Health Care

EveryDoctor’s Campaign To Fight NHS Privatisation Is Taking Off

October 21, 2024 Hannah Sharland, The Canary. Organize! Doctors, EveryDoctor, Health Care, National Health Service, NHS

Campaign group EveryDoctor is calling for MPs to step up to fix the NHS. The group has built a manifesto with the input of hundreds of doctors. This blueprint spells out a series of urgent actions the new government must now make to mend the UK’s ailing health services and stop NHS privatisation. Already, the campaign group has engaged with over sixty MPs, but there’s still more work to do to get the rest – including the new Labour government – on board. So, it urgently needs help to get more to sign up for the next steps in its campaign.

Health Activists Picket Against High Cost Of Nutritious Food

October 20, 2024 Peoples Health Dispatch, People's Dispatch. Resist! Food Sovereignty, Health Care, Hunger, Inflation, Malnutrition, People's Health Movement, South Africa, World Food Day

On World Food Day, October 16, the People’s Health Movement (PHM) South Africa organized a picket in front of the National Parliament to protest the high cost of healthy and nutritious food in the country. While the South African Constitution guarantees the right to food, PHM South Africa argued that only the wealthy can afford healthy meals today. “The soaring prices of nutritious food have placed it beyond the reach of millions, forcing many to resort to cheaper, ultra-processed foods,” they said. Ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to a long list of non-communicable diseases, including cancer and diabetes, make this a pressing social justice issue, the picket organizers noted.

34 Million Seniors In Medicare Advantage Plans Face Rude Awakening

October 19, 2024 Emma Curchin, Counter Punch. Educate! Health Care, Medicare Advantage, Privatization, Seniors

October 15 marks the first day of open enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans – a time that will deliver chaos and confusion for many of the 34 million seniors who depend on these plans to pay their healthcare bills. It’s yet another reminder that Medicare wastes billions of dollars funneling public money to private companies that are primarily driven by profit-seeking. Last year, more MA members than expected used their benefits to get necessary medical care. One might assume that companies would expect beneficiaries to use health care services. But after years of making outsized profits, the insurance companies that own these plans are reacting to this by downsizing plans, cutting benefits, increasing copays, and raising prescription drug deductibles. In other words, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries are being penalized for using the health care that they pay for.

From Despair To Revolution: The Bronx’s Path To Defeating Addiction

October 19, 2024 Bronx Anti-War Coalition, Workers World. Create! Addiction, Health Care, New York City (NYC), Palestine

The Bronx Anti-War Coalition hosted a film screening on Oct. 11 of the documentary “Dope is Death” as part of our guerrilla cinema series. The widely attended event featured a Q&A session with former Young Lord and acupuncturist Walter Bosque, where community members engaged in a lively discussion about continuing and expanding the revolutionary movement of healing. In recent years, the Bronx, a predominantly Black, Brown and working-class borough in one of the most densely populated areas of Turtle Island, has experienced a sharp rise in opioid use, including oxycodone, street fentanyl and heroin. We recognize that drug use, particularly opioids, is not merely a personal struggle but a symptom of systemic issues rooted in capitalism and government neglect.

Diabetes Patients Are Starting To Beat Big Pharma’s Price Gouging

October 18, 2024 Fran Quigley, Waging Nonviolence. Organize! Big Pharma, Diabetes, Health Care, Insulin, Victory

T1International was born out of anger. Elizabeth Pfiester had lived with type 1 diabetes since she was four years old. The daughter of a Monticello, Illinois railroad worker and library clerk, Pfiester and her family together had to learn the daily regimen of insulin injections, finger pricks for blood testing, and constant fear of blood sugar spikes and crashes. Fortunately, her dad’s railroad job provided solid health coverage, which got even better when Pfiester enrolled in the London School of Economics, where she qualified for the U.K.’s National Health Service program.

Texas Pregnancy Deaths Up 56% Since Abortion Ban

October 7, 2024 Catherine Haberl, Liberation News. Educate! Abortion Bans, Abortion Rights, Abortions, Health Care, Preventable Deaths, Texas

Two years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and three years since the implementation of Texas’s SB 8 “bounty” bill in 2021, the facts on the ground are showing exactly what activists expected: a massive increase in deaths of both mothers and infants. The Gender Equity Policy Institute reports a 56% increase in pregnancy-related deaths (defined as the loss of life due to complications related to pregnancy or aggravated by pregnancy-related conditions) in Texas between 2019 and 2022, while the national statistic increased by 11% during the same timeframe. This represents a significant spike in the already troubling trend of rising pregnancy-related mortality in the state.

EveryDoctor Is Running Its Most Important Campaign Yet

September 30, 2024 Hannah Sharland, The Canary. Resist! Doctors, Health Care, Labour Party, National Health Service, NHS, United Kingdom (UK)

Canary columnist Dr Julia Grace-Patterson’s campaign group EveryDoctor is building a manifesto to fix the NHS. With the input of hundreds of doctors, it’s creating a blueprint of the urgent actions the new government should be taking after fourteen years of Tory destruction. That is, this is the plan Labour should be putting forward – but has so far offered only more of the same privatisation that got the NHS into this mess. It aims to host a meeting with MPs on 10 October to kick off a series of parliamentary briefings spelling out the manifesto’s demands. So now, EveryDoctor is asking members of the public to join it in calling on MPs to attend this vital session.

