Who else might like Medicare for All? Retired coal miners who just had their health benefits ripped away. Common Dreams: “On Friday, a ruling by a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas showed why retired coal miners led to believe their health benefits would be with them for life were wrong and at least one advocate for Medicare for All noted …
Nearly 80 percent of workers are forced to live in insecurity, paycheck to paycheck — hoping that their child doesn’t get sick, their car doesn’t break down or that they don’t lose their job.
Let Us Fight Together for Economic, Social, Racial and Environmental Justice, Not Unbridled Greed: If Trump truly wants to govern in a bi-partisan manner, let’s take a look at what the overwhelming majority of the American people want, By Bernie Sanders, Common Dreams, February 06, 2019 It is not “a hot economy” when 43 percent of households can’t afford to pay for housing, food, child …
Study Shows Two-Thirds of Personal Bankruptcies Still Caused by Illness and Medical Bills
Despite Promises of ACA, Study Shows Two-Thirds of Personal Bankruptcies Still Caused by Illness and Medical Bills, by Julia Conley, staff writer, CommonDreams, Feb 7, 2019 “We need to move ahead from the ACA to a single-payer, Medicare for All system that assures first-dollar coverage for everyone.” A majority of personal bankruptcy cases examined in a new study were brought about …
Climate change could hurt babies’ hearts, study says
By Jen Christensen, CNN, January 30, 2019 (CNN)Heat and pregnancy do not mix. High temps don’t just make a pregnant woman uncomfortable, the heat can actually hurt the health of her baby — and with climate change, this will probably become a bigger problem. A study in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Heart Association found that a larger number of babies will probably …
€70 Billion A Year In EU Health Damage Caused By Vehicle Emissions, 7 million killed by emissions worldwide
€70 Billion A Year In EU Health Damage Caused By Vehicle Emissions — reminded me of the following article, which is a piece I wrote in 2016 to try to more directly communicate the issue to people. Initially, the title was “This Stealth Terrorist Killed ~53,000 Americans Last Year.” Humans are interesting. We often don’t do long-term planning all that well, …
How climate change, obesity, and malnutrition are related. Want to fix obesity and climate change at the same time? Make Big Food companies pay: A new report says food companies are pursuing profit at the expense of public and environmental health
A new report, published Sunday in the Lancet, implores us to think about the possibility of big, systemic fixes for these interrelated scourges. Overnutrition, undernutrition, and global warming share common causes: powerful commercial interests that promote overconsumption, “policy inertia,” and weak governance, according to the report, led by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, George Washington University in the US, and …
More good news about healthy soil: a previously unknown strain of bacteria which is effective against four of the top six superbugs that are resistant to antibiotic
Bacteria in Ancient Irish Soil Halts Growth of Superbugs. Researchers analyzing soil from Ireland have discovered that it contains a previously unknown strain of bacteria which is effective against four of the top six superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA. The new strain of bacteria was discovered by a team based in Swansea University Medical School, made up …
Doctors Say North Americans need to eat 84% less red meat but six times more beans and lentils
Planetary health diet’ would prevent millions of deaths a year and avoid climate change. Globally, the diet requires red meat and sugar consumption to be cut by half, while vegetables, fruit, pulses and nuts must double. But in specific places the changes are stark. North Americans need to eat 84% less red meat but six times more beans and lentils. Unhealthy …
Drugs ‘R’ Us: Opioid Markets After the Jobs Disappear
Alcabes’ article, entitled “Drugs ‘R’ Us: Opioid Markets After the Jobs Disappear,” cites several recent studies on the issue. The article considers some of the prominent narratives on opioid use in America, framing the on-going crisis in a socio-political context. Read the full article at LA Review of Books’ website. OCTOBER 6, 2018 FOR MILLENNIA, humans have been using the alkaloids from …
Black lung disease is still killing miners. The coal industry doesn’t want to hear it
On the Ground: reporting from all corners of America Kentucky Today’s black lung rates are higher than 50 years ago, affecting men as young as their 30s, and in Kentucky their right to decent healthcare is being curtailed By Elyssa East, Thu 13 Dec 2018 A chest x-ray in the office of Dr Brandon Crum in Pikeville, Kentucky. Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Jeff …