July 20, 2017
The Medical Profession’s Digital Revolution Is Here
By Martin U. Müller, Der Spiegel
The health care sector is facing a far-reaching and unpredictable revolution. Smartphones are capable of replacing many devices that have become standard in medical practices and some apps will soon be able to provide diagnoses as well. Patients are becoming less reliant on doctors.
June 21, 2017
Single payer health care is, in fact, very doable
By Robert Pollin, LA Times
The California Senate recently voted to pass a bill that would establish a single-payer healthcare system for the entire state.
June 6, 2017
Nevada’s legislature just passed a radical plan to let anybody sign up for Medicaid
By Sarah Kliffsarah, VOX.com
Nevada, with little fanfare or notice, is inching toward a massive health insurance expansion — one that would give the state’s 2.8 million residents access to a public health insurance option.
June 1, 2017
Single-payer healthcare plan advances in California Senate — without a way to pay its $400-billion tab
By Patrick McGreevy, LATimes
A proposal to adopt a single-payer healthcare system for California took an initial step forward Thursday when the state Senate approved a bare-bones bill that lacks a method for paying the $400-billion cost of the plan.
June 3, 2017
The California Senate Just Passed Single-Payer Health Care
By John Nichols, The Nation
The movement for “Medicare for All” is real and it’s winning.
May 23, 2017
If You Defend U.S. Healthcare System: Perhaps You’re Too Stupid to Live
By Pat Lamarche, published in Huffington Post
Lack of critical thinking: it’s killing us. And if you get alarmed by the headline of a May 22, Sacramento Bee article, it will continue killing us.
April 15, 2017
Bill aims to restore number of public health nurses
By Nathan Strout
Times Record Staff At a press conference on Thursday, Sen. Brownie Carson, D-Harpswell, introduced legislation to nearly triple the number of public health nurses in Maine.
April 08, 2017
The tale of the flying gurney
By Liz Kowalczyk GLOBE STAFF
The MRI scan had gone smoothly, the huge machine searching for clues to Paul Doherty’s excruciating back pain.
March 11, 2017
Maine AllCare recognized as “Community Pollinator” – a good thing!
At their annual meeting The Souther Maine Workers Center (SMWC) presented Maine AllCare with their Community Pollinator Award. It was given as recognition of our work in educating the public about the need for quality, affordable health care for everyone in Maine.
New signs Maine AllCare supporters will be carrying at the Portland Monument Square RALLY on February 18th. Please click on image to see each. If you have an idea for a great sign promoting health care for everyone, one that will resonate with Mainers, please email us and share it. We will print it and use it at our subsequent events. Thank you.
February 22, 2017
Life expectancy to break 90 barrier by 2030
By James Gallagher, Health and science reporter, BBC News website
Click to enlarge image
Feb. 21, 2017
Maine nurses: To avoid shortage, improve our working conditions
By Jackie Farwell, BDN Staff
Editor’s note: A universal health care system will ensure that nurses, physicians and others work in a safe environment; one that is best both for patients and providers alike, and one that offers professional growth opportunities.
After the state announced last week that Maine faces a looming shortage of nurses, my phone started ringing. Several nurses called to share what they viewed as a serious omission from state officials’ plan to address the shortage: job dissatisfaction. (read more)
February 14, 2017
A Political Opening for Universal Health Care?
By Vann R. Newkirk II
The winner in the fight between keeping Obamacare and rolling it back might be something else entirely.
February 3, 2017
Looking for a really good Obamacare replacement? Here it is
By David Lazarus in the LATimes
Supporters of healthcare reform may feel disheartened as President Trump and Republican lawmakers prepare to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with . . . well, something. They can’t even agree among themselves on what the U.S. healthcare system should look like.
But there’s reason for hope, albeit a long shot. (read more)
January 20, 2017
‘People’s Inauguration’ in Bangor a call to action, vow to keep fighting for human rights
By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff
BANGOR, Maine — On the same day as Donald Trump’s inauguration, representatives from more than a dozen social justice organizations from the region convened for what they called the “People’s Inauguration.” (read more)
January 2, 2017
Q&A: Republicans’ path to repeal and replace Obamacare
By Alan Fram, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Obama’s health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent.
