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EducateWorthington.org

The 912 Project - Glenn Beck

912 Group of Central Ohio

Please let me know if you'd like your link added

Edwards: Garnish Wages

November 29, 2007 1:13 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is hoping to stand-out from rivals on health care by portraying the plan of rival Barack Obama as leaving 15 million uninsured and portraying Hillary Clinton as lacking the candor needed to get to universal coverage.

"Barack Obama's plan leaves out 15 million people," said Edwards. "The truth is that some people will choose not to buy insurance even though it's affordable, knowing that the rest of us will pay for their emergency room visits."

"But it is just as bad to say that everyone will have insurance without a plan to get there," he continued. "Hillary Clinton says her plan will cover everyone through a 'mandate' but does not provide even the most rudimentary idea much less a detailed plan of how this 'mandate' would work."

Like Clinton (and unlike Obama), Edwards' health-care plan would require every American to have health insurance.

But unlike Clinton, Edwards is now detailing how he would enforce his mandate.

Under the Edwards plan, when Americans file their income taxes, they would be required to submit a letter from an insurance provider confirming coverage for themselves and their dependents.

If someone did not submit proof of coverage, the Internal Revenue Service would notify a newly established regional or state-based health-care agency (which Edwards has dubbed a Health Care Market).

complete article

Hillary: Garnish Wages

BY GLENN THRUSH.glenn.thrush@newsday.com
December 1, 2007
TYSONS CORNER, Va.  

Hillary Clinton's top advisers say she'll consider garnishing the wages of people who fail to enroll in her mandatory health insurance plan - on a day when the campaign launched a blistering attack on Barack Obama's health care proposal.

Clinton, using her signature issue as a cudgel against a revitalized opponent, demanded that Obama take down a TV ad that has been airing in New Hampshire for several weeks. The ad claims that Obama's plan provides coverage for all Americans. At last month's debate in Las Vegas, Clinton charged that the Illinois senator's reform proposal - which doesn't include the mandate favored by Clinton and many experts - would leave out as many as 15 million Americans.

complete article

[Wait for a hearing aid can be more than two years]

Wait for a hearing aid can be more than two years

Some hard-of-hearing patients in England are having to wait more than two years for an NHS hearing aid.

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) used the Freedom of Information Act to discover just how long the waits were. It found that ten trusts were not treating patients within a year, in spite of the Government’s target being 18 weeks.

The worst offender was Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, where patients had to wait 125 weeks for an aid after first seeing their GP.

The average wait was 22 weeks in the 99 primary care trusts (PCTs) across the country that responded to the request. Another 53 failed to reply.

The shortest wait was four weeks; 66 of the 99 trusts provided treatment within 18 weeks.

The longest waits - all more than a year – were in Suffolk (78 weeks), Gloucestershire (72), Tyne and Wear: Washington Health Centre (68), Ealing (67), Havering (64), Tyne & Wear: Sunderland Royal Hospital (62), Shepway (58), Mid Essex (56) and South Tees (54).

The rest here:  http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_styl...icle3111430.ece

"Back of the line Grandpa" WHAT'S THAT, SONNY? - I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

Baby death probe

MAREEBA'S model midwife maternity unit's reputation is being seriously questioned after the death of a baby that hospital staff have said "was likely to have been preventable".

The death of the baby at the Mareeba Maternity Unit while a 19-year-old woman was in labour has been blamed on a culture of fear, lack of training and a breakdown in procedure by staff.

The incident is being investigated by the Health Quality and Complaints Commission, after an internal investigation.

The Cairns Post has obtained copies of Queensland Health’s internal reports and memorandums into the May 2007 death.

It found the handling of the birth by staff may have "contributed to the baby not being born alive" and described the death as "likely to have been preventable".

The report is a damning assessment of the teenager’s care.

In it, the nurse unit manager reported that clinical decisions made throughout the episodes of care were a contributing factor and stated "something should have been done sooner".

The report also cited an ill-defined model of care, a reluctance of non primary midwives to take responsibility and a lack of managerial leadership, collaboration and communication as a possible contributing factor to the death.

