It’s the for-profit health care industry telling us we can’t afford Medicare for All
5 years, 9 months ago

It’s the for-profit health care industry telling us we can’t afford Medicare for All

Salon  

The most important question about Medicare for All is a simple one: If other industrialized countries can afford to offer high-quality universal health care to their citizens, why can’t the United States? In a seminal paper published in 2003, Uwe Reinhardt and Gerard Anderson found “it’s the prices, stupid” that set the U.S. health care system apart. We have a more expensive health care system because many of our political leaders across party lines are not serving us, but rather the health care industry. Medicare for All would mean that the proverbial “pigs at the trough” of the $3.5 trillion health care system each have something to lose.

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History of this topic

‘Obamacare’ hits record enrollment but an uncertain future awaits under Trump
1 day, 1 hour ago

‘Obamacare’ hits record enrollment but an uncertain future awaits under Trump

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — A record 24 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s landmark health legislation, as the program awaits an uncertain future under a Republican-controlled White House and Congress. “When I took office, I made a promise to the American people that I would bring down the cost of health …

Column: Here’s one key reform that can fix U.S. healthcare
1 day, 11 hours ago

Column: Here’s one key reform that can fix U.S. healthcare

LA Times  

For more than 50 years, as the economics of American healthcare and health insurance have evolved, one theory has persisted, unchanged: To promote better and more efficient medical treatment, patients must have “skin in the game.” The idea is that requiring fees for doctor or hospital visits — through co-pays, deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing — will prompt people …

'Obamacare' hits record sign-ups, but an uncertain future looms under Trump
Trending News
1 day, 11 hours ago

'Obamacare' hits record sign-ups, but an uncertain future looms under Trump

India Today  

A record 24 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama's landmark health legislation, as the programme awaits an uncertain future under a Republican-controlled White House and Congress. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the Alaska Beacon last week that Congress would “need to continue these premium tax credits," in an interview …

The health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a bloodsucking tick
6 days, 21 hours ago

The health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a bloodsucking tick

Raw Story  

There’s only one person in this photograph of a recent G7 meeting who represents a country where an illness can destroy an entire family, leaving them bankrupt and homeless, with the repercussions of that sudden fall into poverty echoing down through generations. The for-profit health insurance industry has attached itself to us like a giant, bloodsucking tick. Here’s one example …

Trump Medicare pick Dr. Oz says uninsured ‘don’t have right to health’ in resurfaced clip
1 week, 1 day ago

Trump Medicare pick Dr. Oz says uninsured ‘don’t have right to health’ in resurfaced clip

Raw Story  

Mehmet Oz, widely recognized as television’s “Dr. Senator Elizabeth Warren, in the letter, expressed to Oz, "concerns about your advocacy for the elimination of Traditional Medicare and your deep financial ties to private health insurers." NBC News reported that the "Democrats referred to a 2020 opinion piece that Oz co-wrote calling for putting all Americans into Medicare Advantage, effectively replacing …

Trump Medicare pick Dr. Oz says uninsured ‘don’t have right to health’ in resurfaced clip
1 week, 1 day ago

Trump Medicare pick Dr. Oz says uninsured ‘don’t have right to health’ in resurfaced clip

Raw Story  

Mehmet Oz, widely recognized as television’s “Dr. Senator Elizabeth Warren, in the letter, expressed to Oz, "concerns about your advocacy for the elimination of Traditional Medicare and your deep financial ties to private health insurers." NBC News reported that the "Democrats referred to a 2020 opinion piece that Oz co-wrote calling for putting all Americans into Medicare Advantage, effectively replacing …

Employers lobby to keep health care prices transparent in hopes of containing costs
3 weeks ago

Employers lobby to keep health care prices transparent in hopes of containing costs

NPR  

Employers lobby to keep health care prices transparent in hopes of containing costs toggle caption Zach Gibson/Getty Images It seems simple: Require hospitals and insurers to post their negotiated prices for most health care services and — bingo — competition follows, yielding lower costs for consumers. Employers are using transparency data to try to slow growth of their health care …

In wake of killing, UnitedHealth CEO admits that 'no one would design a system like' ours
3 weeks, 5 days ago

In wake of killing, UnitedHealth CEO admits that 'no one would design a system like' ours

Raw Story  

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty wrote in a New York Times op-ed Friday that the for-profit U.S. healthcare system "does not work as well as it should" and that "no one would design a system like the one we have," admissions that came as his industry faced a torrent of public anger following the murder of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive. Witty …

'Blame the system': Here's what prompted insurance backlash after CEO shooting
3 weeks, 5 days ago

