Above Photo: Susan Walsh / AP Photo. The largest-ever Medicare premium increase will pad the pockets of insurance executives who donated millions to the president’s election campaign. Last week, the Biden administration quietly reaffirmed its decision to enact the highest Medicare premium hikes in history right before this year’s midterm elections. At the same time, President Joe Biden is endorsing a plan to funnel significantly more Medicare money to insurance companies and further privatize the government insurance program for older Americans and those with disabilities. In effect, the higher premium increases will subsidize the larger payments to — and profits for — private […]
Medicare
23 posts
Washington, DC – The grassroots, volunteer led activist group March for Medicare for All returns to Washington D.C. on Medicare’s birthday for their National Day of Action. March for Medicare for All demands national improve Medicare for All and rejects the privatization of healthcare in America. Last summer, March for Medicare for All launched in 56 different locations all the same day. This year, the primary focus will be on the nation’s capital. On Saturday, July 30 at 10:30 am, marchers will meet at the southeastern corner of The Ellipse off of Constitution Ave., NW, between 15th St, NW and 17th […]
Above Photo: Hospital workers, union members, and local politicians protested the imminent closure of Hahnemann University Hospital at a rally in Philadelphia on July 15, 2019. (Bastiaan Slabbers / NurPhoto via Getty Images) Communities, Not Corporations, Should Own Our Most Vital Health Care Assets. We have long advocated for single-payer national health insurance. By eliminating private insurers and simplifying how providers are paid, single-payer would free up hundreds of billions of dollars now squandered annually on insurance-related bureaucracy. The savings would make it feasible to cover the uninsured and to eliminate the cost barriers that keep even insured patients from getting the care […]
Above photo: C-SPAN.org. Put aside Democrat versus Republican. Let’s just look at corporations versus people. Elizabeth (Liz) Fowler has a stellar corporate resume. For seven years, she worked at Johnson & Johnson, as vice president for global health policy. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, she was chief health counsel to Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus, who banned single payer advocates from the deliberations that led to the insurance company dominated Affordable Care Act. In her off time, Fowler is a runner. She runs marathons and triathlons around the world. During work hours, she carries the torch for the health insurance industry […]
Lee Camp looks at how the capitalist system sits at the heart of the worst problems facing society. In this history lesson, Camp takes you back to the feudal system, to the creation of corporations and currency, to the modern system that’s destroying the lives of the poor today. The ruling class don’t even try to hide the inhumanity that keeps the system running anymore, now that it has become almost impossible to ignore. This leaves it up to popular movements to end the capitalist system and create something new. Then, Camp reports on the police brutality victims who don’t […]
Above Photo: Doctors attend a protest at the headquarters of the Health and Human Services Department on November 30, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Physicians for a National Health Program) A petition calling on the president to end the Medicare Direct Contracting pilot program has now garnered more than 10,000 signatures. Calls are mounting for President Joe Biden to terminate an under-the-radar Trump-era pilot program that—if allowed to run its course—could result in the complete privatization of traditional Medicare by the end of the decade. A petition recently launched by Physicians for a National Program (PNHP) has garnered more than 10,000 signatures as doctors and other advocates […]
A new program is placing Medicare recipients into private health insurance plans without their knowledge or consent in a final effort to fully privatize our national Medicare system. Known as “Direct Contract Entities (DCEs),” this program is putting more of our healthcare system into the hands of private equity to generate enormous profits at the expense of our health. Clearing the FOG speaks about this with Kay Tillow, a long time health care, civil rights and union activist. Tillow explains what these entities are, why they threaten the future of our entire healthcare system and how they block our ability to […]
Above Photo: Kip Sullivan. In the early 1970s, Senator Ted Kennedy and Congresswoman Martha Griffiths introduced Medicare for All legislation in the Congress. It could have passed but for the efforts of a doctor from Minnesota by the name of Paul Elwood. Elwood believed that unless the Republicans did something to control health care costs, Medicare for All single payer would soon become the law of the land. So in February 1970, Elwood traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with officials in Richard Nixon’s administration to present his proposal for what he called health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The seeds for a […]
