Health Care Reform Articles - April 21, 2011

Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Canada’s Health Care: An Alternate Universe

by Elizabeth Rosenthal

I recently returned from a visit of several days to an alternate universe: Canadian health care.

As a physician who has practiced in the United States for 44 years, I have experienced many aspects of our health care system, including its terrible inequities.

Although some Americans get very good health care, there are many who get little or none. Then there are others who get too much: tests, procedures and drugs that they don’t need. The whole system is fragmented, chaotic, inefficient and terribly expensive. We are not getting good value for our enormous expenditure on health care.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/20-0?print

Waiting for the Spark

by Ralph Nader

What could start a popular resurgence in this country against the abuses of concentrated, avaricious corporatism? Imagine the arrogance of passing on to already cheated working people and the jobless enormous corporate losses? This is achieved through government bailouts and tax escapes.

History teaches us that the spark usually is smaller than expected and of a nature that is wholly unpredictable or even unimaginable. But if the dry tinder is all around, as many deprivations and polls reveal, the spark, no matter how small, can turn into a raging inferno.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/19-4?print

People Who Donate Organs For Transplants Can Have Difficulty Getting Insurance

TOPICS: INSURANCE, HEALTH COSTS

By MICHELLE ANDREWS

APR 18, 2011

Most people would agree that donating an organ to someone in need is a selfless act. There's no medical upside in giving up one of your kidneys or part of your liver, lung or pancreas. It's a risk people take so that someone else -- often but not always a loved one in desperate need -- may live a better, longer life.

It's said that no good deed goes unpunished, however, and living donors sometimes find themselves unable to find affordable -- or any -- health insurance after the fact. Insurers sometimes claim that the donation is equivalent to a preexisting medical condition and either reject an application outright or offer coverage with a very steep premium.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Features/Insuring-Your-Health/Michelle-Andrews-on-insurance-for-living-organ-donors.aspx?p=1

Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People

APRIL 21, 2011 | ISSUE 47•16

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mitt-romney-haunted-by-past-of-trying-to-help-unin,20097/