A source told The Cairns Post babies were dying and mothers were being damaged and placed at significant risk of dying with "full acknowledgement and support of Queensland Health management".

The whistleblower said Queensland Health was ignoring the situation.

"This unit is allowed to continue to function, despite significant safety concerns raised by the staff working at the Mareeba Maternity," they said.

"There is a strong culture of bullying and harassment … midwives and other nursing staff who have raised concerns have not been supported or even listened to by management and have been bullied, encourage to leave, from the workplace.

"There have been numerous cases of disasters or near disasters that have been brought to Queensland Health management attention with no interim safety measures put in place to protect this community and its mothers."


http://www.cairnspost.com.au/article/2007/.../4886_news.html

[Woman in agony forced to take taxi]

Woman in agony forced to take taxi

MELBOURNE'S overloaded ambulance service has been forced to apologise to a woman it refused to help.

Michelle Couling had her appendix removed in an emergency operation in hospital.

But the 29-year-old almost didn't get there after being refused an ambulance when she called 000 for help.

"I consider myself pretty lucky," she said.

"It's difficult to think that they wouldn't believe me and they were going to try and diagnose me over the phone.

"(My appendix) could have ruptured and I would have been here by myself without help."

Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey said the health system's failings were now being exposed daily.

"For this young woman, it put her life at risk," she said.

"If we had enough ambulances on the road, paramedics wouldn't need to make medical assessments by phone."

Metropolitan Ambulance Service general manager operations Keith Young admitted an ambulance should have been sent.

"The preliminary information is that it was human error," he said.

Mr Young said it appeared checks built into the secondary triage system, which diverts about 26,000 low-priority calls a year to alternative services, had failed.

Mr Young said MAS had called Ms Couling to apologise and explain after being contacted by the Herald Sun.

He said the matter was being investigated to ensure similar mistakes did not occur again.

Ms Couling was home alone when she fell ill about noon on Saturday, December 15.

By 2am, she knew she was in trouble with sharp abdominal pain. She called her parents

in Traralgon for advice.

"They told me I needed to call an ambulance," she said.

Ms Couling rang 000 and was told an ambulance would be sent, but there would be a delay as ambulances were busy.

She was told to call back if her pain got worse.

"I hung up thinking someone was on the way so I rang my parents to reassure them that it was going to be OK."

But 25 minutes later Ms Couling was in extreme pain and rang 000 back.

After being put on hold for about four minutes, Ms Couling's call was transferred to a paramedic.

"After a three or four minute conversation he said: 'We're actually not sending anyone out - it doesn't sound like it's an emergency to me, it sounds like you might have gastro'."

The paramedic said Ms Couling should still see a doctor and suggested she get a lift or call a cab.

Not wanting to wake friends at 3am, she called a cab.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...63-2862,00.html

The idea of waiting two years for a hearing aid or any other sort of medical care makes me fall on the floor laughing --

THIS is a PROBLEM?

In this country millions of people have NO HEALTH CARE -- THEY DON'T JUST WAIT FOR YEARS -- THEY WOULD BE GLAD TO WAIT FOR TREATMENT--

HERE IN THE USA YOU -- YOU DIE  -- YOU DON'T GET TREATMENT.

 

In this country millions of people have NO HEALTH CARE -- THEY DON'T JUST WAIT FOR YEARS -- THEY WOULD BE GLAD TO WAIT FOR TREATMENT--

 

IS:

What is the basis for this statement.

It might be correct to say that some percentage of the population has no health *insurance*, but any ER will tell you that they are not allowed to turn anyone away.

Also, what is the basis for your comment that people die waiting for health care?

 

Twisted equality in socialized medicine
Ethel Fenig

In still yet another shuddering preview  of health under Hillarycare or whatever form of socialized medicine that the mainly Democratic candidates promise to impose on us, Britain's National Health Service has issued this truly Orwellian/Kafkaesque decree.

A WOMAN will be denied free National Health Service treatment for breast cancer if she seeks to improve her chances by paying privately for an additional drug.

