The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged single payer

Obama Goes All In for Health Reform Passage

By | 03.03.10 | 3:18 pm

If anyone doubted the willingness of the White House to stick its neck out for health care reform this year, President Obama likely put those questions to rest this afternoon. Speaking at the White House to promote his newly tweaked reform proposal, the president rejected the Republicans’ “tinker around the More…

Kucinich: It’s High Time for Single-Payer Health Care

By | 02.08.10 | 5:15 pm

As Republican leaders are urging President Obama to scrap the Democrats’ health care reform legislation and start the process from scratch, they’ve found an unlikely ally in Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The Ohio Democrat — a perennial presidential candidate — wants President Obama to consider government-sponsored, single-payer health coverage More…

Sanders Withdraws Single-Payer Amendment

By | 12.16.09 | 3:15 pm

Guess that historic first vote on single-payer health coverage won’t happen this year after all.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today withdrew his Medicare-for-all amendment after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) launched a procedural move forcing a Senate clerk to read the entire 767-page text. The Hill has the rest:

A Senate Vote on Medicare-for-All?

By | 12.14.09 | 5:10 pm

It’s looking that way.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the only member of the upper chamber to endorse single-payer health coverage, said Monday that he plans to introduce an amendment to the Democrats’ health reform legislation that would establish a Medicare-for-all insurance system.

Weiner Won’t Offer Single-Payer Amendment to Health Reform

By | 11.06.09 | 11:42 am

After months of insisting that single-payer health care receive at least a vote on the House floor, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) has decided not to offer the provision at all, according to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Here’s Waxman’s statement on the decision:

Kucinich Wants His Amendment Back

By | 10.30.09 | 4:44 pm

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) was none too happy when House leaders stripped his single-payer provision from their $894 billion health reform proposal. Today, he’s urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to reinstate it.

“Like many other important reforms included in the underlying bill, the Kucinich amendment is the More…

House Health Bill Ditches State Option to Create Single Payer System

By | 10.30.09 | 12:55 pm

In July, single-payer health care advocates won a prominent victory when the House Education and Labor Committee approved legislation empowering states to adopt Medicare-style health care systems. The 25 panel supporters were a rare mash of liberal Democrats who support the policy and conservative Republicans with More…

Democrats Lost Leverage From Start in Health Care Debate

By | 09.15.09 | 6:00 am

Democrats pushing for a government-backed insurance option as part of their health reform strategy are finding out the hard way that, by taking single payer health care off the table early, they have little leverage now to force a strong public plan.

Unlike the Republicans, who adopted the strong conservative More…

Is Single-Payer the Only Plan That Will Reduce Medical Bankruptcies?

By | 09.08.09 | 12:37 pm

That’s the argument made by David Himmelstein, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, who told The New York Times over the weekend that no other proposal being debated on Capitol Hill would rein in the estimated 900,000 medical bankruptcies More…

Weiner: Fate of Public Plan Is in Obama’s Hands

By | 09.04.09 | 10:25 am

Here’s Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who’s leading the lonely congressional push for single-payer health care, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Thursday that, without an emphatic push from President Obama next week, the public option is dead.

If he stands up Wednesday and says, “To the country and to my

More…