Clipmarks | DanaGarrett's clips

Aetna to drop 600,000 plus Health Insurance Clients to Maximize Profits

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:06:05 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Talk about scumbags!

There is your private health care system. It drops customers in order to maximize profits. What kind of system is that?

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.

In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.

Aetna's decision to downsize the number of clients in favor of higher premiums is, as one industry analyst told American Medical News, a "pretty candid" admission. It also reflects the major concerns offered by health care reform proponents and supporters of a public option for insurance coverage, who insist that the private health insurance industry is too consumed with the bottom line

Psychotherapy Can Boost Happiness More Than Money

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:45:44 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Psychological therapy may be much more effective at making people happy than getting a raise or winning a lottery prize, suggests an English study.

Researchers analyzed data on thousands of people who provided information about their mental well-being and found that the increase in happiness from a $1,329 course of therapy was so significant that it would take a pay raise of more than $41,542 to achieve an equal boost in well-being.

That suggests that therapy could be as much as 32 times more cost-effective at improving well-being than simply getting more money, the researchers said.

The study was published online Nov. 18 in the journal Health Economics, Policy and Law.

Uninsured More Likely to Die in ER

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:08:36 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Further proof that the uninsured get the shaft in the USA.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study.

The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable.

"This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States," said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist.

The researchers couldn't pin down the reasons behind the differences they found. The uninsured might experience more delays being transferred from hospital to hospital. Or they might get different care. Or they could have more trouble communicating with doctors.

Hypocrites! The RNC's Health Insurance Covers Elective Abortions

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:07:50 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Yet another example of rank GOP hypocrisy!

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”

Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.

Leading up to passage of the House health care reform bill last week, 176 House Republicans joined 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funds from being used to buy health insurance that covers elective abortions.

Pfizer fudged drug studies, report says

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:38:10 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Those who have unbridled trust in the integrity and honesty of the private sector are idiots.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

A study of internal company documents suggests Pfizer Inc altered or omitted unfavorable study findings to expand its epilepsy drug Neurontin's market, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, offering a look at how drugmakers influence scientific research

Clinical trials are supposed to answer a specific, predetermined scientific question, but a comparison of Pfizer documents and published studies on Neurontin for conditions other than epilepsy found that eight out of 20 study reports never made it into medical journals

And in eight of the 12 published studies, the primary outcome -- the answer to the main scientific question -- was changed by Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, from the original study design.

The studies, all funded by Pfizer, showed how the drug worked in people with problems like migraines or pain, which are off-label uses of the drug.

UN Investigator Says USA Negelct of Homeless is Shameful

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:21:09 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: So much for the idea that the USA is the "best nation in the world." If we won't house our most vulnerable citizens, how can we be described as the "best?"

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues
• Investigator meets homeless victims of American dream

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.

Lower IQs Measured in Spanked Children

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:13:06 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett

Clip Source: www.world-science.net

Children who are spanked have lower IQs worldwide, according to new research.

An investigator for the study acknowledged that at least part of this effect is due not to spanking itself, but to socioeconomic status: wealthier families both spank less and manage to raise higher-IQ children, though the first doesn’t necessarily cause the second.

Nonetheless, the researcher, the University of New Hampshire’s Murray Straus, said at least part of the explanation for the findings is that the stress of corporal punishment affects brain function. This stress eventually produces fearful, easily startled children, Straus said; these factors in turn are associated with lower IQ, the most widespread measure of general intelligence.

Straus is calling for laws against spanking. Twenty-four nations have already passed such laws

237 Members in US Congress are Millionaires

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:33:27 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: It's a rich man's club serving the interests of rich Americans.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That's 44 percent of the body - compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.

All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center's 2008 figures.

Senators' estimated median reportable worth sunk to about $1.79 million from $2.27 million in 2007. The House's median income was significantly lower and also sank, bottoming out at $622,254 from $724,258 in 2007.

CIA Lied 5 Times: Speaker Pelosi is Vindicated

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:59:20 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Sorry, Republicans, your attempt to smear Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for saying that the CIA lied has failed miserably. Better luck next time, smear mongers.

