Health care in the US
US hospital visits due to opioid issues top one million a year
By Genevieve Leigh, 21 June 2017
Visits to emergency rooms and inpatient stays for opioid-related issues are skyrocketing, straining treatment facilities in rural areas and urban centers alike.
The Democrats’ fraudulent opposition to Trumpcare
By Kate Randall, 21 June 2017
The Democrats defend Obamacare as though it were a progressive social reform, rather than a major step in the assault on healthcare, now being carried further by Trump and the Republicans.
Senate Republican health plan could make deeper cuts to Medicaid than House version
By Kate Randall, 20 June 2017
The Senate plan to repeal Obamacare could cut an additional $64 billion from Medicaid by changing the way growth in per-patient spending is calculated.
US Senate health bill drafted in secrecy: A conspiracy against the health care of millions
By Kate Randall, 16 June 2017
The Senate plan maintains the AHCA’s per capita cap or block granting of federal Medicaid funds, which would effectively end Medicaid as a guaranteed program based on need.
US Senate Republicans moving forward on Obamacare repeal bill
By Kate Randall, 13 June 2017
The Senate bill will retain the majority of the AHCA’s reactionary features, including the gutting of Medicaid and tax breaks for the wealthy.
Pregnancy-linked death rate in Texas is highest among industrialized nations
By Trévon Austin, 10 June 2017
According to the research directed by the University of Maryland in 2016, pregnancy-related deaths in Texas nearly doubled within two years, rising from 72 in 2010 to 142 in 2012.
Mylan may have overcharged US government by $1.27 billion
By Brad Dixon, 5 June 2017
Between 2006 and 2016, Mylan Pharmaceuticals misclassified its EpiPen Auto-Injector, used to treat anaphylaxis due to allergic reactions, as a generic product instead of a branded product.
Trump rule denies birth control coverage to hundreds of thousands of women
By Kate Randall, 3 June 2017
The new rule greatly expands the number of employers and insurance companies that could qualify for an exemption to the ACA mandate, simply by claiming a moral or religious objection.
Illinois’ largest hospital system plans $200 million in cuts
By Benjamin Mateus and Marcus Day, 2 June 2017
The cuts at Advocate will mean further restriction of patients’ access to health services and an escalation of the attack on the jobs and working conditions of employees.
Prices of US branded prescription drugs rose 13 percent in 2016
By Brad Dixon, 2 June 2017
The rise in drug prices is 318 percent higher than the rise in the costs of goods due to inflation, according to a report by health care technology company Truveris.
Republican health plan would leave 23 million uninsured, budget office says
By Kate Randall, 26 May 2017
The AHCA would leave 23 million fewer insured by 2026, slashing $824 billion from Medicaid and driving up premiums for older Americans and those with preexisting conditions.
Trump administration seizes on Aetna pullout from ACA to push Republicans’ health plan
By Shelley Connor, 16 May 2017
If insurers are unable to make an adequate profit under Obamacare, they either hike their prices or pull out of the insurance market.
Veterans Affairs to close more than 1,110 facilities
By Kevin Martinez, 13 May 2017
VA Secretary David Shulkin told Congress the proposal is aimed at privatizing veterans’ health care.
Berkshire Hathaway billionaire: “The amount of waste from overtreatment of the dying is just disgusting”
By Kate Randall, 12 May 2017
That people who have toiled their entire lives should be treated with dignity at the end of their lives is an alien concept to such reactionary minds.
Life expectancy study shows 20-year gap between richest and poorest US counties
By Naomi Spencer, 10 May 2017
Counties in the eastern Kentucky coalfields registered the sharpest declines in life expectancy between 1980 and 2014.
Hypocrisy and lies: Barack Obama accepts “Profile in Courage” award in Boston
By Kate Randall, 9 May 2017
Although Obama did not mention the ACA or “Trumpcare” in his remarks accepting the award, it is clear that the passage of Obamacare was one of the main reasons he was chosen.
A new stage in the US health care counterrevolution
By Patrick Martin, 8 May 2017
The passage of the American Health Care Act by the House of Representatives sets the pace for devastating cuts in health care for working people, to fund a windfall for the financial oligarchy.
Republican health care bill targets millions with preexisting conditions
By Kate Randall, 6 May 2017
Shameless lies are being used to promote a thoroughly regressive bill that builds on Obama’s pro-corporate Affordable Care Act and expands its assault on health care.
