(2020-01-11). Lethal SARS-linked coronavirus claims first life as China's pneumonia outbreak infects dozens. rt.com 
A novel virus sweeping across China has inflicted its first casualty, suggesting the brand new bug could potentially rival its microbial cousin — SARS — in lethality. Health officials are now scrambling to combat the outbreak. | The bug's first fatality was reported in the city of Wuhan early on Saturday, by Chinese state media, which offered few details beyond the death itself. Unknown to science when it first emerged on the scene, the coronavirus has hit Wuhan hardest, where it rapidly spread to at least confirmed 59 patients, seven of whom are now in critical condition. | While the World Health…
(2020-01-11). Medicare for All Town Hall with Congressman Khanna and Assembyman Kalra. indybay.org
(2020-01-10). Pregnant Workers Are Still Fighting for the Right to Work. aclu.org In 2015, | Michelle Durham, an ACLU client, was faced with an impossible choice: | continue working and risk the health of her pregnancy or give up her paycheck. | She was working | as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for Rural/Metro Corporation, a company | in Alabama that provides emergency medical care to people living in areas that | lack basic medical services. Shortly after joining Rural/Metro Corporation in | Alabama, Michelle learned she was pregnant with her first child and was advised | by her health professional not to lift more than 50 pounds. She was confident | the company would grant her a…
(2020-01-10). Children's mental health services are 'failing to meet need' as one in four children refused treatment. thecanary.co More than one in four children and young people referred to specialist mental health services are rejected for treatment, according to a new report.The Education Policy Institute (EPI), which carried out the study, said it was unclear what support was available to the approximately 133,000 youngsters who were turned away, with the group including children and young people who have self-harmed, experienced abuse or have eating disorders.The EPI gathered data under the Freedom of Information Act from 62 mental health providers in England out of 64.The data showed that 26% of all referrals in 2018/19 were rejected,…
(2020-01-10). Headlines for January 10, 2020. democracynow.org House Approves Resolution Aimed at Limiting Trump's War Powers, NYT: Video Appears to Show Iranian Missile Hitting Jet Before Tehran Crash, Internal Emails Show Boeing Workers Mocked Regulators & 737 MAX Jet Designers, Trump Seeks to Exempt Large Projects from Some Environmental Review, Mexican Asylum Seeker Dies by Suicide After Being Denied Entry into U.S., Six Democratic Candidates Will Debate in Iowa Next Week, Ahead of Caucus, Transport Workers' Strike Becomes Longest in French History, Health and Human Services Declares Public Health Emergency for Puerto Rico, Grand Jury Indicts Hanukkah Attack Suspect on M…
(2020-01-09). Winter has hardly started but already A&E figures have hit an all time low. thecanary.co 
Ten years into the Conservative Party's watch, the latest A&E stats paint a picture of an NHS on its knees.December 2019 was the NHS's busiest ever month with record numbers of A&E attendances and ambulance call-outs. And the number of patients waiting over four hours, or even over twelve hours, was at its highest yet.Record waiting times: James Illman of the Health Service Journal laid out the stark reality: | BREAKING: For major A&Es performance versus the 4 hour target has slumped to 68.6% in December. IE Type 1 performance dips into the 60s for the first time. That is AWFUL. Context: last Dec (2018) th…
(2020-01-09). High-Tech Police Weapons Do More Harm than Good. thenation.com High-Tech Police Weapons Do More Harm than Good…
(2020-01-08). Nurses warn of burn-out in new strike over pay and recruitment. thecanary.co 
Thousands of "burned out" nurses have taken to picket lines in the north of Ireland as one-day strike action brings some health services to a standstill.An escalating row over pay and conditions in the under-pressure hospital system emptied treatment waiting rooms across the country.Politicians are trying to reach an agreement which would produce a funding boost for an NHS beset by long waiting lists for treatment and rancour over employee pay levels while struggling to fill some vacant posts.The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) protest follows a similar walkout last month over salary rates that lag behind colleagu…
(2020-01-08). $71 Million for More Cops; Not A Dime for Jobs and Healthcare. therealnews.com 
Operation Relentless Pursuit is a Department of Justice initiative to combat crime through a "surge in federal resources." We talked with Brandon Walker of the Ujima People's Progress Party about what's really needed to combat crime and empower neighborhoods in places like Baltimore, one of the seven cities targeted by the plan.
(2020-01-08). Netflix roasted for leading viewers astray with 'health misinformation' in Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop show. rt.com 
Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness brand Goop has secured its own show on Netflix and anti-pseudoscience crusaders are demanding its cancellation, insisting the doyenne of jade vaginal eggs is hurting people with health misinformation. | Paltrow's medical faddism "does real harm" by contributing to the "erosion of critical thinking," University of Alberta researcher Tim Caulfield tweeted on Monday after Netflix posted a teaser for the premiere of "The Goop Lab" later this month, setting off a firestorm of panic among a certain stripe of science enthusiast. The idea of an entire show devoted to whatever bizarre health…
(2020-01-07). Spread of polio still an international public health concern. news.un.org The spread of polio internationally remains a global public health concern, experts meeting in Geneva have concluded.
(2020-01-07). Tuesday's Daily Brief: Syria, polio, DR Congo, Sudan updates, and, the art of stealing. news.un.org Tuesday's top stories include: A "daily nightmare" in Syria's Idlib; polio remains an international health emergency; Guterres extends condolences as Australia bushfires continue; measles in DR Congo; clashes in Darfur displace thousands; and a celebration of stolen art.
(2020-01-07). More international support needed to curb deadly measles outbreak in DR Congo. news.un.org Countries are being asked to step up assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which is facing the world's worst measles epidemic, with more than 6,000 deaths since the start of last year.
(2020-01-06). Monday's Daily Brief: Geopolitical strife, Australia bushfires, Burkina Faso, Cambodia updates. news.un.org Monday's top stories include: UN chief's call for de-escalation in global tensions; UNICEF offers help as Australia bushfires continue to rage; condolences following Burkina Faso bus explosion; new shipping regulation to boost health of people and planet; and ILO responds to deadly Cambodia building collapse.
(2019-12-29). NUHW workers strike for better mental health care for their patients. liberationnews.org 
On Dec. 16, the National Union for Healthcare Workers began a week-long strike at Kaiser Permanente's Clairemont Mesa Blvd facility in San Diego, California.
(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…