“He said, ‘Now you guys own it. Now fix it. It’s on your watch now,’ ” recalled GOP Rep. Pat Tiberi, chairman of a pivotal health subcommittee. “And this is a supporter.” (read more)
Dec. 5, 2016
How free coupons for patients help drugmakers hike prices by 1,000%
By Melody Petersen, LA Times
Editor’s note: Patients beware! Instead of slowing, drug price increases are accelerating, now in the form of “free” coupons. You can help turn things around by supportingand subscribing to Maine AllCare.
Horizon Pharma charges more than $2,000 for a month’s supply of a prescription pain reliever that is the combination of two cheap drugs available separately over the counter. (Read More)
December 5, 2016
Maine Voices: Trump’s health care policy appears heavy on complexity, light on mercy
By Daniel C. Bryant, The Press Herald
Letting the states decide how to insure residents might lead to a cobweb of unwieldy regulations.
November 28, 2016
Maine Voices: The problem isn’t Obamacare; it’s the insurance companies
By Cathleen London, MD, The Portland Press Herald
Patients and primary care physicians are getting the raw end of the deal for the sake of corporate profits.
Editor’s note: This Portland Press Herald article by Dr. Cathleen London, a primary care physician in one of the underserved areas of Maine, shares her real life personal challenges with insurance companies. The examples she cites are very persuasive reasons for transforming our current, wasteful health care financing system into a publicly funded system – one that covers everyone and is paid for by each of us.
October 11, 2016
Maine Health Insurance Premiums to Reach Record Highs in 2017
By AP, Maine Public
PORTLAND, Maine — Health insurance premiums in Maine are poised to reach unprecedented highs in 2017, and small businesses are expected to be hardest hit as a result.
October 10, 2016
Health insurance costs are surging in Maine
By J. Craig Anderson, Portland Press Herald
Health insurance premiums in Maine will jump to unprecedented highs in 2017, making it essential for individual policyholders and small businesses to shop around for the best deals as their benefit enrollments begin. (read more)
October 4, 2016
Mainers are paying less for energy and way more for health care
By Darren Fishell, Bangor Daily News
Mainers continued to pay less for gasoline and other energy last year as spending on health care continued to climb, according to the latest federal figures.
September 27, 2016
Reviving House Calls by Doctors
By Tina Rosenberg, The New York Times
Surah Grumet used to be a family doctor at a clinic in the Bronx. “It always felt like I was trying to catch up,” she said. “I was always falling behind, and it was so stressful. And it was really hard to bring up my two girls, to be there for them, and still be able to practice medicine the way that I wanted to.”
September 8, 2016
Allergan CEO is shocked (shocked!) by insane drug prices
By David Lazarus, LA Times
So it’s come to this: The chief executive of a major drug company is a hero because he won’t rip off customers any more.
September 6, 2016
How a bite from a stray dog shows the sick state of U.S. healthcare
By David Lazarus, LA Times
Jan Kern was bitten by a stray dog while traveling abroad and ended up with a jaw-dropping illustration of why the U.S. healthcare industry is completely sick.
August 22, 2016
EpiPen Price Rise Sparks Concern for Allergy Sufferers
By Tara Parker-Pope and Rachel Rabkin Peachman, The New York Times
August 22, 2016
Importance of Boston City Council supporting single-payer health care reform
By Ture Richard Turnbull, Jamaica Plain (Mass.) News
August 7, 2016
Maine Voices: How I almost got charged $200 for an $8 prescription
By Meryl Nass, MD, Special to the Telegram
Editor’s Note: It makes no difference if the patient is a doctor, as in the letter below, published in the Portland Press Herald. The universal struggle to pay for outrageously priced prescription drugs confronts each of us. It is just one of many reasons why we should support Maine AllCare and a vision for universal health care which would include negotiated prices for all prescription drugs, saving Maine millions of dollars.
June 25, 2016
When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers
By Danielle Ivory, Ben Protess and Kitty Bennett, New York Times
Editor’s note: This article documents how privatizing public services can produce unhealthy results. The solution, a publicly funded universal health care system that is accessible to everyone. Please support MaineAllCare: Subscribe to our mailing list, Donate, share our brochures and Benefits to Business flyers
May 19, 2016
Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn’t Afford Her Medicine, Sheriffs Say
By Christine Hauser, New York Times
May 17, 2016
Cooking the books on single payer
By Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein, Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Urban Institute’s Hatchet Job on Medicare for All
May 16, 2016
Diagnosing the value of blanket medical tests
By Russ Van Arsdale, Bangor Daily News
Editor’s note: People should consult with their doctor before participating in a “mass medical screening”. As a nation we waste $210 billion for “unnecessary services”, including screening for phantom illnesses.
