skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Medicare Turns 50: Four Million Floridians Benefit

play audio
Play

Wednesday, July 29, 2015   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Thursday is the 50th anniversary of Medicare, and the program's advocates are using the occasion to push for a major expansion.

Today, it provides health care to 55 million Americans, including 4 million in Florida. Medicare's proponents say it has been so successful that the country ought to consider universal, government-funded health care - a kind of Medicare for all.

Dr. David Himmelstein, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, said Medicare eases the burdens many seniors face, and does it with one-sixth the overhead costs of private insurance.

"Medicare has been vital to improve both the physical and mental health and financial health of the elderly, who were largely abandoned by the private insurance industry before Medicare existed," he said.

Opponents of universal health care say the government has too much control over people's lives already. They also point to the latest government estimates, which show the program will remain solvent until 2030 but would require changes to stay afloat after that.

Himmelstein, a professor at the City University of New York and Harvard Medical School, countered that analysts have been predicting Medicare's demise for decades - and keep pushing the time frame further and further into the future.

"Medicare is solvent today and will remain solvent if our government makes any reasonable decisions about its future," he said.

National Nurses United, affiliated with the "Medicare Turns 50 Coalition," is taking up the cause of universal health care as well. The union plans rallies Thursday in 30 cities across the country, including one at 11 a.m. at the Federal Building in Miami. The nurses want Congress to support House Resolution 676, which would expand Medicare to all U.S. residents. The resolution is online at congress.gov.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Environmental advocates are asking California's next state budget to prioritize climate mitigation and cut tax breaks for fossil fuel companies. (The Climate Center)

Environment

play sound

As state budget negotiations continue, groups fighting climate change are asking California lawmakers to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Health disparities in Texas are not only making some people sick, but affecting the state's economy. A new study shows Texas is losing $7 billion a …

Environment

play sound

City and county governments are feeling the pinch of rising operating costs but in Wisconsin, federal incentives are driving a range of local …


Each year since 2018, there have been more than 1 million online ads for guns which could be sold without a background check. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Well over three-fourths of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases, but federal law allows unlicensed people to sell guns at …

Environment

play sound

By Max Graham for Grist.Broadcast version by Alex Gonzalez for Arizona News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Serv…

During what is known as the Medicaid post-pandemic "unwinding" process, South Dakota saw the largest drop in children's enrollment in the country, with a 27% reduction in the first six months. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Last year's Medicaid expansion in South Dakota increased eligibility to another 51,000 adults but a new report showed among people across the state wh…

Health and Wellness

play sound

There is light at the end of the tunnel for Tennesseans struggling with opioid addiction, as a bill has been passed to increase access to treatment …

Environment

play sound

The New York HEAT Act might not make the final budget. The bill reduces the state's reliance on natural gas and cuts ratepayer costs by eliminating …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021