Articles
Rally for National Health Care Targets Klobuchar
Twin Cities Daily Planet
Bruce Johnson, Minneapolis
July 13, 2009
About 75 people gathered outside Senator Amy Klobuchar's office on July 9 to demand that the Senator support a robust public option as a key component of the health care reform plans now before congress...
...Senator Klobuchar was not in her office but a delegation met with her designated staff point person for health care reform who reiterated the Senator's statement that she will not take a position on a public option until she sees "the language of the bill." To which one member of the delegation responded, "We didn't elect a senator just to study bills, we want her to influence them."
New York Times/CBS Poll: Wide Support for Government-Run Health System
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector...
Other findings:
- 85% said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt
- 72% supported a government administered insurance plan- something like Medicare for those under 65 - that would compete for customers with private insurers.
- 64% said they thought the federal government should guarantee coverage, a figure that has stayed steady all decade.
Medical Bills Play a Role in 62% of Bankruptcies
President Obama's push for healthcare reforms gets a boost today from a new study by Harvard University researchers that shows a sizable increase over six years in bankruptcies caused in part by ever-higher medical expenses.
The study found that medical bills, plus related problems such as lost wages for the ill and their caregivers, contributed to 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007...
...Medical insurance isn't much help, either. About 78% of bankruptcy filers burdened by healthcare expenses were insured, according to the survey, to be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine. "Health insurance is not a guarantee that illness won't bankrupt you," said Steffie Woolhandler, one of the authors, a practicing physician and an associate medical professor at Harvard.
A copy of the study, a fact sheet, and a Q&A from Physicians for a National Health Program is also available.
Slump Pushing Cost of Drugs Out of Reach
by Kevin Sack
New York Times
June 3, 2009
Rocky Mount, NC: A year or so ago, when customers buttonholed the pharmacists at Almand's Drug Store here, the questions were invariably about dosing or side effects. These days, they are almost always about cost... "I'm out of Lexapro," a woman pleaded one recent Tuesday, speaking of her antidepressant. "Can I just have four pills until payday on Friday?"Some customers request prices for a fistful of prescriptions, and then say they can fill only the cheapest two. Others ask which are most important....
...National surveys consistently find that as many as a third of respondents say they are not complying with prescriptions because of cost, up from about a fourth three years ago...
Medical Care Fees Shift to Workers
By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune
Last update: May 18, 2009 - 9:19 PM
You suspected it. Now you have the numbers.
Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance can expect to pay a bigger share of health care costs this year than ever before -- 41 percent, up from 38 percent in 2006, according to a major national study released Monday.
For a typical family of four, that will come to nearly $7,000 this year.
Doctors protest exclusion of single-payer at Senate Finance Committee
Video Footage of Protestors
- Russell Mokhiber, Single Payer Action, speaks at hearing
- Margaret Flowers, MD & Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW
- Carol Paris, MD, PNHP
- Mark Dudzic, Labor Campaign for Single-Payer Healthcare
- Adam Schneider, Health Care for the Homeless
- Pat Salomon, MD & Kevin Zeese
Press Release
Single Payer Action, Healthcare-NOW!, Physicians for a National Health Program - Maryland chapter, ProsperityAgenda.us, and Physicians for a National Health Program
May 5, 2009
WASHINGTON - Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer health system - also known as an improved Medicare for All - directly confronted senators at a Senate Finance Committee “roundtable” on health reform today.
One-by-one, eight single-payer advocates in the audience stood up during the opening comments of the hearing and asked why single-payer experts were being excluded from the proceedings. They each spoke out in turn until they were removed from the committee hearing room and arrested, one-by-one, by U.S. Capitol police.
Dr. David Himmelstein testifies at Capitol Hill hearing
On April 23, 2009, the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to explore ideas for cutting U.S. health insurance costs. David U. Himmelstein tesified at that hearing.
Read or watch Dr. Himmelstein's testimony.
Download a PDF of Dr. Himmelstein's testimony.
View media coverage of the hearing:
- CQ HealthBeat News - "Subcommittee Members Spar Over Cost Control Tactics" (April 23, 2009)
- Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report - "House Panel Debates Health Reform Cost Control Solutions" (April 24, 2009)
- San Diego Union Tribune - "Paperwork, profits clog health care's efficiencies" (April 26, 2009)
House Panel Debates Health Reform Cost Control Solutions
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
Capitol Hill Watch
Apr 24, 2009
Interview: Robert Kuttner on single-payer health care
Vermont Public Radio
April 22, 2009
Mitch Wertlieb of VPR recently interviewed Robert Kuttner, syndicated columnist and co-founder of American Prospect Magazine, on the subject of single-payer health care. Kuttner says the first red herring about single-payer health care is that it limits choice for the patient, and if you want proof look at Medicare.
Learn more and listen to the interview of Robert Kuttner
Download an MP3 of the interview
Conservative argument for single-payer in the St. Cloud Times
Times Writers Group: GOP could back universal care
By Dale Powers
St. Cloud Times
April 13, 2009
As anyone who has read my columns can attest, I trend toward the conservative side. The last Democrat I voted for was Jimmy Carter in 1976. I am pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and I believe I can spend my money better than the government. But that assumes I can purchase what I need at less cost than the government — and that takes me to universal health insurance.
There is a conservative case for implementation of a “single payer” system.