'Blame the system': Here's what prompted insurance backlash after CEO shooting

Raw Story  

By Simon F. Haeder, Texas A&M University The U.S. health care system leaves much to be desired. Many sources of health care frustration Few with any personal experience or professional expertise would describe U.S. health care as the gold standard of health care systems. With government power limited, insurers are perhaps the only force in the U.S. health care industry …

Letters to the Editor: Don’t target insurance CEOs. Target the medical insurance industry
3 weeks, 6 days ago

Letters to the Editor: Don’t target insurance CEOs. Target the medical insurance industry

LA Times  

Police guard the scene outside a Hilton hotel in New York where the UnitedHealthcare CEO was killed Dec. 4. Many civilized nations don’t even have private medical insurance, except at the margins and mainly for the rich. When they were ready to release her, they said apologetically, “Since you are not French citizens, when you come back in three days …

The UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killing And Social Media's Reaction
4 weeks, 2 days ago

The UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killing And Social Media's Reaction

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The questions surrounding the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are going to take a while to answer definitively, even if police in Pennsylvania have now arrested and charged a man in connection with the shooting. “Insurers are using prior authorization much more aggressively and frequently than ever before.” - Wendell Potter, Center for Health and Democracy …

Letters to the Editor: America’s unjust health system finally gets a hard look after insurance CEO’s killing
4 weeks, 2 days ago

Letters to the Editor: America’s unjust health system finally gets a hard look after insurance CEO’s killing

LA Times  

To the editor: Columnist Robin Abcarian notes that the single mother of a child with leukemia had to pay $900 a month for her child’s feeding device because her insurance company, UnitedHealthcare, denied payment for it. I am alarmed that insurance corporations, pharmaceutical manufacturers and Wall Street types will lobby Congress and the president to take away my traditional Medicare …

UnitedHealthcare killing reignites criticism of insurance industry
4 weeks, 2 days ago

UnitedHealthcare killing reignites criticism of insurance industry

Salon  

When I saw the news of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s stunning killing in Manhattan on Wednesday, my mind immediately went to the television show “Mr. The findings showed that many Americans, “regardless of where their insurance comes from, have inadequate coverage that’s led to delayed or forgone care, significant medical debt, and worsening health problems,” according to the Fund's report. …

UnitedHealthcare CEO's shooting opens a door for many to vent frustrations over insurance
Trending News
1 month ago

UnitedHealthcare CEO's shooting opens a door for many to vent frustrations over insurance

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Patients are already spending a lot of money …

A look at how some of Trump’s picks to lead health agencies could help carry out Kennedy’s overhaul
1 month, 2 weeks ago

A look at how some of Trump’s picks to lead health agencies could help carry out Kennedy’s overhaul

Associated Press  

The team that President-elect Donald Trump has selected to lead federal health agencies in his second administration includes a retired congressman, a surgeon and a former talk-show host. Here’s a look at the nominees’ potential role in carrying out what Kennedy says is the task to “reorganize” agencies, which have an overall $1.7 trillion budget, employ 80,000 scientists, researchers, doctors …

Trump’s win could accelerate the privatization of Medicare
2 months ago

Trump’s win could accelerate the privatization of Medicare

NPR  

Trump’s win could accelerate the privatization of Medicare toggle caption Jenny Kane/AP Former President Donald Trump’s pending return to the White House could alter the very nature of Medicare, the nearly 60-year-old federal program. Medicare Advantage plans typically combine coverage for hospital and outpatient care and prescription drugs, while eliminating the 20% coinsurance requirement and capping customers’ annual out-of-pocket costs. …

Your guide to the presidential candidates’ views on healthcare
3 months ago

Your guide to the presidential candidates’ views on healthcare

LA Times  

The fate of the Affordable Care Act. It’s little surprise, then, that both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump have pledged to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and protect Medicare. But in a campaign season that has been light on detailed proposals on health policy — which has often taken a back seat to other issues …

America the unwell: The corporate greed threatening our stability
4 months, 2 weeks ago

America the unwell: The corporate greed threatening our stability

Salon  

One thing our government doesn’t like doing is challenging the greed of health insurance companies. Americans, who are getting sicker, sadder, and ever more anxious, are so often unable to access necessities like healthcare because all too many legislators, judges and administration officials refuse to hold large companies accountable. Americans, who are getting sicker, sadder, and ever more anxious, are …

Who profits most from America’s baffling health-care system?
1 year, 2 months ago

Who profits most from America’s baffling health-care system?