Colette Mills, a former nurse, has been told that if she attempts to top up her treatment privately, she will have to foot the entire £10,000 bill for her drugs and care. The bizarre threat stems from the refusal by the government to let patients pay for additional drugs that are not prescribed on the NHS.

Huh?  And what is the purpose of this truly potentially deadly NHS policy?
 

Ministers say it is unfair on patients who cannot afford such top-up drugs and that it will create a two-tier NHS. It is thought thousands of patients suffer as a result of the policy. 

(snip)
 
The Department of Health said: “Co-payments would risk creating a two-tier health service and be in direct contravention with the principles and values of the NHS.”

So instead of a two tier system, good (private) and bad (public), only one system--bad--is  allowed in England with no role model for improvement (private).  Death, in the holy pursuit of equality, seems to be the goal.


Other solutions are up against equally twisted negative rationalizations. And beware the politician who oh so sincerely promises that a similar situation could not happen here.  Oh yeah?  Surrendering to government for free treatment means surrendering freedom.

Having many friends and relatives, alas, afflicted with breast cancer, this article, and previous ones on socialized health posted here, and here, and here touch me personally and deeply.  While these friends and relatives are in various stages of treatment--and sadly, a few are gone--not one seems to have been denied a beneficial treatment.

For some reason, Michael Moore's film, Sicko, a paean to socialized medicine, failed to mention cases like this.  He didn't so we must.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/1...socialized.html

It might be correct to say that some percentage of the population has no health *insurance*, but any ER will tell you that they are not allowed to turn anyone away.

Is this a JOKE?
SOME PERCENT has no health insurance? Some percent MIGHT not have health insurance.

How about 47 million American not just MIGHT NOT have health insurance 47 million Americans DO NOT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE.

Let's not be mealy mouth about it.

Then about 50% of those that do have health insurance are under-insured -- their insurance won't pay for prescriptions or the full amount on serious or chronic conditions.


Of course, people cannot be refused treatment at an ER.
What does this have to do with anything?

People use ERs Because they can't get a doctor's appointment --

Do you have insurance? Sorry.
You have medicaid? -- Sorry.

55% of ER visits are for non-emergencies -- people can't get an appointment with a doctor.

"According to Wellmark BlueCross BlueShield, the average emergency room charge is $1,049, while the average physician's office charge amounts to $153."
http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/200...ses/index.shtml

Non-emergency ER visits add an estimated $5-7 billion annually to health case expenses.

The cost to the patient?  Oh year -- mark up is about 100% and the patient does get billed. And if the patient doesn't pay they'll file a lean on their house.

A WOMAN will be denied free National Health Service treatment for breast cancer if she seeks to improve her chances by paying privately for an additional drug.

This is catastrophic  "A woman will be denied health care...."

Let's put an end to all federal and state support for medical care we can't let this woman suffer this way.

Millions of others may suffer and die but this woman is important and she must be permitted her medicine.

I thought this was interesting.

"The 47 Million Uninsured Americans' Lie"

The Census Bureau report “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005,” puts the initial number of uninsured people living in the country at 46.577 million.

A closer look at that report reveals the Census data include 9.487 million people who are “not a citizen.” Subtracting the 10 million non-Americans, the number of uninsured Americans falls to roughly 37 million.

According to the same Census report, there are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326.

On the July 13 “Larry King Live,” Gupta did make that point, providing more context than Moore and most journalists about the affordability of health insurance.

Subtracting non-citizens and those who can afford their own insurance but choose not to purchase it, about 20 million people are left – less than 7 percent of the population.

“Many Americans are uninsured by choice,” wrote Dr. David Gratzer in his book “The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care.” Gratzer cited a study of the “nonpoor uninsured” from the California Healthcare Foundation.

“Why the lack of insurance [among people who own homes and computers]? One clue is that 60 percent reported being in excellent health or very good health,” explained Gratzer.

Dr. Grace-Marie Turner, a BMI adviser and president of the Galen Institute, agreed that “the number [on uninsured] is inflated and affects the debate.”

