October 7, 2009
Why the Current Bills Don't Solve Our Health Care Crisis
Courtesy of Michael Moore
Huffington Post
Co-authored with Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee
Now we know why they've stopped calling this health care reform, and started calling it insurance reform. The current bills advancing in Congress look more like rearranging the deck chairs on the insurance Titanic than actually ending our long health care nightmare.
Some laudable elements are in various versions of the bills, especially expanding Medicaid, cutting the private insurance-padding waste of Medicare Advantage, and limiting the ability of the insurance giants to ban and dump people who have been or who ever will be sick.
But, overall, the leading bills and the President's proposal are, like the dog that didn't bark, more notable for what is missing.
Here are 13 problems with the current health care bills (partial list):
Continue reading "Why the Current Bills Don't Solve Our Health Care Crisis"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:33 PM
October 5, 2009
Video - Anthem Blue Cross's profits were up 89% from 2004 - 2007
Although membership was up only 3%
The Tennessee Anthem Blue Cross organization is one of only few "independent" organizations using the Anthem brand not owned by WELLPOINT.
Posted by doctormatt at 6:51 PM
Getting Sick, Dying Quickly
"It's my duty and pride tonight to be able to announce exactly what the Republicans plan to do for health care in America," announced Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) on the House floor Wednesday night. Taking out a chart, he continued, "Here it is.
The Republican health care plan for America: 'don't get sick.' If you have insurance don't get sick, if you don't have insurance, don't get sick; if you're sick, don't get sick. ...
If you do get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: 'die quickly.'"
Continue reading "Getting Sick, Dying Quickly"
Posted by doctormatt at 6:38 PM
October 4, 2009
Kucinich amendment to HR 3200 allows States to set up Single Payer
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) pre-empts legislating health care reform at a state level if the state efforts challenge employer-based health care plans.
This would change under:
Posted by doctormatt at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
October 3, 2009
Health overhaul closer than ever - and yet far off
Eight months in office, Barack Obama has now pushed closer than any other president in generations to creating a basic health care safety net for working Americans. Yet the fate of legislation delivering on his goal is far from certain: Republicans are nearly unified in opposition, Democrats hardly united in support.
Indeed, few if any of the major arguments about the scope and costs of the historic undertaking are settled as congressional leaders prepare to take legislation to the floor in the next two weeks.
Continue reading "Health overhaul closer than ever - and yet far off"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:00 AM
September 30, 2009
Money, Morality and Ethics
Health care reform involves much more than money. It involves intense personal feelings about the kind of our society we want. These feelings too often go unspoken, even unappreciated, making intelligent discourse impossible.
Below are key principles taken from public health care debates. All are important to a few of us, and some to all of us. But we can't have it all - any one is achievable, but not every one. It's a tough choice.
Continue reading "Money, Morality and Ethics"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Robert Reich on What is the Public Option?
Posted by doctormatt at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Michael Moore on need for Single Payer / Public Option
Posted by doctormatt at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
The Public Option is Popular, Moral and Inexpensive, Therefore it Must Die
Continue reading "The Public Option is Popular, Moral and Inexpensive, Therefore it Must Die "
Posted by doctormatt at 8:29 AM
September 27, 2009
Bill Maher - Commentary
We have a pretty good idea of the Republican plan for the next three years: Don't let Obama do anything. What kills me is that that's the Democrats' plan, too.
Posted by doctormatt at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2009
Video - Satire - Insurance executives are the real victims
Posted by doctormatt at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Kucinich chairs subcommittee - C-SPAN - Influence of private insurance companies
Posted by doctormatt at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
Simple arithmetic - From Kaiser Family Foundation
Simple arithmetic - From Kaiser Family Foundation
The 5% increase we found in premiums is moderate by long-term historical standards. For example, two different times during the last decade premiums increased by 13% a year, in 2002 and 2003. This year's increase continues a multi-year period of relative moderation in premium increases. Still, over the last ten years premiums have increased by 131%, while wages have grown 38% and inflation has grown 28%. Consider this: If people (and businesses) are as concerned as they are now about rising health care costs in a period when they are actually moderating, how much more concerned will they be when rates of increase return to historic averages?
