Published on The Nation Magizine blog here. Written by John Nichols.

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pressured by progressive activists who objected to the tepid language in a draft document prepared by the Barack Obama campaign, the Democratic platform-writing committee reworked the party's official agenda Saturday to include a clear commitment "that every American man, woman and child be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive health care."

The official draft, which was adopted at the platform committee's gathering in Pittsburgh, will now be submitted to the Democratic National Convention for approval.

The platform is likely to adopted without a fight at the Denver convention where Illinois Senator Barack Obama will be nominated for president.

What is significant about the platform committee's endorsement of language calling for guaranteed health care for all is that the statement goes a good deal further than the Obama campaign would have preferred.

Obama's camp, which dominates but does not entirely control the platform-writing process, wanted to avoid talk of guarantees. It also wanted language that was friendlier to the insurance industry. Progressive Democrats for America, working in conjunction with a number of Pennsylvania organizations and Democratic leaders that support single-payer health care, pushed for a deeper commitment to health-care reform.

Published at The Seattle Times

Searing headlines about local job cuts sharpen interest in universal health-insurance coverage. The topic grabs the attention of those vulnerable families and voters broadly defined as the middle class, the engine of change.

Increasingly, the focus is on national single-payer health insurance. Acceptance of the concept is growing, especially among a key constituency: doctors.

Two years ago, I opined the health-care system was not yet bad enough for real change to occur. The economy was propped up by easy credit and the soon-to-be-exposed liar loans of a fraudulent housing boom. The link between having a job and access to medical care was still secure for so many.

Well, yes, the number of Americans without health insurance was estimated at 47 million — a staggering figure — but the topic and threat seemed comfortably distant from most households.

At the same time, coverage was eroding for many wage earners. Benefits were being cut, insurance exclusions were mounting, co-payments and deductibles were climbing, and children of the middle class were entering a stark economy where employers can no longer afford to offer coverage.

Single-payer health insurance is about who pays the bills, not who provides the medical care. Instead of having private insurance, everyone pays into a common fund. Nothing about the health-care-delivery system changes.

"A Tale of Two Countries," a short video about Canada's health care system produced by the Canadian Media Guild-CWA, is now available online. Published at www.healthcarevoices.org/canada.

I liked this analysis of Single Payer.

Jim Rhodes

Original post:

Socialized Medicine–Gotta Have It
July 25, 2008

Not a Constitutional Right

On the topic of universal health coverage, or, as we diehard liberals like to call it, Socialized Medicine, the Federalist Society crowd and other Neo-Cons make a big production out of trying and failing to find justification for it in the Constitution. To the extent that we buy into that issue, we are being led astray. The question is not whether there is a Constitutional right to health care, for there assuredly is not. The question is whether it is good social policy to establish a program that will ensure a minimum level of access, regardless of means.
Our Conservative comrades compare food, shelter, and education to health care and ask whether those who propose universal health care also propose to provide all of the other necessities of life. This is intended as ridicule, but the answer is yes; under certain circumstances.

Orignally Posted here.

They Know What’s in Your Medicine Cabinet
How insurance companies dig up applicants’ prescriptions—and use them to deny coverage

That prescription you just picked up at the drugstore could hurt your chances of getting health insurance.

An untold number of people have been rejected for medical coverage for a reason they never could have guessed: Insurance companies are using huge, commercially available prescription databases to screen out applicants based on their drug purchases.

Parasites like this cannot be reformed; they must be replaced with a single payer system.

	+		=
Redirect War funding to H.R. 676	means	Illegal Alliens	get	Universal Healthcare for All

Transcript from CNN here. Titled  Healthcare for Illegal Aliens

Published on Truthout.org here.

Monday 21 July 2008

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Billionaire banker Peter Peterson speaks at the Economic Club of New York, preceding a speech by President Bush. (Photo: Reuters)