Turner also pointed out that “45 percent of the uninsured are going to have insurance within four months [according to the Congressional Budget Office],” because many are transitioning between jobs and most people get health insurance through their employers.

So what is the true extent of the uninsured “crisis?” The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit frequently quoted by the media, puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. That is a much smaller figure than the media report.

Kaiser’s 8.2 million figure for the chronically uninsured only includes those uninsured for two years or more.  It is also worth noting, that, 45 percent of uninsured people will be uninsured for less than four months according to the Congressional Budget Office.

complete article

 

A Question For Hillary  
 
By TARREN BRAGDON
January 5, 2008; Page A8
New York

Sen. Hillary Clinton is running for president, in part, on a platform that calls for more government health care. So let's ask a question that may hit a little too close to home: Why does New York spend more on Medicaid -- a health-care program for the poor -- than every other state but still have a larger portion of its population walking around without health insurance than states that spend far less?

Last year, New York spent $48 billion on Medicaid. That amounts to about $2,100 for every man, woman and child. Yet 13.5% of the state's population lacks health insurance. Pennsylvania, meanwhile, spent closer to $1,300 on Medicaid for every state resident and ended up with an uninsured rate of 10.5%.

New York is the third-largest state in the union and about as good a laboratory as we'll find for the national health-care market. It has 2.2 million adults and 367,000 children without health insurance. Over the past decade, the state has attempted to reduce the number of uninsured residents by expanding eligibility for government-sponsored health care. This approach is not solving the uninsured problem.

One reason is that New York has made private health insurance too expensive for many people by imposing a long list of mandates. For a policy not purchased through an employer, most individual New Yorkers have to pay about $500 a month, and most families about $1,400. That's about twice the national average.

Three mandates are largely responsible. Two -- "guaranteed issue" and "community rating" -- are closely linked.

Guaranteed issue hits those who are buying insurance on their own. It requires insurers to sell a policy to anyone who can pay for it, regardless of health status. It sounds fair, but drives up premiums for the healthy and induces them to drop out of the insurance pool. It also encourages people to wait until they are sick before they buy insurance. After all, if you can't be turned down, why pay in when you are healthy?

Community rating requires insurers to charge the same premium to anyone in a given plan, regardless of age, gender or health. This forces the healthy to subsidize the unhealthy, also driving up the cost of insurance.

Every state mandates that insurers cover basic care. But a third New York mandate goes well beyond the basics and requires insurers to cover 52 types of services, ranging from chiropractic to fertility treatment to mental-health services. This adds about 12% to the cost of insurance in the state.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has decided to enter the health-care fray by pushing a new expansion of government health care -- in this case for children in middle-class families. Or in the parlance of Albany, to extend Medicaid benefits to children living in families earning up to 400% of poverty level (about $80,000 a year for a family of four in New York).

Mr. Spitzer says he wants universal health care for New York. Yet 68% of children without insurance in the state are already eligible for government care, but haven't signed up. Instead of just reaching out to these children, the governor wants to make hundreds of thousands of middle-class children, many of whom already have private insurance, eligible for Medicaid. If this leads parents to drop their kids from their insurance and enroll them for government benefits, Mr. Spitzer will have succeeded at expanding the Medicaid rolls while doing little to solve the uninsured problem.

A better path would be to reinvigorate the private, direct-pay health-insurance market. Thirty-three states have created a new "risk pool" for high-cost patients without jeopardizing access to private insurance for everyone. This pool, which is often subsidized by a tiny surcharge on other policies, allows insurance companies to charge rates that more closely track the actual cost of providing health care to individuals. If New York had a similar risk pool, those in fair health could buy unsubsidized private coverage at competitive rates.

The evidence suggests, moreover, that almost everybody could buy private insurance if carriers were allowed to tailor plans to meet consumers' needs.

Consider WellPoint's "Tonik Health Plans," which are cheaper because they are tailored to the needs of the consumer. In Connecticut they allow people between the ages of 19 and 34 to buy insurance at a cost of $105 to $203 a month, depending on age, gender and plan selected. About 78% of those who buy Tonik plans were previously uninsured.