Hindustan Times  

ON OCTOBER 4TH more than 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente, a large health-care chain, began a three-day strike. The walkout was the biggest in the history of America’s health sector, and called attention to the staffing shortages plaguing the country’s hospitals and clinics. In 2022 the combined revenue of the nine biggest middlemen—call them big health—equated to nearly 45% of …

Biden launches new push to limit health care costs, hoping to show he can save money for families
1 year, 6 months ago

Biden launches new push to limit health care costs, hoping to show he can save money for families

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy President Joe Biden on Friday plans to roll out a …

The pandemic cracked the door open to universal health care. Here's how we could still get there
1 year, 8 months ago

The pandemic cracked the door open to universal health care. Here's how we could still get there

Salon  

Just over three years ago, New York City reported its first confirmed death from COVID-19. That seeing how your health affected mine — the revelation that we were bound up together — would shift the dialogue on universal health care. We are missing the opportunity to cement the coverage gains made during the pandemic — and instead will move further …

Healthcare coverage for millions in U.S. will turn on a debate emerging in Washington
1 year, 9 months ago

Healthcare coverage for millions in U.S. will turn on a debate emerging in Washington

LA Times  

President Biden used his State of the Union speech to bait Republicans into a fight over Medicare. Biden’s plan will “ask the wealthiest to pay a little more to ensure that this program is around for at least 25 more years for our seniors who need it,” White House budget director Shalanda Young told reporters in unveiling the spending plan …

Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong?
1 year, 10 months ago

Opinion: How has American healthcare gone so wrong?

LA Times  

It shouldn’t be so hard to get the right treatments to the people who need them. A third conspicuous failure of our healthcare system, looming in the background every week for physicians like me, is hospital funding. These are only a few of the ways that the U.S. healthcare system’s failures now weigh on physicians. If a federal single-payer system …

A doctor’s impassioned critique of Big Pharma
2 years, 9 months ago

A doctor’s impassioned critique of Big Pharma

Salon  

Compared to other high-income countries, the fitness of Americans is in dismal shape — and has been declining for decades. In "Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It," Abramson sets out to answer the "paradox of American health care," building his case using the testimony of patients and former drug executives. "The United …

14.5M get health care under Obama law, with help from Biden
2 years, 11 months ago

14.5M get health care under Obama law, with help from Biden

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — At least 14.5 million Americans are getting private health insurance for this year under the Obama-era health law, thanks to help from the Biden administration. “Health care should be a right, not a privilege, for all Americans,” President Joe Biden said Thursday in a statement announcing the numbers. Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services said the …

Agonizing choices as Dems debate shrinking health care pie
3 years, 3 months ago

Agonizing choices as Dems debate shrinking health care pie

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Democrats are debating how to divide up what could be a smaller serving of health care spending in President Joe Biden’s domestic policy bill, pitting the needs of older adults who can’t afford their dentures against the plight of uninsured low-income people in the South. Health care is foundational to Biden’s $3.5 trillion domestic policy bill, which touches …

Column: Drugmakers see disaster in Medicare negotiating prices. Don’t listen to them
3 years, 3 months ago

Column: Drugmakers see disaster in Medicare negotiating prices. Don’t listen to them

LA Times  

The pharmaceutical industry is pushing back against a Democratic bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. The industry said in an open letter to Congress that letting Medicare haggle on behalf of its 63 million beneficiaries would give the government “the power to set the price of medicines.” Leaders of nearly two dozen drug manufacturers said that though …

Biden Administration Is Making Health Insurance Cheaper, Easier To Entice Enrollees
3 years, 8 months ago

Biden Administration Is Making Health Insurance Cheaper, Easier To Entice Enrollees

NPR  

Biden Administration Is Making Health Insurance Cheaper, Easier To Entice Enrollees During a special pandemic enrollment period, the Biden administration is trying to make getting health insurance irresistible by making it easier to sign up and making plans more affordable. The Biden administration says 4 out of every 5 people enrolled in a plan on healthcare.gov is eligible for a …

Column: Let’s do away with insurance networks. They’re not lowering healthcare costs
3 years, 9 months ago

Column: Let’s do away with insurance networks. They’re not lowering healthcare costs

LA Times  

This column is about the need for the U.S. healthcare system to pay more attention to mental health — a need that’s been made painfully clear by rising rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s also about coverage networks in general and the absurdly high cost of out-of-network care, which can run significantly more …

Column: That Buffett-Bezos-Dimon healthcare venture goes bust — predictably
4 years ago

Column: That Buffett-Bezos-Dimon healthcare venture goes bust — predictably

LA Times  

Anyone not blinded by the billionaire star power of Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Jamie Dimon could have known that their project to solve America’s healthcare woes was a dead duck from the start. The venture claims to have “piloted new ways to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand and easier to use, and prescription …

Opinion: The pandemic shows America can’t afford its dysfunctional health insurance system
4 years, 4 months ago

Opinion: The pandemic shows America can’t afford its dysfunctional health insurance system

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Richard E. Besser, a physician, is president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. But the inability of many people to afford health insurance – particularly people of color or those in low-wage jobs – is one of our nation’s clearest vulnerabilities during this pandemic. The coronavirus has exposed this nation in many …

US healthcare: A cure worse than disease?
4 years, 5 months ago

US healthcare: A cure worse than disease?

