(2019-12-24). Trump slashes Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico. wsws.org President Trump personally intervened in last week's spending talks to reduce funding for Puerto Rico, which has been plagued by recession and ruthless social inequality.
(2019-12-23). Sanders report shows how Millennial generation is 'being punished with crushing student debt and low-paying jobs'. mronline.org 
"In the richest country in the history of the world, we have an obligation to turn this around and make sure our kids live healthier and better lives than we do." | Source
(2019-12-23). "The First Cell": Dr. Azra Raza on Why the "Slash-Poison-Burn Approach" to Cancer Has Failed. democracynow.org 
Slash, poison, burn. That's what a leading cancer doctor calls the protocol of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. We spend $150 billion each year treating cancer, yet a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it today — with a few exceptions — as one was 50 years ago. Today we spend the hour with renowned cancer doctor, Dr. Azra Raza, author of the new book, "The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last." She argues that experiments and the funding for eradicating cancer look at the disease when it is in its later stages, when the cancer has grown and spread. Instead, she sa…
(2019-12-23). This Change to the ACA Could Affect Abortion Coverage for 3 Million People. truthout.org The Trump administration issued a rule Friday designed to create administrative burdens for insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges that include abortion care, in a move that imperils coverage of abortion care for more than 3 million people. | A year after first proposing it, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule that wil…
(2019-12-23). Quality immunization and surveillance help stop polio outbreaks in three African countries: WHO. news.un.org Three African countries have halted recent polio outbreaks which indicates that the disease can be stopped elsewhere in the region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
(2019-12-23). Australia: Toxic air from bushfires rated a "public health emergency" wsws.org Health professionals have called on governments to take action amid record levels of bushfire haze in towns and cities.
(2019-12-23). The Right to Healthy Food: Poisoned with Pesticides. globalresearch.ca Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written an open letter addressed to three senior officials in Britain: John Gardiner, Under Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the British government; Chris Whitty, …
(2019-12-23). The Right to Healthy Food: Poisoned with Pesticides. dissidentvoice.org Environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason has just written an open letter addressed to three senior officials in Britain: John Gardiner, Under Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the British government; Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England; and Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and …
(2019-12-23). 2019 Year in Review: Consumer, Public Health and Environmental Highlights. commondreams.org ______________________________…
(2019-12-23). Five-day strike of Kaiser Permanente mental health workers ends. wsws.org As planned by the union, the strike ended with no new contract proposal.
(2019-12-23). Mexican ambassador resigns after 'shoplifting spree'. rt.com 
Mexico's ambassador to Argentina has resigned for health reasons, after he appeared to be caught on camera stealing a $10 book, and was also accused of pilfering a shirt from an airport shop. | Ricardo Valero, 77, was first recalled by Mexico's foreign ministry earlier this month, after he was allegedly caught on camera taking a book from the shelf of a Buenos Aires bookstore, hiding it inside a newspaper, and walking out of the shop. | The book is believed to be a biography of Giacomo Casanova, the 18th-Century author, spy and playboy, and retailed for around $10. | The government accepted Valero's resigna…
(2019-12-23). Americans are ready for a different approach to nuclear weapons. zcomm.org Yet another sign of public discontent is the emerging Back from the Brink campaign, supported by numerous peace, environmental, religious, health, and other organizations…
(2019-12-23). Trump, Brexit: Where's the Backlash? counterpunch.org I dutifully got a shot this winter to inoculate myself against four different flu viruses. By exposing myself to weakened strains of these diseases, and preemptively suffering some mild flu symptoms, I can ward off the more serious consequences of a full-on infection and do my part to help stop the further spread of these More
(2019-12-23). In Year-End Address, Dying Healthcare Activist Ady Barkan Reminds Public Joe Biden Only 2020 Democrat Not to Meet With Him. commondreams.org www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2019-12-22). 'Both are venomous snakes': Surgeon who performed 1st lung transplant on terminally-ill vaper says it's as bad as cigs. rt.com 
