In the coming days, many great eulogies of Ted Kennedy will be written. Many will offer personal anecdotes about what a great man he was. I do not intend to write one here. I have no great anecdotes or personal stories to tell about how Ted Kennedy directly touched my life. I meet the man …
On the Death of My Older Brother, Jeremy, and Ted Kennedy Read More »
After reading an article by Chris Townsend the other day, I noticed the the strong similarities between union busting and the tactics of teabaggers — namely, how they suppress, intimidate, and delay action at all costs. They both rely on intimidating people to the point where there is no longer any space left to make …
Teabaggers Are To Congresspeople What Union-Busters Are To Workers Read More »
The active participation of union members is changing the tone of the health care reform town hall meetings going on now during the August congressional recess. What began as forums for anti-Obama propaganda are now becoming platforms for real debate over what kind of reform is needed. Much of the credit goes to union members …
Workers ‘Becoming Backbone’ of Health Care Reform Effort Read More »
Washington Post’s Daily Dose Blog adds more fuel to the health care reform debate: You might have known that insurers can deny health coverage based on preexisting medical conditions, but here’s something else to worry about: They can take away the coverage you thought you had when actually need it, the government says. The Department …
Healthcare Insurers: I Think the Appropriate Word is “Disturbing” Read More »
According to Paul Krugman, that’s the unofficial rallying cry of the conservative opposition to health care reform. Across the country, much of the oxygen in the debate is sucked up by the tragic irony of Medicare recipients speaking out against a government takeover of health care. If the misinformation swamps our chances of overhauling the …
Don’t Let Government Get Its Hands on Healthcare Read More »
More than 100 nurses, wearing surgical masks and carrying signs that read “Nurses and Patients Demand Swine Flu Protection,” rallied Wednesday at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center to spotlight unsafe practices in treating H1N1 (swine) flu patients and protecting health care workers and other patients. The nurses, members of the …
The central question on the American people’s minds right now about health reform seems to be, “What’s in it for me?” Though the cost of doing nothing, as the conservatives propose, is staggering, with the average family paying $10,000 more in premiums by 2019, people still need to understand what reform will do. And while …
A heated argument is going on about the right health insurance model between those those who believe in a public option and those who believe in single payer. Or perhaps I should say between those who are willing to take what they can get: public option; vs. those who want to hold out for what …
Finding Common Ground Between Public Option Advocates and Single Payer Advocates Read More »
Martin Feldstein, a brilliant conservative economist, has his facts wrong on the health care debate in an op-ed he penned today in the Washington Post. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight concisely explains Feldstein’s error: Take a look at this: Obama has said that he would favor a British-style “single payer” system in which the government owns …
Using a combination of integrated, team-based care and technology, Kaiser Permanente of Southern California developed a Healthy Bones initiative that not only reduced fractures in the most at-risk patients by 37 percent, but lowered the care cost for the same patients by 30 percent. Similar Kaiser programs have reduced heart disease deaths and treatment costs …
Kaiser Model Shows the Way to Improving Health Care Delivery Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