Al Jazeera  

Mehdi Hasan takes on one of the most divisive debates in US politics: healthcare and the lack of universal coverage. In part one, he challenges Lanhee Chen, chief architect of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign. Chen argues that “the employer- And in part two, Hasan debates Bernie Sanders surrogate and health policy expert Abdul El-Sayed. Editors Note: In …

As millions lose health insurance, Trump offers little help
4 years, 5 months ago

As millions lose health insurance, Trump offers little help

LA Times  

President Trump and Seema Verma, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at a White House meeting in 2017, have taken few steps to alert consumers to their options for health coverage. As millions of people lose jobs in the coronavirus outbreak, jeopardizing their health benefits, the Trump administration and many states are doing little if anything …

Column: $32 trillion for ‘Medicare for all’? It’s a bargain
4 years, 10 months ago

Column: $32 trillion for ‘Medicare for all’? It’s a bargain

LA Times  

Democrats are adept at highlighting the problems with our healthcare system. They can point to other developed countries in making the case for the economics and effectiveness of public health plans, whether we’re talking Medicare for all or a similar “public option.” And they can point to current healthcare spending to make a case for why their proposals would cost …

Medicare for All? A Public Option? Health Care Terms, Explained
4 years, 11 months ago

Medicare for All? A Public Option? Health Care Terms, Explained

NPR  

Health Care Terms, Explained Enlarge this image toggle caption The Washington Post/Getty Images The Washington Post/Getty Images If the last few Democratic presidential debates are any guide, tonight's will likely delve into health care proposals. According to one poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 87% of Democrats support "Medicare for All," while 64% of Democrats support "single-payer health care." The …

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints
5 years ago

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? A Much-Touted Idea Disappoints

NPR  

Reduce Health Costs By Nurturing The Sickest? As word spread, breathless headlines popped up like "Health Care's Best Hope," and "Could Camden Coalition Save U.S. Health Care?" Enlarge this image toggle caption Dan Gorenstein/Tradeoffs Dan Gorenstein/Tradeoffs "The bottom line is, we built a brilliant intervention to navigate people to nowhere," says Brenner. "We think of ourselves now as the Camden …

The Campaign Against 'Medicare For All' Is Spending Millions. Progressives Not So Much.
5 years ago

The Campaign Against 'Medicare For All' Is Spending Millions. Progressives Not So Much.

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING The most hotly debated policy in the Democratic presidential primary is “Medicare for All” ― a plan to move all Americans onto a single, government-run health insurance plan. The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future ― an industry front group representing private health insurers, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies ― has spent at least $1 million in television …

What strong economy? Health care costs are destroying American families
5 years ago

What strong economy? Health care costs are destroying American families

Salon  

If the media was informed by the public interest the continuing economic slide of working-class Americans, thanks to health care costs, would dominate the news. “Another 8% said they or a family member put off treatment for a less serious condition, bringing the total percentage of households delaying care due to costs to 33%, tying the high from 2014.” While …

No One Actually Likes Choosing Their Own Health Plan
5 years ago

No One Actually Likes Choosing Their Own Health Plan

Slate  

Health care remains the single most important issue to voters in the 2020 election. In theory, a health insurance marketplace works best when Americans can compare plans and make decisions about coverage based on their needs and each plan’s benefits. Each primary debate to-date has ignored the crucial questions of rising health care prices, declining life expectancy, and the ongoing …

What the Trump administration gets right about hospital price transparency
5 years, 1 month ago

What the Trump administration gets right about hospital price transparency

Salon  

New federal regulations finalized Nov. 15 require hospitals to make public all the prices they negotiate with insurers and health plans, starting in 2021. Under the new regulations, hospitals, which account for about one-third of all health care costs, also have to divulge the actual rates paid by health plans and insurers for those same codes. I believe health care …

'The Price We Pay' Argues Rising Health Care Costs Undermine Public Trust In Medicine
5 years, 2 months ago

