2019-12-05: News Headlines

Mark Gruenberg (2019-12-05). Union member Cirincione challenges Medicare For All opponent Pallone in N.J. peoplesworld.org (PAI)—Rep. Frank Pallone, a powerful Democratic U.S. representative from New Jersey, sees sidetracking Medicare For All as one of his main tasks in this Congress. Union member Russ Cirincione is going to challenge him on it. Which is why Cirincione, a government housing attorney and member of AFSCME Local 1359, is running against 15-term incumbent …

Dean Baker (2019-12-05). The Big Deal in Warren's Prescription Drug Plan. counterpunch.org Earlier this month, Senator Warren put out a set of steps that she would put forward as president as part of a transition to Medicare for All. The items that got the most attention were including everyone over age 50 and under age 18 in Medicare, and providing people of all ages with the option More

WSWS (2019-12-05). Doctors condemn failure of British government to answer letter demanding medical care for Julian Assange. wsws.org The doctors state that "the UK government's refusal to take the required measures to protect Mr Assange's rights, health and dignity appears…unlawfully and unnecessarily exposes Mr Assange to potentially irreversible medical risks."

Sara Flounders (2019-12-05). Crimes against Humanity: US Sanctions Harm One Third of World's People. globalresearch.ca The most insidious and pervasive form of modern warfare by Wall Street and the Pentagon, acting in coordination, is passing largely unnoticed and unchallenged. This calculated attack is rolling back decades of progress in health care, sanitation, housing, essential infrastructure …

Staff (2019-12-05). Sweden Offers Free Higher Ed, Universal Health Care, Daycare — Why Can't the US? truthout.org Medicare for All and tuition-free universities have been at the core of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns, creating a stark division between progressive candidates and their centrist counterparts. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed to make Medicare for All and public universities cost-free by taxing massive corporations and the super wealthy, and earlier this year, Sanders introduced legislation that would cancel student loan debt. His plan would be paid for with a…

United Nations (2019-12-05). Measles 'misinformation campaigns' through social media, fuel rising toll. news.un.org Measles deaths and infections in 2019 are set to "substantially exceed" last year's toll when more than 142,000 people died from the preventable disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Equipe Phonegate (2019-12-05). Increased Incidence of Brain Cancer. Caused by Exposure to Pesticides and Electromagnetic Fields? globalresearch.ca In July 2019 (updated in September 2019), the French Public Health Agency " Santé Publique France", together with the Francim cancer registries, the Hospices Civils de Lyon and the Institut National du Cancer, published national estimates of cancer incidence …

Marlee Kokotovic (2019-12-05). The bee is officially on the verge of extinction. nationofchange.org With our own health and well-being directly linked to these insects, we have to make it a priority to ensure the bee population's survival.

Microwave News (2019-12-05). The Relationship between Cell Phones and Cancer? The Health Impacts of RF Radiation. WHO Report. globalresearch.ca After eight years of work, the World Health Organization ( WHO) is reopening its review of the health effects of RF radiation for a summary report intended to serve as a benchmark for its more than 150 member countries. …

Eds. (2019-12-05). Influenced by corporate America: Adoption of dangerous social policies 'destined to cause death'. mronline.org For the past ten years, I have been identifying and reporting the inevitable preventable harm created by the adoption of neoliberal politics, the planned demolition of the UK welfare state and the influence of Unum Insurance since 1992 with successive British government(s). | Source

United Nations (2019-12-05). UN team aids Samoa response to deadly measles epidemic. news.un.org UN teams are on the ground in Samoa as the country combats a deadly measles epidemic. So far, there have been more than 4,200 cases and 62 deaths, mainly babies, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency on 15 November and launch a mass vaccination campaign five days later.

Jake Johnson, staff writer (2019-12-05). As Impeachment Looms, 350 Mental Health Professionals Warn Congress That Nuclear-Armed Trump 'A Threat to Safety of Our Nation'. commondreams.org "We are convinced that, as the time of possible impeachment approaches, Donald Trump has the real potential to become ever more dangerous." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Staff (2019-12-05). Sweden Provides Free Higher Education, Universal Healthcare, Free Daycare — Why Can't the U.S.? democracynow.org Medicare for All and tuition-free universities have been at the core of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns, creating a stark division between progressive candidates and their centrist counterparts. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed to make Medicare for All and public universities cost-free by taxing massive corporations and the super wealthy, and earlier this year, Sanders introduced legislation that would cancel student loan debt. His plan would be paid for with a new tax on Wall Street, he says. It would also make public universities and community colleges free — a key pil…

The Canary (2019-12-05). Labour reveals plan to 'poverty proof' schools as headteachers say budgets are at 'breaking point'. thecanary.co Free healthy breakfasts would be served to all primary school children under a Labour proposal to "poverty proof" England's schools and reduce the number going hungry. | Labour will detail plans to improve education, including by recruiting 20,000 more teachers, capping primary class sizes at 30 and investing £7bn repairing school buildings. | The free breakfast programme would also be piloted in secondary schools in an attempt to boost children's education chances, if Jeremy Corbyn's party wins the 12 December election. | All secondary school children whose families receive Universal Credit would get free…

Tamasin Cave (2019-12-05). Donald Trump, the US Private Health Giant, and Top NHS Officials—Special Relationships? commondreams.org Donald Trump pictured with US healthcare executives in 2017, including (second from right) the then CEO of UnitedHealth Group. (Photo: Twitter) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Alan Macleod (2019-12-04). Insurance Companies Are Spending Millions on Attack Ads Against Medicare for All. mintpressnews.com Healthcare corporations are spending millions of dollars on astroturfed attack ads against Medicare for All. The Partnership for America's Healthcare Future, for example, a coalition of hospitals and insurance companies, has spent $1 million on a television campaign against changes to the current healthcare system they profit from. | The commercial presents the Partnership as a grassroots organization of concerned citizens, rather than that corporate front group exposed by The Intercept that it is. It features a range of actors of different races, ages and occupations expressing their concern over Medicare for Al…

United Nations (2019-12-04). Malaria: Focus on pregnant women and children, stresses UN health agency report. news.un.org While more pregnant women and children are being protected against malaria than before, more fast-tracking and greater funding are needed to reinvigorate the global response, according to a new United Nations report launched on Wednesday.

