NewsTrust - Health Care - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

With the Affordable Care Act Hanging by a Thread, It's Time for Single-Payer

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Pearl Korn - May. 21 (Opinion) - Co-written by Jonathan Stone While the Affordable Care Act is being deliberated in the Supreme Court -- with no decision expected until the end of June -- progressives and all other rational human beings should ramp up their efforts to build the movement

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Scalia, Fox's Man in Washington?

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Matthew DeLuca - Apr. 05 (Opinion) - Is Roger Ailes clerking for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia? One might be forgiven for thinking so following last week’s oral arguments on the health-care law before the nation’s highest court. As has been pointed out elsewhere, some of Scalia’s questions from the bench made use of the tone and even the diction of the attacks on the Affordable Care Act frequently heard on Fox News and conservative talk-radio shows.

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Jokes from Justice Scalia Mask Grim Reality of American Health Care

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Wendell Potter - Apr. 03 (Opinion) - Since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia clearly isn’t going to take the time to actually read the health care reform law before he decides whether or not it’s constitutional, maybe he and a couple of his buddies on the High Court can catch a screening of “The Hunger Games”, the movie about children battling each other to the death in a futuristic America, renamed Panem.

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Robert Greenwald on the New Film "Koch Brothers Exposed" -- the 1% at Its Very Worst

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Mar. 29 (Interview) - One of the problems in the progressive movement, all too often -- and, you know, people have talked about this endlessly -- the separate silos, the single-issue folks who are both focused and funded to do a single issue -- but how do you encourage and work so that the issue people come together and see the importance of the fact that the people who are attacking the environment are attacking Social Security, are attacking public education, are attacking and buying politicians, are attacking an African-American community, etc., etc.

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Industry Whistleblower Wendell Potter: However Court Rules on Healthcare, Solution is Single Payer

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Mar. 28 (Interview) - As the Supreme Court examines whether Americans can be penalized if they lack medical coverage, we're joined by health industry whistleblower, Wendell Potter. A former spokesperson for CIGNA and Humana Insurance, Potter is the author of "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans." "I, myself, am somewhat agnostic and detached from the outcome of what the justices decide," Potter says. "We eventually have to get the for-profit insurance companies out of providing coverage, and need to move toward a system or systems like in the other developed countries, that don't permit for-profit companies to run their healthcare systems." [includes rush transcript]

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Supreme Court's Religious Frenzy

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - Mar. 27 (Opinion) - What exactly are these people praying for? Are they praying for a return to the way things were? For the denial of health insurance due to whatever the whimsical opinions of corporate bureaucrats determine to be a pre-existing condition? For the right to be thrown into an overpriced, endlessly gouging 'marketplace' the moment when you turn 25, and you're burdened anyway with usurious student loans?' Charles P. Pierce, Esquire Magazine

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Bob Cesca: The He-Man Woman Haters Club

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Bob Cesca - Mar. 01 - The most popular radio talker in the world just called an ordinary citizen a slut and a prostitute in front of 15 million people. 15 million Americans tune in specifically to hear him say horrendous things like that.

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Medical Whistleblower Dr. Steven Nissen on "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 23 (Interview) - As the Republican presidential candidates propose to dismantle President Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform package, we speak to Dr. Steven Nissen, one of the nation’s leading cardiologists. His research into Vioxx and Avandia led to severe restrictions by the Food and Drug Administration, reducing the use of both drugs. Nissen is profiled in the documentary, "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare," which is being featured this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film tackles the powerful forces behind the battle over heathcare costs and access.

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Gerry Hudson: We Must Win Back the American Dream for the 99% In 2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Gerry Hudson - Jan. 17 - As we honor Dr. King's legacy this year, we must remember that working families deserve economic justice, including America's 13 million unemployed, the long-term unemployed and the 24 million people looking for work.

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Andrew Reinbach: Living on Social Security and Medicare: The Reality

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Andrew Reinbach - Jan. 16 (Opinion) - Millions of retired Americans are frozen out of the health care system even though they've paid into it all their lives, because most of them rely on Social Security for the bulk of their income and can't afford the 20 percent of every medical bill that Medicare requires them to pay.

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OpEdNews - Article: OWS is going to be what the people make it.

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Op Ed News - By Michael Cheverie Dewey - Jan. 02 (Opinion) - Some issues about State Banks helping fund States. State Public Options for Healthcare. And Foreign Policy changes needed to rebuild this Broken Promised Land.

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Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 23 (Opinion) - At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news. "I listen to Rush and read NewsMax," he said. "And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox." My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends. This is life in our echo chamber nation. We protect ourselves from opinions we don't like and seek reinforcement from like-minded allies. The paradox ...

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Robert Reich: The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, But Who It's For

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Dec. 20 (Opinion) - "Big government" isn't the problem. The problem is big money is taking over government.

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The Problem of Media Idiocy: Why Do MSM Media Stars Pretend to Be Stupid?

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Eric Alterman, The Nation - Sep. 19 - People in the upper reaches of the US media think that to do their jobs they must behave like idiots in order to be â€œfairâ€ to the Republicans' idiotic ideas.

