Smoking The Cause Of Low U.S. Life Expectancy
Why does the U.S. spend more on health care than any other nation while its population has a life expectancy lower than in many other developed countries? According to a new government report: smoking. From WebMD:
Life expectancies in the U.S. are now lower than for many other industrialized countries, and the nation’s past love affair with tobacco is largely to blame, government officials say.
In a report released Tuesday, a panel commissioned by the National Research Council sought to explain why the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation, yet Americans are dying younger than some of their counterparts in other high-income countries.
Over the past two and a half decades, life expectancies continued to rise in the U.S., but at a slower pace than those seen in Australia, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, and other high-income European countries.
The average live expectancy for men in the U.S. was 75.6 years…
The Market May Want You To Die
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
The Republicans who now control the U.S. House of Representatives made demolishing the Obama healthcare bill their top priority during their campaign and will fight their hardest to make that demolition a reality now that they hold office. We all know the reasons: tea partiers want the government out of their Medicaid; seasoned republicans know they just need to trumpet their hatred of “big government” to stay seated; and most in both camps believe that the “market” is gospel and should dictate who should get health coverage.
The Department of Health and Human Services released a study showing that between 50 and 129 million Americans have some kind of pre-existing health condition. As plenty of Americans know, a preexisting condition can allow insurance companies to deny some or even all coverage. Should an insurance company decide to change their criteria defining “pre-existing condition,” it’s possible for a…
More Than A Quarter Of U.S. Children Are On Prescription Drugs
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, trouble sleeping, depression, hyperactivity: it’s hard being a kid. Over a quarter of our country’s children are now on long-term prescription drug regimens, and the percentage will only continue to increase. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Gage Martindale, who is 8 years old, has been taking a blood-pressure drug since he was a toddler. “I want to be healthy, and I don’t want things in my heart to go wrong,” he says.
And, of course, his mom is always there to check Gage’s blood pressure regularly with a home monitor, and to make sure the second-grader doesn’t skip a dose of his once-a-day enalapril.
These days, the medicine cabinet is truly a family affair. More than a quarter of U.S. kids and teens are taking a medication on a chronic basis, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest U.S. pharmacy-benefit manager with around 65 million members. Nearly…
America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane
Democrats Ramshield writes in Alternet:
As an American expat living in the European Union, I’ve started to see America from a different perspective.
The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less — right around 9 percent of GNP on medical, whereas we in the U.S. spend close to between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical — the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.
The U.S. has 59 million people medically uninsured; 132 million without dental insurance; 60 million without paid sick leave; 40 million on food stamps. Everybody in the European Union has cradle-to-grave access to universal medical and a dental plan by law. The law also requires paid sick leave; paid annual leave; paid maternity leave. When you realize all of that, it becomes easy to understand why many Europeans think America has gone insane.
Der Spiegel has run an interesting feature called “A…
Chamber of Commerce Betrays America Again: Opposes 9/11 Responders Healthcare Bill
It seems that the Chamber of Commerce lobbied against the bill to give specialized healthcare to 9/11 rescuers which would have been fully paid for by closing a $7.4 billion dollar tax loophole that benefited FOREIGN corporations.
The very misnomered “U.S.” Chamber of Commerce is best known for throwing gobs of money into the last election at the idiotic Supreme Court’s urging, attempting to get a flood of corporate hacks masquerading as populists elected to Congress, and also for it’s fearless “leader”, Tom Donohue, who famously claimed he’d make any candidate who even dared MENTION helping the poor, bleed and cry.
Yeah. A real prince among men. And that is the real spirit of that organization. A giant eff you to anyone who isn’t a billionaire, that claims to work for small businesses, but doesn’t. Nathan Diebenow writes in RAW Story:
The US Chamber of Commerce lobbied to kill a bill that would…
Jon Stewart to Republicans: You Can’t Exploit 9/11 Anymore (Video)
The Lee Greenwood montage at the end is priceless. Seriously how in bed does a political party have to be with lobbyists to oppose a health care bill for 9/11 responders?!? Via The Daily Show:
Texas May End Medicaid
With conservative politicians riding high on their broad electoral success, red-dominated regions of the country are already considering sweeping changes: in Texas, lawmakers are debating the possibility of opting out of the federal Medicaid program. Will this mark the start of a trend of right-wing states, fed up with the federal government, seeking to withdraw and “go it alone”? From the Texas Tribune:
Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.
Far-right conservatives are offering that possibility in post-victory news conferences. Moderate Republicans are studying it behind closed doors. And the party’s advisers on health care policy say it’s being discussed more seriously than ever, though they admit it may be as much a huge in-your-face to Washington as anything else.