Above photo: Screenshare. Wall St. and Insurance Companies are stealing Medicare–End Direct Contracting. Louisville, KY – On Saturday, December 11 at 11:00 a.m. EST, Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care and others will gather outside the headquarters of Humana, 500 W. Main St., Louisville, KY 40202 where they will demand an end to Medicare Direct Contracting, a program that could fully privatize Traditional fee-for-service Medicare without a vote by Congress. The protest with feature Steven Katz in full costume as the Grinch with the reading and performance of “How the Grinch Stole Medicare,” an original poem from National Single Payer. Jill Harmer and […]
Above Photo: People demonstrate support for Medicare for All during a rally in Los Angeles, California, on February 4, 2017. (Ronen Tivony / NurPhoto Via Getty Images). In the face of massive support for Medicare for All and the failure of the U.S.’s for-profit health care system, the inevitable fall of the medical-industrial complex can be predicted, if not with precision, with certainty. Everyone is aware of the impending demise, none more so than those in charge of the for-profit health care system and their supporters in Congress, as evidenced by the frenetic activity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid […]
Above Photo: “The single payer groups should be saying—you get nothing from us unless we get everything we want from you.” Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. And It’s A Shame. “Nobody in Congress can be counted on to stand with what the people need as opposed to caving to the demands of party leadership,” warns veteran single-payer activist Anne Scheetz. Democrats in Congress and their supporters inside the beltway have taken single payer off the table. Instead of pursuing Medicare for All they are pursuing incremental improvements in Medicare—also known as Medicare for Some. They are also pursuing single payer at the state level. […]
Biden Could Enact Medicare For All By Executive Action By Kenny Stancil, Commondreams. November 22, 2020 Biden Could Enact Medicare For All By Executive Action2020-11-222020-11-22https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/biden_7.jpg200px200px Above photo: President-elect Joe Biden delivers a remarks on the economic recovery in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday, November 16, 2020. Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images. With Pandemic as National Emergency. “I do not expect Joe Biden to use this power on Inauguration Day to instantly turn the United States into a single-payer country. But there’s nothing in the law that would appear to prevent him from doing it.” Journalist David Dayen presented a convincing […]
The Imperative To Achieve National Improved Medicare For All By Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. November 15, 2020 The Imperative To Achieve National Improved Medicare For All2020-11-152020-11-15https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/36648254_10214863795406023_3827661441012334592_n-scaled-e1605459425204.jpg200px200px NOTE: The Kevin Zeese Emerging Activists Fund is accepting applicants for a unrestricted grant of $20,000 until December 13, 2020. Learn more at PopularResistance.org/kevin-zeese/. And join us for a webinar with Venezuelan social movements on November 18 to hear about their upcoming elections and how we can support their struggle against US intervention. Details at bit.ly/VZvotes. Health care will be a major issue early in the new Biden/Harris administration. Unemployment is still high with over […]
Supreme Court Challenge To ACA Highlights Why We Need Medicare For All By Margaret Flowers, Truthout. November 12, 2020 Supreme Court Challenge To ACA Highlights Why We Need Medicare For All2020-11-122020-11-12https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/11/supreme-court-signs-e1605219622566.jpg200px200px Above photo: Demonstration at the Us Supreme Court in June, 2012 during first case against the ACA. Once again, the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health law passed under the Obama administration in 2010, will be in the hands of the Supreme Court. The court heard oral arguments in the case, California v. Texas, on Tuesday. A decision is expected in the spring. This is the third time […]
More than 65% of the nation’s small, rural hospitals took out loans from Medicare when the pandemic hit. Many now face repayment at a time when they are under great financial strain. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images More than 65% of the nation’s small, rural hospitals took out loans from Medicare when the pandemic hit. Many now face repayment at a time when they are under great financial strain. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images David Usher, chief financial officer for a 12-bed rural hospital in western Kansas, is sitting on $1.7 million […]
Medicare For All Is A Beginning, Not The End Point By Don Fitz, Green Social Thought. August 31, 2020 Medicare For All Is A Beginning, Not The End Point2020-08-312020-08-31https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/medicare-for-all-hchp-indianapolis-monthly-meeting.jpg200px200px As a coup de grâce to the Bernie Sanders campaign Joe Biden declared that he would veto Medicare-for-All. This could drive a dedicated health care advocate to relentlessly pursue Med-4-All as a final goal. However, it is not the final goal. It should be the first step in a complete transformation of medicine which includes combining community medicine with natural medicine and health-care-for-the-world. Contrasting Cuban changes in medicine during the last 60 […]
