Clipmarks | dmegivern's 'healthcare' clips

Congressman Turns Down Health Insurance

Mon, 12 May 2008 23:58:15 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: He is working to see that all uninsured Americans get coverage before he will accept it.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

An Uninsured Doctor in the House

When Steve Kagen became a member of Congress, he declined health insurance coverage. Now he has a plan to provide it for everyone

One of the first things U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D–Wisc.) did when he took office last year was to nix his congressional health care coverage. The move stunned a human resources staffer, who, the lawmaker says, looked at him as though he were insane.

Kagen, 58, is now one of millions of Americans, including at least nine million children, without health insurance. "I have absolutely no health coverage at all," he told ScientificAmerican.com during a recent interview. "I have no health conditions and am pretty darn healthy." And if he gets sick? "I'd be just like the 47 [million] to 50 million American citizens who don't have coverage," he says, "and I'd have to negotiate with hospitals and doctors for the best-priced coverage."

Tags: healthcare, insurance

Medicaid in Indiana is Not Pro-Life

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:35:15 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: On the way to work today, there is this pro-life sign that says every baby is a blessing. I think of the Baby Stalin, the Baby Ted Bundy, the Baby BTK Killer. But, anyway, we let breathing Americans languish without health care, and that causes death as well.

Clip Source: www.indystar.com

Shut out by Medicaid

Thousands of needy being turned away due to eligibility rules that rank toughest in U.S.

Indiana's Medicaid program spends nearly $6 billion a year to help about 1 million Hoosiers with health-care needs ranging from childbirth to nursing home care.

Others contend it is the stingiest -- and among the worst overall -- in the U.S., denying thousands of Hoosiers coverage they could get if they lived in many other states.

But advocates for the poor, elderly and disabled say there is little room to trim without cutting off critical lifelines for needy and deserving Hoosiers.

"How a society, how a state addresses its less fortunate tells a lot about the morality of that state," said Eleanor Kinney, co- director of the Hall Center for Law and Health at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.

Indiana's Medicaid program has the country's most restrictive eligibility guidelines and ranks among the worst programs in the U.S., according to a 2007 report

Tags: healthcare

The Republican Debate Misled on Healthcare

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:58:34 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Over 40 million in U.S. can't afford health care: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 40 million people in the United States say they cannot afford adequate heath care and go without drugs, eyeglasses or dental treatment, according to a federal report released on Monday.

"But this report shows that access to health care is still an issue where we need improvement."

The report, available on the Internet at www.cdc.gov/nchs/, has a special section on access to health care.

"In 2005, more than 40 million adults did not receive 'needed services' because they could not afford them," the report said.

"Nearly 15 million adults did not obtain eyeglasses, 25 million did not get dental care, 19 million did not get needed prescribed medicine, and 15 million did not get needed medical care due to cost."

The report found about one third of all children living below the poverty level had not visited a dentist in 2005, compared with fewer than one-fifth of children from wealthier families.

Tags: insurance, health

Lefties: Don't Fall for Ron Paul

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:33:43 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: I became alarmed when my fairly analytic brother and my mom were lauding this man. Luckily with more information, he has lost his shine.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

People seem to like that he appears to be an unusual Republican candidate, but right below the surface of the libertarian mask that Paul wears is an ultra nationalist, gun loving Christian conservative that opposes affirmative action, a woman's right to choose and same-sex marriage. And… oh yeah: he hates immigrants.

I'm dismayed at the left-wing, anti-capitalist buzz around him, including the comparisons between him and Noam Chomsky. Paul's vision for the harsh privatization of everything from education to social security would only yield monopolies that don't work for everyday people, much like our current healthcare system.

Paul opposes the separation of Church and State. Yes, you read correctly, he opposes it. He says there is a war on religion, and that "Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view." We should remember

Tags: paul, progressive, libertarian, right-wing

Parts of the United States As Poor as Third World

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:24:47 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality.

The annual Human Development Report normally concerns itself with the Third World, but the 2005 edition scrutinises inequalities in health provision inside the US as part of a survey of how inequality worldwide is retarding the eradication of poverty.

It reveals that the infant mortality rate has been rising in the US for the past five years - and is now the same as Malaysia. America's black children are twice as likely as whites to die before their first birthday.

Although the US leads the world in healthcare spending - per head of population it spends twice what other rich OECD nations spend on average, 13 per cent of its national income - this high level goes disproportionately on the care of white Americans. It has not been targeted to eradicate large disparities in infant death rates based on race, wealth and state of residence.

Tags: inequality, poverty, u.s.

Cartoons Depicting Life in the United State circa 2007

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:19:00 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: blogs.newamericamedia.org

Tags: cartoons, political, healthcare, academia

Unaffordable Health Care Leads to Bad Decisions

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:41:09 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Can anyone think clearly when they are panicked about money and bills?

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Man kisses ailing wife, hurls her from balcony

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- A man threw his seriously ill wife four stories to her death because he could no longer afford to pay for her medical care, prosecutors said in charging him with second-degree murder.

In the probable cause statement filed with the charges, police said Reimer was desperate because he could not pay the bills for his wife's treatment for neurological problems and uterine cancer.

Criste Reimer's caregiver told police she could barely walk and would not have been able to climb over the railing of the balcony, according to the probable cause statement.

According to Jackson County Probate Court records, Criste Reimer had been in ill health for several years. Her weight had fallen to 75 pounds and she was partly blind.

According to the court records, she had no health insurance to pay for medical bills that ranged from $700 to $800 per week.

Tags: healthcare, insurance, euthanasia

W.H.O. Ranks U.S. 37th in Health Care

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:23:42 GMT

clipped by: thedoorway
clipper's remarks: Does it make you feel "proud to be an American" when the world's wealthiest country, the U.S., ranks behind little countries like Dominica and Costa Rica in healthcare? Is that the kind of country we want to leave our kids and grandkids? We spend more money on healthcare than any other country, but our dollars only buy us 37th place worldwide? Something's dramatically wrong with that picture. Call it GREED! Maybe it's time everyone went to see Michael Moore's "Sicko" movie when it opens on June 29th.

Clip Source: www.photius.com

The World Health Organization's ranking
of the world's health systems.
Source: WHO World Health Report - See also Spreadsheet Details (731kb)

Rank Country

1 France 2 Italy 3 San Marino 4 Andorra 5 Malta 6 Singapore 7 Spain 8 Oman 9 Austria 10 Japan

30 Canada 31 Finland 32 Australia 33 Chile 34 Denmark 35 Dominica 36 Costa Rica 37 United States of America 38 Slovenia 39 Cuba 40 Brunei

Tags: w.h.o., u.s., healthcare, greed, healthcare industry, health