Health Care
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
There’s no rest for the wicked. Let’s see what wickedness is afoot in today’s Ten Post Round-Up:
1: Pentagon threatens soldier’s pay over emergency war funding bill….
2: Maybe Iraq could help pay for its reconstruction with their oil revenues?…
With House Poised to Spend $163 Billion, More Argue Iraq Should Use Oil Money to Pay for Reconstruction–AlterNet
3: Looks like GWBs “surge” strategy is being put to the test…
4: China is helping to fund GWBs presidential library…
Let’s See Who’s Funding The Bush Presidential Library–duckplops
5: Nevada governor is fighting to get back in the Governor’s mansion and oust his wife, in divorce dispute…
Governor wants back in mansion: Court battle brewing as Gibbons seeks to oust wife from official residence–Elko Daily Free Press
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
I don’t know if the electorate are really bitter or not, but today’s Ten Post Round-Up will probably leave a grimy taste in your mouth:
1: So it seems that the only people that benefit from your college education is the college and the banks that issue student loans…
America’s Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor’s Degree–The Chronicle of Higher Education
2: Glass houses come to mind…
You Can’t Complain About Sexism If You Participate In It–The Democratic Daily
3: Single mom flips the script and sues RIAA…
Accused music pirate turns the tables on the RIAA–Geeks Are Sexy
4: Dizzy is a sucker for true crime murder mysteries…
Smiley Face Killers: All About The Growing Mystery Gang–The Huffington Post
5: Wright-Obama controversy: An interesting perspective on why religion and politics should stay separate…
Separation of Church & State Really of Religion & Politics.–Hypocrisy.com
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
So, what happened in Pennsylvania, last night? Did the groundhog see its shadow? Rest assured that today’s Ten Post Round-Up makes no mention of the shenanigans going on in Pennsylvania, but the rest of the world is fair game:
1: South Dakota tries one more time to outlaw a woman’s right to choose…
2: Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are being denied the care they need to recover from the scars of war (physically and mentally)…
New Doubts About Health Care for US War Vets–CommonDreams.org
3: Worst.President.Ever? That’s some legacy…
Bush’s disapproval rating worst of any president in 70 years–Democratic Underground
4: Cool: Hope for some blind folks to be able to see…
5: (Groan): Colorado’s “favorite” Republican makes national headlines…
6: The War on Tourism…
7: Family composition may be the blame for poor behavior in kids….
Low grades, bad behavior? Siblings may be to blame, FSU study says–Signs of the Times
8: More VA lies about how our troops are being treated/cared for…
VA Conceals Vet Suicide Figures From CBS To Downplay ‘Epidemic In Suicide’–Think Progress
9: Oops! If your landlord defaults on his mortgage, you could end up on the street and then you could be in competition with your landlord for a new rental!…
Renters can’t escape housing foreclosure crisis–USATODAY.com
10: And this is why I never go to a doctor’s appointment without my own surrogate, if I can help it…
271 días al final de un error…
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
Yes, today’s Ten Post Round-Up is as cold as the Colorado mountains:
1: thepoetryman has something to say about the FLDS Church…
2: More “supporting the troops” by the Bush Administration…
3: A case where “what happens in Vegas…” won’t be staying in Vegas…
4: You thought your health care plan was expensive before, wait until you get sick with a serious illness…
5: Not able to find enough diplomats to volunteer for duty in Iraq, the State Dept. will now start drafting them to go…
State Department warns diplomats of compulsory Iraq duty–Minstrel Boy
6: Another school kid calls out the big dogs on their errors…
German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA’s asteroid figures: paper–PHYSORG.com
7: Japan has joined in the war against fat people….
8: McCain wants to suspend the gas tax for the summer…
9: There’s a problem with your cereal and it’s ten years old…
Marler Clark Sees Pattern in Malt-O-Meal Salmonella Outbreaks–Signs of the Times
10: This is so typical of our politicians, these days, it comes as no surprise that they would start off with a bill to help homeowners and end up giving the bulk of the “help” to big business, instead…
277 días hasta el final de un error…
Peace.
Maximum “Bleeding” Time 4-Hours For England’s E-Rooms.
England’s much touted socialized health care system is teetering on the brink of complete collapse. It has become so bad that a new law sets a maximum of 4-hours wait for care in a Hospital Emergency Room.