On May 17 and 18, a business called Life Line Screening will visit the Bangor area. The firm offers a package of five screenings it says can help consumers avoid cardiovascular disease. The screenings are intended to detect plaque buildup in carotid arteries, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other signs of cardiovascular irregularities.
May 3, 2016
Researchers: Medical errors now third leading cause of death in United States
By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post
Nightmare stories of nurses giving potent drugs meant for one patient to another and surgeons removing the wrong body parts have dominated recent headlines about medical care. Lest you assume those cases are the exceptions, a new study by patient safety researchers provides some context.
Their analysis, published in the BMJ on Tuesday, shows that “medical errors” in hospitals and other health care facilities are incredibly common and may now be the third leading cause of death in the United States — claiming 251,000 lives every year, more than respiratory disease, accidents, stroke and Alzheimer’s. Read More
April 19, 2016
Skin cancer: Pair of drugs ‘eliminate 20% of tumours’
By James Gallagher, Health editor, BBC News
A fifth of people with advanced melanoma have no sign of tumours in their body after treatment with a pair of immunotherapy drugs, a study shows.
April 13, 2016
Surgeons must tell patients of double-booked surgeries, new guidelines say
By Jenn Abelson and Jonathan Saltzman, Boston Globe
The world’s largest surgeons’ organization has issued its first-ever guidelines for surgeons managing simultaneous operations, saying the controversial practice is broadly permissible, within limits, but that “the patient needs to be informed” whenever a doctor runs more than one operating room at a time.
March 30, 2016
‘Jim Perley – educator, humanitarian, dead at 77
We’re saddened to announce that Dr. Jim Perley, a great friend and very active Maine AllCare board member died on March 30, 2016. You may read his obituary, written by Professor Perley himself, here.
March 16, 2016
Thank YOU Dr. Quentin Young – famed physician died at 92
By the Editorial Board, The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.)
Dr. Quentin Young, one of the greatest economic and social justice campaigners of the modern era, has died at age 92. Young served as a personal physician for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and organized the Medical Committee for Human Rights, which provided medical support for activists during the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi.
March 3, 2016
‘Negative forces’ prompt Lincoln hospital to cut 10 positions
By Nick Sambides Jr., Bangor Daily News
Editor’s Note: Maine’s rural hospitals will cease to exist unless we transform our current for-profit insurance payment system to a publicly funded, busines-friendly rational plan – one that is simple, costs less and covers everyone in Maine. Do you agree?
February 16, 2016
The New York Times and Other Elites Attempt to Stem Growing Demand for Universal Health Care
By Ben Palmquist, nesri.org
Bernie Sanders’ improbable success has put universal, publicly financed health care back on the national agenda. But as popular demand for truly universal health care grows, political and media elites are closing ranks in an attempt to scare the public out of demanding change.
February 11, 2016
Drug research: What can we really believe?
You can’t watch television for very long without seeing an ad for a new prescription drug.
By Dr. Michael Noonan, Special to the BDN
February 9, 2016
Rhode Island will consider single-payer health care bill
Jan. 27, Rep. Aaron Regunberg ’12, D-Providence, introduced a bill with several other representatives in the Rhode Island House of Representatives that, if passed, would establish a single-payer health system in Rhode Island.
By Mariah Kennedy Cuomo, Brown Daily Herald
January 21, 2016
Pharma ‘cash call’ for new antibiotics
More than 80 pharmaceutical companies have called on governments to develop new ways of paying them to develop antibiotics. In a joint declaration, at the World Economic Forum, they said the value of antibiotics “does not reflect the benefits they bring to society”. In return, they have promised to invest in research and improve access to antibiotics around the world.
By James Gallagher, BBC News
January 18, 2016
Drug shortages in emergency rooms rising
Imagine rushing a loved one to the emergency room, only to find treatment is impossible because a needed drug is out of stock. From 2008 to 2014, the number of drug shortages in US emergency departments spiked by 435 percent, from 23 reported shortages to 123, according to a recent analysis. The majority of the unavailable drugs are used for direct, life-saving interventions. For some, no substitute was available.
