Perhaps you have been wondering who or what is to blame for the high cost of medical care in this land of ours and for the ungainly, unjust mess that is the American health-care system. If so, wonder no more. Your government has fingered the culprit: it’s "the vast majority of Americans". According AB Hubbard, assistant to the GW Bush: "Health care is expensive because the vast majority of Americans consume it as if it were free. Health insurance policies with low deductibles insulate people from the cost of the medical care they use so much so that they often do not even ask for prices." Reality, on the other hand is that the expense of US health care has a lot to do with the waste built into crazy-quilt health-care system and the fact that so much of that system is private rather than public. In the USA even though there has long been popular support for universal, government-run health care, our corrupt political system won't express the majority's will.

New Yorker Talk of the Town 2006-04-17

NATL: Unlike THE TYPICAL Blue Cross "valued member," I wasn't upset to learn that my monthly premium would increase by $50 for me and my daughter. That's because I'm not really a Blue Cross valued member. I'm a Blue Cross problem member [unvalued] the kind who actually uses the valued benefits. So I don't really care about premiums; I was just relieved that my yearly out-of-pocket cap, which jumped from $5,000 to $7,500 in 2004, didn't go up yet another 50%. By law, insurance companies aren't allowed to adjust your monthly premiums just because you get sick. But they can raise the out-of-pocket cap for all of their members anytime they like, which amounts to the same thing because it affects only the unvalued sick members. Lucky you, if you don't know what your out-of-pocket cap is. And if you're like every single healthy person I've queried, you probably don't. But you should know, because the out-of-pocket cap is the most important part of your policy, meant to stave off financial disaster in case of catastrophic medical expenses.

Los Angeles Times of April 23, 2006

NATL: One thing working in insurance companies' favor is that cancer patients rarely have the energy to argue about nickel-and-diming. I recently managed to spend a morning forcing my way through multiple disconnects and transfers on the Blue Cross 800 number, but I was eventually told that the company would probably reimburse me for the extra $90 a month I was paying for that weekly anti-nausea drug if I filled out the right forms. Then, I began getting letters from Blue Cross announcing that it was retroactively disallowing the anti-cancer drug Avastin at $5,000 a pop every other week. It seems Blue Cross decided this new and expensive targeted therapy is experimental. To decide after a therapy has proved beneficial that it's merely "investigational" and therefore should not be covered [amazingly that's health insurance business as usual].

Los Angeles Times of April 23, 2006, pt 2

> NATL: A steady flow of stock options has made UnitedHealth Group CEO McGuire one of the nation's best-paid corporate chiefs. McGuire, who had $1.6 BIL in exercisable stock options at the end of last year, has asked his board to stop awarding new options to senior executives. McGuire's announcement follows reports in The Wall Street Journal that he and some other UnitedHealth executives were granted options dated at or near their yearly low points prior to 2002 -- maximizing their profit when they were exercised later. Also UnitedHealth, the nation's second-biggest health insurer, reported its first-quarter profit climbed 21% as revenue jumped almost 58%, propelled by acquisition of PacifiCare.

The Associated Press/MINNEAPOLIS April 18, 2006

NATL: The US government issued a barbed response after the IMF suggested the US institute health insurance for all Americans and balance its budget faster than planned. Tim Adams, the Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, demanded that the IMF get back to monitoring global currency rates rather than commenting on health care. Said IMF "In a globally competitive economy, it is very important you insure the individual, you have a safety net for the individual, because they're at serious risk of losing their job and so on, so you need universal health care, as you need strong educational systems.

April 21, 2006 by Agence France Presse and at www.CommonDreams.org

NATL: Consolidation among health insurers is creating near-monopolies in virtually all reaches of the United States. Data from the AMA show that in each of 43 states, a handful of top insurers have gained such a stronghold that their markets are considered "highly concentrated" under US Department of Justice guidelines, often far exceeding the thresholds that should trigger antitrust concerns. And 95% were moderately concentrated or more. <

Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 by the Associated Press and at www.CommonDreams.org

TX: Health care and government officials aren't standing idly by while the uninsured problem in North Texas worsens. At the same time, though, no successful combination of solutions has emerged yet -- as wary hospital executives acknowledge. The ability of any one hospital to make much of an impact on the overall uninsured population is really very small. Politicians happy with Band-Aid fixes to the broken system won't be happy forever. "They don't want to deal with the tough issues, like the uninsured, as long as they think you can somehow pull a rabbit out of the hat" Anderson said wryly. "We're eating the rabbit. It's pretty good." [I propose next year's "Uninsured Week" be renamed a "Week of Eating Rabbit"]

FL: More South Floridians are expected to go without health insurance, according to the demographic trends expected over the next 25 years. That would put a greater strain on the region's health care providers to give uncompensated and charity care, whose cost is partially passed on to commercial insurance customers in the form of higher premiums. South Florida's uninsured population under 65 is more than 1 million, accounting for 23.2% of that age group, according to a 2004 study. The foreign-born population was more than twice as likely to lack health insurance than those born in the United States. These groups are going to continue to grow in South Florida. Hispanics will be the largest ethnic group in South Florida by 2030. In that year, the working-age population will be 44% Hispanic.

NATL: When Alvin Wirthlin started his patent-application business in Lucas a few years ago, the decision about purchasing health insurance came down to a risk vs. cost analysis. Wirthlin, who decided to take the risk instead of pay the cost of insurance, is not alone. Paying $180 for two doctor's office visits a year made much more sense to him than paying $400 to $500 a month in premiums. In 2003, 17% of the uninsured were families with incomes of more than $75,000. Another 16% of the uninsured had family incomes of $50,000 to $74,999. In 2004, Texas hospitals provided $9.2 BIL worth of uncompensated care, which includes bad debt expenses. On a national level, uncompensated care increased to $60 BIL from $25 BIL in 1993. [A meager 140% increase.]

NATL: Providing appropriate health care to every citizen is a rapidly escalating problem as pressures on America's health-care and economic systems mount due to various factors, not the least of which is the aging of baby boomers. Area hospitals and health systems provide charity care and community health programs on a daily basis to relieve some of the burden for those with nowhere else to turn for medical care. The problems related to the increasing number of uninsured in our community permeate everything we do. Citizens without health-care coverage have been shown to cost the system more as they live sicker and die younger, further straining an economy with an expanding list of issues to address with shrinking budgets. The problem goes much deeper than the direct costs. There are numerous indirect costs to our community. For instance, several studies have documented the negative impact of poor health care for children on early learning, achievement and graduation rates in our schools. I urge everyone to become actively involved in ways to make health-care coverage for all Americans a national priority.