Let's do some very simple arithmetic. Start with a fairly conservative assumption: If we assume that premium increases over the next ten years will average what they did over the last five (about 6.1% per year), the average premium for a family policy in 2019 will be $24,180. That's a big number. On the other hand, if we assume increases revert to the average of the last ten years--an average annual increase of about 8.7% and a very plausible scenario--premiums in 2019 will average a whopping $30,803, a very scary number...
Continue reading "Simple arithmetic - From Kaiser Family Foundation"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
Health care as a human rights issue
Health care as a human rights issue
Posted by doctormatt at 8:13 PM
September 23, 2009
Video - Mad as hell doctors on the Ed show MSNBC
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Posted by doctormatt at 1:21 PM
Animation - Video - Why single payer is needed
Posted by doctormatt at 1:08 PM
September 22, 2009
Video - Mad as hell doctors
Posted by doctormatt at 6:32 PM
Video - Dr. Paul Song on Larry King
Posted by doctormatt at 2:17 AM
Physicians for National Health Program on Democracy Now
Physicians for National Health Program on Democracy Now
Continue reading "Physicians for National Health Program on Democracy Now"
Posted by doctormatt at 2:05 AM
Video - Why the Mass. model does not work
Posted by doctormatt at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
The inevitability of an American single-payer health system
The inevitability of an American single-payer health system
Continue reading "The inevitability of an American single-payer health system"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:45 AM | Comments (0)
The Health Care Deceit
The Health Care Deceit by Paul Craig Roberts
Continue reading "The Health Care Deceit "
Posted by doctormatt at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
New York TImes trashes single payer
New York TImes trashes single payer
Continue reading "New York TImes trashes single payer"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)
George McGovern on Medicare for all
George McGovern on Medicare for all.
Posted by doctormatt at 12:32 AM
September 20, 2009
We can secure Medicare for All, once states begin to pass their own single-payer bills.
We remain committed to a robust public option that:
* Enacts concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.
* Consists of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.
* Be made available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation.
* Allows patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promotes the medical home model and eliminates lifetime caps on benefits.
* Has the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management and good public health.
* Utilizes the existing infrastructure of successful public programs, such as Medicare, in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes, including payment systems, claims and appeals.
* Establishes or negotiates rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical equipment providers and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.
* Receives a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.
* Ensures premiums are priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans.
Posted by doctormatt at 10:00 PM
September 18, 2009
Videos - Great single payer ads from the past
Posted by doctormatt at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
Study links 45,000 annual U.S. deaths to lack of insurance
Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.
"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.
Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.
Continue reading "Study links 45,000 annual U.S. deaths to lack of insurance"
Posted by doctormatt at 1:47 AM
Teen birth rates highest in most religious states may be due to communities frowning on contraception, researchers say
Posted by doctormatt at 1:39 AM
Why is Universal Health Care "Un-American"?
I can't believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor as prey for the rich. I cannot believe there are Christians around this nation who are shouting that message down and waving guns in the air because they don't want to hear it.
But I learned along time ago that churches are strange places; charity is fine, but speaking of justice is heresy in many churches. The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." Too often today in the United States, if you talk about helping the poor, they call you Christian, but if you actually try to do something to help the poor, they call you a socialist.
Full editorial by Rev. Jim Rigby here
Posted by doctormatt at 1:21 AM
Why Obama Needed Single Payer on the Table
By Vincente Navarro M.D., Ph.D.
I don't doubt that President Obama, a decent man, wants to provide universal health care to all citizens of this country. But his judgment in developing his strategy to reach that goal is profoundly flawed, and, as mentioned above, it may cost him the presidency - an outcome that would be extremely negative for the country. He should have called for a major mobilization against the medical-industrial complex, to ensure that everyone has the same benefits that their representatives in Congress have, broadening and improving Medicare for all. The emphasis of his strategy should have been on improving health benefits coverage for everyone, including those who are currently uncovered. And to achieve this goal - which the majority of the population supports - he should have stressed the need for government to ensure that this extension of benefits to everyone will occur.
That he has not chosen this strategy touches on the essence of U.S. democracy. The enormous power of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries corrupts the nature of our democracy and shapes the frontiers of what is possible in the U.S. Given this reality, it seems to me that the role of the left is to initiate a program of social political agitation and rebellion (I applaud the health professionals who disrupted the meetings of the Senate Finance Committee), following the tactics of the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It is wrong to expect and hope that the Obama administration will change. Without pressure and agitation, not much will be done.