By Megan Scudellari, Boston Globe
December 17, 2015
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll
Opinions of a Medicare-for-All Idea As the presidential primaries inch closer and candidates begin to debate the intricacies of their platforms, a long-discussed health policy option has reemerged in debate between democratic candidates; the idea of creating a national health plan in which all Americans would get their insurance through an expanded, universal form of health insurance called Medicare-for-all.
December 14, 2015
Editor’s note: This case is yet another example of how some pharmaceutical companies mislead and overcharge customers by packaging generics and claiming they possess unique properties
Nurofen maker Reckitt Benckiser defends Australia packaging
The UK maker of the Nurofen “specific pain” range of products has defended their packaging, after an Australian court ordered the products off shelves. The court said the UK-based Reckitt Benckiser had misled consumers. It said products marketed to treat specific pains, such as migraine, were identical to one another.
BBC News
November 28, 2015
Lowdown on ‘BernieCare’ —Sanders health plan
WASHINGTON – The most ambitious “repeal and replace” health care plan from a presidential candidate comes from Sen. Bernie Sanders, not from a Republican.
By Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Burlington Free Press
October 15, 2015
FDA was ‘lax’ and kowtowed to drugmaker in review of controversial blood thinner, watchdog says
The New York attorney general has begun an inquiry into Turing Pharmaceuticals, whose fiftyfold overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old infection drug stoked a backlash against high pharmaceutical prices.
By Lisa Rein, The Washington Post
October 13, 2015
New US pays three times more for drugs than Britain, study reveals
By Ben Hirschler/REUTERS, Bangor Daily News
LONDON — U.S. prices for the world’s 20 top-selling medicines are, on average, three times higher than in Britain, according to an analysis carried out for Reuters.
October 12, 2015
New York Attorney General Examining Whether Turing Restricted Drug Access
The New York attorney general has begun an inquiry into Turing Pharmaceuticals, whose fiftyfold overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old infection drug stoked a backlash against high pharmaceutical prices.
September 25, 2015
6 Insane Examples of Prescription Drug Price Increases
By Anne Harding, news.health.com
September 17, 2015
Health Insurance Coverage in Maine: Heading in the Wrong Direction, Particularly for Children
New Census Bureau data released yesterday paint a bleak picture for Maine when it comes to improving access to affordable health coverage.
June 18, 2015
Follow the (stolen) Money
Department of Justice Charges 243 Individuals for $712 Million in False Billing
June 1, 2015
The best health care system in the world? Nonsense!
Commentary: let’s stop buying the party line from insurers and drug companies
May 14, 2015
Obamacare’s health plan choice benefits are vastly overrated
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
April 27, 2015
Health care survey yields surprises for the medical community
By Jenny Deam – The Houston Chronicle
April 16, 2015
Maine’s delayed kidney donation shows disgrace of U.S. health care
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
April 2, 2015
Obamacare: A deeply flawed system
By Tom Walsh, The Ellsworth American (Maine)
March 19, 2015
How American health care turned patients into consumers
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
February 2015
‘Yes we will…, no we won’t’ – Political flip-flop in Vermont on universal health care
Editor’s Note: This past December Vermont Governor Shumlin declared the state’s universal health care law, Act 48, unworkable because it will cost too much. Shumlin received less than 50% of the vote in the November election, therefore, he had to wait until January 2015 for the Legislature to appoint him for a third term. Critics say the governor blinked, politically speaking. (Radio Vermont Group interview). “This is all politics”, declared health care economist Gerald Friedman, whose Amherst team wrote the latest economic analysis that concluded quite the opposite. Not only could Vermont afford the new universal system, but would save millions of dollars in the process and cover everyone.
Read the open letter reply to the Vermont Governor and Legislature from 100 Economists in the U.S.
February 19, 2015
Greed, fear and other roadblocks to health care reform
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Editor’s note: The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) sponsored a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington DC on barriers to health care reform. Some of the nation’s best known health care policy experts participated (braving snowstorm Juno). The following are some of the highlights, as noted by Joyce Frieden, news editor at MedPage Today.
January 28, 2015
Barriers to More Healthcare Reform Are Numerous – Apathy, and fear among biggest stumbling blocks, experts say
by Joyce Frieden WASHINGTON-WATCH, News Editor, MedPage Today
WASHINGTON — The lack of greater movement toward universal healthcare coverage — especially a single-payer system — in the U.S. can be boiled down to four letters: AFIG, according to Philip Caper, MD.
