We just concluded a 18-city California Medicare For All bus tour that crisscrossed the state over three and a half weeks from San Diego to Chico, through the heart land of the San Joaquin Valley and up and down the coast. In town after town, city after city local people spoke of their struggles to find healthcare for themselves and their families. Nurses poured out from local facilities to volunteer, take blood pressures and lend an ear.
At every stop, the tales of unnecessary pain and suffering, the aching, pounding, insistent drum beat of Californians telling the nurses where it hurts puts a human face on the impact of an insurance-based healthcare system. This is what the Medicare For All for life bus tour was all about.
And just as you cannot un ring a bell, there is no way you can un feel the pain people share as they demand change. Across the political spectrum there was agreement that expanding and improving Medicare to everyone makes the most sense. Just about every one of the several thousand people who came in for a free health screening or who spoke up at the town halls about their personal struggle would not have been helped under the Affordable Care Act. Though its a good beginning, we can do better, and California and nurses are now leading the way.
Efforts to shift patients to lower-cost healthcare settings appear to flounder as the emergency department continues to play a larger role in where and how care is delivered. —Modern Healthcare, 05/21/13 More »
The President’s new budget proposes to use the chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) for computing cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security and certain other federal benefits, as well as for indexing key parameters of the tax code. —Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 04/23/13 More »
CHICAGO--As this is written, everyone wounded in the terror bombings at the Boston Marathon has survived his or her wounds. This remarkable testament to effective medical response stems largely from Boston’s exceptional health-care capacity. —Chicago Sun-Times, By Jesse Jackson, 04/23/13 More »
When you're shopping for health insurance, wouldn't it be great if you could find out every insurer's claim denial rate? And how much each one spent on lobbying and advertising -- and how much they paid their CEO? —Huffington Post, By Wendell Potter, 04/23/13 More »
Ian Rizzio was a 24-year-old mechanical engineering student in Portland, Oregon, managing a sandwich shop to pay his tuition. One day, he woke up sick, but went to work anyway, as he later testified to the Portland City Council. After vomiting in the bathroom, Rizzio spent two hours trying — unsuccessfully — to reach his boss before going home to rest. When Rizzio came into work the next day, he was fired immediately. With $35,000 in student loans, he feared he’d have to withdraw from school. —The Washington Post, 04/03/13 More »
The federal healthcare law will help cause insurance premiums to rise 30% on average for many middle-income Californians next year, but lower-income consumers could save up to 84%, a new government report says. —LAtimes.com, 03/28/13 More »
America is dangerous to your health. A recent international commission reported that U.S. men rank last in life expectancy for the 17 industrial nations in the study; U.S. women rank next to last. When it comes to health, the United States is exceptional — exceptionally bad. —The Washington Post, 01/16/13 More »
Chicago, IL – More than two hundred union leaders and activists gathered in Chicago for the Labor Campaign's fourth national conference to strategize about next steps for labor in the movement to win universal health care. With government officials from both major parties contemplating cuts in Medicare as part of a "grand bargain," delegates resolved to stand up to any cuts in this cornerstone social insurance program. —Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care , 01/14/13 More »
America may be one of the richest countries in the world, but its people are less healthy and more likely to die early from disease or accidents than those in any other affluent country, a damning official US report has found —The Guardian, 01/10/13 More »
AUSTALIA--The NSW Nurses Association has said it will campaign for mandatory staffing ratios in more areas of the health system when the NSW nurses industrial award expires in June. —Newcastle Herald, 01/10/13 More »
TAKE ACTION to stop Social Security Cuts! Join us on April 20 in DC. Robin Hood will be marching from the IMF and World Bank to the US Treasury to demand a Robin Hood Tax in the U.S. We hope you can join us! On April 17 Congressmember Ellison (D-MN) will be holding a press conference to herald the reintroduction of The Inclusive Prosperity Act which calls for a Robin Hood Tax. Get details and see more updates! —National Nurses United, 04/10/13 More »
Still, a report released by the International Federation of Health Plans (i.e., health insurance companies) today provides a striking reminder of just how much more expensive health care is for Americans. —Jeffrey Young on Huffington Post, 03/26/13 More »
“We have to have an economy – a real economy. What do we have now?” asked RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. ‘Poverty a crime against humanity in the world’s richest country’. Watch and share “Vision for a New America” on the C-SPAN website, and tell the president #PovertyMustEnd. —NNU Blog, 01/18/13 More »