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Noam Chomsky on the U.S. Economic Crisis: Joblessness, Excessive Military Spending and Healthcare

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Sep. 13 (Interview) - President Obama sent his new jobs proposal to Congress on Monday with a plan to pay for the $447 billion package by raising taxes on the wealthy. Noam Chomsky says, "The healthcare system...the huge military spending, the very low taxes for the rich [and corporations]...those are fundamental problems that have to be dealt with if there's going to be anything like successful economic and social development in the United States." As Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, calls Social Security a "Ponzi scheme," and Democrats buy into the narrative that the program is in crisis, Chomsky notes that "to worry about a possible problem 30 years from now, which can incidentally be fixed with a little bit of tampering here and there, as was done in 1983, to worry about that just makes absolutely no sense, unless you're trying to destroy the program." [includes rush transcript]

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The Declaration of Insurance Independence

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TechCrunch - By Dave Chase - Jul. 03 (Opinion) - Healthcare’s perverse incentives and an accompanying stifling bureaucracy driven by encumbering day-to-day healthcare with insurance has caused hyperinflation that is crushing family, employer and government budgets and holding back job growth. This must be stopped. Citizens and healthcare providers are doing exactly that, however counter-productive insurance regulations are impairing the ability to expand upon health plans shown to reduce costs by 40% or more. We, therefore, declare that: the United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent of insurance and self-sufficient in accessing day-to-day healthcare; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to insurance bureaucracy; and that all insurance connections involving the purchase of day-to-day healthcare, are and ought to be totally dissolved; as Free and Independent States they have full Power to explore the range of more effective ways of accessing day-to-day healthcare, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

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Should We Blame Health Care Reform If Republicans Win In 2012?

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Harold Pollack - Jun. 26 (Opinion) - President Obama must raise his game to win reelection, and to make his presidency as worthy and effective as it can be. His committed pursuit of health reform was not the problem. We’ll see soon enough whether health reform helps him win a second term. It certainly made him more deserving of one.

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Epidemic: Over 400,000 Traumatic Brain Injuries for Vets Coming from Iraq and Afghanistan

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Jun. 21 (Opinion) - "We are facing a massive mental health problem as a result of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a country we have not responded adequately to the problem. Unless we act urgently and wisely, we will be dealing with an epidemic of service related psychological wounds for years to come."

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What the media establishment refuses to understand

Mon, 30 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Monthly - By Steve Benen - May. 30 (Opinion) - It was quite a roundtable on “Meet the Press” yesterday. Viewers got to see a Republican strategist, a conservative pundit, a conservative Democrat, and an ostensibly center-left columnist who thinks that Democrats are big meanies when it comes to Medicare.

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Vermont Poised to Become 1st State to Enact Single-Payer Healthcare

Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Dr. Deb Richter, Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - May. 26 (Interview) - Today Vermont is set to make history by becoming the first state in the nation to offer universal, single-payer healthcare when Gov. Peter Shumlin signs its healthcare reform bill into law. The Vermont plan, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will attempt to stem rising medical care prices and provide universal coverage.

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Why ObamaCare Undermines Government

Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Michael Barone - May. 26 (Opinion) - If Obamacare is so great, why do so many people want to get out from under it?

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Paul Ryan: Don't Blame Me for NY-26 Loss! It Was Evil Democrats' Demagoguery on Medicare

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Crooks and Liars - May. 25 (Opinion) - Apparently Paul Ryan needed a place to come lick his wounds after the Republicans' loss in New York's 26th District special election loss last night, and the crew over at Morning Joe was more than happy to help him mend his bruised ego. Given Scarborough's screaming tirade yesterday about greedy seniors who want to keep their Medicare being just like someone who wants to eat steak and chocolate cake every day, along with the months on end of fawning coverage of him he's received on this show, Ryan had no doubt he was coming into friendly territory this morning.

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Elimination of the Poor Helps to Balance the Budget

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

populist.com - By Joan Retsinas - May. 25 (Comedy News) - We need not follow the lead of Jonathan Swift, who proposed that the English eat Irish babies (stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled) to right the economic balance. Realistically, any health-conscious American would gag on the fat or smoke-filled organs of the poor. I am proposing that we simply let fatties and smokers, at any rate the poor ones, perish, by withdrawing health care. Arizona has gently paved the way. To save money, Arizona is proposing a $50 surcharge on all fat or smoking Medicaid recipients.

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Sic Seniors on GOP

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

populist.com - May. 05 (Editorial) - House Republicans voted April 15 to turn Medicare into a voucher program that would deny seniors the guaranteed benefits that have made it a lifeline for older Americans. House Budget Czar Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to use the money saved by Medicare cuts to pay for further tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

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Strengthen Medicare; Barry Rand; Meet People's Health Needs

Sun, 01 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

aarp.org - By Barry Rand - May. 01 (Opinion) - Medicare is more than a line item in the federal budget. It is a program that provides health security for real people — more than 47 million of them. Changing the guaranteed structure of Medicare and replacing it with a system in which individuals would buy coverage from private insurance plans, with only a diminishing portion of the premium covered by Medicare, would put the health of millions of older Americans at risk. This is not cost control. This is simply shifting the vast majority of rising costs to older Americans while reneging on Medicare's promise of secure health coverage.

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