House Republicans pass draconian health care legislation
Bill would end Medicaid as a guaranteed program based on need
By Kate Randall, 5 May 2017
The American Health Care Act is a reactionary bill that builds on the regressive, pro-corporate framework of the legislation popularly known as Obamacare.
House Republicans scramble for votes to pass draconian health care bill
By Barry Grey and Kate Randall, 3 May 2017
The amended version of the Trump administration’s American Health Care Act would impose an even more savage attack on health care for millions of people than the original.
Maine to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients
By John Marion, 24 April 2017
Governor Paul LePage expects to receive federal approval for an attack on Medicaid.
Trump makes pro-insurance company changes to Obamacare
By Kate Randall, 15 April 2017
The giant private insurers claim that Americans are “gaming” the ACA by signing up only when they get sick and dropping out after receiving medical treatment.
Trump’s new federal law blocks state funding for Planned Parenthood
By Kathleen Martin, 15 April 2017
The move is part of a broader attack on healthcare and the right to abortion services.
Super-rich in America live 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent
By Kate Randall, 11 April 2017
Income-based disparities in US life expectancy are worsened by the for-profit US health care system.
Facing defeat in Republican-controlled House, Trump scuttles Obamacare replacement bill
By Barry Grey, 25 March 2017
Both Trump and the Democrats signaled their readiness to collaborate in devising new means to slash health care benefits.
Trump, Republicans postpone vote on Obamacare replacement bill
By Barry Grey, 24 March 2017
The bill has been made more brutal in an attempt to win over the most diehard opponents of health care for poor and moderate-income people.
Pittsburgh Town Hall: Democrats cover for attack on health care
By Samuel Davidson, 24 March 2017
Over 500 people attended a Town Hall meeting in Pittsburgh to express outrage over cuts to health care.
Key House Republicans and Trump agree to Medicaid block grants, work requirements
By Kate Randall, 20 March 2017
Under a block grant, states would receive a fixed annual amount of federal funding, forcing them to either cut benefits or remove people from the program altogether
Over 3,000 yearly deaths in Pennsylvania expected from repeal of Obamacare
By Douglas Lyons, 17 March 2017
Researchers estimate that more than 1.1 million people in the state would lose health insurance and 3,525 premature deaths would result each year from a total repeal.
US health care debate: A bipartisan drive to lower life expectancy
By Jerry White, 16 March 2017
The current debate obscures the basic motivation guiding both big business parties: to restrict access to affordable health care and sharply reduce the lifespan of American workers.
Nominee for US Food and Drug Administration commissioner has deep ties to drug industry
By Brad Dixon, 15 March 2017
Scott Gottlieb has close ties to the drug industry and, if confirmed, will work to roll back regulations at the FDA.
US government agency projects 24 million to lose health coverage under Republican plan
By Kate Randall, 14 March 2017
This massive surge in the uninsured would come largely on the backs of the poor through draconian cuts to Medicaid, effectively ending it as an entitlement program.
Republicans push plan to gut Medicaid and slash taxes for the wealthy
By Kate Randall, 13 March 2017
The Republican bill to replace Obamacare will slash taxes for the wealthy by $600 billion.
A socialist policy for universal health care
By Niles Niemuth, 11 March 2017
Under the cover of a struggle over Obamacare, the bipartisan attack on health care for working people in America is being intensified.
Obamacare replacement plan targets Medicaid
By Kate Randall, 8 March 2017
Beginning in 2020, the Republican plan would convert federal funding for Medicaid to a per capita allotment, as well as end Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid.
“If a miner comes between a coal operator and a dollar, they’ll always take the dollar”
US coal miners face loss of retiree health coverage, black lung benefits
By Samuel Davidson, 6 March 2017
Thousands of retired coal miners and surviving widows have been sent letters notifying them that their health benefits will be cut off April 30 when funding for 22,600 recipients runs out.
US: Republican governors call for dramatic changes to Medicaid
By Kate Randall, 27 February 2017
While agreeing in principle with drastic cuts to Medicaid, the governors want input on how to impose them under any Obamacare replacement legislation.
Republican health care plan guts Medicaid, shifts funds from poor to rich
By Kate Randall, 18 February 2017
The proposals would roll back Medicaid expansion under Obamacare and convert the program to either a per capita cap or a block grant to the states.
“Health care has been under attack for quite a long time”
Protests in support of Planned Parenthood draw tens of thousands nationwide
By a WSWS reporting team, 13 February 2017
Supporters of Planned Parenthood mobilized nationwide on Saturday to counter demonstrations by right-wing opponents of the right to abortion.
