Health Care For All Texas

Texas leads U.S. in children without health insurance, Georgetown University study shows The report found that nearly 11% of Texas children under the age of 6 lacked health insurance in 2024 — a dramatic increase from 7.9% just two years earlier. Researchers say that jump translates to more than 73,000 additional uninsured children across the state.

Gerald Friedman:

Largely privately funded with relatively little public regulation, the United States healthcare system is both expensive and inefficient, providing poor care to large parts of the population.

For decades, Americans have wrestled with how to fix their broken healthcare system. In this razor-sharp contribution to the healthcare debate, leading economist and former adviser to Bernie Sanders Gerald Friedman recommends that we build on what works: a Medicare system that already efficiently provides healthcare for millions of Americans. Rejecting the discredited idea that healthcare should be treated like any other commodity, Friedman shows that healthcare is distinctive and can be best provided only through universal program of social insurance. Deftly exposing the absurdities of the opponents of reform, Friedman shows in detail how the solution to our health care crisis is staring us in the face: enroll everyone in Medicare to improve the health of all Americans.

This bold and brilliantly argued book is essential reading for anyone who wants to see Congress and the White House act to provide America with a 21st century healthcare system.

The Case for Medicare for All The Case for Medicare for All, Largely privately funded with relatively little public regulation, the United States healthcare system is both expensive and inefficient, providing poor care to large parts of the population

Texas’s Senate Race Will Be a Referendum On Healthcare How many of the state’s voters prefer cruelty to prosperity?

Texas Republicans Invited Me to Testify About Big Insurance Texas lawmakers are asking whether health insurers are harming patients, employers and physicians.

Texas Caregivers for Compromise is going to D.C. for the upteenth time in a final effort to get Essential Caregivers Act legislation moving but we cannot do it without YOU. Thousands of us who had loved ones in long-term care during the pandemic watched them live and die in total isolation in the name of infection control. We adopted reasonable provisions in Texas and even amended our constitution to prevent this from happening again while also acknowledging the need for safety and infection control protocols. But 49 other states are UNPROTECTED from waivers that would allow the imposition of isolation protocols in the event of a health emergency, public safety or weather emergency, natural disaster, etc. despite their statutes because without this bill, HHS still has the ability to push the hold button on rights established in the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Act. Help us help vulnerable people who require 24/7 skilled nursing just to survive.

Mexico Is Taking Care Of America's Health Care Crisis

by AJ+

Al Jazeera is funded in whole or in part by the Qatari government. Wikipedia

822,762 views Aug 13, 2023
A small Mexican town has been a tourist destination for people in the U.S. seeking affordable health care. With hundreds of dentists, Los Algodones, Mexico, has earned the nickname Molar City.

But what does it mean when people living in the richest country in the world cross the border for health care and how does the influx impact Los Algodones?

AJ+ 22K likes, 4.7K comments. "Mexico Is Taking Care Of America's Health Care Crisis"

The Greediest 'Non-Profit' Hospital in America

by More Perfect Union

A recent survey found that 36% of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers are in medical debt to their employer.

UPMC is a healthcare giant. It employs more than 92,000 people, has an operating revenue of roughly $26 billion, and as a “non-profit”, it’s technically supposed to provide affordable healthcare to the people who need it most.

But its flagship hospital recently made headlines for being the least charitable non-profit hospital in the country.

In 1969, the tax code was modified so that a hospital didn't have to pay taxes as long as it was “promoting health.” Charity care" became optional.

So Vikas Saini and his colleagues at the Lown institute decided to take a closer look at just how far some non-profit hospitals have strayed from their original mandate of giving back. They looked at over 1,700 nonprofit hospitals nationwide and calculated what they call the “fair share” spending for each. If a hospital took more money in tax breaks than it gave back to the community, it had a fair share deficit.

Meanwhile, UPMC’s former CEO made $12.9 million in 2021. In total, top executives raked in $225 million — more than double what UPMC spent on charity care that year.

That’s enough money to keep hundreds of rural hospitals open, or to cancel the medical debt of hundreds of thousands of patients.

In just the last ten years, UPMC has grown from 12 hospitals to over 40.

Understaffing is pervasive at UPMC — and it’s only become worse as the hospital has gained more and more market power.

In May 2023, a coalition of unions filed an antitrust complaint with the Justice Department, accusing UPMC of using its market power to harm workers.

Three quarters of nonprofit hospitals are getting more in tax breaks than they’re spending on communities. That’s enough money to cancel the medical debt of 18 million Americans.

More Perfect Union 10K likes, 1.8K comments. "The Greediest 'Non-Profit' Hospital in America"

Denying Your Health Care Is Big Business in America |

Should your insurance company be allowed to stop you from getting a treatment — even if your doctor says it’s necessary?

Doctors are often required to get insurance permission before providing medical care. This process is called prior authorization and it can be used by profit-seeking insurance companies to create intentional barriers between patients and the health care they need.

At best, it’s just a minor bureaucratic headache. At worst, people have died.

Prior authorization has been around for decades, but doctors say its use has increased in recent years and now rank it as one of the top issues in health care.

To produce the Opinion Video above, we spoke to more than 50 doctors and patients. They shared horror stories about a seemingly trivial process that inflicts enormous pain, on a daily basis. The video also explains how a process that is supposed to save money actually inflates U.S. health care costs while enriching insurance companies.

Prior authorization has come under intense scrutiny in Congress in the past few years, but bipartisan proposals have repeatedly stalled. Under public pressure, some insurance companies — like United Healthcare and Cigna — have said they would reduce the use of prior authorization. And in January, the Biden administration finalized a plan to put limited guardrails around this practice. But doctors say that these efforts only scratch the surface and should go further.

This issue is ultimately about the role of insurance companies in American health care: Should they have more power than your doctor to decide what’s medically best for you?

Denying Your Health Care Is Big Business in America | NYT Opinion Should your insurance company be allowed to stop you from getting a...