Read the full article here:
Why Obama Needed Single Payer on the Table
Posted by doctormatt at 1:09 AM
Rep. Weiner on the Public Plan
By Rep. Anthony Weiner
It seems that big legislation isn't complete until it develops a collection of catchphrases. ("Shovel ready," everyone? "Cash for clunkers," perhaps?) The effort to tackle the long list of failings of our health care system and the way we pay for it has been no exception. This time, we are arguing over the so-called public option.
The phrase has become something of a Rorschach test for lobbyists, commentators and legislators. To the president and to bill writers in Congress, the public option has come to mean that a government-run plan is the only way to truly keep private insurance companies honest, by guaranteeing that at least one provider is focused on something more than the bottom line.
To insurance company lobbyists and -- from the sound of it -- nearly every Republican, the public option is more a confirmation of their fear that the Obama administration is out to nationalize another industry. They argue that the public option would soon become the only option because it would have too many advantages in the marketplace.
Without acknowledging it, both sides seem to agree with the argument for a single-payer system. But instead of having a debate about its value, both sides have turned the idea into an odd punching bag. The right uses the term "single-payer" to condemn the White House approach, while the White House -- and my colleagues in the House and Senate -- quickly decry the scurrilous charge and concoct legislative language to make their public option look less, well, public.
By conceding that the public option would have less overhead, be more efficient and have the freedom to focus on health care rather than profits, opponents of the public option are in fact arguing for it. Isn't complaining about the marketplace "advantage" of the public plan just another way of saying that people are going to want it?
Continue reading "Rep. Weiner on the Public Plan"
Posted by doctormatt at 1:03 AM
Video - Weiner on MSNBC
Posted by doctormatt at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2009
Video - How do we get the most health and least suffering from our health care dollars?
Why a Public Plan is not the answer:
Posted by doctormatt at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
What is single payer health care?
Single-payer is a term used to describe a type of financing system. It refers to one entity acting as administrator, or "payer." In the case of healthcare, a single-payer system would be setup such that one entity--a government run organization--would collect all healthcare fees, and pay out all healthcare costs.
In the current US system, there are literally tens of thousands of different healthcare organizations--HMOs, billing agencies, etc. By having so many different payers of healthcare fees, there is an enormous amount of administrative waste generated in the system. (Just imagine how complex billing must be in a doctor's office, when each insurance company requires a different form to be completed, has a different billing system, different billing contacts and phone numbers--it's very confusing.)
In a single-payer system, all hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers would bill one entity for their services. This alone reduces administrative waste greatly, and saves money, which can be used to provide care and insurance to those who currently don't have it.
Access and Benefits
All Americans would receive comprehensive medical benefits under single-payer. Coverage would include all medically necessary services, including rehabilitative, long-term, and home care; mental healthcare, prescription drugs, and medical supplies; and preventive and public health measures.
Care would be based on need, not on ability to pay.
Continue reading "What is single payer health care?"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Rep. Tony Weiner on a Single Payor and Baucus bill
Weiner on Baucus bill -
Posted by doctormatt at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
Video - Health, Money and Fear courtesy of MadAsHellDoctors.com
Very informative documentary from people who care - Doctors.
Produced by an emergency physician (Paul Hochfeld), "Health, Money and Fear" answers three questions about our broken health care non-system. Why does is cost so much? What does it say about us? What can we do about it?
While Congress is more focused on the symptom, lack of Universal Coverage, they are ignoring the underlying problem. COST. Unless they address the perverse incentives that drive up cost, the "reform" we are going to get will be more government subsidies so the insurance industry can continue to thrive being central to a dysfunctional health care system that is better at producing profits than health.
The elements of the solution must address the elements of the problem: technology, the fear of liability, mass marketing of prescription drugs, the profit motive, chaos in medical records, unrealistic expectatiions, and the multitude of insurance companies that add substantially to cost without contributing anything to health.