The “A” stands for Apathy, Caper said Wednesday during a briefing on barriers to healthcare reform sponsored by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). Caper is with Maine AllCare, an organization devoted to getting universal healthcare in Maine. Read More
January 23, 2015
Bernie Sanders Got Republicans To Make His Argument For Universal Health Care
January 19, 2015
Majority still supports single-payer option, poll finds By Sarah Ferris, From The Hill
December 23, 2014
Why Vermont pulled the plug on single-payer healthcare
By Bob Herman
December 18, 2014
Reform health care to serve patients, not corporate medicine
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
December 11, 2014
Maine drops to 20th in healthiest state rankings
By Jackie Farwell, Bangor Daily News
December 1, 2014
A trip to the ‘wrong’ hospital shouldn’t bankrupt you
Bangor Daily News
November 26, 2014
Theater of the Macabre: U.S. Health Care in 2014
By Donna Smith, Common Dreams
November 20, 2014
How ACA fuels corporatization of American health care
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
October 24, 2014
‘A lot of fears’: A Richmond woman’s health problems and 3 months without coverage
By Sandy Butler and Luisa Deprez, Special to the BDN
October 16, 2014
Think about your health when you vote in November
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
October 9, 2014
Bellows calls for universal health care, releases ad featuring Stephen King
By Seth Koenig, Bangor Daily News
September 28, 2014
When health insurance goes wrong . . . and what you can do about it
By Lindsay Tice, Sun Journal
September 18, 2014
The troubling way we pay hospitals in Maine and throughout the US
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
September 16, 2014
A long-term payoff for a Medicaid expansion in Maine: Significantly better health
By Joe Feinglass, Special to the BDN
September 16, 2014
Mainers Without Health Insurance Increased in 2013
By Mark Sullivan
New Data Confirm Maine is Headed in the Wrong Direction
Sobering. That sums up today’s latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau on health insurance coverage in Maine.
One of our jobs at MECEP is to keep an eye on important trends and assess the impacts of public policies on people’s lives. Where health insurance coverage is concerned, the results of our current course are clear:
- There were 12,000 more Mainers without health insurance in 2013 than in 2012.
- The share of Maine people without health insurance was 11.2 percent in 2013, up from 10.2 percent in 2012.
- Maine was one of only two states with an increase in the percentage of people without health insurance from 2012 to 2013.
This data affirms what we’ve said all along. Maine’s low-income working parents, young adults, and those without children won’t magically find health insurance when they are kicked off the state’s Medicaid program as they were in the past couple of years. Older residents in rural Maine can’t afford triple-digit monthly premium increases when the governor and legislature strip away consumer protections that prevent this as they did three years ago.
Today’s data from the US Census Bureau paint a bleak picture made worse by the fact that Maine continues to refuse almost $1 million a day in federal funds to provide health coverage to almost 70,000 of our friends and neighbors. By now, that means we’ve missed out on nearly $250 million in federal funds that would ripple through Maine’s economy. That’s more than the economic impact of Maine’s wild blueberry crop and more than the entire payroll of the 3,300 Mainers working at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 2012.
While we won’t get census figures for health insurance coverage in 2014 until a year from now, you can bet that on its current course, Maine will continue to fall behind states that have sought to maximize all the benefits the Affordable Care Act has to offer.
Our job is to analyze the data, work with our partners, the media, policymakers, and others connect the dots, and use this information to promote solutions that lead to better outcomes for Maine people. Today, MECEP did just that with press releases and posts to social media on the latest census data that have drawn the attention of Maine media and policymakers.
August 14, 2014
The costs of complexity in health reform just keep rising
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
July 17, 2014
Are we getting enough bang for our healthcare buck? Hardly.
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
June 19, 2014
Expand Medicare to serve all veterans
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
June 18, 2014
Maine Voices: VA has issues, but its bright spots show value of Medicare-for-all system
By Julie Keller Pease, M.D. and Kevin Twine, Special to the Portland Press Herald
Enhanced single-payer health insurance would save lives and money and provide high-quality care.
June 16, 2014
Making Sausage
By Kevin Twine
Last month, two highly-regarded political scientists from Princeton and Northwestern published a paper that concluded, “When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose . . .”
