Blog

Join us for this Special Edition podcast "The Politics of Healthcare"

A few weeks ago Executive Director of CNA/NNU, RoseAnn DeMoro, spoke at the State Democratic Convention. Let's just say—she didn't mince her words and delivered a strong and forceful message to the crowd. Here are some of her comments.

Pattie Lockard, Nurse Talk Radio

'The People of Puerto Rico Are Dying': Action Is Needed Now

Crowd funding. A Costco Card. The water in a nurse’s own backpack. These are the resources available to volunteer nurses on the ground in Puerto Rico — where 85 percent of the island is still without power and where the official death toll has risen to 48.

Bonnie Castillo, Director of RN Response Network

Great Leaders Never Retire, They Just Go “On Call”

It was 1986. Registered nurses at the University of California medical centers had just two years earlier won the right to join the California Nurses Association — a soft landing at a time there was little distinction between the monarchial culture of the UC administration and the governance of the CNA, which included many UC nurse managers and educators.

Charles Idelson

Supreme Court Blog: We want healing, not a cover up.

As registered nurses, who believe in treating and healing wounds, not covering them up, we condemn the rushed and frantic process to approve Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

National Nurses United

Is Medicare for All ‘disruptive’? Not more than medical bankruptcy or death

David Wichmann, CEO of the corporate giant UnitedHealth Group, recently cautioned against the “wholesale disruption” of American health care, should Medicare for All be enacted. There’s something surreal about a man who earned $18.1 million in 2018 warning that changing the deadly, unfixable health care system that made him rich—would be too jarring.

Bonnie Castillo, RN, Executive Director of National Nurses United

Bargaining for the USA: Time for a Main Street Contract for the American People

By Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director, National Nurses United, AFL-CIO. The ongoing battles in the streets and capitols in Madison, Columbus, Lansing, Indianapolis, and other American cities make it clear that the lines are no longer just drawn, they are exposed. There are two Americas. One where Wall Street gets bailouts, and another where public schools and safety net programs get slashed.

Huffington Post

Retreat, Surrender, Can He At Least Plead?

The headlines came quickly after President Obama concluded the deficit-debt deal with the Republicans Sunday evening. There were few shades of gray. The New York Times editorial was titled "To Escape Chaos, a Terrible Deal: Democrats won almost nothing they wanted except avoiding default."

In The Public Interest

Statement by Karen Higgins, RN, Co-President NNU

As a Registered Nurse for [32] years, I have seen the struggles of patients, particularly women, to access the care they need. Skyrocketing out of pocket costs, restrictions on network providers, and coverage limitations can keep my patients from receiving treatment in a timely fashion, ultimately compromising their health and costing all of us dearly.

NNU Blog

The Patient as Profit Center

Why would a company pay an estimated $10 million for access to a patient population? Not the brick and mortar of facility building, nor its machines, computers or other hardware? The answer: the billing opportunity. This is the business model of DaVita, Inc., a Colorado-based for-profit healthcare company that owns and operates more than 1,800 clinics across the U.S.—and some in foreign countries, too.

NNU Blog

Robin Hood actions say 'No to Cuts, Tax Wall Street to Spark Recovery'

Outside the district office of Rep. Charles Rangel, Robin Hood Tax Campaigners from National Nurses United (NNU) and Health GAP found an engaged audience today. These residents of New York’s Harlem are wondering when the recovery will arrive. Their neighborhoods are a mix of shuttered brownstones and half-empty condos, a sign of the realty speculation that somehow, someway never brought decent, affordable housing to Manhattan’s northern-most community.

NNU Blog