Dr. Khalil Khalidy, Orthopedic Doctor in Deir al Balah, Gaza

September 26, 2024 Eleanor Goldfield, Project Censored. Resistance Report Doctors, Gaza, Genocide, Health Care, Israel, Palestine

The voices of Palestinians in Gaza are some of the most censored in the world. If they are not killed outright, they are silenced by purposeful omission in order to support Israel’s narrative. It is therefore vital that alternative media work to find and platform these voices, and that people who are not fooled by pro-Israel propaganda engage with it, share it, and allow it to inform our actions. This week we sit down with Dr. Khalil Khalidy, an orthopedic doctor in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. His testimony is necessary and powerful and understandably distressing. We are therefore here including a content warning for this week’s show as Dr. Khalidy does not sugarcoat his lived experiences.

Study: The Economic Case For A Public Rail System

September 24, 2024 Kira McDonald, Public Rail Now. Educate! Carbon emissions, climate crisis, Electrification, Environment, Health Care, Railroads, Report, Transportation, Worker Rights and Jobs

Public Rail Now is excited to announce their second research report in their campaign for public rail ownership. “From Margins to Growth: The Economic Case for a Public Rail System,” lays bare the economic facts for the current state of the US rail system is in a downward spiral, facts working railroaders have been espousing for decades. Public rail ownership has the potential to save up to $140 billion annually for US consumers, provide an estimated 180,000 new rail road jobs, avert $190 Billion in public health, environmental and fiscal cost, while helping to meet climate goals by avoiding 180 metric tonnes of carbon emissions.

US Health System Ranks Last Compared With Peer Nations

September 20, 2024 Jessica Glenza, The Guardian. Educate! health, Health Care, Report, United States

The United States health system ranked dead last in an international comparison of 10 peer nations, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund. In spite of Americans paying nearly double that of other countries, the system performed poorly on health equity, access to care and outcomes. “I see the human toll of these shortcomings on a daily basis,” said Dr Joseph Betancourt, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation with a focus on healthcare research and policy. “I see patients who cannot afford their medications … I see older patients arrive sicker than they should because they spent the majority of their lives uninsured,” said Betancourt. “It’s time we finally build a health system that delivers quality affordable healthcare for all Americans.”

Fighting Privatization Is Good For Mental Health

September 19, 2024 Elena Gormley, In These Times. Organize! Chicago, Health Care, mental health, Privatization

This spring, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a dramatic change in the city’s mental health policy, promising to reopen public clinics shuttered for more than a decade. Today, my administration is taking extraordinary steps to reverse the course and expand our city’s systems of mental health,” Johnson said May 30, outside the Roseland Mental Health Center. “We are standing here on the Far South Side to make it clear that we are prioritizing those who have been left behind and discarded by previous administrations.” In addition to Roseland, the city plans to reopen two more public clinics, in the Pilsen and West Garfield Park neighborhoods.

Deaths, Asthma, Climate Pollution Linked To Citi’s Funding Of Gas

September 18, 2024 Emily Pomilio, Fossil Free Citi. Educate! Citibank, Fossil Fuels, Health Care, LNG, Louisiana, Report, Texas

The lives and health of families in Texas and Louisiana are being directly impacted by Citi’s funding of nearby liquified methane gas projects (LNG), a new report released today shows. Over $36 million in health costs, two deaths, and more than 1,600 incidences of asthma symptoms per year in the region are linked to the $1.6 billion the bank has pumped into four LNG facilities in the Gulf South. The bank’s financed emissions related to these facilities is equivalent to over 6 coal plants or 6 million gasoline cars annually. The report, Citi: Funding Fossil-Fueled Environmental Racism in the Gulf South, quantifies the projected health impacts the facilities’ permitted air pollution could have on the region and highlights three communities in the area that are fighting back against fossil fuel development.

Buffalo Medical Residents Strike For Fair Pay And Better Conditions

September 9, 2024 Derek Seidman, Truthout. Resist! Doctors, Health Care, New York City (NY), Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Around 100 picketers stood in front of Buffalo General Hospital on September 4, chanting and talking to reporters under the midday sun. They gripped signs with slogans like “Fair Contract Now” and “United For Our Patients.” Cars honked in support as they passed by, with some drivers thrusting fists into the warm air through their open windows. It was the second day of a four-day strike by University at Buffalo (UB) medical residents over pay, benefits and working conditions. The strike was authorized by a resounding 93 percent vote after more than a year of bargaining attempts. The striking medical residents in Buffalo are part of a rising wave of unionization among medical workers stretching from California to Vermont and spurred by demands for better compensation and working conditions.

Why More Doctors Are Joining Unions

September 8, 2024 Lambeth Hochwald, Medscape. Organize! Doctors, Health Care, Privatization, Social Justice, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

With huge shifts over the past decade in the way doctors are employed — half of all doctors now work for a health system or large medical group — the idea of unionizing is not only being explored but gaining traction within the profession. In fact, 8% of the physician workforce (or 70,000 physicians) belong to a union, according to statistics gathered in 2022. Exact numbers are hard to come by, and, interestingly, although the American Medical Association (AMA) " supports the right of physicians to engage in collective bargaining," the organization doesn't track union membership among physicians, according to an AMA spokesperson.

Can’t Pay Won’t Pay

September 4, 2024 Maureen Tkacik, The American Prospect. Educate! Bankruptcy, Health Care, Miami, Profiteering

It is not entirely clear why none of the four physicians who saw Yani Rodriguez over the six days in September 2022 she spent dying at the North Shore Medical Center in Miami ever diagnosed her with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare but well-established blood disorder often associated with late pregnancy whose survival rate soared from just 10 percent in the 1950s to almost 90 percent with the advent of modern plasma transfusion techniques. Rodriguez’s blood readings should have been a dead giveaway, according to expert witnesses consulted in her medical malpractice case and a physician the Prospect consulted with the medical records.

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