Video - Health, Money and Fear hosted at BlipTV
Health, Money and Fear hosted at OurAilingHealthCare.com
Another copy of the video, hosted by YouTube follows:
From the White House web site on the issue of health care:
Comprehensive health care reform can no longer wait. Rapidly escalating health care costs are crushing family, business, and government budgets. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have doubled in the last 9 years, a rate 3 times faster than cumulative wage increases. This forces families to sit around the kitchen table to make impossible choices between paying rent or paying health premiums. Given all that we spend on health care, American families should not be presented with that choice. The United States spent approximately $2.2 trillion on health care in 2007, or $7,421 per person - nearly twice the average of other developed nations. Americans spend more on health care than on housing or food. If rapid health cost growth persists, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2025, one out of every four dollars in our national economy will be tied up in the health system. This growing burden will limit other investments and priorities that are needed to grow our economy. Rising health care costs also affect our economic competitiveness in the global economy, as American companies compete against companies in other countries that have dramatically lower health care costs.
The President has vowed that the health reform process will be different in his Administration - an open, inclusive, and transparent process where all ideas are encouraged and all parties work together to find a solution to the health care crisis. Working together with members of Congress, doctors and hospitals, businesses and unions, and other key health care stakeholders, the President is committed to making sure we finally enact comprehensive health care reform.
The Administration believes that comprehensive health reform should:
* Reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government
* Protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs
* Guarantee choice of doctors and health plans
* Invest in prevention and wellness
* Improve patient safety and quality of care
* Assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans
* Maintain coverage when you change or lose your job
* End barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions
Posted by doctormatt at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2009
Look what came out of my vagina!
Posted by doctormatt at 8:46 PM
September 3, 2009
The Public Option is Popular, Moral and Inexpensive, Therefore it Must Die
Posted by doctormatt at 10:34 PM
September 2, 2009
Pfizer to pay record $2.3B penalty
Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of
federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case.
The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal
forfeiture.
Continue reading "Pfizer to pay record $2.3B penalty"
Posted by doctormatt at 8:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2009
Bill Moyers: Money-Driven Medicine video
Bill Moyers: Money-Driven Medicine video
Continue reading "Bill Moyers: Money-Driven Medicine video"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2009
Ralph Nader on Health Care "reform" and Obama's corporate collusion
Ralph Nader on Health Care "reform" and Obama's corporate collusion
Nader interviewed on Democracy Now
The big mistake that the Obama administration made was they did not have continual public congressional hearings documenting the greed, the fraud, the $250 billion in billing fraud and abuse alone that the GAO years ago has documented. They didn't document the $350 billion of waste, the overhead of Aetna and UnitedHealthcare and other health insurance companies with their massive executive salaries and bureaucracies. They did not document the deaths, the injuries, the sickness that hundreds of thousands of Americans go through every year because they can't afford healthcare.
Posted by doctormatt at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2009
The Brutal Truth about America's Health Care
The Brutal Truth about America's Health Care
The packed bleachers in the LA Forum tell a different story. The mobile clinic has been organised by the remarkable Remote Area Medical. The charity usually focuses on the rural poor, although they worked in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Now they are moving into more urban venues, this week's event in Los Angeles is believed to be the largest free healthcare operation in the country.
Doctors, dentists and therapists volunteer their time, and resources to the organisation. To many US medical professionals, it offers a rare opportunity to plug into the public service ethos on which their trade was supposedly founded. "People come here who haven't seen a doctor for years. And we're able to say 'Hey, you have this, you have this, you have this'," said Dr Vincent Anthony, a kidney specialist volunteering five days of his team's time. "It's hard work, but incredibly rewarding. Healthcare needs reform, obviously. There are so many people falling through the cracks, who don't get care. That's why so many are here."
Posted by doctormatt at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2009
Video - Public Insurance Option - Tell Senate we demand it now
Video - Public Insurance Option - Tell Senate we demand it now
Now is the time to tell politicians we want a public health plan option
Posted by doctormatt at 10:56 PM
Video - Medicare for all - Finance committee keeps single payor health care off the table
Medicare for all - Finance committee keeps single payor health care off the table
Posted by doctormatt at 10:42 PM
Video - Physicians for a national single payor health care system interview
A single payor advocate finally gets to testify to congress (Kennedy committee).
Physicians for a single payor health care system interview
Posted by doctormatt at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
Single-Payer Advocate Speaks to Blue Dogs on Health Reform
Single-Payer Advocate Speaks to Blue Dogs on Health Reform
WASHINGTON - June 19 - Dr. Robert Stone, a leader of Physicians for a National Health Program, an organization of 16,000 physicians who advocate for single-payer national health insurance, spoke to the Health Care Task Force of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition on Capitol Hill Thursday.
