CommonDreams.org: on Health Care


Bernie Sanders: Wrong to give company exclusive rights to drug treatment

Sanders demanded that the Trump administration immediately rescind its decision to grant pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences exclusive rights to the antiviral drug remdesivir, one of many drugs currently being tested as a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus. In a statement, Sanders said it's "truly outrageous that after taxpayers put tens of millions of dollars into developing remdesivir, Trump's [Food and Drug Administration] is exploiting a law reserved for rare diseases to privatize a drug to treat a pandemic virus."

"The Trump administration must rescind this corporate giveaway to Gilead and make any treatment and vaccine free for everybody," added the Vermont senator.

Source: Common Dreams on 2020 presidential hopefuls Mar 25, 2020

Robert Reich: Single-payer healthcare system is inevitable

The best argument for a single-payer health plan is the recent decision by giant health insurer Aetna to bail out next year from 11 of the 15 states where it sells ObamaCare plans. Aetna's decision follows similar moves by UnitedHealth Group and by Humana. All claim they're not making enough money because too many people with serious health problems are using the ObamaCare exchanges, and not enough healthy people are signing up.

The problem isn't ObamaCare per se. It lies in the structure of private markets for health insurance--which creates powerful incentives to avoid sick people and attract healthy ones. ObamaCare is just making this structural problem more obvious. We end up with the most bizarre health-insurance system imaginable: One ever better designed to avoid sick people.

[We can postpone the problem with policy] band aids. Or else a government-run single payer system--we're going to have to choose eventually.

Source: CommonDreams.org column by Robert Reich Aug 22, 2016

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2016 Presidential contenders on Health Care:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI) 		Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Jul 21, 2024