The idea that the US can't afford comprehensive health care reform during a recession, as pushed by some opponents of President Obama's call for reform this year, is flat out wrong, said a statement signed by more than 330 economists and released this week by the Institute for America's Future.

Community health centers should play a key role in ensuring affordable, universal access to quality care, especially for women, according to a new multimedia campaign launched by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America this week.

We, the undersigned economists, business leaders, and health care experts, urge the new President and Congress to reform America's health care system—to move boldly to cover all Americans with health insurance, to bring down health care costs and create improved quality and value within the health care system.

On this episode, we talk with Elena Mora and John Bachtell, both members of the National Board of the Communist Party and who traveled this month to Cuba for meetings with the Communist Party there and with leaders of various Cuban social and cultural institutions.

Sixty-two percent of Americans support President Obama's plan for healthcare reform, according to a new ad from Americans United for Change.

Congress is approaching the end of its first month in this cycle of grappling with the nation’s failed health care system. There is huge opportunity for us to win a significant improvement to our system and a major political victory against the far right...

I've had a few of my progressive friends say to me, "You know Keith, I'm not that happy about the president not really going after those quirks in the Bush administration, I'm not that pleased that we haven't heard as much as we want to hear about a public option. What about 100 percent auction for cap and trade? What about these issues that we care about?"

The swine flu scare may have receded from the public eye, but the fear of a pandemic still remains. Along with the threat of a pandemic, the issues that have come up include the old one of the implication of patent monopoly for vital life saving drugs and whether the industrial mode of producing meat/poultry products is giving rise to threat of new diseases.

Vietnam’s Vaccine and Biomedical Product Company No. 1 (VaBiotech) has developed a new cholera vaccine that is superior to others currently in use. “The new vaccine offers 90 to 100 percent protection after two oral doses in comparison with 60 to 70 percent with the current vaccine,” said Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

Fixing the healthcare system is not only morally sound, but it will also produce major economic benefits. So argued a new report released this week by the White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).

Your club/group should invite guests to participate with you in a discussion of the fight for national health care reform. The podcast (audio version) and reading links provided below should be distributed well in advance of the meeting.

Washington, DC – Health care reform is more than a social imperative – it is an economic necessity. A new study by the President's Council of Economic Advisers demonstrates that the current American health care system is on an unsustainable path.

Another form of public option would be a Medicare-like option that would be in the mix along with the private plans in this kind of exchange. There are many formulations of what this could look like. So what would happen?

Of all the components of the health reform package that will be debated in Congress this year, none inspires greater admiration or ire than the idea of “public plan choice.”

ATLANTA – US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) made Atlanta his first stop on Wednesday, March 27, 2009, as part of his six city, five day tour across the country to visit hospitals, speak with doctors and nurses, and listen to stories from US citizens struggling to pay for healthcare.

On this episode, will meaningful health care reform with a public option pass? We talk with Flavio Casoy, a medical student and an activist for universal health care reform, about the particulars of the debate and the need to build broad unity in order to win.

In an open letter to President Obama circulated this week, more than 100 state lawmakers urged speedy passage this year of meaningful health care reform, according to a press statement from the Progressive States Network (PSN).

By boldly targeting the "special interests" opposition to many of his proposed programs, the Obama administration makes these changes possible. The special corporate interests in the health care industry, for example, must also be confronted.

According to a survey conducted in March of this year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Americans overwhelmingly (76 percent) believe that the health system is in need of fundamental change or should be completely rebuilt.

After a stunning victory in Congress to pass his budget priorities last month, President Obama unveiled the details of his 2010 budget this week.