Protecting Americans from surprise medical costs

By Ed Weisbart for St. Louis Post-Dispatch Breaking news: At the end of 2019, Congress failed to fix a major problem with American health insurance. This would be comically boring if so many lives and so much money were not at stake. Chances are that you are among the majority of Americans who have received […]
Man who robbed a pharmacy gave clerk a note that said, ‘I’m sorry, I have a sick child,’ cops say

By Scottie Andrew for CNN A man who allegedly robbed a pharmacy in Philadelphia flashed a demand note that said he needed the money for his sick child, police said.In video released by Philadelphia police, the suspect, wearing a grey hoodie and dark gloves, entered a Rite Aid store January 3 and took an item […]
‘All I Want For Christmas Is A Chance To Live’

By Popular Resistance HOPE NOTE: Millions of people in the US are going without healthcare because they are uninsured or denied coverage or can’t afford the out of pocket costs. This one is personal for us. We have known and worked with Phil since he joined the campaign to stop the TransPacific Partnership in 2012. […]
Setting Gallup Record, Quarter of Americans Say They or Family Member Delayed Medical Care Over Cost in Last Year

“This is the ‘choice based’ system Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg want to preserve.” By Eoin Higgins for Common Censored One-in-four Americans admits they or a member of their family this past year has delayed medical treatment of a serious illness due to costs, according to a new Gallup survey published Monday. The number is […]
Maine Voices: Single-payer would give U.S. patients, caregivers more control over health care system

Weaker campaign finance laws have enabled insurers and Big Pharma to create a system that benefits only them. By Joshua Gear for The Press Herald YORK — As a medical student, I remember HMOs being touted as the answer to the spiraling costs of health care and the high number of uninsured Americans. That was […]
$44,000 for an Ambulance, Hour-Long Drives to an ER: The Impossible Cost of Healthcare in Appalachia

Rural hospitals are closing or downgrading at an alarming rate. That could be fatal. By Mason Adams for In These Times When Heather Edwards’ contractions began three months early, in March, she worried about the long drive to the hospital from her home nestled in the Appalachian Mountains in Jonesville, Va., a town of fewer […]
Stop fearmongering about ‘Medicare for All.’ Most families would pay less for better care.

By Donald M. Berwick for USA Today With costs rising painfully, insurance companies denying care and nearly 30 million people still uninsured, America desperately needs an honest health policy discussion. That’s why it has been so disappointing over the past several weeks to watch multiple candidates parrot right-wing attacks on “Medicare for All,” like claiming that it […]
Groupons For Medical Treatment? Welcome To Today’s U.S. Health Care

By Lauren Weber for Kaiser Health News Emory University medical fellow Dr. Nicole Herbst was shocked when she saw three patients who came in with abnormal results from chest CT scans they had bought on Groupon. Yes, Groupon — the online coupon mecca that also sells discounted fitness classes and foosball tables. Similar deals have shown […]
How Greedy Hospitals Fleece the Poor

The most vulnerable Americans are being dunned into destitution through surprise fees and fraudulent practices. By Libby Watson for The New Republic The pundit class collapsed back in its chair last week, exhausted and spent, from a furious wonk-off session over Bernie Sanders’s rhetoric on medical bankruptcies. The Washington Post’s in-house political fact-checking apparatus assigned a […]
Faced With Soaring Costs of Private Insurance, Poll Shows 58% of Small Business Owners Support Medicare for All

“Medicare for All is the only solution to our healthcare cost crisis that will offer relief to workers and small businesses alike.” By Jake Johnson for Common Dreams A survey released this week by Public Private Strategies (PPS) found that, faced with soaring costs under the for-profit status quo, 58 percent of U.S. small business […]