News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Diagnosis For America by Jonathan Tasini, | October 25, 2005
The Delphi bankruptcy and GM deal are symptoms of a national malaise that only universal health care can cure. read more »The EC Plan B? by Laura Donnelly, OurFuture.org | October 17, 2005
With the FDA's decision on whether to make emergency contraception (EC) available over the counter now stalled indefinitely, women's health organizations that were lobbying for Plan B came up against an infuriating roadblock. Then, last week, a GAO draft report concluded what they'd already suspected: The decisi read more »No In-Vitro. This Is Indiana! by Laura Donnelly, OurFuture.org | October 6, 2005
Talk about turning back the clock for women. A new bill proposed by Indiana state senator Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, would ban single women from assisted reproductive procedures. That's right. read more »The Poor's PR Problem by Laura Donnelly, OurFuture.org | September 8, 2005
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the relief effort, much business has been pushed aside or delayed—the estate tax vote and John Roberts' confirmation hearings come immediately to mind. read more »America's Health Crisis by Robert Reich, | April 18, 2005
If what's good for GM is good for America, then America needs a single-payer health care plan. read more »
The Latest
Pelosi: No Public Option, No Bill, Politico | September 4, 2009
As the White House signals that it is willing to move forward on a health reform plan without a public option, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a strong message: not so fast. more »
Medical Bills Piling Up For Underinsured , The Miami Herald | September 3, 2009
The underinsured include the working poor whose employers don't provide full coverage, people who lose their jobs and their employer-subsidized insurance, and those who fail to understand the fine print in policy contracts and end up with less coverage than they expected. A 2007 survey by the Commonwealth Fund estimates 25 million Americans are underinsured, up from 16 million in 2003. more »
Obama, Snow Work On Health Reform Compromise, CNN | September 3, 2009
President Obama and top aides have quietly stepped up talks with moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine on a scaled-back health care bill. The compromise plan would lack a government-run public health insurance option favored by Obama, but would leave the door open to adding that provision down the road under an idea proposed by Snowe. more »
US Fares Poorly In Child Welfare Survey, Truthout | September 3, 2009
America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. more »
Health Care Lobbyist Boost Key Players In Debate, USA Today | September 2, 2009
As the debate intensifies in Congress, health care sector contributions to lawmakers on the committees overseeing the massive change to the nation's health care system are on the upswing — rising 8% between the first and second quarter of the year, according to data compiled by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. more »
U.S. Health Insurers Face New Questions, Financial Times | September 1, 2009
Health insurers face fresh questions from the House energy and commerce committee, which is stepping up its investigation into the industry as the argument over health care reform continues. Henry Waxman, the committee’s chairman, wrote to six health insurers asking about how small businesses are “purged” from coverage when their employees become ill. more »
Health Reform Estimates Need Long View, Says Study, Reuters | September 1, 2009
The Congressional Budget Office may be missing potential savings from various health reform proposals by not looking at efforts to manage or prevent expensive, chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, researchers said in a study. The study, published in the Health Affairs journal, comes as members of the U.S. more »
Lack of Paid Sick Days Compounds Flu Problem, fresnobee.com | September 1, 2009
Health officials are urging businesses to keep sick employees home this fall to control the spread of swine flu. But for many workers, a sick day is a day without wages. So they’re still showing up for work, exposing others to the highly contagious flu strain, researchers say. more »
Job Loss Fears Linked to Health Problems, Time Wellness Blogs | August 31, 2009
Constantly worrying about losing your job may be worse for your health than actually getting laid off or being unemployed, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal Social Science and Medicine. By analyzing two large, long-term data sets for some 1,700 U.S. more »
Drug Industry to Run Ads Favoring White House Plan, The New York Times | August 10, 2009
The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday. more »
