Socialist Party USA Statement While citizens in most other industrialized nations enjoyed the benefits of publicly administered healthcare from the aftermath of WW II forward, Americans have suffered under a healthcare system dominated by private corporations. For-profit healthcare has produced negative health outcomes at all levels of the system. More than 48 million people have no health insurance,... 

by Billy Wharton If a bill is passed on Capitol Hill, money is sure to have changed hands. There is not much “School House Rock” idealism left in Washington these days. Bills do not become laws through a democratic process of debate, compromise and ratification. Money greases the skids, shapes the end product and determines what is or isn’t debated from the floor. No surprise then that a large... 

by Billy Wharton A simple question for the tea baggers. Where is the socialism now? Frenetic right-wingers spent a good part of the summer shouting about the “government takeover of health care,” or the “stealth socialist health care plan.” Now that the “Affordable Healthcare for America Act” has been passed by a slim margin in the House of Representatives, there are few traces of anything... 

by Billy Wharton from Examiner.com Few punches are pulled in California Newsreels’ documentary adaptation of Maggie Mahar’s 2006 investigative book Money Driven Medicine. This physician-centered film exposes the infrequently examined ways in which a privately controlled health care system impinges on the relationship between doctor and patient. As Dr. Andrey Espinoza argues in the film, there... 

by Billy Wharton from Examiner.com Seventeen health care activists were arrested this morning after a conducting a sit-in at the offices of the health insurance company Aetna. The protesters demanded that Aetna officials immediately approve all procedures which were recommended by physicians. Denial of medically necessary care is a key strategy employed by private health insurance companies in order... 

by Billy Wharton published on the MRZine The frequently imbibing comedian W. C. Fields once proudly declared: “Everything I do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.” The adjectives used by Fields perfectly characterize the role of the private health insurance industry in the debate about health care reform. As the debate intensifies more and more private health care profits are being... 

by Kristin Schall A Socialist WebZine Exclusive! At least there was a little good news at the August 31st healthcare town hall meeting in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. No death panels under the proposed Obama healthcare reform. But the good news ended quickly. Town hall meetings are supposed to offer people a voice , a chance to participate in the often distant democratic process. No such luck at Congresswoman...