(2019-11-23). Striking Dutch healthcare workers speak about first ever nationwide strike. wsws.org The WSWS spoke to striking healthcare workers at a rally in Utrecht about their working conditions and strike amid an international resurgence of class struggles.
(2019-11-23). Dialysis Patients Panic as Financial "Life Raft" Becomes Unmoored. truthout.org Russell Desmond received a letter a few weeks ago from the American Kidney Fund that he said felt like "a smack on the face." | The organization informed Desmond, who has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week, that it will no longer help him pay for his private health insurance plan — to the tune of about $800 a month. | "I am depressed about the who…
(2019-11-23). Amazon files suit challenging Pentagon 'war cloud' contract with Microsoft, may argue Trump 'meddled' in process. rt.com 
Amazon has filed a lawsuit protesting the Pentagon's decision to award a contract worth up to $10 billion to Microsoft to supply the military with a new cloud storage system, insisting the bidding process was marred by bias. | The high-dollar 'war cloud' project, also known as JEDI, was awarded to Microsoft late last month, but on Friday Amazon confirmed it would bring a case to the US Court of Federal Claims to challenge the move. | JEDI's stop-start bidding process was long plagued by complaints of bias, with cloud computing firm Oracle previously alleging the bid was skewed in favor of Amazon, while the Pen…
(2019-11-22). Latin America at the Toronto International Film Festival. peoplesworld.org 
TORONTO—Cuba, plagued by endless U.S. boycotts and sanctions, has little money left to sustain and develop their cultural exports. Films coming from Cuba dubbed or subtitled in English are becoming a rarity at film festivals in the U.S., even though there is still world interest in what's going on in Cuba. Instead, other countries are …
(2019-11-22). In WWII-Era Fashion, the Saudi-led Coalition is Weaponizing Disease in Yemen. mintpressnews.com 
TAIZ, YEMEN — Beyond the devastation it has caused on the back of tens of thousands of airstrikes, a crippling blockade and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure, the Saudi-led coalition supported by the United States has sparked an outbreak of disease and epidemics in Yemen in a manner not seen since World War II. | Yemeni activist Aseel Sweid told MintPress News how a young boy, Abdulkarim al-Ma'amari, "died of dengue fever after it spread with alarming speed in Taiz, threatening many innocents." Sweid added that three of his own brothers had been infected with dengue. "There are a huge amo…
(2019-11-22). Ralph Nader: American Seniors Are Being Duped. truthdig.com 
While the Democratic presidential candidates are debating full Medicare for All, giant insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare are advertising to the elderly in an attempt to lure them from Traditional Medicare (TM) to the so-called Medicare Advantage (MA)—a corporate plan that UnitedHealthcare promotes to turn a profit at the expense of enrollees. | Almost one third of all elderly over 65 are enrolled in these numerous, complex MA policies the government pays so much for monthly. The health insurance industry wants more enrollees as they continue to press Congress for more advantages. | Medical Disadvant…
(2019-11-22). Beware of the Medicare Disadvantage Corporate Trap. dissidentvoice.org While the Democratic presidential candidates are debating full Medicare for All, giant insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare are advertising to the elderly in an attempt to lure them from Traditional Medicare (TM) to the so-called Medicare Advantage (MA) — a corporate plan that UnitedHealthcare promotes to turn a profit at the expense of enrollees. Almost one …
(2019-11-22). Wake Up AARP! A Message to Seniors: Medicare "Disadvantage" Is a Corporate Trap. commondreams.org "AARP reportedly receives a commission of 4.95% for new enrollees on top of the premiums the elderly pay for the Medigap policy from United Healthcare," writes Nader. "This money—about seven hundred million dollars a year—is a significant portion of AARP's overall budget." (Illustration: AARP advertisement with overlay) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-11-22). How Can Big Pharma Make Amends for the Opioid Epidemic? thenation.com How Can Big Pharma Make Amends for the Opioid Epidemic?
(2019-11-22). Ebola in DR Congo: New transmission chain risks reversing major gains. news.un.org Amid multiple deadly attacks on civilians by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an Ebola death "unlinked to any chain of transmission" risks reversing major gains against the epidemic, which is now down to just a handful of cases, a top UN medic said on Friday.
(2019-11-22). With Health Effects Already Well-Documented, Wolf Must Stop Fracking. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-11-22). How to Stop the Trump Administration's Latest Attempt to Undermine Science. truthout.org The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from relying on research when crafting regulations unless the underlying data is publicly available. This is a problem because the data in studies showing how pollution harms people's health often includes individuals' confidential personal information — including medical records that are protected by privacy law. Wi…
(2019-11-22). Macri Repealed Abortion Protocol: Rubinstein's Resigned. telesurenglish.net After the controversy unleashed nationwide in Argentina, after the publishing on the Official Gazette and immediately repealed by the Government, of the Care Protocol for the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy (ILE), the secretary of Health, Adolfo Rubinstein handed in his resignation. | RELATED: | Argentina: Rubinstein's Protocol Unleashes National Debate | His departure opens a new internal conflict in the governing coalition Cambiemos, which backs current President Mauricio Macri and…
(2019-11-22). Trump's Course Correction on E-Cigarettes: Great Idea, No Matter His Reasons. counterpunch.org Annie Karni, Maggie Haberman, and Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times describe US president Donald Trump's proposed ban on flavored e-cigarette products as "a swift and bold reaction to a growing public health crisis affecting teenagers" that Trump backed away from "under pressure from his political advisers and lobbyists to factor in the potential More
(2019-11-22). The Future of Meat. truthdig.com As people become aware of the effects of eating animals on climate change and human health, a new book asks whether we will see an end to it.
