California Renovation of Healthcare System: a Healthy Choice

Posted by barbarahales

California, which has the highest population count in the U.S., has the seventh highest rate of uninsured people.  Clearly, some revisions need to take place.
Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders suggested the following:

Everyone is required to acquire health insurance
Low-income residents will be subsidized for insurance coverage
Employers must provide insurance or pay a fee to the state [...]

Something Fishy

Posted by barbarahales

The diet of over 5000 men and women were studied in the Netherlands recently.  Analysis showed that consuming fish at least once weekly reduced the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease by 70%.
That omega-3s are good fatty acids that help the transmission of impulses between brain cells as well as helping to maintain cardiovascular health has [...]

Malpractice Insurance was bad enough…Now Blogger’s Insurance

Posted by barbarahales

Article appearing in the Wall St. Journal today titled “ Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued,” chronicles the events of Shelee Hale who is being sued for journalistic comments she made in  a blog.  The article further mentions various insurance co.s that supply blog insurance for a price so that if you are [...]

Rigidity, Reform, Rules and Innovation Can not Exist in the Same Breath

Posted by barbarahales

Today the CEO of Eli Lilly,Mr. Lechleiter, tweeted his comments on his fear that new governmental reform will stifle innovation.  Below is a portion of his statement.
Yet in today’s policy-reform drama — if early clues from Washington are a guide — the requirements of innovation may be written out of the script. Already in defensive mode, [...]

The “New” Physician

Posted by barbarahales

According to Maggie Mahar of Health Beat, physicians need to be trained to be more compassionate and more sympathetic starting from training in medical school.  She also feels that taking students who do not perform as well on national qualifying exams (which she states are biased against rural, poor students) would further the goal of [...]

Paid to be Fired- Stimulus Bill Proposal (re:Honey, Your Fired!)

Posted by barbarahales

This is a post by Charles Read on Feb.23,2009 which I feel is worth noting.

Honey, your fired!
Hidden in the 1000 pages of the “stimulus” bill is another extension of socialized medicine.
If you were involuntarily terminate (even for cause, apparently) between September 1st 2008 and January 1, 2010 you can pay 35% of your COBRA medical insurance [...]

Think Pink-Awareness of Breast Cancer and Mothers Everywhere

Posted by barbarahales

Happy Mother’s Day.

The Mets celebrated Mother’s Day in quite a unique manner today.  Think Pink!
Bats were pink as were the arm bands of each player.  The purpose of this was to pay tribute to Breast Cancer awareness and to raise funds for this worthy cause as well as to fund research to eradicate this devastating [...]

Concierge Medical Practice: Greed or Self-Preservation?

Posted by barbarahales

An interview with Jessie Gruman, PhD, founder and president of the center for Advancing Health, an independent, non-profit Washington-based policy institute led to the explanation of concierge practice below.  Dr. Gruman is on the faculty of the School of Public Health and Health Services at The George Washington University and serves on the Advisory Panel [...]

Health Reform should be Health and Tort Reform

Posted by barbarahales

Bureaucrats and local legislators are vying for massive intrusion into medicine for “the good of society”.  Is there a benefit in doing so for healthy patients in our “capitalistic” society?
There will be an inability to keep medical costs down across the board, without Tort Reform. To do so would truly reflect a real effort of [...]

Inertia on a Grand Scale

Posted by barbarahales

Over the last week, I had the opportunity to travel through  seven states.
The scenery was beautiful-lots of greenery, with a burst of colors from wild poppies and other wild flowers in bright yellows,purples  and deep reds.  Magnolias were in bloom with fistful- sized blooms.
As we were riding, my mind wandered to people in overcrowded cities. [...]