On Medicare And Medicaid’s 55th Birthday, Let’s Expand Benefits By Nancy J. Altman, Economy for All. August 2, 2020 On Medicare And Medicaid’s 55th Birthday, Let’s Expand Benefits2020-08-022020-08-02https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/08/medicare.png200px200px Above photo: Rally to demand a universal, single-payer, improved, and expanded Medicare healthcare system and an end to for-profit healthcare. Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images. In the 55 years since the legislation was signed into law, both programs have proven their worth. On July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. This crowning achievement was both the culmination of a decades-long effort to attain guaranteed universal health insurance and the […]
Supreme Court Just Made The Case For Medicare For All By Sophia Paslaski, Otherwords. July 31, 2020 Supreme Court Just Made The Case For Medicare For All2020-07-312020-07-30https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/07/rendered-1080×627-e1596156868718.jpg200px200px Above photo: Shutterstock. The Court says employers can refuse to cover birth control. This is why care shouldn’t be tied to employment. People of the menstruating persuasion: how dare you. The highest court in the land demands to know. This July, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that President Trump, who does not have a uterus, was quite right to object to Obama-era rules under the Affordable Care Act that allowed Americans […]
At least 360 Democrat delegates, mostly Bernie Sanders supporters, have signed a pledge to vote against a Democrat national platform that does not include medicare for all. According to Politico’s delegate tracker, Biden has 2,632 delegates and Sanders currently has 1,076. The Dems are holding a ‘virtual’ DNC in Milwaukee in just three weeks and it looks there may be a repeat of the 2016 convention. In 2016, Bernie supporters booed Hillary Clinton at the convention after WikiLeaks released DNC emails proving the primary was rigged in Hillary’s favor. TRENDING: We Asked Our Readers to Send Photos of the Democrat Party […]
COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans, according to Medicare claims data. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption John Moore/Getty Images COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans, according to Medicare claims data. John Moore/Getty Images New federal data reinforces the stark racial disparities that have appeared with COVID-19: According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Black Americans enrolled in Medicare were hospitalized with the disease at rates nearly four times higher than their white counterparts. Disparities were also striking among Hispanics and Asian Americans. Hispanics were more than twice as likely to be […]
Why Covid-19 Racial Disparities Make The Case For Medicare For All By Dean E. Robinson, The Smirking Chimp. June 10, 2020 Why Covid-19 Racial Disparities Make The Case For Medicare For All2020-06-102020-06-10https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/06/covid-patient-at-hospital-e1591806462841.jpg200px200px Above photo: Covid patient with EMT. From the Smirking Chimp. The racial disparities of COVID-19 have received much attention. Blacks are dying at a higher rate that is typically more than double the rate of whites. But we need to move beyond naming the problem of fighting for solutions. Medicare for All would go a long way to beginning to address racial disparities in health care in general and for COVID-19 in particular. The […]
Scheer Intelligence: Does Medicare For All Await Us At The End Of This Viral Massacre? By Robert Scheer, Popular Resistance. May 8, 2020 | Educate!, Featured Campaign Scheer Intelligence: Does Medicare For All Await Us At The End Of This Viral Massacre?2020-05-082020-05-08https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/05/image0-copy-e1588963308404.jpeg200px200px Above image: By Mr. Fish. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a number of fatal flaws in the ways the United States operates that all link back to capitalism. Perhaps the most egregious, however, is the country’s inhumane health care system. Given the global spread of Covid-19, it has been possible to witness in real time how other countries have fared […]
Look out for COVID-19 Scams From Medicare.gov Unfortunately, scammers are using the COVID-19 pandemic to try to steal your Medicare Number, personal information, and money. And they’re using robocalls, social media posts, and emails to do it. Remember, if anyone reaches out to get your Medicare Number or personal information in exchange for something, you can bet it’s a scam. Prevent Medicare Fraud Be on the lookout, so you can stop scams before they happen. Here are recent Coronavirus scams to watch for: Robocalls offering you respiratory masks they’ll never send Social media posts fraudulently seeking donations for non-existent charities, or claiming […]