A teen athlete terminally ill from vaping has been saved with a double lung transplant, the first of the epidemic's victims to receive the procedure. The doctor who did the surgery tells RT that vaping is as deadly as smoking. | "Both of them are a type of venomous snake," Dr. Hassan Nemeh, surgical director of thoracic organ transplant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit told RT. "I don't know if a snake is more venomous than the other — if a bite kills someone by a mamba or a cobra I'm not sure which is worse. I think both of them are bad for you, though." | Nemeh performed a life-saving double-lung tr…
(2019-12-21). Medical Opinion, Torture, and Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org 
On November 27 this year, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, delivered an address to the German Bundestag outlining his approach to understanding the mental health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. These comprised two parts, the initial stage covering his diplomatic asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy, the second dealing with his formal detention in …
(2019-12-21). Steelworkers sue Alcoa to keep retiree life insurance benefits. fightbacknews.org Washington, DC – The United Steelworkers (USW) filed a lawsuit, December 19, in the Southern District of Indiana to protest Alcoa USA Corporation's terminating life insurance benefits for approximately 8900 union-represented retirees. | Alcoa informed the retirees by letter on December 4 that it would eliminate life insurance coverage effective December 31, 2019. The company included with the letter a check equal to a fraction of the face value of their life insurance coverage and a federal 1099 tax form, since the payment would be taxable. | The lawsuit was filed as a class action, and three Alcoa retirees have…
(2019-12-20). Sanders, Warren keep class central to debate; raise opponents' reliance on billionaires. peoplesworld.org 
LOS ANGELES—It took an hour and a half for them to warm up and stop being too polite, but seven Democratic presidential hopefuls spent the last half of their Dec. 19 debate in Los Angeles mixing it up over campaign financing and health care, while one—Tom Steyer, the richest—made an unexpected (and unconvincing) bid for …
(2019-12-20). Friday's Daily Brief: Pope Francis, Lesotho, Iran, world corruption. news.un.org Our top stories for Friday include: Pope Francis receives the UN chief in Rome, Lesotho famine threat, concern for jailed Iranian protestors, and strengthened global action to prevent corruption.
(2019-12-20). Lesotho: Tens of thousands 'one step away from famine' as drought impacts harvests and UN launches flash appeal. news.un.org Devastating drought in the southern African nation of Lesotho has left more than half a million people facing severe food shortages and tens of thousands "one step away from famine", UN humanitarians said on Friday, in an appeal for funds.
(2019-12-19). Headlines for December 19, 2019. democracynow.org President Trump Impeached for Abuse of Power & Obstruction of Congress, Trump Slams FBI, Democrats & Impeachment at Battle Creek Rally, McConnell Pushes Through 11 Federal Judge Nominations, DOJ Inspector General Testifies About FBI's Carter Page Surveillance, 7 Democratic Presidential Candidates to Take to Debate Stage in L.A. Tonight, Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Part of Affordable Care Act, Australia Protesters Pitch Tents Outside PM House over Climate Crisis, Report: U.N. Peacekeepers Fathered & Abandoned Hundreds of Children in Haiti, DRC: Families Sue Apple, Google, Microsoft over Children's Deaths in…
(2019-12-19). World Health Organization reports 60 per cent drop in cholera in 2018. news.un.org International action to drive down cholera led to a 60 per cent decrease in cases in 2018, compared with the previous year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday.
(2019-12-19). Thursday's Daily Brief: tobacco burn-out, cholera cases down, 'shifting the needle' on climate. news.un.org Among today's stories: more men are quitting nicotine than ever before, a big drop in cholera cases was recorded between 2017 and 2018, and the UN calls on developed countries to raise their climate ambitions, following the disappointment of COP25.
(2019-12-18). A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court. aclu.org For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…
(2019-12-18). UN health agency signals tobacco might be reaching burn-out among men. news.un.org Two decades of increasing tobacco use around the world are set to go into reverse, UN health experts have predicted, after revealing data indicating that fewer men and boys are smoking than before.
(2019-12-12). Teaching assistants in Decatur, Il. struggle for better healthcare. liberationnews.org 
"DFTA all the way!"
(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 …
