Health Care Policy

Health Policy Placebos

David U. Himmelstein & Steffie Woolhandler : Presidential Election 2008

Clinton and Obama haven't come up with real solutions yet, but a mass movement could push them toward the right solution.
Cautionary Healthcare Tales From California and Massachusetts

Trudy Lieberman : Presidential Election 2008

Signs of trouble no matter who is elected President.
Long Roe to Hoe

Frances Kissling & Kate Michelman : Feminism & Women

Improving the sorry state of US reproductive health policy requires serious shifts within the women's movement and the abortion rights movement.

2007

Sick Kids' Laugh Riot

Annabelle Gurwitch : Children & Child Care

Dear Congressional Democrats: Here's a funny story about what it's like to have a really sick kid, even if you do have insurance.
Healthcare Surrender Monkeys

Barbara Ehrenreich : Health Insurance

America has faced down the Third Reich and the Red Menace, but it has met an enemy it dares not confront: the private health insurance industry.
Poverty Is Hazardous to Your Health

Katha Pollitt : Presidential Election 2008

With the exception of John Edwards's plan to eradicate poverty, the concerns of the poor seem to have fallen off the progressive agenda for 2008.
It's Easier to Insure Pets Than Kids

Barbara Ehrenreich

Americans will spend $9.8 billion on pet healthcare this year. Why is the President so insistent that we can't provide health coverage to poor children?
The Surgeon General's Commissars

Stanley I. Kutler : George W. Bush Administration

The testimony of three former Surgeons General offers more proof of how the Bush Administration's corps of inept political operatives subverts our system of checks and balances.
The Medicare Privatization Scam

Trudy Lieberman : Conservatives & The American Right

Will an upcoming vote in Congress signal the end of Medicare?
Michael Moore's Sicko

Christopher Hayes : Film

Michael Moore's healthcare documentary is less partisan, less outrageous--but more real--than anything he's done before.
High Stakes on Health

Robert L. Borosage & Katrina vanden Heuvel : Health Insurance

Campaign '08 is heading for a great debate: Will individualized plans or a broad public guarantee of coverage replace our broken corporate system?
Who's Afraid of Gardasil?

Karen Houppert : Medicine/Drugs

A medical breakthrough has provoked opposition from conservatives, consumer advocates and antivaccine groups.

2006

Buffet's Billions

Nicholas von Hoffman : Corporate Responsibility & Accountability

What Warren Buffett's gift of billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation lacks in imagination, it makes up for in safety. If only they had the guts to tackle the real problems.
Cellmates' Reunion

Barbara Garson : Humor

Desperate for medical care, an ailing granny pies the President and finds a soft bed in a country club prison. It's enough to make you go out and commit a crime.
The False Bird Flu Scare

Dr. Marc Siegel : Health & Disease

The United States has fueled a worldwide overreaction to the threat of a bird flu pandemic, putting AIDS, malaria, malnutrition and other crucial global health programs at risk.
Government's the Problem

Calvin Trillin : Medicine/Drugs

Complicated drug plans are the result of promises fulfilled.
Part D From Outer Space

Trudy Lieberman : Medicare

The Bush Administration's ill-advised new prescription drug program could destroy Medicare as a benefit for all Americans.

2005

AIDS Movement Seizes Control

Mark Gevisser : Medicine/Drugs

Despite its controversy, World AIDS Day has demonstrated how vast and global the AIDS movement has gone. While the extent of AIDS advocacy was not as far-reaching then, in 1987 a burgeoning movement of health care practitioners and gay activists battled the FDA's questionable policies on AIDS drugs experimentation, which included excluding women and i.v. users from drug trials.
Mismanaged Care

Trudy Lieberman : Health Insurance

Tennessee once had a visionary health care plan for that left only 14 percent of residents uninsured. But with federal cuts and a governor's misguided attempt to privatize Medicaid, Tennessee is just another state unable to protect its citizens.
New Medicare Benefit Helps Only Drug Companies

Dr. Marc Siegel : Medicare

Why are so few elderly people signing up for the new Medicare drug benefit? It's cumbersome, costly and totally confusing.
Retirement Security Fight

: Social Security