NATL: The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act, which was introduced November 2005 in the US Senate and would allow small business owners to join buying pools that would help them reduce the cost of health insurance. Another plan is called the Equity for Our Nation's Self-Employed Act, which would allow small business owners to deduct health coverage from their payroll taxes. Yet a third measure was introduced in late March 2006 by US Sen. Olympia Snowe, the Small Business Health Insurance Relief Act of 2006, would provide incentives to small businesses to offer affordable insurance coverage to their employees.

OH: Earlier this year UnitedHealthcare of Ohio introduced a new product. It does not provide traditional hospitalization coverage or pay outpatient surgery and diagnostic charges. But, the core UnitedHealth Basics plan does give those patients the discounted rate UHC negotiates with hospitals in its provider network. Garcia said the discounts can be up to 50% on a hospital's "sticker price" for out-of-network patients or the uninsured. The core plan does cover 80% of charges up to $5,000 a year for patients needing treatment due to an accidental injury.

NATL: The US House of Reps listened to small business and has already acted eight times to pass legislation creating Small Business Health Plans. SBHPs will allow small businesses to band together through trade and professional associations to purchase affordable health benefits. By joining together, small employers will enjoy savings from greater bargaining power, economies of scale and administrative efficiencies.NFIB believes this is the right solution for small business. SBHPs, combined with much-needed competition for the small-group market, will bring more choices for those owners struggling to afford health insurance for their employees. [State standards of quality and for what is a required offering will no longer apply, by the way. It solves some of the purchase problem for business none of the problem for consumers and patients.]

NATL: Perhaps you have been wondering who or what is to blame for the high cost of medical care in this land of ours and for the ungainly, unjust mess that is the American health-care system. If so, wonder no more. Your government has fingered the culprit: it’s "the vast majority of Americans". According AB Hubbard, assistant to the GW Bush: "Health care is expensive because the vast majority of Americans consume it as if it were free. Health insurance policies with low deductibles insulate people from the cost of the medical care they use so much so that they often do not even ask for prices." Reality, on the other hand is that the expense of US health care has a lot to do with the waste built into crazy-quilt health-care system and the fact that so much of that system is private rather than public. In the USA even though there has long been popular support for universal, government-run health care, our corrupt political system won't express the majority's will.

NATL: Health care providers in Silicon Valley are grappling with the implications of a new federal law that could increase the number of uninsured patients inundating hospitals and clinics this summer. Most states require the 55 MIL Medicaid beneficiaries in the US now to swear they are citizens under threat of perjury, but they don't force them to back it up through birth certificates, passports or other official documentation. There a lot of folks that don't have a copy of their birth certificate or a passport. These are people who usually don't travel, they'll fall through the cracks. The nonprofit medical center, which sees more Medi-Cal patients than most private hospitals in San Jose, says it is already struggling with low government reimbursement rates and growing numbers of uninsured.

MA: The much ballyhooed health care reform bill, which has gained widespread political support, is significant not only for its ambitiousness. It underscores the division between the political base that represents the larger companies and the relative disenfranchisement of smaller firms that operate unheralded Main Street businesses and employ low-skill labor. The big boys won, including Gov. Romney and the health care lobby. And the little guys are going to pay. It is loaded with wishful thinking, including the notion that it will succeed in insuring over 500,000 and not hamper job growth. Even with a program to subsidize premiums, we struggle to understand how a 30-year-old scraping by on $30,000 a year while paying the associated high costs of living in this region will come up with the extra money.

NY: The Working Families Party has weighed in on New York's proposed Fair Share for Health Care Act, producing a report that says the bill will create jobs while extending health coverage to the uninsured. At the same time, the organization called the results of a recent study debunking the act "junk data." The proposed legislation will create up to 21,600 jobs for New Yorkers and offer health insurance to more than 450,000 of the state's uninsured who are working for large employers. Working Families took issue with a report by the Employment Policies Institute that estimated the act would cause the state to lose up to 100,000 jobs, and force businesses to take a $9.2 BIL hit. All you really need to know about this junk data study is that it was done by the same people who oppose the idea of the minimum wage.

TX: Randy Giles is chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare South Texas is happy with the Bush solution. He stated in his recent Op-Ed: "In his State of the Union address last month, Bush stressed the need to confront the rising cost of health care. In Texas, more than 5.4 MIL people, or 27% of the population, under the age of 65 are uninsured [official US census miscount method]. HSAs have enabled employers, especially small-business owners, to continue offering health coverage to their employees. According to America's Health Insurance Plans, more than 3 MIL consumers nationwide have enrolled in HSAs since the plans first became available in January 2004. HSAs and HRAs are a good start. These consumer-driven health insurance plans are enabling employees to become better health care consumers."

NATL: Would you feel secure with health insurance that would not pay for medical care if you or a family member developed cancer, a mental illness or another serious condition? What good is "insurance" that provides coverage only when you remain healthy? The US Senate is considering questions like this when it takes up fast-moving legislation -- S.1955 -- that would repeal Minnesota's consumer-protection laws regulating health insurance and weaken an already struggling health-financing system. Low-cost coverage that fails to meet a family's health-care needs is all but worthless. Yet on March 15, a Senate committee narrowly approved a bill that proposes just such a "solution" for the uninsured. This bill, the so-called "Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act" (S.1955), would be a good deal for companies that want to market bare-bones insurance policies.

OpEd: WORST IGNORANCE SEEN THIS MONTH: At this newspaper, we set aside about 1% of ad revenue to cover potential bad-debt write-offs, and we get upset if we have to actually use that money. As we reported last week, local hospital systems are writing off a third, or even half, of their billings because of people who won't or can't pay. Uncompensated care reached $9.2 BIL in Texas in 2004. We have become the Unaccountability Nation, and it is destroying our health care system. Taxpayers pick up the medical tab for illegal immigrants and other indigents. Companies that purchase health insurance for their employees pay higher premiums, an invisible tax, because of companies that don't offer coverage. And more people, even many with high incomes, are choosing not to buy insurance, gambling that they'll stay healthy. When their gambles blow up in their faces, they pay, but so do taxpayers and the system. Everyone thinks someone else should pay for their health care. And this free-rider attitude is encouraged by politicians who try to win votes by convincing people it is their constitutional right to be mollycoddled. Hey, we can't pay for our own health care -- we've got satellite TV bills to pay, vacations to take.

