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“No one should be making money on our health care, and when we get sick, when people are at their most vulnerable and they need care, that should not be a piggy bank for Wall Street investors.” —Rachel Madley
Profits Over Patients – America’s
Sickening Healthcare System
Featuring Rachel Madley
Director, Center for Health & Democracy
Find us on Apple podcasts, our website or your favorite podcast platform.
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Breaking News in Healthcare Reform
“It’s all part of the same business model — to avoid paying as many claims as possible in a timely fashion….”
How UnitedHealthcare Became the Face of America’s Health Insurance Frustrations
CNBC | Annika Kim Constantino, Ashley Capoot | May 23, 2025
“The Republican tax bill takes direct aim at Medicare, gutting eligibility and restricting access to benefits, while also cutting Medicaid in ways that would harm people who are dually eligible for both programs.”
Broken Promises: Republicans’ Budget Reconciliation Bill Would Cut Medicare
Medicare Rights Center | Julie Carter | May 22, 2025
“Privatization of publicly funded Medicare and Medicaid, managed care, and ‘value-based payment’ have failed to reduce cost or improve population health despite over 30 years of trying, and a new paradigm for health policy is needed.”
The Case for Single-Payer: Reduce Healthcare Cost with Administrative Simplification and Restore Professional Autonomy
CounterPunch | Dr. Stephen Kemble | May 22, 2025
“Its new guidance would trade the clarity and reach of our current strategy for a confusing framework that simply doesn’t fit reality.”
The FDA’s Misguided New Covid Vaccine Policy Repeats Past Mistakes
MSNBC | Dr. Kavita Patel | May 21, 2025
“The agency’s main social media channels have come under new ownership of the Department of Health and Human Services, emails reviewed by NPR show, and most have gone more than a month without posting their own new content.”
Diseases Are Spreading. The CDC Isn’t Warning the Public Like It Was Months Ago
NPR | Chiara Eisner | May 21, 2025
“UnitedHealth Group … has secretly paid nursing homes thousands in bonuses to help slash hospital transfers for ailing residents – part of a series of cost-cutting tactics that has saved the company millions, but at times risked residents’ health….”
Revealed: UnitedHealth Secretly Paid Nursing Homes to Reduce Hospital Transfers
The Guardian | George Joseph | May 21, 2025
“It’s a very concerted effort right now to redefine Medicaid as welfare, and not health insurance….”
This is a Fight Over Obamacare, Again
Axios | Emily Peck | May 20, 2025
“Six months after California voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that increases the pay of doctors treating Medi-Cal patients, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to divert that money to cover other health costs.”
‘Shocking’ and ‘Plain Cruel’: Health Advocates Say Newsom’s Medi-Cal Budget Could Cripple Women’s Reproductive Care
CalMatters | Kristen Hwang | May 20, 2025
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s … regulators are promising big changes that cloud the outlook for what shots might even be available.”
RFK Jr. Pledged Not to Upend US Vaccine System, But Big Changes Are Underway
Associated Press | Matthew Perrone, Lauran Neergaard | May 19, 2025
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Shining a light on ongoing inequities in health care
and the impact they have on vulnerable individuals and communities.
Our podcast Code WACK! brings to life the failures of America’s healthcare system with stories, commentary and analysis.
Our Weekly News Roundup shares news and views about health policy, health equity and healthcare reform (from non-paywalled news sources)
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