(2019-12-18). Don't Deny My Patients! 4,000 NUHW CA Kaiser Healthcare Workers Start 5 Day Strike. indybay.org 4,000 NUHW Kaiser mental healthcare workers launched a 5 day unfair labor practice strike to protest the deaths of patients, failure to properly treat patients and also the stress and high turnover of mental healthcare staff…
(2019-12-18). California: Kaiser Permanente health care workers speak from the picket line. wsws.org Kaiser Permanente workers spoke to WSWS reporters about the horrific conditions in its mental health care system.
(2019-12-18). Impeachment (and removal): Good for public health. nationofchange.org We need to save American lives now. The best remedy would be to annul an illegitimate election. At the very least, impeach.
(2019-12-18). Macron 'will not abandon' pension reforms, but may 'improve' retirement age — Elysee. rt.com 
French President Emmanuel Macron is "willing to improve" some areas of the controversial pension reform plans such as the age of retirement, his office said on Wednesday. | The country has been plagued by mass protests against the proposed reforms for almost a fortnight, with strikes seriously affecting transport in particular. | Wednesday's comments from the president's office are the first signs of Macron conceding ground after he and his government repeatedly refused to accede to union concerns over the sweeping reforms. | The president "will not abandon the project, nor will he distort it, even if he is wi…
(2019-12-17). Around 9,000 nurses to take strike action in the north of Ireland. thecanary.co 
A last-ditch meeting is aiming to prevent around 9,000 nurses from taking the UK's first 12-hour strike action over pay on Wednesday.The unprecedented walkout in the north of Ireland will see them leave wards with the solidarity of thousands of other healthcare workers.Stormont's political parties are expected to meet the head of the civil service at Stormont in an appeal for more cash.Unison union regional secretary Patricia McKeown said: "As we enter this significant period in the industrial struggle the consequences lay firmly on the shoulders of the UK government, our elected politicians and the leadership of…
(2019-12-17). Clinic Waiting Room in NYC Experiments in Humanizing Medicine. telesurenglish.net Two young United States doctors, who met in medical school, felt the decor of a waiting room at a small community healthcare center in Harlem, New York City did not reflect the identities and experiences of the patients it serves – mainly low-income African-American and Hispanic families dependent on Medicaid for healthcare costs; so they decided to change it to make healthcare more human. | RELATED: | Trump Suspends Entry of Immigrants Who Cannot Pay for Healthcare | The phy…
(2019-12-17). Wisconsin: Medicaid to cover gender-confirming medical procedures. fightbacknews.org Kenosha, WI – As of December 10, Wisconsin is now one of the 20 states that cover medically necessary gender-confirming surgeries. People in need of these procedures will receive coverage under the state's Medicaid healthcare plan. This development comes after state officials allowed the time frame to lapse for an appeal of the 2018 lawsuit that initiated the whole process. | This is undoubtedly a big win for transgender and non-binary people across the state and a huge rebuke to traditional thinking when it comes to transgender and non-binary individuals seeking surgery to help with gender dysphoria. Gender Dysp…
(2019-12-17). While the Northern Ireland health service is in crisis, a DUP MP wants Boris Johnson to build a bridge to Scotland. thecanary.co As the health crisis worsens in the north of Ireland, DUP MP Sammy Wilson has called on Boris Johnson to build a bridge between the north and Scotland. According to Wilson, this would help Johnson "win back the trust" of the DUP. But the response from people living in the north is clear — it's healthcare that matters, not bridges.Stormont talks: On 15 Dec…
(2019-12-17). Plastics Chemicals Are Disrupting Our Hormones, and the FDA Is Dragging Its Feet. truthout.org Bisphenol A is likely coursing through your body right now. Every day, you're inadvertently consuming and absorbing trace amounts as it migrates from can and bottle linings into your food and drink, and from thermal paper receipts onto your skin. | Scientists have found BPA in more than 90 percent of Americans tested. Yet whether exposures to such small amounts of the common chemical…
(2019-12-17). House Passes $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill. truthdig.com WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House voted Tuesday to pass a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package, handing President Donald Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence while giving Democrats spending increases across a swath of domestic programs. | The hard-fought legislation also funds a record Pentagon budget and is serving as a must-pass legislative locomotive to tow an unusually large haul of unrelated provisions into law, including an expensive repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health plans, help for retired coal miners, and an increase from 18 to 21 in nationwide legal age t…
(2019-12-16). After UK government silence, over 100 medical doctors urge Australia to defend Assange. thecanary.co On 22 November, over 60 medical doctors signed an open letter to the UK government concerning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The letter, addressed to the UK home secretary Priti Patel and shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, expressed concerns that Assange "could die in prison". Despite wide media coverag…
(2019-12-15). One third of poorer countries face both undernutrition and obesity: WHO report. news.un.org With one in three low and middle-income countries facing the two extremes of malnutrition — undernutrition and obesity — the UN's health agency WHO is calling for a new approach to deal with rapidly changing food systems.
(2019-12-13). 'Air bridge' vaccination operation begins for Ebola-hit communities in DR Congo. news.un.org The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen an increase in the number of reported cases of the deadly haemorrhagic virus Ebola linked to ongoing violence by armed groups targeting remote communities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
(2019-12-12). Teaching assistants in Decatur, Il. struggle for better healthcare. liberationnews.org 
"DFTA all the way!"
(2019-12-12). South Sudan famine threat: UN food security agency in 'race against time'. news.un.org The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning against potential famine in South Sudan as hunger deepens due to drought, floods and an uncertain political future.
(2019-12-11). Universal Health Coverage will 'drive progress' on 2030 Development Agenda. news.un.org Last September world leaders at the United Nations endorsed an ambitious political declaration on universal health coverage, "reaffirming that health is a human right", Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in his message for International Universal Health Coverage Day.
(2019-12-11). "Shame!" Indigenous Leaders & Delegates from Global South Stage Dramatic Protest at COP25 in Madrid. democracynow.org 
Democracy Now! was broadcasting live from the United Nations climate summit in Madrid, Spain, when hundreds of climate advocates and people's movements at the U.N. climate action summit staged a protest inside the conference venue. As the demonstration unfolds, we speak with Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network; Karin Nansen, chair of Friends of the Earth International; Nigerian climate activist Nnimmo Bassey with Health of Mother Earth Foundation; and indigenous climate activist Daiara Tukano from Brazil.
(2019-12-09). On Human Rights Day, Let's Abolish Nuclear Weapons. progressive.org A nuclear war would create one of the worst humanitarian crises imaginable, one for which no nation would have an adequate emergency or health response.
(2019-12-04). Bronx speakout demands closure of fake abortion clinic. liberationnews.org 
Dozens stopped to listen and speak with the protesters about reproductive justice and the need for affordable public healthcare.
(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). Julian Assange's Extradition Case is a Show Trial. zcomm.org Interview on the lack of mainstream media coverage of Julian's persecution, his health and conditions in Belmarsh prison, CIA spying on Julian Assange and more…
(2019-10-15). We Will Make History. zcomm.org Sanders rededicates himself to the struggle to the struggle to guarantee health care for all, make public colleges and universities, tuition free cancel student debt, and deal with climate change, criminal justice reform and immigration reform…
(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 …