CO: Lawmakers killed a controversial prescription drug bill, saying they wanted more time to study the issue. House Bill 1100 would have created a state-sponsored discount card program to provide cheaper prescription drugs to low-income Coloradans without health insurance. The AFL-CIO union and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America backed the bill. The alliance surprised lawmakers and lobbyists alike. Prescription drug discounts would have been available to people based on their income. The discounts would have been based on those negotiated by Colorado insurers that cover public employees under state health plans. Kaiser Permanente, which provides one of those plans, testified against the proposal earlier, saying if the discounts they negotiated with drug makers were made public, prices would go up.

NATL: The rising cost of health care and energy ranked among the top concerns in an annual survey by the national bipartisan group Women Impacting Public Policy. The "What Business Women Want" online survey was conducted in March and sponsored by UPS. With an upward trend from last year's survey, health care was identified by 73% of respondents as the most critical concern of women entrepreneurs. Of the current solutions being considered by Congress,

NATL: More employers are turning to consumer-driven health-care plans to rein in their health costs, but such programs have so far created more smoke than fire. Enrollment in such plans remains anemic. But there's no shortage of industry players who say it's only a matter of time before the plans catch on with employees. But a study by Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Commonwealth Fund concludes: "Among the small number of American adults who do have these plans, few are satisfied with them." The majority of those covered by private health insurance -- 89% -- have comprehensive insurance. [Oh they actually want to be covered in case of grave illness too, not just scratches and bruises?]

NC: UnitedHealthcare of North Carolina Inc. has a reputation that can only be described as mixed. Industry experts say the company offers products that rival competitors in both price and services - particularly in services to help close gaps in patient care. But physicians who work with the company say the company's communications, billing protocols and physician rating program are among the worst in the state. According to a 2005 study by the NC Medical Society, the company ranked dead last in a survey of doctors on measures such as prompt and accurate claims payments, customer service, contract negotiation and the process for appealing medical necessity claims.

NATL: The controversial US Medicare prescription drug program has met the government's goal to provide benefits to more than 30 MIL elderly or disabled beneficiaries, US health officials said. From now on Medicare participants can still sign up, but face a penalty fee. Of course, most of those 30 MIL already had drug coverage under other programs now transferred to the Medicare drug benefit. About 8.1 MIL have signed up voluntarily for one ofthe publicly-funded private plans [Excuse me, what does it mean to sign-up involuntarily Mr. Bush?].

NATL: More than 40% of Americans making between $20,000 and $40,000 a year went without insurance for at least part of the year last year. And 20% of working adults are paying off medical debt -- often $2,000 or more -- and 60% of uninsured adults with chronic illnesses such as heart disease skip pills to save money. The Commonwealth Fund researchers called the 40% figure a "dramatic and rapid increase from 2001," when 28% of people in this moderate income bracket were uninsured. Fully 35% of uninsured adults with chronic conditions visited an emergency room in 2005, stayed in the hospital overnight, or both, compared to 16% of patients with a chronic condition who were steadily insured. [Note that the $20 -40,000 income range is not the poor! In 2006 official federal poverty level for a single person is $9,800 annually, $16,600 for a family of 3.]

NATL: "FDA lacks a clear and effective process for making decisions about, and providing management oversight of, postmarket drug safety issues," the GAO report said. "We observed that there is a lack of criteria for determining what safety actions to take and when to take them." The agency sometimes approves products under the condition that companies later provide more data, but it does not have the authority to require such studies in most cases. The GAO said longer trials after approval could "answer safety questions about risks associated with the longer-term use of drugs."

NATL: Emboldened by recent victories in court, pharmaceutical companies are using controversial settlements that entail payments to generic rivals which promise to restrict selling competing generic drugs. In one key decision last year, an appeals court overturned an FTC ruling that said Schering-Plough Corp. had illegally kept cheaper versions of its blood pressure drug off the market through patent settlements with generic competitors. Months later, another federal appeals court upheld a decision throwing out a similar case involving AstraZeneca Plc's cancer drug Tamoxifen. The FTC has petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the Schering-Plough decision. The court has not yet decided if it will review the case.

NATL: A study suggests that the health benefits derived from clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) outweigh the costs. The total cost of the 28 trials identified was $335 MIL. Six trials were associated with measurable health improvements, while four trials lead to cost savings. The authors estimate that the NINDS-funded trials yielded an additional 470,000 quality-adjusted life years at 10 years at a total cost of $3.6 BIL. The overall projected net benefit to society was $15.2 billion.

NATL: Current food and beverage marketing practices put children's long-term health at risk. A high proportion of the products marketed to children are for high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks; fast foods; and sweetened drinks -- the very same foods that contribute to the early onset of diet-related chronic diseases. Dietary patterns begin in childhood and shape the health of all Americans. The prevailing pattern of food and beverage marketing to children represents, a direct threat to the health prospects of the next generation.

NATL: A South Korean state-run agency said it plans to export 10,000 nurses to the USA over the next five years to help plug a shortfall of the healthcare providers in US hospitals. The South Korean nurses will be assigned to 36 hospitals in New York as apprentices, it will soon sign with a US human resources company and a hospital operator. The United States has tapped nurses from various countries to try and meet its nursing shortage. [Actually to short-circuit nursing unionization drives, keep wages low and patient to nurse ratios high. The "shortage" was planned and still embraced by industry giants.]

NATL: Half of all young adults in the USA go without health insurance, and more than 15 MIL Americans were uninsured for four years running, according to a government survey. The poorest Americans are the least likely to have coverage, and when broken down by ethnic group, Hispanic Americans are most-heavily uninsured. During 2002 to 2003, young adults aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 29 were the most likely to be uninsured for at least one month, over 50%. And 6.2% of the population under the age of 65, or 15.6 MIL people, were uninsured for the entire four-year period from 2000 through 2003. At 65 virtually everyone is eligible for Medicare, our efficient, effective plan for the elderly.

