Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – In the long history of struggle to establish a national health insurance system for the USA, Medicare was finally established on July 30. 1965. Congress enacted Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income […]
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Social Safety Net
The Journey to Medicare’s 58th Anniversary
Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) — The most successful U. S. health insurance program, Medicare, was enacted ln July,1965, to provide health insurance for people ages 65 and older and the disabled regardless of income or medical history. In the 58 years since, Medicare has become living proof that public, universal health insurance is […]
Not so Pro-Life? As US Maternal Mortality Rates Surge, Idaho Abolishes Panel Investigating Deaths in Pregnancy
By: Natalie Schachar – ( Florida Phoenix ) – On July 1, Idaho becomes the only state without a legal requirement or specialized committee to review maternal deaths related to pregnancy. The change comes after state lawmakers, in the midst of a national upsurge in maternal deaths, decided not to extend a sunset date for […]
States are Shrinking number of Medicaid Recipients, but Everyone would Benefit from its Expansion
Gainesville, Florida — When the COVID-19/pandemic-era ‘continuous coverage’ Federal requirement ended recently, states could resume eligibility checks that can purge people from Medicaid rolls. Many states are currently doing this, with coverage being lost for hundreds of thousands of individuals/families. These cuts are mostly occurring for procedural reasons, not because enrollees actually lack eligibility. Reports […]
Americans in Pain: Confronting the Phantom Limbs of America’s Foreign Wars
( Tomdispatch.com ) – America’s War on Terror, launched in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, has had a staggering impact on our world. The Costs of War Project at Brown University, which I helped found, paints as full a picture as possible of the toll […]
New Medicare-for-All Legislation introduced by Sanders, Jayapal, Dingell, others: Why is the greatest Health System in the World only for the Affluent?
Gainesville, Fl. (Special to Informed Comment) – The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was supposed to contain costs and make insurance for health/mental health care affordable. It did bring coverage to 20 million but 30 million remain uninsured. Data indicate that the bad outweighs the good. ACA is too expensive, unsustainable, overly complex and bureaucratic. Even […]
Post-Roe Abortion Bans force Pregnant People with Life-Threatening Complications to Travel Long Distances
By: Kelcie Moseley-Morris – An ultrasound image of Jennifer Adkins’ 12-week-old fetus that was diagnosed with Turner syndrome and hydrops fetalis, two defects that are often fatal to the fetus and dangerous for the pregnant person to carry. Adkins had to seek an abortion in Oregon because, like 13 other states across the country, Idaho […]
COVID Response opened a New Era of Social Generosity; Why Didn’t we Make it Permanent?
( Tomdispatch.com) – I doubt I ever feel older or more passé than when I’m out in my city — New York — and I still put on a mask before stepping onto a bus, going into the subway, or entering a store. Increasingly, I find myself alone in a world of the unmasked with […]
As SNAP Benefits are Cut: How it Feels to Be Hungry
By Beverly Gologorsky | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – My long-dead father used to say, “Every human being deserves to taste a piece of cake.” Though at the time his words meant little to me, as I grew older I realized both what they meant, symbolically speaking, and the grim reality they disguised so charmingly. […]