'The Price We Pay' Argues Rising Health Care Costs Undermine Public Trust In Medicine

NPR  

'The Price We Pay' Argues Rising Health Care Costs Undermine Public Trust In Medicine Enlarge this image toggle caption Catie Dull/NPR Catie Dull/NPR Americans are losing trust in their doctors, says Dr. Marty Makary in his new book, The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care — and How to Fix It. Sponsor Message "When you shed your coat …

Column: Trump’s plan to ‘save’ Medicare would actually destroy it
5 years, 3 months ago

Column: Trump’s plan to ‘save’ Medicare would actually destroy it

LA Times  

President Trump greets seniors in Florida at his Medicare event, before misleading them about what he’ll do to the program. Since one of the main factors driving up costs in American health is that we pay doctors and hospitals much more than they collect in other countries, this makes Medicare a signpost to more rational healthcare in the U.S. To …

We’re Getting Ripped Off
5 years, 3 months ago

We’re Getting Ripped Off

Slate  

In 2019, the average price of health insurance rose above $20,000 for families that obtain their coverage through work. Thanks to the escalating costs of employer-based health insurance, Americans are already paying enough to fund a European-style welfare state. Some might argue that it’s misleading to treat insurance premiums as taxes since, technically, nobody is forced to buy coverage, and …

ABC's debate moderators don’t understand what universal healthcare is
5 years, 3 months ago

ABC's debate moderators don’t understand what universal healthcare is

Salon  

Omitted entirely from Thursday's Democratic Presidential debate segment on the American healthcare system was any real discussion of how sick and inhumane of a system it really is, and what a high price we pay for it — not merely in terms of exorbitant costs, but in the preventable pain and suffering of millions. For a while now, the corporate …

Americans’ struggles with medical bills are a foreign concept in other countries
5 years, 3 months ago

Americans’ struggles with medical bills are a foreign concept in other countries

LA Times  

Dr. Jako Burgers examines Erik Eikelenstam at his offices in Gorinchem, a small city south of Amsterdam. “The truth is, it’s a real outlier.” Nearly all of America’s global competitors — whether they have government health plans, such as Britain and Canada, or rely on private insurers, such as Germany and the Netherlands — strictly limit out-of-pocket costs. “There isn’t …

Only the wealthy have the right to longevity. Medicare for All can fix that
5 years, 4 months ago

Only the wealthy have the right to longevity. Medicare for All can fix that

Salon  

Perhaps the foremost horror of living in the neoliberal political epoch is capitulating to the myriad ways that it has devolved discourse. The report also notes that, while “income inequality in the United States was relatively stable from the 1940s to the 1970s,” the situation changes after the 1970s, when “wage growth at the top of the income distribution outpace …

President Trump promises a "phenomenal" health plan. What might that mean?
5 years, 4 months ago

President Trump promises a "phenomenal" health plan. What might that mean?

Salon  

While many Capitol Hill Republicans want to avoid a repeat of the Affordable Care Act repeal debate, President Donald Trump keeps promising a health plan that will be “phenomenal” and make the GOP “the party of health care.” Last month, Medicare chief Seema Verma said, “We’re actively engaged in conversations” on what to do. Still, Gremminger points to other administration …

Sanders: Medicare for All means more taxes, better coverage
5 years, 4 months ago

Sanders: Medicare for All means more taxes, better coverage

Associated Press  

FLORENCE, S.C. — Health care was the focus of Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ second day of campaigning in pivotal early-voting South Carolina, where lack of Medicaid expansion has left thousands unable to obtain health coverage. Nationwide, 55% of Democrats and independent voters who lean Democratic said in a poll last month they’d prefer building on President Barack Obama’s Affordable …

Biden health plan aims far beyond legacy of ‘Obamacare’
5 years, 4 months ago

Biden health plan aims far beyond legacy of ‘Obamacare’

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Wrapping himself in the legacy of “Obamacare,” Joe Biden is offering restless Democrats a health care proposal that goes far beyond it, calling for a government plan almost anybody can join but stopping short of a total system remake. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet who is proposing a limited public option focused on areas with little insurer competition, calls …

The big healthcare issue no 2020 candidate is addressing
5 years, 4 months ago

The big healthcare issue no 2020 candidate is addressing

Salon  

There is something pretty basic — and important — about this division we’re seeing among Democratic candidates about healthcare that, surprisingly, is too often missing from the discussion — prices of providing health. Indeed, the discussion of Medicare for All with or without private insurers versus incrementally expanding Obamacare versus other forms of extending the human right to healthcare is …

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