NATL: Care of the terminally ill, once solely the domain of nonprofit organizations, is becoming a big business. For-profit companies are grabbing a bigger share of hospice, which has grown rapidly in recent years as the US population ages and since the federal government began generously reimbursing the cost of such care. The main reason the for-profit sector is growing is you have a lot of venture capital private equity-backed companies in the space. Hospice evolved from a voluntary movement. A 2004 study found that patients in for-profit programs were half as likely to receive a full range of hospice services. [Now what could be more representative of strong "Family Values" than cashing in on the saddest, most vulnerable and painful final days of each family's life?]

NATL: In caring for patients at a university HIV clinic, physician costs account for only 2% of the annual total costs per patient. The Physician component of these expenditures represented only $359 per patient per year". Medication costs accounted for 71%-84% of annual expenditures. Physician reimbursements, even with 100% billing and collections, are inadequate to support the activities of most clinics providing HIV care.

NATL: Cigna Corp., one of the biggest US health insurers, is planning new payment collection strategies to help hospitals struggling with bad debt from unpaid medical bills. They are working with hospitals -- which account for the largest slice of soaring medical costs -- to collect more payments up front and automatically through mechanisms, such as debit cards and credit facilities. The unrelenting burden of the uninsured and bad debt has led a slew of hospitals to miss Wall Street estimates and has depressed their stock prices in recent years. The rolls of the uninsured continues to march up, now at nearly 46 MIL people -- or 15% of the US population [official census miscount]. [A brilliant idea to resolve the uninsured problem, let them charge it, or run up unpayable personal debts with ruthless creditors.]

NATL: Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s stock jumped 13% following a mistrial in a federal kickback case, but analysts said the shares remain overvaluedon the hospital operator's long-term prospects. The criminal case accused Tenet of inappropriately paying doctors to steer patients to their hospitals. Still pending is Tenet's accounting scandal and a federal probe alleging Tenet bilked the Medicare program. Tenet is also under investigation by at least six other US attorneys looking into the same issues as in the San Diego trial.

NATL: Nearly 800 Americans are waiting for anti-HIV medications from government-funded programs that serve as the last resort for many patients who cannot afford costly treatments. Several US states also have been forced to take cost-saving steps such as reducing the number of medicines covered by their AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, or ADAPs. As of February 2006, nine states reported waiting lists with a total of 791 people. The states were Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama.

NATL: Disclosing how physicians are compensated may increase patient loyalty, and does not appear to undermine patients' trust in their doctors, a new study shows. Many states have passed laws requiring health plans to disclose incentives they offer to physicians [incentives to avoid treatments and procedures], but most physician groups do not provide this information to their patients. Patients who remembered receiving the disclosure also were more likely to believe they had enough information to understand how their physician's compensation structure might influence the quality of care provided. Patients who received the disclosure were also slightly more likely to say that they felt loyal to their physician group and would not switch [certainly less likely to sue also].

NATL: A shrinking portion of US doctors are providing free or reduced cost medical care to a rising number of patients who cannot afford treatment, leaving a smaller safety net for the uninsured. About 68% of physicians provided charity care between 2004 and 2005, compared with 76% between 1996 and 1997. Factors driving the drop include heightened financial pressures on doctors from private and public insurers. At the same time, the number of people without health insurance has steadily risen to about 46 million. Doctors in large group practices have less control over which patients they see, and are more likely to face institutional barriers to seeing patients needing payment assistance.

NATL: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is launching a campaign to warn businesses and employees about frauds offering fake health insurance. Phony carriers hawking fraudulent coverage have cost employers and workers more than a quarter of a billion dollars. "A worker may think he had insurance for a premature child but he may find out he hasn't. NAIC is launching a radio and television campaign urging employers and workers to call their state insurance regulator to confirm the company and broker selling the policy are licensed. [Isn't that a familiar story for the "non fake" insurers too? Who knows the details of their policy for every condition and eventuality? So NAIC is going after unlicensed insurers not the fake ones?]

NATL: In December, Saint Thomas Health Services saw a heavy influx of patients applying for financial assistance. In what could presage a worsening of the area's uninsured problem, CEO Jim Houser attributes the spike to changes in TennCare and more people who meet the financial requirements for charity care and lack private insurance. For hospitals and other providers, the uninsured is a 45 million-person [by faulty census count] problem that won't go away and it's eating away at their financial positions. The impact of the uninsured isn't just being felt in Nashville. Various hospital chains with operations scattered across the country reported that provisions for doubtful accounts - money lost from patients who can't or won't pay - remained high in the fourth quarter as uninsured admissions escalated. In a 2005 report 63% of hospital CEOs cited coverage of the uninsured as the greatest need in the health care industry. They also named the uninsured as having the biggest impact on medicine for the next two years.

OH: Medical debts are creating havoc for about one in five people in Cincinnati. In a recent survey 21% of respondents " had had problems paying or been unable to pay medical bills" in the past 12 months. About 8% had at some point been unable to pay for necessities such as food, heat or rent because of medical bills. Slightly more than 17% had used up all or most of their savings and about 6% had incurred "large" credit card debt or borrowed against their home. "It's not always the uninsured, and we're not always dealing with what you'd call low- to moderate-income people" said Halburt. "One devastating illness can absolutely put [even better off] families out of commission". Last year, a Harvard University study of 1,771 bankruptcy cases found that nearly half were the result of illness or medical expenses. Even the relatively well-off can be surprised when bills start to mount.

IN: Some Ohio and Indiana residents are getting a new individual benefit health insurance plan designed to provide coverage at lower premium prices. The Blue Access Value Plan has been introduced in the two states offering coverage for hospitalization, surgery, certain preventative and diagnostic services and two doctor's office visits a year. The plan is geared toward retirees and the uninsured. [Just a slight twist to typical catastrophic coverage.]

MA: A long-awaited accord on a sweeping health care reform measure was unveiled in the MA legislature, including a $295 per-employee assessment that will offset $45 million in health care costs statewide. Companies that employ 11 or more workers would be liable for the assessment on each employee not otherwise insured, under the compromise plan that has taken nearly five months to forge. The measure, which takes effect July 1, would see that 90 to 95% of the state's residents are insured for health care coverage by July 1, 2008. The law mandates that all state residents buy coverage by July 1, 2007. Some 207,000 uninsured residents will be enrolled in subsidized Commonwealth Care coverage.