May 15, 2014
Should health care be rationed? It already is
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
April 17, 2014
The business interests behind America’s costly medical care
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
April 1, 2014
Maine House supports bill that would study single payer systems
Lewiston Sun-Journal
AUGUSTA — Maine’s Democratic-controlled House has given initial approval to a proposal to have the state examine whether to implement a universal health insurance coverage system.
March 20, 2014
With Hippocratic Oath, doctors pledge allegiance to patients, not profits
By Dr. Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
March 9, 2014
Maine Voices: Universal health care is only fair
By Alice Knapp, Portland Press Herald
We already subsidize the elderly, the poor, politicians and public-sector workers. But all of us deserve freedom from worry.
March 12, 2014
As ACA deadline looms, Maine doctors show support for single-payer health care
By Jackie Farwell
Feb. 20, 2014
The “no free health care” tax: We all pay when the ‘undeserving’ have to grovel for treatment
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
February 6, 2014
Obamacare’s Founding CEO Wants To Bring Single Payer To Massachusetts
By Sahil Kapur
On his first day as governor of Massachusetts, Donald Berwick promises to set up a commission tasked with finding a way to bring single payer to the Bay State. It’ll have report back to him within a year — ideally sooner.
Having run Medicare and Obamacare in Washington for 17 months, he has concluded that the existing hybrid system is too cumbersome and expensive, and that single payer is the right fix. And he’s the only candidate in this year’s contest who dares to go there.
Jan. 30, 2014
Health Care Issue is Misunderstood
By Philip Caper, The Ellsworth American
Your editorial in the January 16 Ellsworth-American titled “There’s No Free Health Care” deserves a response. Here’s mine:
I agree with the title. That’s where it stops. (Read More)
January 21, 2014
Maine lawmakers to consider single-payer health care system
By Joe Lawlor
Supporters of the bill want to adopt a government-run program, but a critic calls that unwise and expensive.
Jim Miller, president of WoodenBoat Publications in Brooklin, wants the decisions about how to provide health insurance for his employees taken out of his hands.
“I hate playing God,” he said. “Every spring I am forced into that position.” (read more)
January 14, 2014
Single-Payer Is Not Dead
By Froma Harrop
The prospects for single-payer health care — adored by many liberals, despised by private health insurers and looking better all the time to others — did not die in the Affordable Care Act. It was thrown a lifeline . . .
January 9, 2014
Maine advocates push for single-payer care system
By ALANNA DURKIN, Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A government-run health care system in Maine would provide universal coverage to residents, cut down on administrative costs and free businesses from the complexities of providing insurance for their employees, supporters of a single-payer model said Thursday. (Read more)
Dec. 19, 2013
Americans are paying for health care with more than money
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Dec. 5, 2013
Gen. Colin Powell calls for universal health care in the U.S.
By Valerie Bauman
Puget Sound Business Journal
Former Secretary of State and longtime Republican Colin Powell is calling for a universal health care solution in the U.S.
Nov. 20, 2013
Vermont Approves Single-Payer Health Care: “Everybody In, Nobody Out”
By Salvatore Aversa
Nov. 14, 2013
Health reform’s problems run deeper than a glitchy website
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Oct. 31, 2013
Sirota: The single-payer signal in the Obamacare noise
By David Sirota, Tahoe Daily Tribune
Nov. 17, 2013
New free clinic in Blue Hill to serve uninsured Mainers
Editor’s Note: Even as the Affordable Care Act rollout improves, many of our neighbors will be without meaningful health insurance, hence this new local initiative. The obvious answer is universal access to health care by everyone, here in Maine. Please join our work and help make it happen.
Oct. 17, 2013
ACA’s bungled rollout aside, government health insurance works
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Oct. 16, 2013
Report: 25,000 Mainers fall into Obamacare coverage gap
By Jackie Farwell in the Bangor Daily News
Sept. 19, 2013
The high costs of complexity in health care reform
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Sept. 10, 2013
Health law’s ailments can be cured by single-payer system
By Michael Hiltzik in the LA Times
All the shortcomings of the healthcare restructuring result from the decision to leave it in the hands of private insurers.
Sept. 3, 2013
Brunswick lawmaker touts single-payer bill at Augusta health care rally
National group launches universal health care drive in Augusta
Single Payer Health Care – MPBN radio interview
Aug. 15, 2013
Where’s the outrage over our failed health care system?
