Of all the posts I wrote this year, the one that produced the most vociferious email backlash -- easily -- was this one from August,
which examined substantial evidence showing that, contrary to Obama's
occasional public statements in support of a public option, the White
House clearly intended from the start that the final health care reform
bill would contain no such provision and was actively and privately
participating in efforts to shape a final bill without it. From the
start, assuaging the healt
In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean
bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview
set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of
health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who
conducted the interview tells me.
If Democrats manage to pull off efforts to reform the US healthcare
system and ensure coverage for millions who are currently without
insurance, the new system -- by design -- will likely still leave tens
of thousands to die without insurance before reforms kick in.
A
Raw Story analysis, based on a recent Harvard Medical School study,
estimates that 135,000 American citizens and over 6,600 US veterans
will die due to a lack of health insurance before current proposed
healthcare reform measures would take effect.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting
that health insurance stocks are up dramatically today after Joe
Lieberman's threat to filibuster health care reform. Lieberman has a
new-found strong opposition to the Medicare buy-in proposal-a massive
flip-flop from his earlier support.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Matthew
Perry said Lieberman's comments are good news for managed-care stocks
as anything that delays health-care reform is a positive for the group.
Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a face-to-face meeting on Sunday that he will vote against a health care bill that includes a public option or a provision that would expand Medicare, a Democratic Senate aide tells the Huffington Post.
New York, NY. December 10, 2009 -- On Thursday morning, a group of
friends and colleagues, mostly middle-aged, sat and chatted over coffee
at a midtown deli near Grand Central Station. Then Laurie Wen, an
organizer with the Mobilization for Healthcare for All, showed up with
a box of granola bars and a bag full of T-shirts, and everybody
cheerfully rolled up their sleeves to write the number of an attorney
on their forearms. 
As my grandmother used to say, "I was born on a weekend
but not last weekend." The latest insult to Americans hungry for a bit of
healthcare justice for all comes from the news that the Senate health bill now
allows insurance companies to place annual limits on payments for some
catastrophic illnesses, like cancer.
Surprise, surprise, surprise. Another day. Another lie
uncovered in the process. Another piece of this reform bill that favors the
for-profit health insurance industry.
The importance of this debate may be that it galvanizes more women to stand up to elected officials like Stupak who want to interfere with their health care and dictate what services they can and cannot get because of the moral sensitivities of certain vocal constituents.
WASHINGTON - An influential progressive in the House of Representatives says that the public option compromise taking shape in the Senate might not survive the lower chamber--particularly if the Senate tries to jam its health care bill through the House.
In an interview this afternoon, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said he met with the Congressional Progressive Caucus' health care task force yesterday and they all agreed. "There is consensus within the progressive caucus," Grijalva said. "Personally I'm in agreement with them. I don't think very much of it."
Nurses from three unions, including the
powerful California Nurses Association, have founded a new national
union to influence national health care policies and try to extend
California's patient ratio law into other states.
Organizers said the 150,000-member National Nurses United, the
largest professional union for registered nurses in the country, will
also flex its power to push for a stronger voice in the health care
overhaul process going on in Congress and the expansion of
representation for nonunion nurses.