To avoid prosecution patients are often kept outside so the 4-hour clock does not start or they are left languishing in an ambulance outside – sometimes until they die. Patients routinely wait months or even longer for care, and some do not get even life saving treatment. Meanwhile costs have skyrocketed.
BREW-HAHA CALIFORNIA STYLE
BREW-HAHA — a California Democrat has proposed a 1,200 PERCENT tax increase on beer to 30 cents per can or bottle. The tax, says San Jose Democrat Jim Beall, would raise two-billion-dollars per year to pay for healthcare, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and alcohol addition.
The tax increase will have to be passed by a two-thirds vote in the state Senate and Assembly. And, because it’s an amendment to the state constitution, it would have to be approved by California voters. Republicans say neither of those things will ever happen.
Do Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer?
A top Australian neurosurgeon says cell phones may cause more cancer in the near future than smoking or asbestos. An extensive review of the link between cell phones and brain cancer said using cell phones for at least ten years could more than double the risk of developing deadly brain cancer. Since three times as many people use cell phones as smoke, cell phones will soon emerge as a major killer.
“It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking, and directly concerns all of us, particularly the younger generation, including very young children,” the neurosurgeon wrote. There has been an increase in brain tumors in people who have used cell phones heavily for a long time on the same side of the head as their “preferred ear” for making calls. He believes it has been difficult to prove a direct link between cell phone usage and brain tumors because a malignant brain tumor might take between ten and twenty years to develop, and the general public hasn’t been using cell phones long enough to effectively study the risk. That will soon change.
“In the years 2008-2012, we will have reached the appropriate length of follow-up time to being to definitely observe the impact of this global technology on brain tumor incidence rates,” the study says.
HOW MUCH IS YOUR LIFE WORTH?
How much is your life worth? Juries routinely set an amount for a lost life and now medicine is about to confront it too. Cancer therapy costs are rising so dramatically that later this year, oncologists will get their first guidelines on how to have a straight talk with patients about the affordability of treatment choices, a topic too often sidestepped. The prices can be staggering and the ethical considerations are even greater. A bug part of the debate is drug company profits for lifesaving drugs the peddle. The idea: treat cost essentially as another side effect to weigh in choosing a therapy. The issue of costs call into question the idea of a “non-profit” hospital that pays its CEO and doctors multimillion salaries while enjoying copious tax deductible benefits.
HIV Vaccine Failures Called “Challenger sized” disaster
Two field tests of the most promising vaccines against the HIV virus that causes AIDS not only did not protect people from the virus but may actually have put them at increased risk of becoming infected. This has sent the two-decade search for an AIDS vaccine into crisis. Numerous experts are questioning both the scientific premises and the overall strategy of the nearly $500 million in AIDS vaccine research funded annually by the U.S. government. This is on the same level of catastrophe as the Challenger disaster” that destroyed a NASA space shuttle, said Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, and head of the Institute for Human Virology in Baltimore.
One in four U. S. teen girls have VD
One in every four teenage girls in U.S. has at least one of the most common venereal diseases, according to a recent study conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based on the study, the authors conservatively estimate that 3.2 million American teenage girls are infected with VD. The authors say that the total number might actually a bit higher since venereal diseases like Syphilis, HIV and Gonorrhea were not included in the analysis. More than 3 million are infected. The incidence is highest among black American teen aged girls. The infection rate is higher in the U. S. than in Europe.The four common venereal diseases included in the study are human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis. The study was conducted among girls aged 14-19.
Planned Parenthood Bilks $180 Million From California Taxpayers.
Planned Parenthood is a profit making company (with a “non-profit” attached) that gets the majority of its annual revenue by billing federal, state and local taxpayers for such things as birth control pills and abortions. Admittedly its structure is a cleverly convoluted but that’s the bottom-line. In California it’s facing a lawsuit brought by a fired executive who claims, according to the LA Times, it bilked those taxpayers out of $180-million. The former executive says the fraud started in 1990 and continued until at least 2004 and when he blew the whistle he was fired. Virginia has cut all funding to Planned Parenthood, and a federal judge in Mississippi has ordered its funding stopped because it violates that state’s constitution.
AIRBORNE “COLD CURE” TO REFUND $23 MILLION
People who have taken the herbal formula Airborne with the hope of curing or fending off the common cold are eligible for refunds from the company. Airborne will pay $23.3. million to settle a class action lawsuit over false advertising. Airborne sales have soared, surpassing $100 million by 2006.
