and the other nations of the world?

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The Battle for Vermont's Health -- And Why It Matters for the Rest of the Country

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.08.2012

Read More: Canadian Healthcare, Peter Shumlin, Unitedhealth, Obamacare, Michael Moore, Vermont, Health Care Reform, Sicko, Cigna, Single Payer, Aetna, Canada, Wellpoint, Politics News
Wendell Potter

Despite the ceaseless spin, Vermont lawmakers last May demonstrated they could not be bought nor intimidated when they became the first in the nation to pass a bill that will probably establish a single-payer beachhead in the U.S.

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Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Time to Pronounce it Dead

John Geyman | Posted 12.14.2011

Read More: National Health Care, Universal-Health-Care, Single Payer, Esi, Class Warfare, John Geyman, Pnhp, Business News
John Geyman

We have had about a 75-year experiment with employer-sponsored health insurance, but its track record is one of continued decline over the last 30 years -- fewer people covered, less coverage for more costs, and less value of that coverage.

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Live or Die: Do We Care Anymore?

John Geyman | Posted 12.12.2011

Read More: Single Payer, National Health Care, Social Contract, Class Warfare, M.D., John Geyman, Employer-Sponsored-Health-Care, Business News
John Geyman

We have had about a 75-year experiment with employer-sponsored health insurance, but its track record is one of continued decline over the last 30 years.

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'Moral Hazard' In Health Care: Duplicity On Steroids

John Geyman | Posted 11.22.2011

Read More: Universal Health Care, M.D., Single Payer, Health Care Reform, Moral Hazard, Medicare, Class Warfare, Obama Health Care, John Geyman, Politics News
John Geyman

When will logic, common sense, evidence and fairness take center stage for health policy makers and legislators? The way things are going could well be called legislative malpractice.

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Myths and Misperceptions About Primary Care

John Geyman | Posted 10.22.2011

Read More: Ethics of Health Care, National Health Insurance, Decreased Access to Health Care, Do Not Resuscitate, M.D., Shredding the Social Contract, Depersonalization, Overspecialization, John Geyman, Obama Health Care Reform, Fragmentation of Care, Crisis in Health Care, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Single Payer, Copernicus Healthcare, Uninsured Americans, Arianna Huffington, Aarp, Health Care Crisis, Huffington Post, Universal Access to Care, Decline of Primary Care, Costs of Health Care, Quality of Health Care, Pnhp, Bill Moyers, Affordability of Health Care, Hijacked!, Books News
John Geyman

We are indebted to the late Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for this basic definition of the four pillars of primary care.

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We Are the United States of America, the Greatest Country on Earth -- We Don't Default

Rep. Dennis Kucinich | Posted 09.27.2011

Read More: Default, Trade Agreements, Single Payer, Debt Ceiling, Medicare for All, Works Green Administration, Dennis Kucinich, Politics News
Rep. Dennis Kucinich

We are the United States of America, the greatest country on earth. We build wealth. We don't default.

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The Solution to the Federal Debt: Expand Medicare, Don't Cut It

Miles Mogulescu | Posted 09.14.2011

Read More: Medicare for All, Paul Ryan Medicare, Deficit, Single Payer Healthcare, Medicare, Single Payer, Federal Budget Deficit, Debt Ceiling, Budget Cuts, Politics News
Miles Mogulescu

The media is quick to praise the "courage" of politicians who propose cutting Medicare. But there's nothing courageous about putting more of the burden of medical care onto seniors who have spent a lifetime paying Medicare taxes.

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What Effect Will More Corporate Ads and Interrupted Programming Really Have on PBS?

Pearl Korn | Posted 08.07.2011

Read More: Pbs, United Farm Workers, Democracy Now!, David Koch, Michelle Rhee, Arturo Rodriguez, Pfizer, Bank of America, Monsanto, Cesar Chavez, Merrill Lynch, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Marian Wright Edelman, Affordable Care Act, PBS "Washington Week", Tea Party, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Brookings Institution, Bill Moyers, Latinos, Robert Reich, Merck, Jose Serrano, Exxon Mobil, Amy Goodman, British Petroleum, Juan Gonzalez, Single Payer, Center for American Progress, Students First, Npr, Bill Moyers Journal, Fcc, Jim Lehrer, John Podesta, The News Hour With Jim Lehrer, New York Times, Archer Daniels Midland, Children's Defense Fund, Media News
Pearl Korn

At PBS's recent annual gathering it was announced that the number and frequency of promotions for corporate sponsors would increase during a few noted programs as an experiment.