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
July 18, 2013
The end of Obamacare? Think again
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
June 20, 2013
Canadians pay taxes for universal health care, and now they’re richer than us
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
July 10, 2013, Washington DC
Public Citizen, a respected citizens interest organization established in 1971, issued a press releaseannouncing their report, A Road Map to Single Payer How States Can Escape the Clutches of the Private Health Insurance System.
The report presents a road map to states to achieve a “unified, universal” health care system that would provide access to all, provide more comprehensive benefits, and improve the coordination of care—and all for less money than our current system costs.
Although states are blocked by various factors from instituting a pure single-payer system such as exists in Canada, they are empowered to institute reforms that would capture many of the benefits promised by the single-payer model, a new Public Citizen report illustrates.
June 19, 2013, Portland Press Herald
Maine Voices: Mainers will benefit if legislators override MaineCare expansion veto
The bill would save 1,400 jobs, create 3,100 new ones and invest over $350 million a year in Maine’s economy
By Garrett Martin
June 12, 1013
Steven Brill’s Blockbuster Article “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” — the aftereffects
Editor’s note: This is an excellent interview of Steven Brill, author of the blockbuster TIME magazine article “Bitter Pill – Why Medial Bills Are Killing Us”. It is written by Trudy Lieberman, a journalist for 43 years, and a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review where she blogs about health care and retirement . She is also a fellow at the Center for Advancing Health where she blogs about health. You can also read Brill’s original 36-page story by clicking on the our February 21, 2013, link below.
May 16, 2013
Rough sailing ahead for health care reform, but it’s not our only option
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
May 8, 2013
Hospital Billing Varies Wildly, Government Data Shows
April 18, 2013
Greed, fear and other barriers to health care as a human right
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
April 2013
Coming together for the Common Good
March 14, 2013
Selling expensive health care lemons
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
March 15, 2013
The problem with health care is cost
By Gordon Weil
Feb. 14, 2013
Health care spending: A 21st century gold rush
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
February 21, 2013
Bitter Pill: The Exorbitant Cost of Health Care by lawyer and writer Steve Brill is the cover story in this week’s TIME magazine. Here the author gives a 3.5 minute video summary of his story about why health care costs so much and where does the money go? Brill is quoted as saying, “I wanted to follow the money and get the price tag.” Worth viewing.
Jan. 18, 2013
Misdirected efforts aren’t making Americans any healthier
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Jan. 27, 2013
Why a Maine doctor becomes a senator
By Geoff Gratwick
Dec. 27, 2012
Chronic MaineCare shortfalls — a symptom of a disease
we can treat
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Dec. 28, 2012
Doctors with financial conflicts influence drug treatment guidelines
By John Fauber and Ellen Gabler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT)
Oct. 18, 2012
Health care waste deconstructed: Fraudsters and patients aren’t the problem
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Oct. 12, 2012
Public Forum on Universal Health Is Greeted with Interest
By Joe Lendvai
Sept. 22, 2012
Report claims state health insurance reform not working
By Scott Thistle, Sun Journal
Sept. 20, 2012
Let the buyer beware in a free-market health care system
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Aug. 23, 2012
Massachusetts leads on health care while Maine regresses
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Aug. 20, 2012
Universal health care good for the economy
By Darrell Adams, Special to the BDN
August 5, 2012
Maine Voices: Everyone deserves access to health care
By Julie Keller Pease, Philip Caper and Edward Pontius
July 16, 2012
Medicare for Everyone – after 47 years, it’s the right thing to do!
July 19, 2012
Obamacare one step forward, one step back
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
June 16, 2012
Another View: Head-in-the-sand ‘solution’ is killing GOP
By Jack Bernard
June 14, 2012
Poorer nations push for universal health coverage as U.S. squabbles
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
May 17, 2012
The ills of money-driven medicine
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
May 5, 2012
Maine Voices: Affordable Care Act neglects needs of moderate-income Americans
By Alice Knapp
Continuing on the path of inequitable spending, the law will still leave 27 million people uninsured.
April 19, 2012
Where is Marcus Welby when you need him?
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
March 15, 2012
Primary care doctors are going the way of the dinosaurs
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Jan. 20, 2012
Remington: ‘Sorry for your loss — here’s your bill’
By Robert Remington
With the family of deceased Canadian skier Sarah Burke facing a U.S. medical bill topping the value of an average Calgary home, I was reminded Friday of a quote by the late Justice Emmett Hall, a crusader for Canada’s public health-care system.
