Op-Ed

We have written extensively over the past few weeks regarding the unprecedented importance of the upcoming election.  At Tarbell, our commitment to advocating for the right to affordable and adequate health care and the democratic process; and against any threat to these two pillars of our mission,...

Is the beloved program on its last legs?

I’ve been thinking a lot about health-care mergers and acquisitions lately, and I must confess, it’s making me dizzy. All of this head-spinning thought was prompted primarily by the creation of Ballad Health Care, now the sole hospital system for my entire region of the country. Ballad was established about...

Wendell Potter A word to the wise: During this coronavirus crisis, keep an eye on every move of my old industry: health insurers. Behind the PR spin, they’ll be doing everything they can to deny care and maintain profits while making it look...

An Appalachian physician explains how health care system mergers result in staff layoffs and have negative effects on his community’s economy.

You would think that making the prices charged by hospitals and doctors available to their patients would be a no-brainer.  After all, we’ve become accustomed to knowing the price we pay for cars, carrots, comic books, and almost everything else we buy. Why not knee surgery or appendectomies? The medical...

The Senate Special Committee on Aging has just released one of the most damning reports on the nation’s nursing homes that I’ve seen in a long time. The short document should be required reading for any family thinking of moving a relative to a nursing facility. Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey,...

Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia is slated to close in September, less than two years after a private equity firm bought it.

Dear Tarbell Community: I started this nonprofit news outlet three years ago with the dream of changing the conversation about America and the powers that shape all our lives. The past few years have been an incredible learning experience for the entire team at Tarbell.

A retired Tennessee physician and professor watches his state shred the medical safety net of his state. Just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse for the TennCare program, they did. (TennCare is Tennessee’s Medicaid managed care program.) First, Medicaid has not been expanded under the Affordable Care Act in...

This analysis was written by Tarbell board member Diane Archer and originally published in the health news and advisory platform Just Care on 3/6/2019. Tarbell is republishing this piece with permission. 

The "Other America" First things first - this brilliant investigation of the “other America” by the Pulitzer Prize winning husband and wife team of...

I grew up amongst the Shock Doctrine generation, Generation X. We were raised in between the sentences of the book by Naomi Klein that has been referenced frequently as of late. The book supports the theory that exploitation of national crises such as perpetual...

Watch out! Uncle Donald is coming for your and all your relatives’ Social Security and Medicare! The all-out attack on Social Security and Medicare, the two remaining standing edifices of the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, has begun...

Open enrollment is over and the flood of advertisements for Medicare Advantage plans has ended for another year. I’m happy to report that, once again, I’ve managed to avoid signing up for one of those plans. For those who aren’t familiar with Medicare Advantage...

When I first met Wendell Potter, Tarbell’s founder and Chairman, I was immediately struck by his intelligence, humility, and his insatiable determination to call out corruption stemming from the ability of corporate money and the ultra-wealthy to drive their special interests into the fabric of our society. ...

OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Tarbell does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Presumptive Democratic Nominee for President Joe Biden has advocated for what...

The mid 1990s was a scary time for those of us who had just enough knowledge about the downside scenarios that could come to fruition as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union.  I was serving in the Navy during the transition from the bi-polar...

Without the protections in the Affordable Care Act, many would find themselves back in the "bad old days."

Studies show life expectancy in the United States is going down while it continues to go up in other developed countries.