A sense of irony is clearly a luxury that politicians can't afford. So was the irony totally lost on Republican senators that after months and months of relentless attacks on a "government takeover of health care," they spent most of the week stomping their feet "defending" Medicare, our national government...

As the nation looks forward to President Obama's Wednesday address on health care, progressives need to be concerned about reports that some in the White House are pushing to scale back proposals in two areas: making health care affordable and the public health insurance option. We should be equally concerned...

In his The Take blog in the Washington Post (8/12), Dan Balz writes that the vocal opposition to Obama on health care isn't really about health care as much as it is about the debate over the role of government. He's right. But Balz's proposed solution -- jettisoning the...

History buffs will recognize The Guns of August as Barbara Tuchman's classic history of World War I. The reference works now because August 2009 just opened with trench warfare on health care reform. Unfortunately, the right-wing mob is seeing some early superficial success. We need to enter the battlefield immediately...

Today in his address to the nation from a children's hospital President Obama stated, "We can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake." He couldn't be more right. Now is not the time to...

In 1993, William Kristol wrote a now-famous memo advising Republicans that their ticket to power was blocking health care reform no matter what it looked like. Newt Gingrich followed that advice, and the rest - as they say - is history.

Taking a page from that history, Republican message...

Fifteen years ago the private health insurance industry told Congress and the nation that it could fix the health care mess if government got out of the way. The insurers said that they would control costs for American families and businesses and improve the quality of care. The American people,...

For months the health insurance lobby had been saying this time would be different. They insisted they'd support health care reform and even launched a whole phony "campaign" and "listening tour" to front the charade. But the day after the Obama administration took the first real step towards fixing health...

Here's a riddle. It's a two-parter. How is it that the United States spends much more on health care than any other country in the world but still leaves 46 million Americans uninsured? And how is it all other developed countries provide health coverage to every citizen and still spend...

Make no mistake about it, yesterday's election was a mandate to enact legislation that will provide a government guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all. But to realize a promise of such historic magnitude, it will take our nation believing monumental change is possible. President-elect Obama announced last night...

1. McCain will tax your health care benefits at work

McCain's health care plan will make people pay income taxes on the value of their health care benefits at work. So if your employer pays $10,000 a year for your health insurance, you will start having to pay taxes on...

I guess it was predictable in this day of "balanced" reporting, where each side gets equal treatment regardless of the lunacy of its arguments, that Health Affairs would feature articles from competing economists about the faults in the health care proposals of Senator McCain and Senator Obama. That approach...

Who are they kidding with their new campaign?

Last February, a poll by Lake Research Partners for HealthCare for America Now found 78% of voters believe that health insurance companies "put profits before people." It turns out that a few months later the CEO of WellPoint,...

I want to take a moment and address those of you who have been asking why Health Care for America Now is not focusing on creating a single-payer health insurance system. First of all, here is HCAN's official position:

The goal of Health Care for America Now is to build...