Opponent of Medicaid, Medicare sworn in as Health and Human Services secretary
By Kate Randall, 11 February 2017
Tom Price once wrote, “Nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare.”
Trump plans rollback of drug industry regulations
By Brad Dixon, 6 February 2017
Trump met with pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and executives at the White House last week.
Drug distributors fined for failing to report suspicious orders of opioids
By Brad Dixon, 1 February 2017
Drug distributors have repeatedly failed to report “suspicious orders” of opioids, while industry lobbying has curtailed enforcement of the law by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
US deaths from cervical cancer higher than previously thought
By Gary Joad, 31 January 2017
Some 12,990 cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed last year and 4,120 women died of the disease.
Trump nominee defends administration’s assault on health care
By Kate Randall, 25 January 2017
Price arrogantly dismissed questioning about the new administration’s planned assault on Medicare, Medicaid and health care in general.
Trump nominee reaffirms support for assault on Medicare and Medicaid
By Zaida Green, 19 January 2017
Representative Tom Price, named to head the Department of Health and Human Services, testified before a Senate committee.
Pledging “insurance for everybody,” Trump prepares to escalate attack on health care
By Kate Randall, 17 January 2017
The president-elect gave no specifics on how he will achieve “much lower deductibles,” and a less expensive system in which all Americans are “beautifully covered.”
US Congress moves to repeal Obamacare in order to impose even deeper health cuts
By Kate Randall, 14 January 2017
Trump and the Republicans are opposing Obamacare, itself a pro-corporate attack on health care for working people, from the right, moving to dismantle Medicaid and strip more people of health coverage.
Trump taps anti-vaccine activist to chair vaccine safety panel
By Brad Dixon, 13 January 2017
Robert F. Kennedy has for the past decade promoted the debunked claim that vaccinations are linked to autism, which was also supported by Trump during his campaign.
US trails other developed countries in access to health care
By Esther Galen, 12 January 2017
A recent survey of adults in 11 advanced countries placed the United States dead last in access to medical care and affordability.
Democrats offer to work with Republicans in revamping Obamacare
By Kate Randall, 7 January 2017
Obamacare has set the stage for an intensified assault on Medicare, the government insurance program for seniors and the disabled, and Medicaid, the insurance program for the poor.
US Senate report details price-gouging by pharmaceutical companies
By Zaida Green, 6 January 2017
The pharmaceutical companies, operating like hedge funds, cornered the markets on drugs for rare and life-threatening conditions to maximize profits.
Obamacare defenders extol health care overhaul as boon to corporate profits
By Kate Randall, 5 January 2017
Obama’s health care overhaul was never about providing universal or even near-universal, decent quality health care for the American people.
Former officials at US fentanyl maker charged with bribing doctors
By Brad Dixon, 24 December 2016
Federal agents arrested six former employees of Insys Therapeutics for allegedly bribing doctors to prescribe the company’s highly addictive fentanyl product, Subsys.
$50 million more cut from West Virginia public employees health care
By Naomi Spencer, 13 December 2016
It is the latest in a series of devastating attacks on benefits for one of the lowest-paid public sector workforces in the country.
Heroin epidemic in the US reaches historic proportions
By Genevieve Leigh, 12 December 2016
The year 2015 marks the first in recent history in which more people died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides.
The 21st Century Cures Act: A gift to the US pharmaceutical industry
By Brad Dixon, 12 December 2016
The bill guts the regulatory powers of the US Food and Drug Administration, weakening the standards used to judge the safety and efficacy of drugs and medical devices.
The Zika pandemic and Washington’s indifference
By Gary Joad, 6 December 2016
According to the Centers for Disease Control, as of late November, 182 people in Florida have been infected with Zika by local mosquitos, and in Massachusetts there are 101 cases of travel-associated Zika.
Republican Congress, Trump plan assault on Medicare
By Kate Randall, 26 November 2016
The attack on Medicare will be a centerpiece of the drive by the Trump administration to destroy all that remains of the social reforms of the past century.
Sharp Healthcare nurses in San Diego, California to begin three-day strike
By Marko Leone, 26 November 2016
Nurses are determined to fight, while the union has called a limited strike to let off steam while it works to impose a contract on management’s terms.
Surgeon general’s report: One in seven Americans face substance addiction
By Kate Randall, 19 November 2016
One in seven people in the US will become addicted to drugs or alcohol in their lifetimes, but only 10 percent of them will ever receive any treatment.
Another apologia for Obamacare from the New York Times’ Paul Krugman
By Kate Randall, 31 October 2016
The columnist downplays the impact of skyrocketing premiums, deductibles and co-pays to tout the pro-corporate health care “reform” as a brilliant success.