CA: San Francisco Mayor Newsom called on Gov. Schwarzenegger to include public safety-net hospitals in his proposed state infrastructure bond. The governor, during his state of the state address proposed spending $222.6 BIL over 10 years to ease the state's congested highways, repair levees and build new schools, university facilities, prisons, jails, dams and courthouses. Though public hospitals account for just 6% of California hospitals, these provide 85% percent of the indigent care including more than half the hospital care to the state's uninsured. [See a brilliant discussion of infrastructural health care costs, like bridges CLICK HERE]

AR: Small businesses in Arkansas that haven't provided employee group health coverage now have another opportunity. The Arkansas Safety Net Benefit Program will be available to up to 80,000 uninsured Arkansans. The plan is similar to Healthy New York, as well as proposals for Cover Tennessee, in that it combines funds from employers, the state and the federal government to provide basic medical coverage. To qualify for the Arkansas plan an employer must not have offered insurance for the previous 12 months. Participants will pay $15 per month in premiums and 15% co-pays with a maximum out-of-pocket cost of $1,000 per year. The state expects to enroll around 50,000 workers with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level and another 30,000 whose salaries are higher.

NATL: Right now in the USA there are few issues more important than health care. In his recent State of the Union Address, Bush stressed the need to confront the rising cost of health care. In 2005 just 59% of small firms nationwide offered employee health benefits; among the smallest employers (fewer than 10 workers), the percentage falls to 47%. Alarmingly, these percentages are dropping annually by nearly 5%. In Oregon, nearly 600,000 people, or 19% of the population, under the age of 65 are uninsured [for an entire year Jan 1 through Dec 31]. A study of 20,000 HRA enrollees found they were more likely than people who remained in a traditional plan to utilize preventive services and less likely to visit the emergency room or specialists and utilize outpatient surgery, radiology and lab services. HRA's are similar to HSA's except the money is contributed by the employer and remains with the employer (not portable).

NY: About 3,000 health care workers turned out for a rally at the state Capitol in Albany to protest funding levels for health care in Gov. Pataki's proposed state budget for 2006 to 2007. The group estimates that hospitals and nursing homes would lose $1 BIL in funding if the governor's budget is enacted as proposed. Traditionally, the Legislature restores most of the funding cuts proposed by Pataki in his executive budgets. The Medicaid reimbursement schedule for ER visits in Pataki's budget in particular are "woefully inadequate." The group contended that a single emergency room visit costs a hospital more than $400 but that the state's reimbursement rate is only $95.

CO: A bill allowing CoverColorado to lower premiums has been sent to the governor. Senate Bill 180 allows CoverColorado to charge between 100 and 150% of the standard premium rate. Current law requires CoverColorado to charge 150% of the standard rate. Coloradans who have applied for health insurance but were declined because of pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage through the program. People covered by CoverColorado pay about 60 percent of their health care costs, but that number could drop to 50 percent of costs if the bill becomes law. The proposal is designed to make health insurance more affordable.

NATL: The first data to document the effect of President Bush's tax cuts for investment income [just a small portion of his tax cuts] show that they have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans, reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by an average of about $500,000. An analysis of IRS data found that the benefit of the lower taxes on investments was far more concentrated on the very wealthiest Americans than the benefits of Mr. Bush's two previous tax cuts: on wages and other noninvestment income. Americans with annual incomes of $1 MIL or more, about 0.1 % of all taxpayers, reaped 43% of the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each. The savings from the investment tax cuts are expected to be larger in subsequent years. [Meanwhile we are the one industrialized nation that "can't afford to provide health care to its entire population.]

NATL: DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group announced a cut in health-care benefits for its salaried employees. Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ reported that Chrysler management is set to approve the cuts before notifying workers. The move would follow similar steps by rival General Motors Corp. The reductions are expected to be modest but could include prescription-drug benefits. Chrysler's health care costs are likely to exceed the $2.2 BIL paid in 2005. Chrysler officials could not be reached for comment. [So are we coming to agreement that we no longer have an employment-based health care system? And what's our new system?]

NATL: A top US lawmaker has calledd on the FDA to publicly explain benefits of an experimental blood substitute after government advisors said a clinical trial for the product was unethical and never should have been approved. Concerns about Northfield Laboratories Inc's PolyHeme as early as June 2004, but the FDA failed to respond. Correspondence showed the office "had a sense of urgency, anxiousness and grave concern" about the study. The last two years of correspondence suggest a breakdown in dialogue within Bush's HHS and an apparent disregard to zealously fulfill its mission to protect the public health. PolyHeme aims to provide temporary relief when there is a large blood loss and no readily available blood supply. Under the trial, trauma patients at participating hospitals can unknowingly receive the infused product because of an FDA regulation that waives informed consent as long as a community outreach program is also conducted.

NATL: A program designed to reduce inappropriate benzodiazepine prescribing had the unintended consequence of increasing racial disparities in access to care. This is the first study to show that health policies designed to reduce drug costs and abuse can increase racial disparities in access to effective care. The findings are based on an analysis of data for 124,867 adults. A sudden and sustained drop in benzodiazepine use was noted in all neighborhoods, however black neighborhoods had the greatest discontinuation rates. After accounting for gender, eligibility status, neighborhood poverty, and baseline use, black subjects were about 78% more likely than whites to discontinue benzodiazepine use, whether or not the use was problematic. Although legislators may be satisfied that the TPP almost completely eliminated pharmacy hopping, it is of concern that the weight of the policy has fallen most heavily on patients with the lowest rates of baseline use and on those communitaries already suffering from racial disparities of care.

NATL: GW Bush defended his new prescription drug program, telling seniors it was a good deal and that initial glitches that angered many were being ironed out. However GOP officials are worried that the rocky roll-out of the Medicare drug benefit could hurt their chances in the 2006 midterm elections. Many elderly people were turned away from pharmacies empty-handed due to computer errors and other enrollment problems, while poorer seniors had a hard time switching from state-based programs to Medicare and many found the array of choices offered under the program bewildering. "I knew that some seniors on Medicare really didn't want to be confronted with any choice, and that the myriad of options would create a little confusion to begin with" said Bush. The Medicare drug plan is among several issues weighing down Bush's approval ratings to the lowest levels of any presidency at this stage. [The drug program, estimated to cost $678 BIL over the next 10 years, relies on private insurers to provide drug coverage for Medicare's 42 million beneficiaries at prices set without negotiation by the drug industry, already the most profitable sector among the fortune 500. It would more honestly have been titled a drugmaker program.]

