March, 26 2020, 12:00am EDT

"World Leaders Are in Denial: Only the Most Radical Reset Can Help Us Deal With Coronavirus Fallout", Say Campaigners in Response to the Emergency G20 Virtual Summit
Commenting on the emergency virtual summit of leaders of the G20 of powerful countries today, Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now said:
WASHINGTON
Commenting on the emergency virtual summit of leaders of the G20 of powerful countries today, Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now said:
"The G20 statement has many nice words, but far too few specifics. What's more, world leaders seem in denial about the scale of the crisis. Their desperation to get back to 'business as usual' is totally unrealistic. Only the most radical reset, akin to a post-world war overhaul of the international economy, will allow us to rebuild the international economy in a way which means we can tackle future pandemics, not to mention the biggest long-term challenges facing us, climate change and global inequality.
"It's true that large sums of money will be pumped into the global economy. Talk of scientific collaboration, equitable access to treatment and supporting the under-funded World Health Organisation are welcome. And, given the ludicrously unhelpful nationalist rhetoric coming from some world leaders during this crisis, just getting these people onto the same conference call was probably an achievement. The devil will be in the detail in terms of translating these words into reality.
"But even in the best case scenario, in which the humanitarian crisis is contained, the global economy cannot return to the status quo ante. Talk of 'private sector partnerships' are completely out of place. Only very large-scale intervention in the markets, unprecedented debt cancellation and financial reform and massive bolstering of the public sector globally can restore employment, not to mention deal with the twin problems of inequality and climate change which present existential threats to global society. True, the G20 promised 'whatever it takes', but they currently under-estimate just how big that promise needs to be."
Global Justice Now called on the G20 to announce a package including:
- Emergency funding: A significant, coordinated emergency package to help low income and vulnerable countries deal with the crisis by building up public sector capacity, emergency welfare and protecting jobs. Testing and treatment for all affected by Covid-19 must be provided free to those who need it and the World Health Organisation needs a huge funding boost
- Vaccine collaboration: Agree on international collaboration for a Covid-19 vaccine, which will not be patented by any one corporation or country, and will be distributed free to all who need it in every country, starting with those most at risk
- Global green stimulus: Pledge to support a massive global stimulus package aimed at supporting green industries, rather than unconditional bailouts to the fossil fuel, aviation and other polluting industries, and with a special focus on building public healthcare systems
- Financial reform: Initiate a process of structural financial reform including agreement on action against tax dodging, debt cancellation for countries at high-risk of debt distress, and changes to trade rules to build resilience to health emergencies.
For more information call 07932 335 464.
Global Justice Now is a democratic social justice organisation working as part of a global movement to challenge the powerful and create a more just and equal world. We mobilise people in the UK for change, and act in solidarity with those fighting injustice, particularly in the global south.
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Sanders Gets GOP Leader to Agree to Work On Medicare Covering Dental, Hearing, and Vision
The exchange on the Senate floor came after the Finance Committee chair blocked passage of the Vermont Independent's bill.
Mar 11, 2025
U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo on Tuesday blocked passage of Sen. Bernie Sanders' legislation to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision care for tens of millions of American seniors, but the bill's sponsor got the panel leader to publicly agree to further discuss the issue.
Sanders (I-Vt.) took to the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon to ask for unanimous consent to pass the Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Expansion Act, which is spearheaded in the House of Representatives by Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas).
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After Crapo (R-Idaho) rose to stop the bill from advancing, he and Sanders had a brief exchange in which the Republican agreed to working on achieving the "outcome" of the federal healthcare program covering dental, vision, and hearing.
In Sanders' remarks on the Senate floor about his bill, he sounded the alarm about efforts by President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk, and congressional Republicans to cut government healthcare programs and Social Security.
"Yeah, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country, we have more billionaires than any other country, but we also have one of the highest rates of senior poverty of any country on Earth. We might want to get our priorities right," said Sanders, who has long fought for achieving universal healthcare in the United States via his Medicare for All legislation.
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To pay for his expansion plan, Sanders calls for ensuring that Medicare pays no more for prescription drugs than the Department of Veterans Affairs and addressing the tens of billions of dollars that privately administered Medicare Advantage plans overcharge the federal government annually.
In a statement about the bill, Doggett highlighted that "this expanded care could help prevent cognitive impairment and dementia, worsened chronic disease, and imbalance leading to falls with deadly consequences. This is an essential step to fulfilling the original promise of Medicare—to assure dignity and health for all."
Welcoming their renewed push for Medicare expansion, Public Citizen healthcare advocate Eagan Kemp declared that "at the same time Trump and his cronies in Congress try to rip healthcare away from millions and push for further privatization of Medicare, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Doggett are showing what one of our top priorities in healthcare should be—improving traditional Medicare."
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The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would resume military aid to and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine after that country's leadership endorsed a U.S. proposal for a 30-day cease-fire in the war defending against Russia's three-year invasion and occupation.
The Washington Postreports that U.S., Ukrainian, and Saudi officials met for eight hours on Tuesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. No Russian officials were present at the negotiations.
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Ukraine has agreed to a 30 day ceasefire. Incredible work by Trump team. Now if Russia agrees, Trump may have gotten cease fires in the Middle East and Europe in his first 60 days. Nobel Peace Prize worthy: pic.twitter.com/lYogXVP8wj
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 11, 2025
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called his country's endorsement of the cease-fire proposal a "step that proves Ukraine is ready to move forward on the path to a just end to the war."
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Buoyed by Western support but stretched thin and vastly outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian forces have been struggling to repel Russia's invasion and hold Russian territory they seized in the Kursk region, with an eye toward potential future territorial exchanges.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces launched a massive drone attack on Moscow. Three people were reportedly killed and six others were injured when debris struck a meat processing facility.
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The watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday released a research brief about the hundreds of millions of dollars Medicare Advantage companies have spent on lobbying ahead of a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Oz, a heart surgeon and former television host, is President Donald Trump's nominee to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)—an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Health experts and others have sounded the alarm about Oz since Trump announceded his nomination in November, with many opponents highlighting the doctor's investments in companies with direct CMS interests and his push to expand Medicare Advantage when he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Medicare Advantage is a type of CMS-approved health insurance plan from a private company that seniors can choose for medical coverage instead of government-administered Medicare. Critics often call it a "profit-seeking healthcare scam."
Public Citizen's brief points out that last year, "more than half of all seniors eligible for Medicare were enrolled" in these private plans that "cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and deliver inferior care compared to traditional Medicare."
"Since their inception in 2003, Medicare Advantage plans are estimated to have cost taxpayers more than $600 billion in overpayments," the document notes. "These overpayments are expected to grow to $1 trillion over the next decade."
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