In his remarks, Stone emphasized how single-payer health reform, as embodied in the U.S. National Health Care Act, H.R. 676, is the most fiscally responsible way of addressing the nation's health care woes.
Stone said that by replacing the for-profit, private health insurance companies with a single-payer program â€" an improved Medicare for All â€" the United States would save more than $400 billion in administrative costs annually. He also said that single payer is only reform proposal that includes effective cost-containment provisions.
"In fact, the strongest argument for Medicare for All is that it is the most efficient reform proposal with the greatest ability to control costs" Stone said. "That is exactly why so many members of the "medical-industrial complex" oppose such a plan, because, as the Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has said, "Remember that what the rest of us call health care costs, they call income."
"In short, single payer is the only plan that pays for itself and covers everyone. It's fiscally conservative and socially responsible," Stone said.
The Blue Dog Coalition's Health Care Task Force was launched in March at the time of President Obama's White House summit on health care reform. It is chaired by Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, and its members include Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana, among others. Like the Blue Dog caucus itself, the task force emphasizes fiscal conservatism.
Rep. Hill helped arrange the invitation for Stone to speak to the group.
Several members of the Blue Dog caucus were co-sponsors of the single-payer bill, H.R. 676, in the 110th Congress.
Stone is the director and co-founder of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan (HCHP) and the state coordinator of Indiana for Physicians for a National Health Program. He has been an emergency department physician at Bloomington (Ind.) Hospital since 1983, and was the medical director of the Community Health Access Program Clinic in Bloomington from 2005 to 2007, until it was transformed into the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic. He continues to volunteer at the new clinic. He is assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine.
Born and raised in Evansville, Ind., Stone graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Colorado Medical School. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
were
Posted by doctormatt at 8:30 PM
Most Americans favor decriminalization of marijuana
It's only "A Matter of Time". That is the name of a great book by Don Kirchner, a decorated Vietnam combat helicopter pilot whose adventures as a marijuana smuggler tells the tale of how deeply involved organized crime cartels are in the marketing and sales of this, the safest drug on the planet. It is a fascinating and exciting tale that I strongly recommend to everyone.
A matter of time also refers to the current situation in America. The people of America have reached the point of understanding that this banned plant needs to be legalized. A new Zogby poll commissioned by the conservative-leaning O'Leary Report has found 52% voter support for treating marijuana as a legal, taxed, regulated substance. The survey, published as a full-page ad in today's issue of the political newspaper, The Hill, polled a sample of 3,937 voters weighted to match the 2008 presidential outcome -- 54 percent Obama voters and 46 percent McCain supporters.
The results showed a decisive majority of 52 percent in favor with 37 percent opposed and 11 percent not sure -- slightly higher than the 46 percent support reported in an ABC News/Washington Post poll released at the end of April. In California, the respected Field poll recently found 56 percent support for making marijuana a taxed, regulated product that is legal for adults. "This new survey continues the recent trend of strong and growing support for taxing and regulating marijuana and ending the disastrously failed policy of prohibition," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
Posted by doctormatt at 8:20 PM
Barney Frank proposes federal decriminalization of personal marijuana possession
Barney Frank Introduces Sweeping Reform of Federal Marijuana Laws
Measure Comes as Growing Chorus Calls for End to Prohibition
WASHINGTON - June 18 - With criticism of marijuana prohibition rising, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation to end federal criminal penalties for possession or not-for-profit transfer of small amounts of marijuana.
"Congressman Frank's bill represents a major step toward sanity in federal marijuana policy," said MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston. "Calls for rethinking our marijuana policies are coming from all quarters, and for good reason. Our decades-long war on marijuana has given us the worst of all possible worlds -- a drug that's widely used and universally available but produced and sold entirely by unregulated criminals who obey no rules and pay no taxes."
Frank's bill would remove federal criminal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of up to 1 ounce (28.3 grams) of marijuana. It would not change marijuana's status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act and would not change federal laws prohibiting the cultivation of marijuana, sale of marijuana for profit, or import or export of marijuana. It also would not affect any state or local marijuana laws or regulations.
As recently as 2005, no national opinion survey had ever found a level of support for making marijuana a legal, regulated product above 36 percent. This year, a succession of major surveys have found levels of support for "legalization" ranging from 40 percent (Rasmussen) to 46 percent (ABC News/Washington Post) and even as high as 52 percent (Zogby). A June 12 report from CQ Researcher noted that opposition to legally regulated marijuana "appears to be weakening."