“They are picking on the most vulnerable sections of society”
Blue Cross retirees stage picket over health care cuts
By Shannon Jones, 28 October 2016
Scores of retirees protested in downtown Detroit Thursday to oppose management's attempts to slash their health care benefits.
Obamacare: The reality hits home
By Andre Damon, 27 October 2016
On Monday, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced that premiums for health insurance plans sold under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will increase on average by 25 percent in 2017, raising health care costs of millions of working people by thousands of dollars.
Two weeks before the US election
Government announces huge Obamacare premium rises for 2017
By Kate Randall, 26 October 2016
The premium increases are part of a sea change in the US health care system, in which corporations and the government are burdening working families with rising health care costs.
Blue Cross retirees in Michigan to protest health benefit cuts
By E. Galen, 25 October 2016
Thousands of retired workers are losing group coverage and being forced onto individual plans offered through a private exchange, at much higher cost.
Medicare overhauls doctor payment rules
By Brad Dixon, 21 October 2016
Under the guise of providing “quality” care, the new rules are part of a cost-cutting strategy that incentivizes doctors to ration care for patients.
Obamacare open enrollment: Consumers face premium hikes, narrowing networks
By Kate Randall, 14 October 2016
Health policy analysts predict that ACA consumers will face premium hikes, higher out-of-pocket costs, and narrowing networks as they shop for new insurance coverage.
Minnesota nurses’ union claims contract ratification amidst opposition
By Matt Rigel and Anthony Bertolt, 14 October 2016
The contract presented and supported by the MNA is nearly identical to proposals previously rejected four times by nurses, who had been on strike for six weeks.
Minnesota nurses’ union seeks to ram through concessions contract
By Anthony Bertolt and Matt Rigel, 12 October 2016
The WSWS calls on nurses to reject the sellout contract and combine this rejection with a political mobilization of the working class in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and beyond.
Defeat MNA sellout!
Mobilize the working class behind the Minnesota nurses strike!
By Ron Jorgenson, 3 October 2016
The fact that the unions could bring such a sellout agreement to a vote only underscores the need for nurses to take the conduct of the strike into their own hands.
Negotiations resume as Minneapolis nurses’ strike enters fourth week
By Ron Jorgenson, 27 September 2016
The federal mediator's recall of both sides indicates that the company, union and Democratic Party are preparing to force through a sellout contract against the resistance of striking nurses.
CEO of EpiPen maker testifies before US Congress
By Brad Dixon, 23 September 2016
The congressional hearing was called after Mylan acquired the EpiPen from another company and then hiked the price by more than 500 percent.
Allina nurses’ strike and the union’s fraudulent “corporate campaign”
By Ron Jorgenson, 21 September 2016
The AFL-CIO has long used such campaigns to block any genuine mobilization of the working class against the government-backed corporate attacks.
US prisons ration expensive hepatitis C drugs
By Brad Dixon, 17 September 2016
Fewer than 4 percent of US prisoners with hepatitis C receive the newer drugs for the disease due to their exorbitant price.
Allina Health, media, join forces to break Twin Cities nurses as union isolates strike
By Ron Jorgenson, 10 September 2016
The Minnesota Nurses Association is continuing to isolate the strike, now in its sixth day, while appealing to the company to accept the concessions contract the union has proposed.
“Health care is a human right”
Minneapolis students express support for striking Allina nurses
By Matt Rigel and Anthony Bertolt, 8 September 2016
As management continues operations with the use of strikebreakers, the union is keeping nurses throughout the region on the job and is doing nothing to mobilize broader support in the working class.
Minnesota nurses strike highlights militant mood of US workers
By Jerry White, 7 September 2016
The strike by 4,800 nurses, now in its third day, reveals the sharp class tensions in the United States on the eve of the 2016 presidential elections.
As Minneapolis nurses strike, unions join arms with Democratic officials in Labor Day events
By Patrick Martin, 6 September 2016
The trade unions used the Labor Day events to promote the campaign of Hillary Clinton, the consensus candidate of Wall Street, the military-intelligence apparatus and most of the political establishment.
Mobilize the entire working class in the Twin Cities
Defend the striking Allina nurses!
By Ron Jorgenson, 5 September 2016
4,800 nurses at five hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area begin a strike today to defend their health care benefits and oppose dangerous patient-to-nurse ratios.
