Dr. Theresa Cullen, the Director of the Pima County Health Department said that, despite obstacles, Tucson is a vaccine success story.  Speaking at the March 23, 2021 meeting of LD9 Democrats, she said that 81% of all people over 70 have been vaccinated in Pima County. Cullen said 500,000 vaccinations have been given out. Some people have doubts about the vaccine. On the contrary, Cullen said the Covid vaccines have minimal or weak side effects, and that there was plenty of time to test them for safety. This article first appeared on the LD9 Democrats website. AGE – Anyone [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed several shortcomings in the U.S. health care system: The illusion of reliable employer-based health insurance is crumbling. Our safety nets have wide geographic variations. High-deductible insurance plans result in delayed care for people with chronic conditions. Underlying racial and geographic disparities in care are worsening. Our current system fails on the three pillars of an adequate healthcare system – cost, access, and quality. Medicare is better than private insurance The U.S. spends far more on health care than any other nation, but our life expectancy has fallen behind. We must use the lessons of this [...]

The Supreme Court is arguing Obamacare for the third time on Tuesday, November 10, in Texas v. California. “The tax will come back to haunt him,” one legal observer remarked after Roberts first designated Obamacare a tax, rather than entitlement in a 5-4 decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius in 2012. Obamacare was spared again in 2015 in King v. Burwell. And indeed, the tax has come back to haunt Obamacare. The story goes like this: In September 2017, Senator John McCain gave the famous thumbs down to the Graham-Cassidy Repeal and Replace bill —sponsored by Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and [...]