(2018-08-08). Why the Latest Attack on Single-Payer Backfired. truthout.org
| Medicare for All costs $32.6 trillion. This jarring statistic, plastered all over the dominant media last week, was designed to turn heads. "That's trillion with a 'T,'" the Associated Press (AP) quipped. This kind of coverage was frequent following the release of a July 30 study by the Koch-supported libertarian think tank, the Mercatus Center, which analyzed Bernie Sanders's Medicare for All bill ( S.1804). The head of the study was a former George W. Bush official, Charles Blahous. | Further examinations exposed one important fact that the study showed (but did…
(2018-08-08). Are Trump's Mar-a-Lago Cronies Secretly Running the VA? truthdig.com Last February, shortly after Peter O'Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. "Received," O'Rourke replied. "I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action." | O'Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service "concierge" medical care. | More to the point, he is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump's. The third member…
(2018-08-08). New Zealand Nurses Organisation rams through sellout pay deal. wsws.org The union is trying to present the agreement, which fails to address the crisis in the public health system, as a victory.
(2018-08-08). Faulty vaccines spark public outrage in China. wsws.org The scandal is the result of cost-cutting measures aimed at boosting profits and subordination of healthcare to the capitalist system.
(2018-08-07). Sarah Smith Takes on 21-Year Incumbent Adam Smith in Washington's 9th Congressional District. therealnews.com 
Sarah Smith worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign. She is a young working class woman who was asked by Brand New Congress to run the Washington's 9th Congressional district seat against a long time liberal incumbent. She has knocked on 13,000 doors with her message of health care for all and making the Democrats the…
(2018-08-07). Republicans Want to Force People to Work for Their Health Care—What Could Go Wrong? thenation.com Republicans Want to Force People to Work for Their Health Care—What Could Go Wrong? appeared first on The Nation.
(2018-08-06). Baltimore Organizers Say Climate Justice Is Also Health, Housing, and Transit Justice. therealnews.com 
The Baltimore People's Climate Movement says that climate isn't just an issue for our natural world; it also impacts our infrastructure and most vulnerable communities
(2018-08-03). 'Profit over health of innocents': Arkema indicted for Hurricane Harvey toxic chemical release. rt.com 
Top managers at French multinational Arkema could face up to five years in prison after the company was indicted for "reckless" emissions of toxic chemicals from its Houston, Texas plant during last year's Hurricane Harvey.
(2018-08-02). Trump Administration's Breastmilk War Exposes Backchannel Politics in Health Care. progressive.org Nipplegate has a long history in the Global South.
(2018-08-01). Building the Movement for Medicare for All. progressive.org This week was the 53rd anniversary of Medicare, created in the middle of the social agitation of the 1960s. Benjamin Day of Healthcare-NOW! talks about how today, we are in the middle of similar upheaval.
(2018-07-31). Reporting on Medicare for All Makes Media Forget How Math Works. fair.org 
CBS News (7/30/18) | "Medicare for All," a federally funded universal healthcare plan championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont—Ind.), has quickly become a key issue for progressive voters evaluating Democratic Party candidates for the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential race. The plan would provide coverage for the 40 million currently uninsured in the United States, a gap that is estimated to cause tens of thousands of deaths annually. Despite this, Medicare for All has received no shortage of negative coverage in the media, all revolving around the same question: Just how are we going to pay for it? | A study on the cost of Medicare for All was recently conducted by Charles Blahous for the libertarian-leaning Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Blahous' study projected that Sanders' Medicare for All system,…
(2018-07-27). Noam Chomsky on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Spectacular" Victory & Growing Split in Democratic Party. democracynow.org 
The 2018 midterm election season has been roiled by the internal divisions between the Democratic Party's growing progressive base and the more conservative party establishment. In New York City, this division came to a head with the most shocking upset of the election season so far, when 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily defeated 10-term incumbent Representative Joe Crowley, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. Ocasio-Cortez ran a progressive grassroots campaign as a Democratic Socialist advocating for "Medicare for All" and the abolition of ICE. For more on her victory and what it means for the…
(2018-07-23). Venezuela to Invest €293m to Modernise Public Health System as National Nurses' Strike Continues. venezuelanalysis.com Maduro has called for a "revolution within the revolution" in the health sector.