Health Care

SCOTUS Overturns ‘Chevron’ Deference, Massive Transfer Of Power To Courts

June 30, 2024 Sharon Zhang, Truthout. Educate! Chevron, Chevron Deference, Corporatism, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Health Care, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Worker Rights and Jobs

The Supreme Court ruled along ideological lines on Friday to overturn a 40-year-old doctrine known as Chevron deference in a seismic decision that could see a major erosion of federal administrative rule in issues of public health, labor rights, environmental protection, food safety, and more. The Court ruled 6 to 3 in a pair of decisions that hands a massive amount of control over federal regulatory powers to the courts, overturning the doctrine that allowed federal agencies to have interpretive authority when there was any ambiguity in a law. Chevron deference allowed experts at federal agencies — as people better situated to make decisions on issues within their regulatory purview — to interpret statutes rather than judges.

Striking Nurses: ‘Patients Over Profits’

June 30, 2024 Lyn Neeley, Workers' World. Resist! Health Care, Nurses, Oregon, Portland, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

Portland, Oregon - Over 3,000 nurses from six Providence Corporation hospitals across Oregon completed a three-day strike on June 20, carrying signs saying, “Patients over profits.” Since December, the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) has been in negotiations with Providence for a contract that ensures safe staffing ratios, better hours, higher pay and improved health care benefits. The striking nurses shouted: “Heroes treated like zeros!” Providence, one of Oregon’s largest corporations, owns one-quarter of Oregon’s health care market. The yearly income of Providence CEOs has risen to $10 million.

The Air In Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Is Even Worse Than Expected

June 22, 2024 Naveena Sadasivam, DeSmog. Educate! Cancer, Cancer Alley, EPA, Health Care, Human Rights, Louisiana, pollution

Since the 1980s, the 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that connects New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has been known as “Cancer Alley.” The name stems from the fact that the area’s residents have a 95 percent greater chance of developing cancer than the average American. A big reason for this is the concentration of industrial facilities along the corridor — particularly petrochemical manufacturing plants, many of which emit ethylene oxide, an extremely potent toxin that is considered a carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency and has been linked to breast and lung cancers.

Insurgent Slate Wins UFT Retiree Chapter Election

June 20, 2024 Crystal Lewis, Portside. Organize! Education, Health Care, Medicare, Retirees, Teachers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

In a significant setback to the union’s leadership, former educators with the Retiree Advocate caucus of the United Federation of Teachers have ousted the incumbent Unity slate. In balloting for leadership of the union’s Retired Teachers chapter, the Retiree Advocate slate received 17,226 votes, or 63 percent of the total, while Unity, which is aligned with UFT President Michael Mulgrew, got 10,114 votes, according to unofficial results. Members of the Retiree Advocate had campaigned in opposition to the city’s efforts to switch retired city workers to a Medicare Advantage plan from their traditional Medicare. The plan is backed by the Municipal Labor Committee, of which Mulgrew is the executive vice-chair.

Healthcare Workers Protest AMA’s Silence On Genocide In Gaza

June 14, 2024 Candice Choo-Kang, People's Dispatch. Resist! American Medical Association (AMA), Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), Gaza, Genocide, Health Care, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Palestine

On June 8, about 75 nurses, physicians, other health professionals, and students protested at the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates meeting in Chicago, demanding the AMA recognize the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Protestors, some in white coats, chanted, “Every day the AMA stands still, another day that children are killed!” Delegates reportedly heard the chants while the meeting was underway. Dr. Gulrana Syed, a physician, told People’s Health Dispatch that the group is urging the “AMA [to] stand up for healthcare workers in Gaza, who are deliberately targeted [by violence]” and to protest “the [AMA’s] lack of care for mass casualties.”

Global People’s Health Movement Calls For A New International Economic, Political, And Social Order

June 9, 2024 Wim De Ceukelaire and Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Capitalism, Ecosystems, Gender, Health Care, Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

Hundreds of health activists gathered in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in April to reinvigorate the struggle for health rights. This fifth global assembly since 2000 underscored the enduring vibrancy of the People’s Health Movement (PHM), a prime advocate for health as a human right for all. Established after the first People’s Health Assembly in 2000, PHM is a global network of activists, social movements, and organizations advocating for health as a fundamental human right, promoting comprehensive primary health care, and striving for equitable health systems. The fifth People’s Health Assembly featured plenary sessions, sub-plenaries, and interactive workshops focused on five key themes: resistance to war, occupation, and forced migration; traditional ancestral and popular knowledge; gender justice in health; transformation of health systems; and ecosystem health.

Wins At The Ballot Box For Abortion Rights Still Mean Court Battles

June 7, 2024 Bram Sable-Smith, Scheer Post. Strategize! Abortion Rights, Health Care, State Legislatures, Women's Rights

Before Ohio voters amended their constitution last year to protect abortion rights, the state’s attorney general, an anti-abortion Republican, said that doing so would upend at least 10 state laws limiting abortions. But those laws remain a hurdle and straightforward access to abortions has yet to resume, said Bethany Lewis, executive director of the Preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland. “Legally, what actually happened in practice was not much,” she said. Today, most of those laws limiting abortions — including a 24-hour waiting period and a 20-week abortion ban — continue to govern Ohio health providers, despite the constitutional amendment’s passage with nearly 57% of the vote. For abortion rights advocates, it’s going to take time and money to challenge the laws in the courts.