###
With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org [2].
Posted by doctormatt at 8:18 PM
June 11, 2009
FDA to regulate nicotine delivery devices
Congress struck the government's strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.
Continue reading "FDA to regulate nicotine delivery devices"
Posted by doctormatt at 6:21 PM | Comments (0)
June 7, 2009
Health care spending and poverty
Health care spending and poverty
Continue reading "Health care spending and poverty"
Posted by doctormatt at 5:42 AM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2009
Heart surgery with awake patient
Posted by doctormatt at 5:39 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2009
Commonwealth fund videos on improving health care
Commonwealth fund VIDEOS on improving health care
Posted by doctormatt at 1:42 AM
Medicare beneficiaries are more satisfied
In a national Commonwealth Fund survey, elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported greater overall satisfaction with their health coverage, better access to care, and fewer problems paying medical bills than people covered by employer-sponsored plans. The findings bolster the argument that offering a public insurance plan similar to Medicare to the under-65 population has the potential to improve access and reduce costs.
Posted by doctormatt at 1:27 AM | Comments (0)
Animated explanation of single payer health care system
Animated explanation of single payer health care system
Posted by doctormatt at 1:08 AM
Republican Health Deform
Just weeks after GOP pollster Frank Luntz advised Republicans that they should not attack President Obama's health care principles without offering an alternative -- "It's not enough to just say what you're against. You have to tell them what you're for," Luntz warned -- two different groups of Republicans released separate health care bills this week. On Wednesday, Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) unveiled the Patients' Choice Act, while so-called "moderates," Reps. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Charlie Dent (R-PA), released the Medical Rights Act. CBS News observed that the effort "stands little chance of progressing in the Democrat-led Congress, but it makes a clear statement that the Republican party can 'emerge as the party of new ideas,' as Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said Tuesday." However, there is nothing "new" in these plans. Moreover, both groups are more interested in characterizing the Democrats' effort as a "government takeover" of health care than offering real policy solutions. "As a practicing physician, I have seen first-hand how giving government more control over health care has failed to make health care more affordable and accessible," Coburn said in a statement. "Nothing will rally ordinary Americans against the president's plan more than his allies arguing too forcefully for a system run by politicians and bureaucrats in Washington," the authors of the Patients' Choice Act wrote in an editorial introducing the legislation.
Continue reading "Republican Health Deform"
Posted by doctormatt at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)
Video - Point of View, Critical Condition from PBS
Video - Point of View, Critical Condition from PBS
A health care story
Posted by doctormatt at 12:09 AM
Side by side comparison of health care reform proposals
Side by side comparison of health care reform proposals
Posted by doctormatt at 12:07 AM
May 23, 2009
Sick around the world - PBS FrontLine Video
Sick around the world - PBS FrontLine Video
A tour of industrialized nations with single payer health care.
Posted by doctormatt at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
what is single payer health insurance?
what is single payer health insurance?
Posted by doctormatt at 11:42 PM
Moyers video - Single payer health care
Bill Moyers Journal on Single Payer Health Care
Posted by doctormatt at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
Blue "double cross"
Posted by doctormatt at 11:07 PM
Report gives U.S. failing grade on reducing preventable deaths
Report gives U.S. failing grade on reducing preventable deaths
Posted by doctormatt at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
List of Health care CEO's compensation
List of Health care CEO's compensation
You will be amazed.
Wellpoint - almost $10 per year
Posted by doctormatt at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)
Middle class health care reform?
It's coming. You and me and every middle class, working person in this nation is about to start handing over more and more of their hard earned cash to the private insurance industry, courtesy of our own elected members of Congress and our very popular President. Fire up those Treasury Department presses. We're going to be printing and providing money for insurance companies like no bail-out we've seen yet this economic crisis cycle.
The healthcare legislation under design and so far under wraps for the American people is slowly being leaked via carefully staged forum and meetings and a few well-timed hearings and grand press announcements. Much of the work is still going on behind closed doors in private meetings attended by those who are deemed appropriate participants and industry friends.
Continue reading "Middle class health care reform?"
Posted by doctormatt at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
What is socialized medicine?
What is "socialized medicine"?
A taxonomy -
Social insurance?
Private commercial insurance?
Posted by doctormatt at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)