Tikkun (https://www.tikkun.org/category/politics__society/health/page/4/)
The New York Metro chapter of Physicians for a National
Health Program (PNHP), an 18,000-member national
organization, denounces the federal debt ceiling deal
signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday. “Politicians who say Medicare and Social Security are
spared cuts are not being honest,” said Dr. Oliver
Fein, Chair of PNHP-NY Metro.
Phil Wolfson’s Noe describes the experience of a family facing the serious illness and eventual death of Noah, their sixteen-year-old son. This wasn’t an easy book for a bereaved father to write: “The memory of losing him still ignites the most intense feeling of emptiness and longing. It took me ten years after he died to complete the chapter on the last days of his life…. Even now, writing this is complete torment.”
In the absence of a progressive voice resonating from the White House, the radical Right continues to dominate the political noise, forcing its policy narratives into the media and policy decisions.
The short answer is that social justice was not served by the passage of Obama’s health care law. Despite the early rhetoric from President Obama that health reform must cover everyone, control long-term costs, and improve the quality of health care delivery, none of these goals will be met by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
How come Ugandan activists are upbeat while so many U.S. activists are glum?
Without intending to reify, or circumscribe, I will present a taxonomy of experience that reflects my personal history and observations over forty-seven years, since I and a small group of new friends just commencing medical school in New York City dropped acid (LSD).
Our hypermodern selves are pretty much at a kindergarten level now regarding the understanding of how dynamically interrelated the world is (not to be confused with the sort of connectedness the Internet affords, useful though that may be).
This is why I devote my time to working for a health system in the United States that meets the human rights principles of universality, equity, and accountability: a single-payer national health insurance. Anything less will prolong suffering and unnecessary death. Every person in this country must have access to the same high-quality standard of health care.
What if, as expected, regenerative science and lifestyle improvements lead to another twenty-plus-year extension of life expectancy in the twenty-first century?
Did we fail on health care? The debate is vigorous. Richard Kirsch and Lauren Reichelt respond.
The Left has been left whimpering that health care reform did not go far enough, that we should adopt “Medicare for All.” But the claim that this bill is middle-of-the-road or too pragmatic has not found any significant public sentiment and fails in the face of the financial pressure on government.