Portside

The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that health insurers spend at least 80-85 percent of premiums on actual medical care had no impact in the law’s first three years

Five years in the ACA still primarily serves as a huge government marketing campaign for private insurance companies, funneling millions of new customers with few if any restrictions on ever-escalating prices. The ACA built upon the flaws of our market-based system and, quite predictably, is failing to contain costs and provide broad access to affordable, quality health care. Corporate interests still trump the common good in U.S.

What are the systemic biases within academic medical centers, and what do they have to do with black lives? Two observations about health care disparities may be relevant.

When the Ebola global alarm was sounded by Doctors Without Borders, which, like Cuba, already had health professionals in Africa; Cuba was the country that offered the most assistance once WHO called for nations to step up with funds and, most importantly, human resources. Cuba sent 256 volunteers with significant international emergency experience while Cuba's Dr. Jorge Pérez and others work to prevent Ebola's global spread.

The explanations being promoted in some media are more based on ideology than fact.

Last year the Labor Campaign for Single Payer posted our Briefing Paper, ”10 Things Unions Need to Look Out for When Bargaining Under Obamacare.” We asserted that, “because it relies on employment-based coverage to provide the lion’s share of healthcare insurance while, perversely, undermining key aspects of that coverage, we have concluded that the ACA will place new stresses and pressures on collective bargaining.”

National Nurses United may be proof that unions are not all on their way out: Some are very much alive, although they may look a little bit different than they used to. “Nurses United is among the most innovative and bold of U.S. unions,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at Berkeley. “They’ve emerged as a powerful voice in defense of people who receive health care treatment.”

It may be a panel of judges that shut most Texas abortion clinics, but the law the court upheld began with a flood of money to antiabortion forces from the Koch network's "free enterprise" groups.

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After my breast cancer scare and exemplary care in the UK, I’ve felt a powerful urge to shout at the Brits: Do you know what an extraordinary health system you have?