Minnesota nurses union calls open-ended strike for Labor Day
By Matt Rigel, 1 September 2016
The Minnesota Nurses Association has called a strike under pressure from rank-and-file nurses.
EpiPen price gouging: Capitalism and the US health care crisis
By Kate Randall, 31 August 2016
The EpiPen scandal has become a focal point of anger over the subordination of health care to huge corporations driven by an insatiable quest for profit.
One-third of US counties will have only one Obamacare plan in 2017
By Kate Randall, 30 August 2016
The mass exodus of high-profile private insurance companies from the ACA exchanges is leaving millions with less choice for coverage.
Closure of Appleton, Wisconsin abortion clinic leaves state with two centers
By Catherine Long, 27 August 2016
With the closure of the clinic, the two remaining centers will serve 1.3 million Wisconsin women.
EpiPen maker Mylan’s other drug price hikes
By Brad Dixon, 26 August 2016
Drugmaker Mylan, which increased the price of the EpiPen by over 450 percent, has raised the prices of other drugs by similar amounts.
Pfizer gobbles up cancer drug maker in $14 billion deal
By Brad Dixon, 25 August 2016
Pfizer will acquire Medivation’s cancer drug Xtandi, which is priced at $129,000 for a year’s treatment.
Minnesota nurses authorize open-ended strike against Allina
By Matt Rigel, 22 August 2016
The MNA has refused to call a strike, even though nurses have once again overwhelmingly rejected Allina Health’s demands for cuts to health care benefits and heavier workloads.
The Obamacare counterrevolution six years on
By Kate Randall, 22 August 2016
The Obama administration’s signature domestic “achievement” stands exposed as a plan concocted by and for the insurance companies and corporate America to slash their costs and increase their profits.
Critical turning point as nurses vote on concessions
Mobilize Minnesota workers behind Allina nurses
By Matt Rigel, 18 August 2016
Some 4,800 nurses are voting on a concessionary contract, including cuts to healthcare that will save management $10 million.
Aetna pullout highlights pro-corporate, anti-working class character of Obamacare
By Kate Randall, 17 August 2016
Even as giant insurance firms are reducing their participation in the Obamacare exchanges, they are implementing gargantuan premium hikes on their remaining policies.
US maternal death rate soars by 27 percent since 2000
By Kate Randall, 10 August 2016
The growing rate of death in childbirth is just one manifestation of the human toll taken by the vast and all-pervasive inequality and mass poverty that dominates American society.
Purdue Pharma and the opioid epidemic
By Brad Dixon, 6 August 2016
Purdue Pharma’s marketing of the painkiller OxyContin has made the company billions, while contributing to the opioid epidemic in the United States.
Michigan Obamacare insurers request 17 percent premium hikes
By Kate Randall, 3 August 2016
Any premium increases will affect 345,000 people in Michigan, including Detroit city workers who have been forced onto the Obamacare insurance marketplace.
First cases of mosquito-contracted Zika on US mainland reported in Florida
By Matthew MacEgan, 2 August 2016
Fourteen people have contracted the Zika virus from mosquitoes in a small area north of downtown Miami known as Wynwood.
Minnesota nurses contract talks continue with Allina Health
By Matt Rigel, 23 July 2016
Negotiators for Allina Health are sticking fast to their demands for the gutting of health care plans for 4,800 nurses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro region.
Obamacare insurance rates set to spike in California in 2017
By Toby Reese, 21 July 2016
Similar leaps in premiums are expected throughout the nation.
UnitedHealth cuts Obamacare options for tens of thousands
By Kate Randall, 20 July 2016
The largest US health insurer has indicated it is drastically scaling back its Affordable Health Care public exchange offerings despite a 13 percent rise in second-quarter profits.
Illinois health insurer announces liquidation as Obamacare co-ops collapse
By Kristina Betinis, 18 July 2016
Land of Lincoln Health insurance co-op is set to close after posting more than $1 billion in losses over the last year.
Nurses unions shut down emerging strike wave
By Eric London, 27 June 2016
The World Socialist Web Site spoke to nurses on the picket line in Los Angeles who were eager to continue the fight against for-profit health care.
Minnesota nurses union ends strike without new contract
By Anthony Bertolt and Matt Rigel, 27 June 2016
As the week-long walkout by Minnesota nurses concludes, nurses have been ordered back to work without the slightest concession from Allina Health executives.
Kaiser Permanente nurses in Los Angeles on strike again
By Marc Wells, 25 June 2016
Nurses launched a four-day strike at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center, fighting for back pay, better wages, adequate staffing and patients’ safety.
Follow the WSWS