Public option plans won’t fix American healthcare system
By Daniel Bryant for Bangor Daily News Public option health plans have been much in the news of late. Defined as health care coverage plans offered to individuals by the government and paid for by premiums and tax-funded government subsidies and credits, they are designed as alternatives to single-payer plans, which would replace our present […]
A Public Option Isn’t Good Enough
By Libby Watson for Splinter News There is one thing we can be thankful for: Medicare for All is now a mainstream position in the Democratic Party, to the point where most of the leading Democratic candidates for president say they support it. The question remains how real their commitment to that goal is, and […]
The Case Against the Public Option
By Dr. Adam Gaffney for Jacobin Magazine. Photo: A doctor examines a patient at a Bay Pines, FL hospital in 1967. Chris Warren / Flickr We have the capacity to wage a transformative health care fight in the days ahead. Medicare for All or bust. The saga of Trumpcare may finally be behind us. The wretched […]
Corporate Democrats Use Public Option to Derail Push for Single Payer
By Russell Mokhiber for Single Payer Action The corporate Democrats are using the public option to derail the newly energized movement to single payer. The single payer movement is halfway to passing single payer in the House of Representatives. One hundred and nine members of the House, out of a total of 218 needed for […]
Senator Sanders to Introduce Medicare For All Bill, Not Public Option
Above photo: Participants in lobby day, from L to R, Dr. Eric Naumburg, Brittany Shannahan, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Steve Dunbar, Larry and Liz Carson, Vanessa Beck, Jackie MacMillan and Rosemary Grace. Photo by Ted Athey. On March 31, four steering committee members of Health Over Profit for Everyone, Dr. Carol Paris, Dr. Robert Zarr, Dr. […]
Why This Isn’t the Time for a Public Option or Medicare for Some
By Margaret Flowers of Popular Resistance This has been a tumultuous week for healthcare reform. First there was the pleasantly quick defeat of the American Health Care Act in the House of Representatives Friday afternoon. Then, that evening, Senator Sanders spoke at a town hall in Vermont with Senator Pat Leahy and Representative Peter Welch […]
Single Payer Bernie Sanders Morphs Into Public Option Howard Dean
By Russell Mokhiber for Single Payer Action Right before our eyes, we are seeing the transformation of single payer Bernie Sanders into public option Howard Dean. During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Sanders took off like a rocket, fueled by the promise of a single payer, Medicare for All single payer system. His single payer plan […]
We need strong public health care to contain the global corona pandemic
By Wim De Ceukelaire and Chiara Bodini for Viva Salud The corona virus (COVID-19) outbreak has spread from China to over a hundred countries in less than two months. As of March 10th, confirmed cases were above 100.000 and deaths over 4.000. Now is the time to take stock and to assess the responses of […]
New Report: How Media and Polling Company Adoption of Insurance Industry Spin Warps Democracy
H.O.P.E. Note: This post includes excerpts from the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) report. Find the full report here. Mainstream media and public-opinion polls commonly state that the country has a choice between government and private insurance. This portrayal is inherently biased because it invokes government control while rendering insurance companies invisible, warping […]
Before Big Pharma Kills Us, Maybe Public Pharma Can Save Us
Drug companies are abandoning antibiotic research to make more money elsewhere. Yet another reason why we need a publicly owned company. By Dana Brown for The American Prospect Drug-resistant “superbugs” are predicted to kill more people per year than cancer by 2050. Already, more than two million Americans annually are infected with bacteria that have evolved to […]