There is similar innovation underway with consumer-directed plans. These combine high-deductibles and low premiums with a tax-free Health Savings Account, and allow individuals to save for out-of-pocket costs. The best-selling HSA-eligible plans -- costing $120 a month for singles and $270 for families -- are sold to people in their 20s. For those 30 to 54, single coverage costs $176 a month, and family coverage is still an affordable $385. But in New York, HSA-eligible plans for individuals are illegal.

So-called temporary plans also help people find health-insurance coverage. In Washington, D.C., a 40-year-old person can buy a six-month health-insurance policy with a $500 deductible for just $119 a month. But in New York (and four other states) temporary plans aren't permitted.

If Mr. Spitzer freed the private health-insurance market and backed regulations that promote competition, affordable private health insurance would be available to nearly everyone. Precious taxpayer dollars could then be directed to the truly indigent and uninsured.

Mr. Bragdon is a health-policy analyst with the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy.

 
 

[Seven million patients can't find a dentist on the NHS for two years]

Seven million patients can't find a dentist on the NHS for two years
By JENNY HOPE
 
Last updated at 10:46am on 16th January 2008

More than seven million patients have been unable to see an NHS dentist for almost two years.

Most of those denied access have paid for private care instead, says Citizens Advice.

But almost three million have gone without treatment altogether, claims the charity.

The figure includes thousands of children and is much higher than Government estimates.

more here:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...d=1770&ito=1490

Internal Memos Detail Creation of Government “Interest Group Database” to Collect Personal Data on Health Care Debate Activists

(Washington, DC)

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released records obtained from the Clinton Presidential Library related to the National Taskforce on Health Care Reform, a “cabinet-level” task force chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Clinton administration.  Specifically, these documents come from the White House Health Care Interdepartmental Working Group.

Among the highlights of the documents released by Judicial Watch:

• A June 18, 1993 internal Memorandum  entitled, “A Critique of Our Plan,” authored by someone with the initials “P.S.,” makes the startling admission that critics of Hillary’s health care reform plan were correct:  “I can think of parallels in wartime, but I have trouble coming up with a precedent in our peacetime history for such broad and centralized control over a sector of the economy…Is the public really ready for this?... none of us knows whether we can make it work well or at all…”

• A “Confidential” May 26, 1993 Memorandum  from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications,” which criticizes the Task Force as a “secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks’” that has engaged in “choking off information” from the public regarding health care reform.  The memorandum suggests that Hillary Clinton “use classic opposition research” to attack those who were excluded by the Clinton Administration from Task Force deliberations and to “expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists” in order to deflect criticism.  Senator Rockefeller also suggested news organizations “are anxious and willing to receive guidance [from the Clinton Administration] on how to time and shape their [news] coverage.”

• A February 5, 1993 Draft Memorandum  from Alexis Herman and Mike Lux detailing the Office of Public Liaison’s plan for the health care reform campaign.  The memorandum notes the development of an “interest group data base” detailing whether or not organizations “support(ed) us in the election.”  The database would also track personal information about interest group leaders, such as their home phone numbers, addresses, “biographies, analysis of credibility in the media, and known relationships with Congresspeople.”

These records released by Judicial Watch were obtained from the approximately 13,000 records made publicly available by the Clinton Library.  The National Archives admits there may be an additional 3,022,030 textual records, 2,884 pages of electronic records, 1,021 photographs, 3 videotapes and 3 audiotapes related to the Task Force that are being withheld indefinitely from the public.  On November 2, 2007 Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the National Archives to force the release of all the Task Force records.

“These documents paint a disturbing picture of how Hillary Clinton and the Clinton administration approached health care reform – secrecy, smears, and the misuse of government computers to track private and political information on citizens,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “There are millions more documents that the Library has yet to release.  The Clintons continue to play games and pretend they have nothing to do with this delay.  The Clintons should get out of the way and authorize the release of these records now.”