Is this the year the AMA finally joins the single-payer movement?
By Jonathan Michels, Robertha Barnes, and Sydney Russell Leed for STAT News Fifty years ago this month, at the 1968 meeting of the American Medical Association, a fourth-year medical student named Peter Schnall seized the microphone and scolded several hundred of the most prestigious, highly educated white men in America. “Organized medicine has never felt […]
Crowd rallies for Medicare for all in Hendersonville
By Rebecca Walter for Blue Ridge Now NOTE: This rally was organized by Kyra Moore, who participated in the April Single Payer Action Camp. Here’s a shout out to Kyra for all that she is doing in Western North Carolina to organize for National Improved Medicare for All – Great work, Kyra! – Margaret Flowers […]
Lee Mercer: Trump Must Make Conservative Case for Single Payer Healthcare
By Lee Mercer for Newsmax What do President Donald Trump, Germany’s Chancellor Bismarck, and the Kuomintang government of 1995 Taiwan all have in common? They all are the leaders of a conservative leaning government faced with competition from a rising progressive tide which some quick-footed deal making could head off at the pass. In the […]
Rural Whites Shielded From Medicaid Work Requirement Rules
By Ilana Novick for Truthdig In April, President Trump signed an executive order allowing some Medicaid recipients to be exempted from requirements that they find jobs or lose their health insurance. Now, the states taking advantage of the order, called “Reducing Poverty in America,” are facing scrutiny for allegedly creating policies that, as Talking Points […]
Our health care system is killing us
By Jennifer Perkins, MD for Juneau Empire How much longer are we going to tolerate incremental approaches to fix a broken health care system that feeds off disease and profits on the sick? Extremely high health care costs have become so common place that we rarely question them. News headlines flash “Plan to control […]
Providence Medical Group CEO: We’re 5-10 years out on single payer system
By Morgan Haefner for Becker’s Hospital Review Payer mix changes, like a shift toward more patients in government programs, coupled with rising healthcare costs, mean change is likely coming for America’s healthcare payment system, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. Doug Koekkoek, MD, chief executive of Portland, Ore.-based Providence Medical Group, said a possible result […]
Amid Grassroots Push, Medicare for All Winning Big in Democratic Primaries
By Jake Johnson for Common Dreams “Being able to go to the doctor for any reason and not worry about paying for it? That sounds pretty good. We should do that.” With Medicare for All reaching record levels of support among both members of Congress and the American public—where support for single-payer is spreading “like […]
Why Your Health Insurer Doesn’t Care About Your Big Bills
By Marshall Allen for Pro Publica Patients may think their insurers are fighting on their behalf for the best prices. But saving patients money is often not their top priority. Just ask Michael Frank. Michael Frank ran his finger down his medical bill, studying the charges and pausing in disbelief. The numbers didn’t make sense. […]
He went to an in-network emergency room. He still ended up with a $7,924 bill.
By Sarah Kliff for VOX On January 28, 34-year-old Scott Kohan woke up in an emergency room in downtown Austin, Texas, with his jaw broken in two places, the result of a violent attack the night before. Witnesses called 911, which dispatched an ambulance that brought him to the hospital while he was unconscious. “The […]
Health Insurers “Very Mindful” of Single Payer Battle
By Sarah Kliff, Vox. NOTE: This article is helpful because it shows that the private insurers also see single payer support growing and gives a small insight into the arguments they will mount against it and use to sow fear in the public. Have no doubt that they will spend hundreds of millions to propagandize […]