NATL: Drug companies cannot blame long product testing times for the rising prices of medicines, say researchers. The time it takes to get a drug from idea to the market is not increasing and some potential blockbuster drugs are tested and approved very quickly. "Drug companies will price new drugs at the highest price that the market will bear, not based on drug development times." [And at their whimsy in the case of non-negotiated tax-funded programs.] The median clinical trial period was 5.1 years and the median regulatory review period was 1.2 years. Drugs with annual sales over $100 million took one year less to develop than drugs that did not sell as well. The higher the annual sales on a drug, the faster it was developed. Drugs with huge markets such as those sold for allergies, stomach acid and incontinence were tested in clinical trials for less than 2.5 years. "Out of 5,000 to 10,000 screened compounds, only 250 enter preclinical testing, five enter human clinical trials, and one is approved by the Food and Drug Administration," the industry association PhRMA said, [not mentioning how many of these 10,000 were screened in a few hours or in batches, nor how much of the early screening is conducted at public expense.]

NATL: Attorneys for General Motors Corp. and its union urged a federal judge to clear a deal that would save GM $1 BIL a year in health-care costs. A group of retired GM factory workers, meanwhile, testified that the deal had unfairly shifted health-care costs to them and undone a promise by the No. 1 car maker to provide full health benefits for life. [Essentially no worker in the country can rely on any such future or former promises.] "GM is really in a struggle to survive," said an attorney for the UAW "it has to take immediate action to reduce costs so it can survive." GM will be able to slash its long-term health-care liability by $15 BIL and cut its hourly health-care liability by 25% by shifting some costs to employees, retirees and tax-funded systems. He said his annual benefit statement at the time of his retirement had specifically said his health-care coverage would be continued through his lifetime and that of his spouse. GM is the largest single private health-care provider in the US with a total health care liability of $74 BIL.

NATL: Merck knew its COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx significantly increased the risk of heart attack but worked to hide the evidence from doctors, patients and the scientific community to boost profits, a lawyer for a former Vioxx user argued. The company, he said, was driven by marketing rather than science and was determined to make Vioxx into a blockbuster drug with sales of at least $1 BIL a year. Lanier, who won the first case against the company last year in Texas, accused five Merck executives of hiding the truth about Vioxx. The length of Vioxx use is critical in this case as Merck has said it pulled the $2.5 BIL a year drug from the market only after a study showed using the drug continuously for at least 18 months doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. In earlier trials the company argued that there was no evidence that short-term Vioxx use increased heath risks.

NATL: Within the past decade, the "nursing shortage" [the insurance motivated effort to bust unionization and lower staffing costs in hospitals] has presented many faces: fewer persons are interested in nursing; few students are enrolled in schools of nursing and fewer nurses are employed by hospitals. Another component of the shortage is that nurses, especially hospital nurses, express dissatisfaction with their practices [an predicable outcome of the planned understaffing]. This lack of satisfaction has several causes but similar outcomes: decreased retention, especially among specialty practice nurses; frequent turnover; early retirement; or departure from nursing. In some hospitals, a significant component of the specialty nurse workforce is outsourced and active international recruiting has increased the number of foreign-born nurses.

NATL: Restoration of a health care delivery system that is grounded in humanistic values and centered on patients' well-being is a contemporary challenge. Nurses and doctors should join together to re-introduce person-centered values and more humanistic systems to balance the emphasis on making money, restricting access to care, and reducing health care costs. The public needs to be informed so that they can join with their physicians and nurses and demand a more humane and compassionate health care system. [This may require giving the public a stake in the system. All of the public with a system that will be accessible to all of us when we need it.]

NATL: About one third of US military personnel who served in combat duty access mental health care after returning home from deployment. These individuals also have a high rate of attrition from military service. The association between combat duty and utilization of mental health services during the first year after return was studied in 16,318 soldiers who returned from Afghanistan, 222,620 who returned from Iraq, and 64,967 who returned from other locations. Overall, 19% of military personnel who returned from Iraq reported a mental health problem, compared with 11.3% who returned from Afghanistan, and 8.5% who returned from other locations. 35% of Iraq war veterans utilized mental health services in the year after returning from deployment. Of these, 12% were diagnosed with a mental health problem. The findings have important implications for estimating the level of mental health services that may be needed in the military, Veterans Affairs, and civilian practice settings that care for returning veterans.

NATL: The racial gap seen in prostate cancer outcomes among older men is primarily due to differences in socioeconomic status. Lower socioeconomic status appeared to be one of the major barriers to achieving comparable outcomes for men with prostate carcinoma. The findings are based on analysis of data from 61,228 men, 65 years old or older, who were diagnosed with locoregional prostate cancer and were followed for up to 11 years. Men in the lowest quartile of socioeconomic status were 31% more likely to die that those in the highest quartile. The "marginally significant" survival advantage for white men compared with African American men disappeared after adjusting for socioeconomic factors.

NATL: Wal-Mart, facing fierce criticism over employee benefits, said it will open more than 50 in-store health clinics this year and make further changes to employee healthcare plans. CEO Scott will detail the healthcare changes in a speech this week, but he will call for government and business to work together to solve the problem of rising healthcare costs. "The soaring cost of healthcare in America cannot be sustained over the long term by any business that offers health benefits to its employees," Scott's speech says. [An employment based system is a hoax.] Scott will announce plans to allow part-time employees to enroll their children in the company's healthcare plan -something only full-time employees can do now - and cut the period of time that part-time workers must wait before becoming eligible for healthcare. They currently must wait two years.

KS: The state's largest health insurer plans to roll out an affordable insurance product for Kansas' uninsured. Kansas BCBS unveiled Value Blue, which will be available to Kansans who have not had a health plan in the past 12 months and whose annual gross household income is at or below 200 % of the US poverty level. Because of variables in risk pools, age, gender and health of people, the company is not disclosing price ranges of Value Blue. He says prices will be half of the premium prices Blue Cross charges for its next lowest-priced health insurance offering, Affordablue. Doctors, hospitals and other health care professionals participating in Value Blue will be reimbursed half of what they would normally get from Blue Cross for a covered service. Bailey says the company is financially healthy enough to absorb the costs of offering the program. [But did not comment on whether new plan will be driving more clinics out of business, nor does anyone know yet what charge will be to an indigent family for their coverage.]