Jan 2, 2012
MAINE COMPASS: Health care is basic human right; access to it is a moral issue
By Alice Knapp
Dec. 15, 2011
Do we need health insurance?
By Philip Caper, Special to the BDN
Nov. 24, 2011
Top ten health care myths to ignore — part two
By Erik Steele, Special to the BDN
There are so many fantastical myths out there in the great debate about reforming the American health care system that Disney Studios appears to be running the show.
Nov. 08, 2011
Noted author promotes ‘moral commitment’ to universal health care
By Meg Haskell, Special to the BDN
BANGOR, Maine — Extending health care coverage to every man, woman and child in America ultimately would save the country billions of dollars each year, according to best-selling author T.R. Reid.
Nov. 10, 2011
Top 10 health care myths to ignore, part one
By Dr. Erik Steele
This is the first of two articles about 10 important myths in the Great American Health Care Debate.
There are sweet-sounding myths in the American odyssey to a viable health care system, siren songs of simple solutions that lure us onto the rocks of irrelevant debate. It’s time for us all to stop believing them and stop fighting over them.
Oct. 19, 2011
Paying for Health Care
WERU Common Health program
Host Jim Fisher together with guests Dr. Wendy Wolf, President of the Maine Health Access Foundation, and
Dr. Philip Caper, retired physician and health advocate and vice chair of Maine AllCare discuss how people are paying for health care in today’s increasingly insurance oriented environment.
Oct. 20, 2011
Health Care Policy – Faith-Based or Evidence-based?
By Philip Caper, M.D.
From the Ellsworth American, a “commentary” in response to state Senator Langley’s piece on how wonderful the new health insurance law is . . .
Sept. 12, 2011
WALTER KUMIEGA PIECE IN THE BDN
Republican health care law already causing price spikes, fear
Walter Kumiega is a Democratic member of the Maine House of Representatives representing District 36. He lives in Deer Isle.
With the summer coming to an end, many of the laws passed by the Maine Legislature will be going into effect this month. One of those laws is the major health insurance overhaul Republicans pushed through a few months ago. We are already seeing the negative effects of this health insurance overhaul…
Sept. 14, 2011
ALICE KNAPP OP-ED IN THE BDN
Maine Democrats, GOP offer little health care help for middle class
Alice Knapp is a former health insurance regulator. During her tenure she was appointed the first director of the Consumer Health Care Division within the Maine Bureau of Insurance. She lives in Richmond.
June 23, 2011
A “credible alternative”
By William D. Clark, M.D.
Our health-care system benefits insurance companies, drug companies and shareholders rather than you and me and our families when we need care. Currently, 20 percent to 30 percent of every health-care dollar pays for administrative costs and profits.
Apr. 13, 2011
By Lisa Priest
Medical marvel: A US doctor discovers Canadian health care
Eight doctors from the U.S.-based Physicians for a National Health Program visited Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital for an inside look at Canada’s single-payer health care system. Hosting the trip was family physician Danielle Martin, chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
May 4, 2011
Don’t let consumers be sold out to big insurance
By David Farmer
Peggy Rotundo, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives for the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine introducing Dr. William Hsiao, Professor of Economics, Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Hsiao’s presentation is part of Bates College’s Fall 2010: Civic Forum Series.Watch Dr. Hsiao’s talk at Bates.
May 3, 2011
Terrorists aren’t the only ones with a price on our heads
By Pat LaMarche
February 6, 2011
Health or wealth? What’s the mission of our health care system?
Switching to a nonprofit system in Maine would put the focus back on care.
November 10, 2010
Speaking in Maine: “Taiwan’s Health Reforms: Lessons for the U.S. and Maine”
The speaker is William Hsiao, Professor of Economics, Harvard School of Public Health, and an architect of Taiwan’s universal health care system.
October 19, 2010
Expert: Single-Payer Health System Could Save Maine $1 Billion a Year
MPBN story of Dr. Hsiao’s and Maine AllCare members’s testimony before the Joint Select Committee on Health Reform and Press Conference statements.
Video
Testimony by Phil Caper, M.D., Alice Knapp, Esq., both members of Maine AllCare; then followed by Dr. William Hsiao, PhD. testifying before the Joint Select Committee on Health Reform of the Maine Legislature.
Audio
Audio recording by the Joint Committee itself of the various testimonies, beginning with Dr. Hsiao’s.