Airborne and many other remedies are classified as dietary supplements, not drugs, which means as long as they don’t make specific health claims, they don’t have to prove to the government that they work. the company has toned down its claims, and the word “cold” is no longer anywhere on the packaging.
A recorded message today at Airborne said, “Defendants deny any wrongdoing or illegal conduct, but have agreed to settle the litigation.”
If you have receipts you can get all your money back for all purchases between May 2001 and November 2007. If you do not ave receipts you can get money back for up to six packages that can cost over $10 each. Call 1-888-952-9080 for further information oin getting your refund - you MUST make your claim by September 2008.
Hypocratic hypocrisy among the Caduceus crowd
Drug giant Pfizer Inc. has scrapped its ad campaign for anti-cholesterol pill Lipitor featuring Robert Jarvik, the inventor of an artificial heart, as Congress probes whether the commercials are misleading. The rubs are that Jarvik appears to give medical advice but he is not a licensed medical doctor, and Pfizer used body doubles for Jarvik.
Otherwise there are ethical and even moral questions about the financial and medical impacts of drug companies directly marketing to patients. For decades drug companies marketed through “drug detailers” who were often seen lurking at the back doors of medical buildings hectored doctors to prescribe their wares. Celebrity marketing directly to patients via television, radio and print ads has proved effective by actually creating a demand for those drugs and a willingness of many physicians to comply. Studies show that created demand has become an important ingredients in sharply rising drugs costs which have become a big contributor to skyrocketing healthcare costs.
Hillary Clinton
I really agree with Hillary’s stance on health care. Just check out her health care opinions here. I hope people will read this and comment on the following questions:
Hillary’s Trade-Offs
As the primary continues to unfold I can’t help but think about Hillary’s life. People forget that it was Hillary, not Bill, who was the “rock star” when they first met. But she gave it all up to move to Arkansas and help an unknown lawyer run for governor in one of the most backwards states in the nation. Her friends were appalled by her decision. I can’t help but think of the song from Chorus Line “What We Do for Love”.
It wasn’t all terrible. Arkansas is in the boonies but being a governor’s wife isn’t a bad deal. Then there were the ensuing connections and how that helped her career (and checkbook). Bill might have strayed but Hillary knew he loved her and Chelsea, and he always came back. So she stayed and ended up in the White House. Again, not a bad trade off. Then he cheated there and this time publicly humiliated her and her child.
Insurance Companies Look For A Scapegoat: Your Doctor
Tired of taking the blame for so many sick people being refused or kicked off of health insurance, the insurance companies are looking to give doctors the power to kick their sick patients off of the hefty insurance rolls.
Blue Cross, in California, is sending doctors’ copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients and asking them to rat out patients whose applications and patient files have “inconsistencies”.
MITT’S COMMONWEALTH CARE COSTS SOAR.
Massachusetts’ COMMONWEALTH CARE that MITT ROMNEY supported and started was ultimately to have covered 215,000 people and cost the state $725 million annually. WRONG! New estimates say it could have 342,000 enrollees and cost $1.35 billion per year by 2011 – almost twice the initial costs estimate. The State now wants Federal taxpayers to pay half the bill but even if that happens the boondoggle will have to be cutback dramatically to avoid massive tax increases or worse.
“Sicko” MOORE’s Political Posturing
Michael Moore appeared on CNN Friday to express his disapproval of HILLARY CLINTON’s IRAQ vote and criticize her and BARACK OBAMA’s national health care proposal. He said he will not support CLINTON during the primary process. When ask about SENATOR MCCAIN Moore called him “crazy” and said if he is the Republican nominee it will give “comic relief.” Moore also said the investigation into his CUBAN trip related to his ACADEMY AWARD nominated movie ‘SICKO’ is ongoing but after President Bush leaves office he believes the investigation will be dropped.
ANTIDEPRESSANT DEPRESSION
Nearly a third of antidepressant drug studies are never published says the New England Journal of Medicine and nearly all happen to show that the drug being tested did not work. In some of the studies that are published, unfavorable results have been recast to make the medicine appear more effective than it really is, said the research team led by Erick Turner of the Oregon Health & Science University. Of 74 drugs studied 36 had negative results but only 3 were published while all positive studies were.