All-day protest draws attention to opioid crisis, ‘Medicare for All’
Liberal group makes rounds in lawmaker offices with personal stories By Chris Marquette for Roll Call On an early morning in May, Freddie Henderson III’s heart stopped from a fentanyl overdose, a story his sister Jasmine shared Wednesday in the office of Republican Sen. Rob Portman, as part of a larger push by progressive activists […]
Healthcare ad spending exceeds $65 million in 2019 as insurance industry ramps up effort to kill medicare for all
“The insurance companies are working hard to shift the blame and stop the movement for Medicare for All.” By Jake Johnson for Common Dreams An Axios analysis released Wednesday found that spending on healthcare advertisements has exceeded $65 million in 2019 as dark money organizations, the insurance industry, and Big Pharma ramp up their campaigns against Medicare for […]
Health insurance companies are useless. Get rid of them
By Michael Hiltzik for Los Angeles Times The most perplexing aspect of our current debate over healthcare and health coverage is the notion that Americans love their health insurance companies. This bizarre idea surfaced most recently in the hand-wringing over proposals to do away with private coverage advocated by some of the candidates for the […]
How slick consulting firms get us on drugs
By Martha Rosenberg for Intrepid Report Ninety-one people a day die from opioids and 1,000 visit ERs in the US, according to the CDC. How did opioid makers get such a deathly grip on the US population? Recently, the New York Times reported that the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company had a big hand […]
‘Our System Kills People’: 27-Year-Old Diabetic Man Latest to Die in US Amid Skyrocketing Cost of Insulin
“This is policy murder: Josh Wilkerson is dead because pharmaceutical companies sought to profit from his illness and federal regulators did nothing.” By Julia Conley for Common Dreams The latest reports of a young diabetic American’s death due to a lack of affordable insulin were met with outrage on Wednesday from Medicare for All advocates, […]
‘Bad policy and bad politics’: Kamala Harris accused of hijacking Medicare for All label to push more industry-friendly plan
“Harris calls her plan ‘Medicare for All,’ but it’s not even close.” By Jake Johnson for Nation of Change Single-payer advocates on Monday accused Sen. Kamala Harris of hijacking the Medicare for All label to push an alternative that would fail to fundamentally overhaul America’s for-profit healthcare system. Harris, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, outlined what she […]
Which 2020 Democrats are taking money from the healthcare industry?
Hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and insurers are working together to stop Sanders’ proposed healthcare plan from gaining even more traction within the Democratic party. By Karl Evers-Hillstrom for Nation of Change Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on fellow Democratic presidential candidates to reject contributions from the healthcare industry this week, a renewed effort to distinguish himself from a progressive field […]
Americans are dying because they can’t afford their insulin
“My son and Jesy, they were murdered. They were killed by big Pharma. The cause of death should actually be on their death certificates, corporate greed.” By Ruth Milka for Nation of Change Prices of insulin have skyrocketed over the past 15 years and Americans are paying with their lives. The same vial of insulin […]
‘If Grandma Is on the Table, No One Will Blink at the Price’: A Former Drug Company Manager Explains Industry Price-Setting
By Fran Quigley for Common Dreams Frances Leath no longer works in management for pharmaceutical industry giant Eli Lilly and Company, but she keeps tabs on the company where she spent the first 15 years of her career. She still lives in Indianapolis, home of the company headquarters. She has watched as Lilly’s dramatic increases […]
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 […]