Johanna Ross (2019-12-04). Is Boris Johnson a Liar? Denies He Will Sell Off UK National Health Service to Trump. globalresearch.ca 'A plot against the whole country' declared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as he brandished a wad of leaked documents last week which he said proves that the UK National Health Service would indeed be 'on the table' when it came …

David Ruccio (2019-12-03). Dying too young. mronline.org If there ever was an argument in support of Medicare for All it's this: despite spending more on health care than any other country, the United States has seen increasing mortality and falling life expectancy for people ages 25 to 64, who should be in the prime of their lives. | Source

United Nations (2019-12-03). Tuesday's Daily Brief: climate crisis reports, renewal in Iraq, Zimbabwe's hunger crisis, Disabilities Day. news.un.org A recap of Tuesday's stories: New climate change reports on human health and global warming; Zimbabwe's 'worst hunger crisis in a decade'; protests and civil unrest show 'renewed sense of patriotism' in Iraq; UN 'determined to lead by example' on disability rights.

Sarah Jaffe (2019-12-03). What the U.K. Election Tells Us About Universal Health Care. progressive.org Across the political spectrum, the British are clear: American-style health care is a terrible idea.

United Nations (2019-12-03). Only one in five countries has a healthcare strategy to deal with climate change. news.un.org Protecting people's health from climate change dangers such as heat stress, storms and tsunamis has never been more important, yet most countries are doing too little about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

United Nations (2019-12-02). Political solution 'long overdue' to protect the children of eastern Ukraine. news.un.org Nearly half a million children in eastern Ukraine continue to face "grave risks" to their physical health and psychological well-being, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

United Nations (2019-12-02). Plants, the 'core basis for life on Earth', under increasing threat, warns UN food agency. news.un.org Plants, which make up 80 percent of the food we eat, and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe, are "under constant and increasing threat from pests and diseases", the UN food agency, FAO, warned on Tuesday, at an event at the agency's headquarters in Rome, to designate 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health.

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-17). Warren's Head Tax Is Not More Popular Than A Payroll Tax. peoplespolicyproject.org As we know by now, Elizabeth Warren's Medicare head tax proposal is a regressive mess ( I, II, III, IV). Warren's team knows this. The goal of the proposal i…

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-17). CAP's Topher Spiro Is Trying to Deceive Journalists By Lying. peoplespolicyproject.org It's been fun to see how the Center for American Progress (CAP) navigates this year's presidential election. For insider political reasons, they can't support Biden or Sanders. But for a long time, it was unclear who the alternative candidate they could support would be. | When Kamala Harris was rising, CAP's staff was doing overtime boosting her on Twitter and in the press, including boosting Harris's absurd health care proposal. But Harris's collapse put an end to that strategy. Recently Warren has risen as the alternative and so CAP has been working to promote her campaign, which puts CAP in the comical positi…

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-03). Warren's Medicare Head Tax Would Be About $9,500. peoplespolicyproject.org On Friday, I wrote a piece arguing that Elizabeth Warren's use of an employer head tax was not a good way to fund Medicare for All and that instead the more conventional choices of income and payroll taxes would be better. The reason they are better is because income and payroll taxes are based on how much income you receive while a head tax charges the same dollar amount for every worker regardless of their income, making it much more onerous on the lower and middle classes. | This point holds…

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-02). What Is a Middle Class Tax Hike? Am I Losing My Mind? peoplespolicyproject.org I have been swimming in the Medicare for All waters for over a decade now, going back to when I worked on the Ralph Nader presidential campaign that made Medicare for All its number one issue. And during this time, I developed a specific understanding of what we might call the M4A Financing Problem. | The Problem: | The M4A Financing Problem, in simple terms, is that even if you bring in existing federal spending on health care, existing state spending on health care, and a bunch of new rich-people taxes, you still fall short of financing the program. Thus to actually complete the financing, you have to u…

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-01). Warren's Perpetual Medicare Head Tax Is Unworkable and Bad. peoplespolicyproject.org Elizabeth Warren released her Medicare for All financing plan today. The main purpose of the proposal appears to be to find a plan that you can message as "not increasing middle class taxes," which is of course a nonsensical goal insofar, as Warren herself has said, what matters is middle class health care costs, not whether you categorize those costs as premiums, taxes, or out-of-pocket expenses. | Nonetheless, bowing to the stupid media discourse on this, Warren put forward a financing pro…

Matt Bruenig (2019-10-24). New Poll Finds Voters Strongly Oppose Employer Insurance. peoplespolicyproject.org Many centrist pundits have convinced themselves that Medicare for All (M4A) is unpopular because, when you include certain details about M4A in polling questions, support levels drop significantly. But in convincing themselves of this, centrist pundits seem remarkably incurious about whether this same thing occurs for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) when you include certain details about it in polling questions. | Earlier this week, Emerson Polling helped answer this question when it aske…

Paul Kawika Martin (2019-06-19). House Casts Historic Vote to Repeal Authorization for Endless War. peaceaction.org Washington, D.C. — June 19, 2019 — In response to the House of Representatives passing H.R. 2740 (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Legislative Branch, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2020), which includes language to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) eight months after …