Jonathan Bilyk, Kane County (IL) Chronicle, August 15, 2008 Geneva – State Representative Mary Flowers believes that insurance companies have a place in the market. She just doesn’t think those companies have any place in providing health care. Thursday night, Flowers, a Democratic state legislator from Chicago, hosted a special forum at the Kane County Government Center in Geneva to discuss legislation she introduced that would fundamentally alter the way in which health care is funded in Illinois. ... Single-payer

Phyllis Goldin, MD, River Falls, River Falls (WI) Journal, August 15, 2008 Having practiced medicine for more than 40 years, I have witnessed a world of change in the field. Sadly, despite some amazing technological advances, the concept of integrated care has largely been replaced by interventions, determined to be either necessary or not, by carriers or agencies that control revenue. I have seen costs rise exponentially, yet quality of care often suffers. And my profession is now grossly compromised in its ability to serve the 47 million uninsured in America. ... Health

Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care, August 14, 2008

Huguette Allen, Green Party MP Candidate, Vernon (BC) Morning Star, August 14, 2008 A few weeks ago, the Vernon Tax Payers Association presented a petition containing 18,000 names to our elected officials asking for adequate funding for Vernon Jubilee Hospital. As I listened to Tony Stamboulieh read the petition I asked myself how it could be that Canada, a rich country, currently ranks among the lowest of 30 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries in the ratio of doctors and acute care beds per thousand people? ... Health

Eli Pariser, Huffington Post, August 14, 2008 Supporters of single payer health care - many of them people who've worked on this issue for years and paved the way for today's universal health care debate - recently launched an online petition asking MoveOn staff to consult MoveOn members on the best way to win health care for everyone. The issue at hand is MoveOn's participation in the Health Care for America Now coalition, an alliance of groups including SEIU, Planned Parenthood, AFSCME, and USAction who've launched a big effort to win universal health care. ... What

Even Labor Unions Have Fallen Silent (sic). Ralph Nader, CounterPunch, August 14, 2008 One of my favorite monthly publications is Registered Nurse – the journal of the fast growing, progressive California Nurses Association (CNA) – a union that stands up for patients rights and well-being. The June 2008 issue contains stories that illustrate how this nurses group takes stands. On June 19, the CNA sponsored street rallies for its Medicare for all (single-payer with free choice of doctor and hospital) in San Francisco and a dozen other major cities around the nation. For over a decade the California Nurses Assocation (CNA) have made full Medicare for all their major goal. ... Single-Payer

Vanessa Beck, Socialist Worker, August 13, 2008 Chicago - A rally for single-payer, guaranteed health care for all was held outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office on August 2. Chicago Single Payer Action Network (CSPAN) organized the action, which was cosponsored by the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), Illinois Single Payer Coalition (ISPC) and Physicians for a National Health Program (PHNP). Because the Democrats are campaigning on the idea of change during this election, activists were there to tell them that the people want single-payer, guaranteed health care for all. ... Chicago

Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group, August 12, 2008 Washington - Before the energy-price crisis, before the mortgage crisis, before the credit crisis and the banking crisis, there was the crisis in health insurance that is in reality a crisis in care. This crisis has deepened in recent years as the number of uninsured has climbed and out-of-pocket costs for those still with insurance have soared. It has become common knowledge that a serious illness - even among those with insurance - can plunge families into bankruptcy. ... Will

Paul Krugman, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 12, 2008 The draft Democratic Party platform that was sent out last week puts health care reform front and center. "If one thing came through in the platform hearings," says the document, "it was that Democrats are united around a commitment to provide every American access to affordable, comprehensive health care." Can Democrats deliver on that commitment? In principle, it should be easy. In practice, supporters of health care reform, myself included, will be hanging on by their fingernails until legislation is actually passed. ... Guaranteed

Associated Press, August 12, 2008 Healthcare costs are expected to rise more than 10 percent into next year, according to a survey of insurers by Aon Consulting Worldwide. But that increase is the smallest Aon has seen in six years. Experts say it shows efforts to tame costs, such as employee-wellness or disease-management programs, may be paying off. "There's a variety of tactics that employers have been employing over the last 3 to 6 years that has had an impact on the market," said study director Bill Sharon, an Aon Consulting senior vice president. ... Smaller

Bloomberg News, August 12, 2008 New York - Fewer than half of eligible patients in the United States received medical devices to shock their faulty hearts back into rhythm, though the products can cut death rates by more than one-third, a study found. Hospitals implanted the $33,000 cardiac resynchronization therapy devices in 12.4 percent of heart failure patients, according to a survey of 34,000 cases published online in the journal Circulation. Previous studies suggest 30 to 50 percent of heart failure patients have conditions that make them best suited for the pacemakers, said Jonathan Piccini, a Duke University cardiologist who cowrote the paper. ... Study

Kay Tillow, All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care, August 11, 2008

Teamster Local 612 in West Caldwell, New Jersey, and Plumbers & Steamfitters (UA) Local 47 in Monaca, Pennsylvania, have endorsed HR.676, single payer healthcare legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Local 612 is a member of the Graphic Communication Conference of the IBT. Frank Bovalino, Chair of the Local 47 Political Action Committee, said, “The time has come for us as unions to forge the way to put an end to the Health Care Industry holding us hostage financially for health care. Local 47 not only endorses HR.676, they are proactive in informing our Legislators we support this and expect them to cosponsor this legislation.”

Donna Smith, OpEdNews, August 11, 2008 Pittsburgh - So, healthcare voting friends, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) platform committee added the language "guaranteed healthcare for every man, woman and child in America" to its Party platform yesterday in Pittsburgh. Was it simply to placate Hillary Clinton delegates? Was the DNC squelching activists' voices for single payer reform? Or was something else at work here?  Perhaps an actual democratic process that played out with a wide variety of motivations but also a wider variety of potential outcomes and wide open possibility? ... The

Marcosa Santiago, Rumney, Concord (NH) Monitor, August 11, 2008 Fred Plett's letter ("Sound approach on health care," Monitor, July 28) claimed the Granite State Organizing Project is a leader in the New Hampshire Health Care for America Now! efforts. HCAN asserts it is "tired of the abuses of the insurance giants, and demands a role for our government in protecting us from unfair and rapacious industry practices." GSOP and HCAN correctly identify the insurance industry as the fox in the hen house. Why not get that fox out? ... Why

Medical road rage affecting patient safety, group says. Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, August 10, 2008 During an operation at a Salem hospital last summer, an orthopedic surgeon, frustrated by a pair of scissors that wouldn't cut, threw them and narrowly missed a nurse. In many hospitals, outbursts from a top surgeon who generates significant revenue or a star researcher who wins huge grants often have been tolerated. But in this instance, North Shore Medical Center disciplined the doctor who threw scissors and required mandatory team training ... Hospitals