Clip Source: thehill.com

The CIA may have misled Congress at least five times since 2001, two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday.

Intelligence subcommittee Chairwomen Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) are leading an ongoing investigation into what they described as a practice of incomplete and often misleading intelligence briefings, which arose in the wake of CIA Director Leon Panetta’s June 24 admission that intelligence officials failed to notify Congress about a top-secret program to assassinate al Qaeda leaders.

One of the instances being closely examined by the two Democrats is the September 2002 briefing on enhanced interrogation techniques that became the basis for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) claim that the CIA lied to her. Findings on this point could bolster Pelosi’s case.

Justice Scalia: He Would Have Voted to Keep Schools Segregated

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:24:41 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: This is what "conservative" jurisprudence results in: a segregated society that disenfranchises minorities. Justice Scalia is a throwback to an awful period in US history.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

In an appearance at the University of Arizona College of Law, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that if he were on the court in 1954, he would have dissented in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision that ended school segregation based on race.

Appearing on stage with Justice Stephen Breyer, Scalia cautioned against "inventing new rights nobody ever thought existed." Scalia said he advocates an "originalist" approach to the Constitution, warning against an "evolutionary" legal philosophy that he described as, "close your eyes and decide what you think is a good idea.''

Humans are Still Evolving

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:34:00 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Take that backward creationists.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Modern Homo sapiens is still evolving. Despite the long-held view that natural selection has ceased to affect humans because almost everybody now lives long enough to have children, a new study of a contemporary Massachusetts population offers evidence of evolution still in action.

A team of scientists led by Yale University evolutionary biologist Stephen Stearns suggests that if the natural selection of fitter traits is no longer driven by survival, perhaps it owes to differences in women's fertility. "Variations in reproductive success still exist among humans, and therefore some traits related to fertility continue to be shaped by natural selection," Stearns says. That is, women who have more children are more likely to pass on certain traits to their progeny. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2008.)

Balloon Mom Says Story was a Hoax

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:51:35 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: What some people won't do for a little publicity.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

DENVER – Colorado authorities say the mother of the 6-year-old boy once feared missing inside a runaway helium balloon admitted the whole saga was a hoax.

Court records released Friday say Mayumi Heene told sheriff's deputies she and her husband Richard knew their son was at their Fort Collins home. She allegedly told investigators the incident was a hoax meant to make them more marketable to the media.

Investigators say they will recommend criminal charges against the parents.

Records released Friday include an affidavit submitted to a judge for a warrant to search the Heene home.

Job Seekers Exceed Job Opportunities by Record Ratio

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:43:17 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: So much for the idea that capitalism always provides enough employment for a populace.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Despite signs that the economy has resumed growing, unemployed Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse.

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. According to the Labor Department’s latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed.

“There’s too much uncertainty out there,” said Thomas A. Kochan, a labor economist at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management. “There’s not going to be an upsurge in job openings for quite a while, not until employers feel confident the economy is really growing.”

The dearth of jobs reflects the caution of many American businesses when no one knows what will emerge to propel the economy. With unemployment at 9.7 percent nationwide, the shortage of paychecks is both a cause and an effect of weak hiring.

Patriot Act Used in Non-Terrorism Cases

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:51:12 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Yes, you don't have to be a suspected terrorist for the US government to sneak into your home and search your premises without serving you a search warrant.

Let's call it by its real name: a police state tactic.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

The Republicans Want to End Medicare

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:49:21 GMT

clipped by: DanaGarrett
clipper's remarks: Paybacks are a bitch, Republicans!

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday accusing Democrats of looking to gut Medicare.

Five days later -- on the eve of a three-day weekend -- Democrats are hitting back.

Republicans are no friends of seniors, a new ad from the Democratic National Committee argues. The party is reminding voters that Republicans opposed Medicare from the beginning and in recent years have even voted to end it for younger generations.

The GOP did, in fact, oppose Medicare when President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law and conservative elements of the party have long sought to end it.

[Video]