“With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a…
It’s 2030: China Owns America Because of the Health Care Bill (Video)
Ben Smith writes on the Politico: “This slickly-produced new ad from Citizens Against Government Waste — in a major national buy, I’m told — attacks spending in the Mandarin-speaking voice of a gloating, future Chinese professor.”
The Secret Sponsors: Corporate Disinfo Campaign on Healthcare Reform
The talking baby ad was paid for by the “Coalition to Protect Seniors,” which has a Web site but no information about its backers.
Are CGI babies shilling for big insurance corporations? Mike McIntire of the New York Times did a little research and here’s what he had to say. It’s good stuff, so please do read it through to the end!
It was the wisecracking baby who caught my attention.
Sitting on a living room carpet and addressing the camera in a dubbed voice that growls like a Vegas bookie, he tells viewers, “Gramps is sad — Obama cut $455 billion from his Medicare.” He warns of dire consequences from the health insurance overhaul if voters do not take action in November.
“I don’t know what smells worse,” the little guy huffs, “my diaper or this new bill.”
A sign-off informs the television audience that this high-minded piece of issue advocacy was paid for…
Meet Your Surgeon: I, Robot
I wonder how its bedside manners are? Probably less important than that it presumably is not subject to human error, hangovers, working without sleep for days, etc. From Fast Company:
Paging Dr. 3PO. One day soon robots could performing routine procedures in the OR.
Bioengineers at Duke University announced yesterday that they’ve created a robot that can “locate a man-made, or phantom, lesion in simulated human organs, guide a device to the lesion and take multiple samples during a single session,” all without a doctor’s supervision. Researchers hope these developments could one day lead to robots working autonomously on basic surgical operations.
Nicknamed the Biopsy Bot, the robot relies on 3-D and…
DIY Medicine From YouTube Videos
One of the positive things about the recession era is that it’s inspiring people to get creative — for instance, by performing their own minor surgeries, using how-to videos from YouTube. The Globe and Mail reports:
Before, doctors worried about patients who self-diagnosed after doing Internet research on questionable medical websites. But the social Web has given birth to a new beast: users who document their DIY medical procedures on camera and share the videos on YouTube.
Doug Southern would have preferred to see a doctor, but bad timing meant he was without health insurance. He was laid off from his job a short while before a three-year-old baseball-sized cyst on his back became infected.
When his brother-in-law, a family practitioner, and his sister came to visit him in Tuscaloosa, Ala., he decided to put down a towel and pillow on his kitchen floor and turn it into a makeshift operating room so his…
NY Hospitals Agree to Stop Flushing Pharmaceuticals Down the Drain
I thought hospitals were supposed to make people healthier … I guess big business is big business, but can’t we agree to leave our drinking water alone? David Gutierrez writes on Natural News:
Five health care facilities have signed an agreement with the New York Attorney General’s Office to settle charges that they polluted the state’s watersheds by dumping pharmaceutical products down sinks and toilets.
In 2008, an Associated Press investigation revealed that the drinking water consumed by more than one-sixth of the U.S. population is contaminated with trace (but potentially biologically active) amounts of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. While some of these chemicals enter sewage systems after being excreted by people taking the drugs, many of them were traced back to a common practice in hospitals and other health-care facilities: disposing of unused pharmaceuticals by flushing them down sinks or toilets.
After state tests of New York watersheds revealed widespread pharmaceutical contamination,…
Soaring Costs Force Canada to Reassess Healthcare Model
Claire Sibonney writes in Reuters via Yahoo News:
Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada’s provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate “incentive fees” to generic drug manufacturers.
British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit — an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.
And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery. It’s likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a…
Health Care Reform? If You Have A Preexisting Condition, The Insurance Company Is Only Fined $100/Day NOT To Treat You
Change you can believe in? Think again. Not as long as the insurance companies get to write the bills in Washington. Paul Harwood writes on MichaelMoore.com:
I caught Lawrence O’Donnell interviewing Michael Moore [on Countdown With Keith Olbermann] about health care.