Doctors Against Genocide Is Bringing Medicine Back To The Side Of Humanity

May 30, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Doctors, Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), Gaza, Genocide, Health Care, Health workers, Israel, Joe Biden, Palestine

At the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Peoples Dispatch spoke to two doctors with Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), which organizes those in the medical community in the US to form a powerful voice of opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Since its founding less than one year ago, DAG has engaged in a variety of organizing work, including marching in mass mobilizations, disrupting powerful healthcare officials, and testifying before the United Nations. The goals of DAG have always been all-encompassing, with a hope that as “our resources and numbers grow we hope to combat genocides and injustices all around the world.”

Over 400 Physicians From Delaware’s Christiana Care Move To Unionize

May 29, 2024 Jennifer Henderson, MedPage Today. Organize! Delaware, Doctors, Health Care, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

More than 400 physicians from Delaware's Christiana Hospital, Wilmington Hospital, and Middletown Free-standing Emergency Department -- all part of the ChristianaCare health system -- filed to unionize with Doctors Council SEIU Local 10MD. "If successful, this will be the first physician union in Delaware and the first union of any kind at ChristianaCare," Doctors Council SEIU said in an announcement of the filing, which pointed to the ongoing corporatization of medicine as driving the physicians' efforts. Some of the specific concerns that physicians detailed in regard to their filing included understaffing and inadequate resources, corporate influence on medical decision making, limited input in matters affecting patient care and physician safety and autonomy, and moral injury caused by pressure to place profit over patients.

On Nurses Day, Struggles Continue For Better Conditions

May 13, 2024 People's Health Dispatch, People's Dispatch. Resist! Health Care, International Nurses’ Day, Staffing, Worker Rights and Jobs

International Nurses’ Day greetings are just around the corner, as governments and officials prepare once again to recognize the contribution of the largest group in the health workforce to health systems worldwide. Yet, as Public Services International (PSI) warns, nurses across the globe are still waiting to see action on the promises made by ministers and other policymakers. Despite commitments made during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been no notable improvement in workers’ rights and working conditions in public health systems. Today, there is a global shortage of six million nurses, with almost 90% of this shortage concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.

Groups Look To Bail Out Mothers, Caregivers In Pretrial Detention

May 12, 2024 Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector. Resist! Bail, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Health Care, Mothers Day, Pretrial Detention

Yolanda Johnson’s nightmare began in the summer of 2021. As she recalls, a former boyfriend pushed her around, hitting an area on her body where there were previous burns. She threw hot water at him and brandished a knife to get him to back away. “He was much bigger than I was, and I was trying to defend myself,” Johnson said in a recent interview. “I wasn’t really trying to stab him, but I poked him enough to back off of me.” No one called the police, and Johnson left. A few days later, she returned. “When I did come back, I guess the neighbor or somebody must have called and said that I was there, and they came and wrote my name, and took me in,” Johnson said.

Landmark Study Reveals Gas Stove Emissions Boost Childhood Asthma

May 6, 2024 Diane Bernard, DeSmog. Educate! Child Welfare, Energy, Gas Stoves, Health Care, Nitrogen, Oil and Gas, Politics and Policy, Science Denial, Social Justice

People who use gas or propane stoves in their homes are regularly exposed to harmful levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a new study shows. The household appliances emit pollutants that can be linked to approximately 200,000 current cases of childhood asthma, with 25 percent of those cases tied to nitrogen dioxide alone. The study, published Friday in Science Advances, represents the first time researchers have quantified the link between gas stoves and asthma from NO2 exposures inside homes. “I didn’t expect to see pollutant concentrations breach health benchmarks in bedrooms within an hour of gas stove use, and stay there for hours after the stove is turned off,” Rob Jackson, a professor at Stanford University and the lead scientist on the study, said in a statement.

New York Care Workers’ Fight To End The 24-Hour Workday

May 4, 2024 Annie Faye Cheng, Portside. Resist! Health Care, home care, New York (NY), New York City (NYC), Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Gui Hua Song retired from home care work in 2020, but when she heard about plans for a New York City hunger strike earlier this spring organized by a coalition fighting to end home health aides’ 24-hour workday, she signed up to join. “People asked me, ‘Why would you risk your health when it doesn’t even affect you? You are already retired,’” Song said with the help of an interpreter. But after spending years working grueling 24-hour shifts, she said she knew she had to participate. She recalled the high stress work environment and endless nights of sleeplessness while caring for an elderly couple.

Progressives Must Put Medicare For All Back On The Agenda

May 2, 2024 Ana Malinow, Common Dreams. Organize! Congress, Health Care, Medicare, Medicare for all

In May 2009, Dr. Margaret Flowers, renowned single payer activist and humanist, was one of 13 single payer activists, doctors, and nurses arrested at one of the Senate Finance Committee meetings, chaired by then-Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), charged with reforming the U.S. health care system. The committee heard from 28 witnesses over two days representing major health care stakeholders. Missing from the lineup was even one witness in support of the obvious solution, single payer health care. As activists were hauled out of the hearing by police, one of them could be heard saying, “Why aren’t single payer activists at the table?”

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