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Health Insurers Have Had Their Chance

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.31.2011

Read More: Peter Shumlin, Small Business, Obamacare, Health Insurers, Health Care Reform, Vermont, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Single Payer, Michigan, Pricewaterhousecoopers, Kaiser Family Foundation, Barack Obama, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Business News
Wendell Potter

Private insurers have had their chance to control costs and expand access and have failed miserably. It is time, more and more people believe, to replace them with a single payer: the government.

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Insurance Industry Flack Screws Up, Points Us to Report We Really Should Read

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.19.2011

Read More: Health Care for America Now, Hcan, Public Relations, Ahip, Health Insurance, Single Payer, Hmos, America's Health Insurance Plans, Health Care, Business News
Wendell Potter

Successful flacks know how to use a variety of public relations tricks to obscure the truth -- being selective in the disclosure of information, for instance, or using statistics in misleading ways. But sometimes that can backfire.

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How Two 50-Something Women Put Vermont on the Path Toward Single-Payer Health Care

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.09.2011

Read More: University of Vermont, Single Payer Healthcare, Peter Shumlin, Middlebury College, Single Payer, Vermont, Politics News
Wendell Potter

While several states are suing the federal government to block health care reform and dragging their feet on implementing any part of it, Vermont this week will be taking a giant leap in the other direction.

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First Universal Health Care Bill in U.S. Marks Success of Vermont's Human Rights Movement

Anja Rudiger | Posted 07.07.2011

Read More: Health Care Reform, Vermont Health Care, Universal Health Care, Human Rights, Single Payer, Human Right to Healthcare, Vermont, Health Care, Politics News
Anja Rudiger

Vermonters clearly set an example with their steadfastness and unflinching readiness to take a moral stance and reject the effort to divide the community along lines of race, ethnicity or national origin.

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Vermont to Go Single Payer -- Do I Hear a Second?

Linda Bergthold | Posted 07.06.2011

Read More: Vermont, Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Single Payer, California County Organized Health Systems, Health Insurance Reform, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, Politics News
Linda Bergthold

The Vermont House of Representatives voted 94 to 49 this week to establish a Green Mountain health insurance exchange, the first step in establishing a single payer program in that State. But there's still a long way to go.

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A Doctor Who Has Journeyed Through Three Countries and Three Healthcare Systems Speaks Candidly About Ours

Pearl Korn | Posted 06.18.2011

Read More: Time Magazine, Veterans Administration, Health Insurance, Single Payer, Patients, Wall Street Journal, Ukraine, Canada, The Economist, Primary Care, Affordable Care Act, American Medical Association, Doctors, Medicare, Medicaid, Soviet Union, Politics News
Pearl Korn

There is little time in an office visit to experience a true doctor/patient relationship these days, for time is money as insurers squeeze every nickel they can out of a billing. This is not true in Dr. Rogova's office, however.

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Weekly Pulse: Vermont Poised to Pass Single-Payer

The Media Consortium | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Family Planning, RH Reality Check, Model, Vermont, Kermit, Sarah Seltzer, South Dakota, Governor, Alternet, Anorexia, Body Image, Single Payer, Contraception, Fashion, Saul Elbein, In These Times, Waiting Period, Lon Newman, Lauren Else, Abortion, 72 Hours, Family Planning Health Services, Reality Stamp, Shumlin, Texas, Quack, Tapped, Photoshop, Birth Control, Wisconsin, Health, Health Insurance, Alternative Medicine, Rolondo Arafiles, Anti-Choice, Cam, Scott Lemieux, Politics News
The Media Consortium

Weekly Pulse: Vermont Poised to Pass Single-PayerBy Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Vermont is poised to abolish most forms of private he...

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