Because I’m unemployed and so have time on my hands, and because there were so many bizarre claims about the contents of the HCR bill being tossed around during the debate, I’d already spent time spelunking through the depths of the bill … and so my ears perked up when I heard him saying this:
MOORE: If the insurance company is caught denying somebody because of a preexisting condition … their fine, according to this new law, is $100 a day. One hundred dollars. Now, do you think they’re going to take the fine, or do you think they’re going to pay thousands of dollars to help you if you have cancer? I think…
4 Million Americans To Be Fined Unless They Get Health Coverage When Obama’s Plan Kicks In
From Nick Pell’s article “Hate To Say I Told Ya So” from the Black Sun Gazette:
And that’s not just a cliche. I hate being right about this shit. Believe me, nothing would make me happier than feeling like I could cheerlead for the Democrats or some broad-based left formation. It would certainly make my life a lot easier and I might be able to declare a “victory” from time to time. The sad fact is that the Democrats and the left groups who apologize for them are not merely misguided souls on the same team as me. Nor are they merely deceivers who mislead the working class. Rather, they are active participants in attacking the working class, their living standards and working conditions.
Case in point: Not only will the health care bill leave four million people uninsured — to say nothing of the people paying too much for sub-standard coverage —…
How Frank Luntz Led Health Care ‘Reform’ Opposition
The reason I am sharing this is not because I think the so-called health care “reform” that passed actually qualified as such, but to point out one of the maestros (or Dark Lord of the Sith, depending on your take) behind the scenes of the opposition to such legislation.
Know who Frank Luntz is. He manages to influence the public discourse in the United States, on a regular basis:
P.S. It took the Democrats until April 15th to come up with this video? And you wonder why it took over a year to pass bullshit “reform”…
FDA Scientist Loses His Job For Saying Cancer Screenings Can Give You Cancer
MATTHEW PERRONE reports on the AP via Google News:
WASHINGTON — A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said [last] Tuesday his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.
Dr. Julian Nicholas told an audience of imaging specialists that he and other FDA staffers “were pressured to change their scientific opinion,” by managers in the agency’s medical device division.
Nicholas, now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their concerns with the division’s top director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren last September.
“Scientific and regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were not following the laws,” Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas’ position was “terminated,” he said.
The allegations about suppression of scientific dissent within FDA are not the first, and come at an inopportune time for the agency.
Read More on the AP…
Pepsi Scientists Solve Obesity Crisis With Potato Chips
Now here’s corporate thinking to believe in, gotta please those shareholders. As the author of the article says, eating fewer chips potato chips is not an option. Hamilton Nolan writes on Gawker:
Health food manufacturer and exponentially dimensionalized fulcrum of universal gravity PepsiCo is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to make America healthier, with things like “designer” salt crystals for Lay’s potato chips. What else could they do?
Because of inherent concern about the health of you, the consumer, PepsiCo spent more than $400 million in product development costs last year, all with an eye towards developing products that will kill Americans more slowly. “What we want to do with our ‘fun for you’ products is to make them the healthiest ‘fun for you’ products,” said PepsiCo chairman Indra Nooyi, emphasizing PepsiCo’s dual commitment to health and to providing a nonstop party in your mouth.
The latest corporate success:…
Big Pharma Wins Big With Health Care Reform Bill
Alan Fram writes on Huffington Post:
Chalk one up for the pharmaceutical lobby. The U.S. drug industry fended off price curbs and other hefty restrictions in President Barack Obama’s health care law even as it prepares for plenty of new business when an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans gain health coverage.
To be sure, the law also levies taxes and imposes other costs on pharmaceutical companies, leaving its final impact on the industry’s bottom line uncertain. A recent analysis by Goldman Sachs suggests the overhaul could mean “a manageable hit” of tens of billions of dollars over the coming decade while bolstering the value of drug-company stocks. Others expect profits, not losses, of the same magnitude.
Either way, pharmaceutical lobbyists won new federal policies they coveted and set a trajectory for long-term industry growth. Privately, several of them say their biggest triumph was heading off Democrats led by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who…
Enjoy Your Health Care Sh*t Sandwich
Nick P. writes on the Black Sun Gazette:
My loyal readers of Black Sun Gazette are none too surprised that I am adamantly opposed to the health care bill which was recently passed by Congress.
There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the bill, not the least bit due to a massive campaign of disinformation and lies coming from The White House and its toadies in the corporate media.
I’m sort of amazed at how otherwise rational people are joining in the Democratic Party circle jerk that is accompany yet another massive transfer of wealth from working class people to corporate elites in this country.
The health care “reform” bill isn’t anything that deserves the name reform. The very word “reform” at least tacitly implies amelioration of social ills. For those who haven’t seen it, the fact sheet from Fire Dog Lake — a “progressive,” pro-Democratic Party blog — explains a lot about what is wrong with the bill. It doesn’t protect or aid the people it purports to and requires you to pay a large part of your income to, not a tax pool, but private companies…
