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"We know that industry lobbyists are spending $1.4 million a day to lobby Congress"

That's what we said on Thursday when a reporter asked MomsRising members and their kids were on the Hill demanding healthcare reform. Unfortunately, some groups are willing to do whatever it takes to stop Congress and the President. And with the recent announcement that the Senate will not vote on the bill until after the August recess, it looks like they may be winning.

Did You Know?

The U.S. is one of only five countries of 168 studied that doesn't mandate some form of paid maternal leave, putting us on par with Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, and Swaziland.

In terms of women, those women who are lucky enough to have health insurance are still more likely than men to have health coverage that has too many gaps, from large deductibles and co-pays to life-time limits, and the exclusion of needed services (like maternity, for example) altogether. Women are also more likely than men to face challenges paying for their medical bills - making them more likely to skip necessary medical care. And then there's gender rating - the insurance industry practice of charging women more than men for the exact same coverage.

I have to agree with the Baltimore Sun who published an article which had the title "Do health reform right instead of doing it quickly". If time is taken and money pushing is received like a bacterial invasion rather than a wanted handout then I think good can come from a strong reform across the board.

Labels: healthcare, momsrising, reform

Cancer patients and survivors have some of the most challenging experiences with our health care system, at a time in their lives when they are most vulnerable.

Federal and state programs that provide support to under served people with cancer are dramatically underfunded, leading to huge gaps in access to treatment. Even cancer patients with health insurance find that because of high cost sharing, annual and lifetime maximums, and other limitations, they may be exposed to extremely high out-of-pocket costs. If a cancer patient has to cut back on hours or leave their job to undergo treatment, they often face the prospect of losing their health insurance. And, cancer survivors face some of the largest hurdles for reentering the workforce or seeking private insurance, because they have a so-called preexisting condition.

Cancer costs the U.S. $228 billion each year in medical costs and lost productivity. It claims more than 565,000 lives each year and inflicts incalculable physical pain and emotional distress on cancer patients and their families.

We must take this opportunity to address the needs of cancer patients by making a strong investment in the fight against cancer. This investment will provide a short-term stimulus the economy needs today, while building a foundation for a healthier, more productive workforce in the future.

As Congress considers health care reform legislation, our elected officials have a unique opportunity to address the long-standing concerns of people with cancer, which have all too often been overlooked by the U.S. health care system.

There's no time to waste.

Labels: cancer, healthcare

At a time of hardship, there are people spending millions of dollars to prey upon your fears.

Right now in our country there are 47 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered. Even knowing that fact there are groups fighting against a system which could help remedy this situation.

The Conservatives for Patient Rights ad argues the U.S. is headed in the direction of Britain and Canada, citing the creation this year of a federal council to study the cost and effectiveness of medical treatments and procedures.

In the ad, a British doctor says patients in a government-run system "lost control of their own destiny in the medical system." A Canadian doctor says patients in his country are "languishing and suffering on wait lists."

US Census Bureau statistics show that 24.3% of people with incomes less than $25,000 went without insurance during some portion of 1996. 15.4% of the total US population went without insurance for all of 1995. Millions of people are unable to get medical care unless they pay out-of-pocket.

Private insurers necessarily waste health dollars on things that have nothing to do with care: overhead, underwriting, billing, sales and marketing departments as well as huge profits and exorbitant executive pay. Doctors and hospitals must maintain costly administrative staffs to deal with the bureaucracy.

Since national health insurance (NHI) would require fundamental restructuring of the health care system, it poses a threat to the stakeholders in the present system. For many reasons, when NHI is raised as a policy alternative, it therefore becomes a target of opportunity for interests vested in the status quo. Each time this occurs it obscures a national debate on the real issues, which should focus on which of the policy alternatives best serves the public interest.

Download this handout ... "Top 10 Reasons For Enacting a Single Payer Healthcare System" from the California Nurses Assocation.

Link to the Obama Administration Pages on Healthcare Reform >>

And please, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Labels: healthcare

WebMD always in the know..."Three times since the 1970s, the FDA has rejected the idea of adding a new "behind the counter" class of drugs to existing prescription-only and over-the-counter medication, which can be bought with no professional supervision."

Would you feel comfortable taking medicine given to you after having been screened by a pharmacist. Granted they know all about the drugs, but do they know how to evaluate and diagnose?

My husband always reads the boxes and/or bottles of medicine I buy when I'm not feeling well. Most of the time he doesn't agree with my purchase. He knows that Sudafed will help me far more than DayQuil Sinus medicine because they put a lesser amount of the ingredient that I really need. So I know working in a pharmacy setting definitely makes you familiar with what ingredients do in medication and what the proper dosage would be.

Canada and the U.K., have "behind-the-counter" drug classes. The idea is to give consumers easier access to medications deemed safe enough that they do not require close supervision by a doctor. It would be nice I suppose, but I wonder if co-pays at doctor's offices would end up going up due to such a change.

We shall see...after all the healthcare in this country definitely needs an overhaul.

SOURCE

Labels: healthcare, medicine

A topic of much discussion lately is children's healthcare in the United States. The Senate has been debating expansion of the health insurance programs for children for some time now. The commotion has been stirring because the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is due to be reauthorized in September of 2007.

The only thing I don't understand is how this issue could have ever been debatable in the first place. Something like this should be an absolute, hands-down given.

According to an article in The New York times the argument against a reauthorization of SCHIP is because "some Republicans in Congress said they saw these efforts as a stalking-horse for government-run health care, national health insurance and socialized medicine."

What!? I don't care what you have to socialize, if a child has special needs and requires healthcare and/or extra healthcare they should not be denied. As adults we are responsible for people who are underage. You might as well say no one should give blood anymore!

Oh I'm sorry President Bush your future grandchild can't be treated at this hospital for her asthma, she doesn't have the proper insurance. Wait...of course...someone with political power would never have to deal with such a scary situation.

Hmm..I guess since he can't, and would never be elected again, it's okay for him to threaten to veto the reissue of this program.

As for the graph, it is very positive to see that the number of uninsured children has dramatically dropped. But please note the vertical axis is counted in millions. MILLIONS. This means there are still more than 8 million children who are uninsured and that is just the number based on a census.

Labels: children healthcare, healthcare

Since better healthcare has been a topic recently, it's interesting to know everything that is going on to improve certain aspects of the medical world. As mentioned in another post, emergency room waiting times can last insanely long and there is now a new effort to cut the times down drastically.

The same will be happening with emergency services outside of the hospital. In addition to have ambulances on the road, there is now a new air ambulance service. AeroCare's airline medivac transport service offers 24 hour emergency and non-emergency ambulance services throughout the world. Flying of course will cut down on a lot of time if you or your loved ones live out in the country or far from a hospital. Many insurance plans cover air ambulance services now, if another form of transportation would be considered life threatening. If you don't think your insurance will cover something like this, AeroCare has teamed up with the Travel Assist Network to offer their own insurance via The Air Rescue Card.

Airline medivac transport services are useful to have and to know about on an international scope, because they can provide international evacuation services. I'm sure you can think of cases in which that would be necessary. When roads are flooded or storms hit and an ambulance on the road may not be the most effective way to help people than AeroCare steps in and takes over.

I think any steps that can be taken to provide more efficient services to people in need is a wonderful thing.

Disclosure:
This post has been sponsored.

Labels: emergency, healthcare