Subjects Archives: Health

The ideological ambiguity of health care reform during Obama’s first term concedes few absolute truths.  The enterprise of reforming health care by way of corporate regulation ignites debate across the left spectrum about the Affordable Care Act’s place in the 2012 election and beyond.  Like it or not, the rules of the ACA are now […]

Women With a Vision (WWAV), a New Orleans advocacy and service organization that provides health care and other support for poor women of color, was the victim of a break-in and arson late Thursday night.  A small organization that has won a national reputation for its work, WWAV was founded in 1991 by a collective […]

I recently wrote an article about my personal experiences in dealing with the medical system while undergoing surgery (“Free Market Medicine: A Personal Account”).  In response, a number of readers sent me accounts of their own experiences trying to get well in America. Health care in this country is hailed by conservative boosters as “the […]

When I recently went to Alta Bates hospital for surgery, I discovered that legal procedures take precedence over medical ones.  I had to sign intimidating statements about financial counseling, indemnity, patient responsibilities, consent to treatment, use of electronic technologies, and the like. One of these documents committed me to the following: “The hospital pathologist is […]

  The policy of cuts to public health applied in Catalonia has caused the closure of referral hospitals, like the Bellvitge hospital, and the closure of Primary Medical Centers (CAPs), making the quality of medical care deteriorate.  One of the closed CAPs is the Rambla Marina CAP, leaving a barrio of nearly 30,000 residents (10,000 […]

The Labor Department reported that the economy added 103,000 jobs in September.  This increase, together with upward revisions to the prior two months’ data brought average job growth over the last three months to 99,000 per month, almost exactly the number needed to keep pace with the growth of the labor force.  Consistent with this […]

Steve Brouwer.  Revolutionary Doctors: How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s Conceptualization of Health Care.  New York, Monthly Review Press, 2011.  245 pp.  $18.95. As Venezuela becomes the first country to reproduce the Cuban medical model on a massive scale, it is doing so in ways that are unique in both form and process.  […]

Terry Everton is a cartoonist.  Visit his blog Working Stiff Review at .  Cf. “State of Working America Preview: A Staggering Rise in Health Insurance Costs” (Economic Policy Institute, 15 December 2010); Don Trementozzi and Steve Early, “Romney, Obama Health Care Reforms Offer No Relief for Unions” (Labor Notes, 22 June 2011). | Print

In January the government of the United States of America saw fit to seize $4.207 million in funds allocated to Cuba by the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the first quarter of 2011, Cuba has charged.  The UN Fund is a $22 billion a year program that works to […]

  According to reports from Bahrain, doctors are disappearing as part of a systematic attack on medical staff.  Many physicians are missing following interrogations by unknown security forces at Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama.  Although families have tried to contact administration officials, the administration denies any knowledge of their whereabouts.  According to family members, the physicians […]

  House Budget Chair Paul Ryan’s proposal for Medicare has two primary goals.  It would end Medicare as a government program and shift it to private insurers, and it would reduce the government’s payments to the program, shifting more of the costs to the Medicare beneficiaries. This analysis by the Congressional Budget Office* demonstrates that […]

  March 20, 2011 We Urge the Japanese Government to Take the Following Actions Regarding the Crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants: Despite strenuous efforts, there is an increasing danger that large amounts of radioactive material might be released from Unit No. 3, which is loaded with fuel containing plutonium.  We are particularly concerned about […]

Yesterday I analyzed the atrocious act of violence against U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in which 18 people were shot, six died and another 12 were wounded, several seriously, among them the Congresswoman with a shot to the head, leaving the medical team with no alternative other than to try to save her life and minimize, […]

I am halting a number of important analyses that are currently taking up my time, to refer to two issues that should be known to our people. The United Nations Organization, at the instigation of the United States, the creator of poverty and chaos in the Haitian Republic, decided to send into Haiti its forces […]

So a key part of U.S. President Barack Obama’s not-so “liberal” health insurance “reform” bill was declared “unconstitutional” last week by the right-wing federal district court judge Henry E. Hudson in Virginia.  In a 42-page opinion, the justice wrote: “Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers […]

“If you’re really worried about the deficits, then you should be really worried about health care costs.” Alan Barber is Domestic Communications Coordinator of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.  Cf. “The cuddly creature on the left sounds a lot like the US media, and the one on the right does a pretty good […]

About three weeks ago news and photos were published showing Haitian citizens throwing stones and protesting in indignation against the forces of MINUSTAH, accusing it of having transmitted cholera to that country by way of a Nepalese soldier. The first impression, if one doesn’t get any additional information, is that this deals with a rumour […]

ON Friday, December 3, the UN decided to devote a session of the General Assembly to an analysis of the cholera epidemic in this neighboring country. The news of that decision was hopeful. Surely it would serve to alert international opinion to the gravity of the situation and mobilize support for the Haitian people. At […]

There is much to talk about when the United States is involved in a colossal scandal as a consequence of the documents published by Wikileaks, whose authenticity – independent of any other motivation on the part of that website – has not been questioned by anyone. However, at this moment, our country is immersed in […]

By the greater use of compulsory licenses, Brazil could lower drug costs not only in Brazil, but in developing countries overall.  At a time when the New York Times is reporting that “the global battle against AIDS is falling apart for lack of money,” it is absolutely essential that the price of lifesaving medicines in […]