EDIT: I am deeply concerned about health care crisis in our commonwealth. Costs are skyrocketing, making it very difficult for families that I know to afford health insurance. In addition, more and more employers are dropping coverage. We need a solution that will cover the 550,000 residents who are uninsured. Right now over 66 % of employers provide health insurance to their workers. These responsible businesses are paying extra through the $160 million uncompensated care pool surcharge that they are taxed to support their counterparts who don't provide insurance. An employer assessment on the irresponsible companies who don't provide health care coverage to their employees will level the playing field and provide a tax cut for responsible businesses that insure their workers. [If a state can't do this, then they certainly shouldn't pretend that we have a working system based on employment.]

TX: Texas ranked 21st nationwide for its support of the emergency medical care system, but still received a D+, in part because of its last-place ranking for the country's largest percentage of uninsured residents. Because Texas has the largest number of uninsured citizens of any state, they have a huge problem with uncompensated care provided in emergency departments and trauma centers.

EDIT: The decision by Maryland legislators to override Gov. Bob Ehrlich's veto of the so-called Wal-Mart Bill drags the state in the wrong direction, accordint to this business journal editorial. And the giant retailer shouldn't be the only business concerned about Maryland's legislation, which requires large corporations to spend 8 % of their payroll on health benefits or contribute to a state insurance fund. The AFL-CIO plans to bring its "Fair Share Health Care" campaign to 32 other states. The union contends Wal-Mart pays its employees so little that many can't afford health insurance and therefore must rely on taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs. Neil Trautwein, at the National Association of Manufacturers, called Maryland's law the first harbinger of greater government interference in what heretofore have been voluntary benefits. [Okay guys, if health coverage is not going to be based on employment than what are you proposing it be based on?]

CA: Sutter Health's new CEO has a plan for where the company wants to go, and plenty of distractions to take it sideways. Fry's been on the job for seven months and at Sutter for 25 years. He can fight hard if he has to, but he's got to keep his cool despite a lot of needling from a scrappy healthcare union that wants to organize the 42,000 workers who call him boss. He runs a 26-hospital system with $6.2 billion in annual revenue that's become, fairly or not, the poster child for high hospital prices. Sutter faces a class action in Sacramento County Superior Court that alleges Sutter overbills poor people and the uninsured. Debate escalates over how much charity care nonprofit hospitals do, and over how they bill patients who pay their own way. The number of poor and uninsured using emergency rooms for primary healthcare climbs.

OH: About half of Tri-State emergency room visits, and 15% of inpatient stays, could have been prevented with timely treatment by a primary care doctor [how much money would this have saved the region?]. The survey found that 47 % of ER visits and 15 % of inpatient hospital stays could have been prevented. Ambulatory care is less expensive and less invasive and intensive than being in the ER or ... hospital. The uninsured made up only 22 % of preventable ER visits and 6 % of preventable inpatient stays, although poverty is likely to be an important factor. Other factors in our system are discouraging low-income people from getting timely care also.

CO: Democratic lawmakers are setting the stage for a heated -- and potentially expensive -- campaign this fall, when they plan to ask voters whether Colorado should save money by joining other states in a prescription drug-buying pool for Medicaid. Insurance broker Bill Lindsay, said when large companies go to buy pharmaceuticals, they are very thoughtful about what's included in the formulary -- asking, for example, should generics be required or optional. That's why the business community is breaking ranks with its usual allies: large companies -- in this case, the pharmaceutical industry. Groups such as the chamber say public health spending must be reigned in if health care is going to become more affordable. Medicaid, a health plan for the poor, is funded by state and federal governments. It spent more than $34 BIL on prescription drugs nationwide in 2003.

MD: The Maryland Chamber of Commerce says The so-called Wal-Mart bill does nothing to increase the availability of health insurance in Maryland. The state is home to 150,000 businesses. The General Assembly has passed a discriminatory bill that would tax one large company based on its level of health care spending. Since most of the uninsured work for small businesses, wouldn't it make more sense to help small businesses offer health insurance, rather than penalize one company that already provides such benefits? It's time our legislators focus on real reforms that will help small employers. [And admit that employer-basing of health care is a hoax.]

NM: The American College of Emergency Physicians has released its "National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine" and in it, New Mexico ranks 43rd in the nation for its poor support of an emergency medical care system. The state received a D+ for its high number of uninsured residents and its poor spending on health care, including public financing of health insurance. The state ranked 47th among states for a lack of nurses and in its supply of staffed hospital beds, two health care elements seen as being interconnected. These problems contribute to emergency department overcrowding by forcing admitted emergency patients to wait hours and sometimes days until an inpatient bed becomes available. This shrinks emergency department capacity, jeopardizes patient safety and forces everyone to wait longer for treatment.

PA: The Pennsylvania Treasury Department is investing $50 MIL in a program it is launching to help hospitals secure low-cost financing for expansion projects and high-tech equipment purchases. The Hospital Enhancement Loan Program, or HELP, is designed to group hospital projects together into one simultaneous bond issuance. Medical centers will benefit through shared upfront bond costs and bank fees. The program is also expected to save hospitals preparation time through the use of standardized documents. The thin to nonexistent operating margins of our hospitals, especially those in urban and rural areas, make it extremely difficult to denote funds to replace outmoded facilities and purchase new technology needed to provide top-flight care. This is especially true for nonprofit hospitals that do not have access to the capital markets and have as their mission providing care to all, regardless of wealth. [So government admits that market won't allow for steady normal capitalization? But let's not talk about all PA residents having access to facilities, right? Low-income folks pay the highest percentage of gross income as taxes by far, but they often lack access to facilities they are bailing out.]

TX: The Texas Medical Association has called into question the concept of these in-store clinics, like the one Houston-based InterFit Health is opening in San Antonio. Most of these clinics rely on nurse practitioners to see patients and perform a limited scope of screenings or treatments. InterFit's first San Antonio RediClinic, for example, will rely on nurse practitioners who will work under "collaborating agreements" with local physicians to treat patients with a limited range of common, non-emergency medical conditions. Those physicians, according to InterFit officials, are on-site at least 20 % of the time and are on call at all times. TMA officials say there is a serious concern among physicians that the proliferation of these clinics could place an emphasis on convenience over quality care. Clinics' medical personnel may lack the knowledge of a patient's medical history. Golinkin says some of the patients these clinics are seeing would go without health care otherwise. He says more than 50 % of the patients RediClinics have seen do not have a primary care physician and more than 40 % have no health insurance.

