By Todd Smyth: The “Public Option” for healthcare insurance was a distraction, promoted several years ago by the insurance industry, to keep people from supporting a single-payer system. Pres. Barack Obama actually dropped his support for a public option in February 2010 and throughout the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Wendell Potter was vice president of corporate communications…
By Richard Cramond: The top personal concern for Fairfax County senior Democrats is healthcare, with environment number two, according to a survey by the Senior Affairs/Advocacy Committee of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC). The survey in July went to almost 1,000 FCDC members aged 50 or more, of whom about 1/3 responded. Health care was overwhelmingly selected as top…
By Brad Swanson: Almost 400,000 Virginians will gain medical care after the state legislature voted late Wednesday to expand the federal healthcare program Medicaid. The federal government will pick up at least 90% of the cost, estimated at about $2 billion annually. The decision caps a five-year campaign by Democratic legislators, and marks a big win for Gov. Ralph Northam,…
By Brad Swanson: Medicaid expansion in Virginia will be a major issue in the special session of the legislature that begins on April 11. To understand the issue better, I looked at other rich Western countries and compared the quality and cost of their healthcare systems to ours. The results were stunning: Americans pay more for healthcare with worse results…