(2019-11-22). Coal Knew Too: Explosive Report Shows Industry Was Aware of Climate Threat as Far Back as 1966. commondreams.org "It wasn't just big oil that knew about climate change decades ago." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-11-21). Congress Just Temporarily Extended the Government's Spying Powers. aclu.org Congress today temporarily extended the NSA's spying powers that time and again have been used to violate our rights. Disturbingly, this three-month extension was snuck into a broader funding bill, forcing members of Congress to choose between extending this program and causing a government shutdown. The extension is an unnecessary lifeline to spying programs that are plagued with compliance violations, have no proven intelligence value, and violate our rights. | Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, one of the spying | powers extended, the government believes it has the right to collect our | personal inform…
(2019-11-21). Four in five adolescents failing to exercise for even 60 minutes a day, UN health agency warns. news.un.org An alarming lack of exercise among adolescents across the world risks seriously compromising their health into adulthood, the UN said on Thursday.
(2019-11-21). Australian Women Win Vaginal Mesh Landmark Class Action. telesurenglish.net More than 1,350 women who have suffered debilitating side effects of pelvic mesh implants won a landmark class-action lawsuit against multinational giant Johnson & Johnson on Thursday in Sydney. | RELATED: | Australia's Premier to Ban Climate Boycotts | The case, which began in 2012, has been described by the prosecution as the biggest class action concerning women's health in Australia's history. | The Federal Court of Australia held the behavior of the American mul…
(2019-11-21). Thursday's Daily Brief: Deadly Syria violence, risks of working at sea, poor health in jail, concern over ISIL suspect, and her child. news.un.org A recap of Thursday's stories in brief: Syria's violence continues to strike children; governments must do more for human rights in business; poor health in Europe's prisons; rights experts' concern over Irish ISIL bride and her child in Turkey; Fishing workers face huge risks at sea.
(2019-11-20). Make Dental Care a Health Care Benefit. progressive.org Dental care is not a luxury—it is essential for overall health.
(2019-11-19). All out for relaunching of the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression. fightbacknews.org Fight Back! interviews Frank Chapman on the November 22-24 Chicago conference to refound the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression. | Fight Back!: Could you say a few words about what the conference to relaunch the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression will look like? | Frank Chapman: The most powerful incentive for the relaunching of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is the national epidemic in police crimes and state violence being perpetrated against Black and brown people, LBGTQ and trans people. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than th…
(2019-11-18). Lab Rats for Corporate Profit: Pesticide Industry's Poisoned Platter. dissidentvoice.org Newly released pesticide usage statistics for 2018 confirm that the British people are being used as lab rats. That's the message environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has sent to Dave Bench, senior scientist at the UK Chemicals, Health and Safety Executive and director of the agency's EU exit plan. In her open letter to Bench, Mason …
(2019-11-18). If You Care About Medicare for All or a Green New Deal, Here's the Senate Primary That Matters. theintercept.com Chris Coons, a devotee of bipartisanship, is being challenged by Jess Scarane, who was inspired by progressive Kerri Harris's 2018 Senate campaign.
(2019-11-18). Headlines for November 18, 2019. democracynow.org Bolivian Military Massacres 9 People at Indigenous Pro-Morales March, Leak of Secret Iranian Documents Reveals Iranian Influence in Iraq, Former Ambassador Yovanovitch Testifies in Impeachment Hearings, Trump Ally Roger Stone Found Guilty of 7 Charges, Trump Pardons 3 Soldiers Accused or Convicted of War Crimes, Trump's Unplanned Medical Visit Sparks Questions About His Health, Tens of Thousands Mark 1-Month Anniversary of Protests in Lebanon, Police Besiege Student Protesters at Hong Kong University, Fears Mount About Possible Disappearance of Nigerian Journalist Omoyele Sowore, Prince Andrew Grilled on Friendsh…
(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…
(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…
(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…
(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…
(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…
(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…
(2019-10-16). The Urban Institute Report Did Not Score Medicare for All. peoplespolicyproject.org The Urban Institute and The Commonwealth Fund put out a report today that provided cost estimates for 8 different health care reforms. One of those eight reforms, which is called "Single Payer Enhanced," describes a comprehensive, no-cost-sharing, national health plan similar to Medicare for All (M4A). However, the Urban plan uses hospital reimbursement rates that are 15 percent higher than the rates in the M4A legislation, meaning that its cost estimates are much…
(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 …