Healthcare

Yesterday as I was taking a walk up and down Warren St. here in Hudson I realized that I had become actively angry about the state of the US and the world. I walked past hotels where a single room would set you back $400 for a night or you --->> read more -->>

“A 30-Year Campaign to Control Drug Prices Faces Yet Another Failure Democrats have made giving government the power to negotiate drug prices a central campaign theme for decades. With the power to make it happen, they may fall short yet again.” This is the headline with its tagline in today’s --->> read more -->>

Trump and his Republican enablers – the Trumplicans –  are responsible for the pandemic in the US and the nearly 200k deaths that have occurred to date. Comparing the US response with the rest of the world makes it clear that this catastrophe is the direct result of Trumplican policies. --->> read more -->>

It is absolutely clear that Trump and Republicans (Trumplicans) are to blame for the state we find ourselves in. Trump and Republicans can talk all they want about “Wuhan virus” and other racist slurs. There is no other explanation for the tremendous surge in COVID-19 cases across the southern belt --->> read more -->>

Kristof and WuDunn’s book, Tightrope – Americans Reaching for Hope, spent some weeks on bestseller lists. Kristof is a well known reporter and writer for the NYTimes. It centers around the town of Yamhill OR and the people that Kristof grew up among. The stories of industrial decline, increasing inequality, --->> read more -->>

The decline of the US has become so marked over the last few decades that the stories and numbers no longer shock. From a country with an enormous middle class we have become a country with rich, super-rich and big corporations at the top while the vast majority, more than --->> read more -->>

In our continuing effort to find varied sources to illustrate the power of marketing and the costs of unregulated capitalism we return to John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight for his segment on sugar in food. The food industry continues to put sugar in nearly every processed food and fights --->> read more -->>

As WWII was trending towards an end, President Roosevelt proposed a Second Bill of Rights, a bill of economic rights, in his January 11, 1944 State of the Union address. Here is that section of the speech excerpted: It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and --->> read more -->>

“We therefore estimate that Medicare for All could reduce U.S. Health Consumption Expenditures by about 9.6 percent while also providing decent health care coverage for all U.S. residents” The Medicare for All movement gained some new support from a study released last week. The research report, “Economic Analysis of Medicare --->> read more -->>

Heart Stents, Tricycles, and an Argument for Consumer Protections (Regulations) A staple of Republican and many Democratic politicians is to bemoan government regulations. These intrusions on individual liberty and free markets are claimed to be part of the giant regulatory state that chokes off innovation, initiative, and competition. The need --->> read more -->>

We have argued here repeatedly that the US healthcare system is not about healthcare all. No one anywhere here gets paid for keeping you healthy. The system is designed from top to bottom to produce as many prescriptions, tests and procedures as possible. And the prices for these are completely --->> read more -->>

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Try to Disrupt Health Care There was quite a bit of talk over the last couple of days about CEOs Bezos, Buffet, and Dimon teaming up to take on rising healthcare costs. The NYTimes weighed in with their story, “Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway --->> read more -->>

Opioids and White Privilege The arrival of opioids as a national concern might focus your attention on the role of drug companies, doctors, and hospitals in creating this new addiction path. In the October 30 New Yorker Patrick Radden Keefe provides a through introduction to this in his piece, “The --->> read more -->>

CHIP has been defunded by the vicious Republican Party. Nearly 9 million children are loosing their health insurance as states run out of funds. The Congress, controlled by the vicious Republican Party that is more focused on getting a sexual predator elected in Alabama than worrying about mere children, has --->> read more -->>

Maternal Mortality Is Rising in the US as It Declines Everywhere Else PBS Newshour has broadcast several reports on this topic: “What’s behind America’s rising maternal mortality rate?” (May 14, 2017) and “Why are more American women dying after childbirth?” (August 17, 2017) To provide context see the chart  below that displays --->> read more -->>

 An American Sickness: how healthcare became big business and how you can take it back by Elisabeth Rosenthal (Penguin Press, 2017) is both important and disappointing. Part I: History of the Present Illness and Review of Systems The first 238 pages are a comprehensive review of the machinery of our --->> read more -->>

The New York Times has a piece this Sunday (7/30/17) by the well-known former Bush II economics advisor Greg Mankiw, “Why Healthcare Policy Is So Hard”. The article broadly acknowledges what every other developed country has recognized for decades, healthcare is not a good candidate for market control. Interesting that --->> read more -->>

Thursday 7/20/2017 – Most people are at the least relieved with the demise of the latest vicious Republican healthcare proposal cooked by old-all-white-all-male-Republican Senators. Obamacare appears to be safe for the moment. But now is the time to double down on the battle for real healthcare reform in this country. --->> read more -->>

Mirror, Mirror 2017:International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care By Eric C. Schneider, Dana O. Sarnak, David Squires, Arnav Shah, and Michelle M. Doty http://www.commonwealthfund.org/interactives/2017/july/mirror-mirror/#

A consistent chattering point in American discussions of healthcare is the claim that if we can only bring transparency and competition to healthcare we will drive prices down and bring sanity to healthcare. The rest of the world knows that this is not the answer but we seem to remain --->> read more -->>

While our current attention is on the Republican Party’s transfer of wealth to the rich and corporations through the charade of a healthcare reform, the Democratic Party needs to face up to its future and the future of our healthcare system in particular. The Global Context The chart shown here --->> read more -->>

A brief review of how the so-called moderates and the fundamentalist right wing of the Republican Party are reacting to the Senates healthcare bill demonstrates how fundamentally vicious and immoral the whole party is. Though facts may be out of style lets just take note that we live in one --->> read more -->>