CA: Among the people feeling post-holiday blues are some of those who provide mental health services. It's a low-margin business, often the last department in a hospital to get new resources and the first to see cuts. If occupancy rates are up in California acute-care mental health facilities, it's only because there are fewer beds to occupy. That can put a strain on other parts of the healthcare system, with psychiatric patients arriving in the emergency room -- the most expensive avenue for care -- and occupying beds for which the hospital is unlikely to receive full payment. In the past 10 months the state has lost more than 300 beds for inpatient mental health, leaving the total somewhere between 4,000 and 4,300, not counting county-run centers. As recently as 2003 the state had 5,000 beds. Mental health facilities tend to be an easy target. When you look at it from a pure business perspective, the margins are very small.

NATL: GW Bush was asked this week how Medicare D was going to fix anything. Verbatim reply, from the Prez: "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."

NATL: A new study estimated how out-of-pocket drug costs could change for vulnerable populations (racial and ethnic minorities, the near-poor, and seniors with a greater burden of chronic conditions) who qualify for the standard Medicare drug benefit. Although the new benefit might be associated with modest-to-moderate declines in out-of-pocket spending for seniors who do not qualify for subsidies, the savings might not be shared equitably and therefore might not reduce financial barriers to medication use for the at-risk populations. Blacks and Hispanics will have significantly lower savings compared with whites among seniors who do not now have employer coverage. This is of concern, considering, for example, the high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in these communities diseases for which medication adherence is critical and costly.

NATL: Voluntary enrollment for the new Medicare drug benefit is growing faster than expected. The Medicare Rights Center said about 20 states have stepped in to pay for medications for patients who had trouble using the new benefit. Some states have declared public health emergencies to allow use of state funds, saying Medicare's errors left many patients without life-saving drugs. In most cases, those who were automatically enrolled from Medicaid, the joint federal-state program for low-income Americans, or who switched plans at the last minute were told they were not signed up or enrolled under a certain plan.

NATL: Thousands of poor elderly and disabled Americans have been unable to obtain their medications under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, 45 consumer groups charged. The groups cited a list of problems low-income beneficiaries have faced when trying to use the coverage. Low-income beneficiaries previously received their medicines through Medicaid, the nation's insurance program for the poor, but were supposed to be automatically enrolled into the new benefit under Medicare, which covers older or disabled people. Some were not enrolled at all, while others were charged unnecessary fees. Some patients also were asked to pay up front or were not found in the computer system. In some cases, patients were left without drugs to treat serious and chronic conditions. Agency officials said the program was off to a strong start, with about 6.2 million so-called dual eligibles enrolled.

NATL: A US avian flu pandemic on the scale of one that took place in 1918 could take the lives of an estimated 1.9 million people and cost the life insurance industry $133 billion in extra death claims. A moderate influenza outbreak, based on similar events in 1957 and 1968, could cause 209,000 deaths, compared with a typical year when 36,000 Americans die from the flu. The moderate outbreak scenario could cost the life insurance industry $31 billion in extra death claims.

NATL: Older adult residents of low-income neighborhoods are less likely to respond to antidepressant treatments and more likely to be suicidal than those living in higher income neighborhoods. New research assessed the relationship between the socioeconomic status of subjects, determined by census data on median annual household income in their residential area, educational attainment, and treatment response. The median times to response were 9.1, 7.0, and 7.4 weeks among patients living in low-, middle-, and high-income areas, respectively. Middle-income residents were significantly more likely to respond to antidepressant treatment than low-income residents. "This is a small, preliminary study, but it does suggest that the social worlds in which people live influence the effectiveness of antidepressant treatments even in the context of clinical trials in which all participants receive the same high quality care," Dr. Cohen. [Disparities in care are complex. All the more reason to raise the health care standards for everyone. Surprising that there are other conditions of life in low-income neighborhoods which exacerbate tendency for depression?]

NATL: Growth in US health-care spending slowed in 2004 as patients and health insurers switched to cheaper generic and over-the-counter medications. Spending on doctor visits, hospital stays, and drugs, among other health needs, grew another 7.9 % after an 8.2 % increase in 2003. Total spending reached $1.87 TRIL in 2004, or about $6,280 per person, nearly doubling in a decade. Health care also comprised 16 % of the nation's gross domestic product in 2004, holding steady from 15.9 % in 2003.

NATL: While health care quality has improved modestly for most minorities in the US, for Hispanics, the disparities have actually increased for both quality of care and access to care. Hispanics are less likely to receive optimal diabetes care and to have access to a usual source of care. Hispanics are less likely to have health insurance than other groups, and they're more likely work for employers that do not provide that coverage.

NATL: A survey of diabetics attending a clinic for the indigent shows a remarkably consistent distrust of the medical system. Trust in the medical care system was significantly correlated with perceived control and quality of life -- more trusting patients felt more in control of their diabetes and reported better physical and mental health. The researchers note that they did not collect information on potential mediators of medical trust such as patient-provider communication. From Diabetes Care 2006;29:131-132

INTL: Britain's new opposition Conservative leader David Cameron promised as part of his overhaul of the party's image, to keep the National Health Service free to all. In a speech in London, he said he would drop his party's controversial May 2005 election promise to offer cash to people wanting to use private medicine to avoid waiting for state-funded NHS treatment. "We're proud of the NHS and we're optimistic about its future," he said. "Instead of helping a few to leave the NHS and go private, we want the private sector to come and help improve the NHS for everyone." [Even conservatives within our greatest ally won't follow our crazy example, not even if they campaign on it.]

NATL: Recent former Gov. Kitzhaber acknowledges that Oregon and the USA are facing a financial crisis in which the soaring cost of medical care threatens to run the country into the ground. And he envisions a way to prevent this: Force Congress to act by using Oregon as the proving ground for a health insurance system that covers everybody regardless of income or category, just as the public school system exists to serve everybody for 12 years. The idea is simple: Use public funds already being spent on health care to provide a basic health care system for everybody. [After all just these public funds on health care are generally equivalent to the cost in all other OECD countries of insuring their entire populations. That's right Everybody In, Nobody Out.] Corvallis Gazette-Times Jan 9 2006

Want to continue browsing the news archive? CLICK HERE

    About subscribing to these free news headlines.  CLICK HERE.  You can SEARCH news articles by keyword  CLICK HERE.

How we gather news headlines and what we are trying to accomplish  CLICK   Here.