Statement of National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill  July 29, 2010

The National Organization for Women is glad to be a part of this large and diverse coalition to strengthen our country's most important and successful social insurance program--Social Security. Speaking on behalf of NOW's 500,000 members and contributing supporters, my message is simple: Social Security is especially vital to women, who would be disproportionately harmed by cuts in benefits.

By Donna Smith Published by Common Dreams

Since the health insurance reform bill passed this past spring, you’d think we suddenly stopped having American patients die and suffer unimaginable horror at the hands of the corporate owned and operated healthcare business system in the United States. No one tells the stories. The reality is that patients were props, and they just aren’t needed as props any more.

by John Geyman MD  Published by PNHP

Overall assessment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA)

Our last four posts have examined the PPACA from the perspectives of the four main goals of health care reform — cost containment, affordability, improved access and quality of care. Here we draw these goals together in asking whether this legislation delivers enough to be worth the $1 trillion investment over the next 10 years, and whether it will really work.

by Pearl Korn

Published by The Huffington Post

Perhaps it is quixotic to pursue a seat in Congress these days if you are a progressive. I think not. Candidate Dr. David Gill has been chasing that dream in a gerrymandered Republican district for 8 years in President Obama's home state, and that dream is at long last within reach.

Even without a primary challenger, Dr. Gill has no funding from the Democratic party or corporate interests -- only the donations and hard work of his grassroots supporters. Indeed, the Gill campaign represents grassroots at its best, moving forward while the Dem party continues to support and finance feckless incumbents and tepid Republicrats. Hundreds of volunteers work on the campaign, with over three thousand additional supporters on Facebook. This volunteer army mans three campaign offices, including one in a railroad station. An inspiring bunch that makes us believe once again that real people can help put real progressives back in Congress.

Lamberts Blog at Corrente

From censoring single payer advocacy, to leaving out single payer programs that actually exist. Really, there isn't anything the Obama administration won't do to keep the health insurance companies' blood funnel jammed into your body, is there? 

I did roughly the same experiment, also in San Francisco, and note that HealthCare.gov is apparently unaware of the local government program, Healthy San Francisco, that provides some access to people under 500 percent of poverty. My brother in law used it when unemployed and had no complaints …

By Ella Johnson

Published by Evansville Courier & Press

ROCKPORT, Ind. — Ask Mike Obermeier and he will tell you without question that health care reform is needed. After all, Obermeier said, until recently the United States was one of the few developed countries in the world without a national health care policy.

But for Obermeier, the health reform legislation enacted by Congress earlier this year may be too little and too late for his employees and other businesses as small as Obermeier Hardware & Rental in Rockport.

Written by Erin Matson, NOW Action Vice President

Published by National Organization for Women Blog

Today the Obama administration announced new guidelines under the Affordable Care Act for preventive care, which will require insurers to cover a wide range of preventive services without charging co-pays or deductibles. Sounds good and makes sense, but a review of the list of what's covered reveals a conspicuous omission: contraceptive coverage.

Written by Richard Davis

Pubilshed by Bennington Banner

It is the curse that has carried into a new century. Just mention the term "single payer" and there is either the silence of non-registering comprehension or the sneer that tries to fend off the threat of a socialist plot. Most reactions of this nature are based on a lack of information and a knee jerk reaction to the sound-byte mentality that has taken over our society.

There is no escaping the fact that the term "single payer" carries a lot of baggage. For years, single payer proponents have recognized the negativity that the words engender. They understand the need to change the name, but nothing ever happens. That is why there are references to National Health Insurance (NHI) or Medicare for All. They are often substitutes for the dreaded words.

by Chris Hedges
Published at TruthDig.com

A close reading of the new health care legislation, which will conveniently take effect in 2014 after the next presidential election, is deeply depressing. The legislation not only mocks the lofty promises made by President Barack Obama, exposing most as lies, but sadly reconfirms that our nation is hostage to unchecked corporate greed and abuse. The simple truth, that single-payer nonprofit health care for all Americans would dramatically reduce costs and save lives, that the for-profit health care system is the problem and must be destroyed, is censored out of the public debate by a media that relies on these corporations as major advertisers and sponsors, as well as a morally bankrupt Democratic Party that is as bought off by corporations as the Republicans.

By John Geyman

Published by the Huffington Post

The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), our new health care legislation, in March was hailed by its supporters as an historic event of the magnitude of Social Security and Medicare. But four months later, it remains controversial, with repeated polls showing three large groups of divisive opinion, including those who would work to repeal it and others who believe that it will make no difference. The Democrats have launched a $125 million PR campaign to defend the new law amidst growing signs that many Democrats facing re-election are failing to get political traction on the issue. (1)