Thursday Afternoon Links: Wheezing Blogger/Healthcare Edition

*The Madison-Capital Times reports today about a family suffering from the sky-rocketing premium costs in Wisconsin. The article connects this family's experience to the experiences of families all across the nation. *Like Wisconsin, premiums rose three-and-a-half times faster than workers' incomes in the State of Florida between 2000 and 2007. *The AFL-CIO plans to hit McCain on health care in a new mailer. *The AFL-CIO reports that a California appeals court has struck down the Bush Administration's challenge to a San Francisco law that would provide universal health care coverage to 80,000 low-wage workers and their families. *Palliative Care - focused treatment centers for patients with serious, chronic illnesses like cancer - is rapidly growing in demand at hospitals across the country. The Washington Post reports on a state-by-state national scorecard rating the quality and availability of these programs across the country. They note that it will take lobbying on behalf of the seriously ill to increase access to this type of treatment. *The Pentagon wants troops to rate their health care in an anonymous survey. *The Commonwealth Fund, a private group devoted to health care issues, has issued a report that compares the health care approaches of both our major presidential candidates. By major, I mean to say that Nader and Barr's approaches have been left out. *Ralph Nader's health care plan can be found here.