skippy the bush kangaroo

diana moore learned the news through the neighborhood grapevine. her family's primary-care physician of seven years would no longer accept moore, her husband and daughter as patients - unless the family paid a $4,500 annual fee.

the physicians at charter internal medicine in columbia are overhauling the practice, ditching the insurance-dependent model and instead charging a flat yearly fee in exchange for the promise of 24-hour access to doctors, unhurried appointments, home visits and state-of-the-art annual physicals. - baltimore sun

Labels: doctors, healthcare, hospitals, public health

fixing the nation's health care system will take a radical solution, one that neither presidential candidate -- or congress -- is willing to make, according to sen. chuck hagel.

at a health care forum in lincoln with former sen. bob kerrey, hagel said the current candidates' proposals don't go far enough. - ketv7 omaha

"this is not a democratic problem," hagel said. "this is not a republican problem. this is an american problem. why can't we find some way together to do this?"

because health care is an american problem, hagel said it should be regulated by the federal government instead of at the state level. - kolnkgin.com

Labels: hagel, healthcare, public health

john mccain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to medicare and medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs. - wsj via dansac's orange satan diary

Labels: healthcare, medicare, public health, wall street

• 2001 - 2,974 people died in the attacks, september 11.
• 2006 - 3,100 californians died because of lack of health insurance.
• 2008 - california republican assemblymembers vote to make devastating cuts to the state healthcare system
• according to the institute of medicine, "lack of health insurance causes roughly 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the united states. - michael moore's sicko
• uninsured women are less likely to be diagnosed with early breast cancer than women who are privately insured. this disparity was greatest among white women, where almost 50 percent of those with private insurance were diagnosed with early-stage cancer, compared with fewer than 35 percent of uninsured white women. - u.s. news & world report
  

Labels: healthcare, public health, terrorists

california's budget impasse becomes the longest ever today, threatening to force the shutdown of many health care services across the state if a deal is not struck soon.

...without a budget, hospitals, clinics and homes for disabled residents that rely on state funds to operate will have lost as much as $5.4 billion in state funds by the end of this month. state payments for most of them ended in july.

many service providers, who gathered friday outside the capitol, said they've already received loans, maxed out their credit cards and even poured in personal funds to keep their centers open - and they are running out of time, money and options. - sfgate

oh, what the h**l throw the whole freakin' lot of them out of office.

Labels: budget, california, public health

when blue shield of california learned ana simoes needed emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder, the company okd the operation but also turned the case over to an investigative unit, according to corporate records disclosed wednesday.

a blue shield investigator scrutinized ana's medical records and compared them to the application she filled out for coverage, the investigator's notes show. ultimately, the investigator scribbled "unable to prove" in her notes, and then opened an investigation into ana's husband, augustine. this time, the investigator concluded the chino dairy farmer had left out an elevated cholesterol reading, and the omission was used to justify canceling the couple's coverage.

the cancellation was highlighted by los angeles city attorney rocky delgadillo as an example of the allegedly abusive practices at the heart of a lawsuit he filed wednesday against blue shield. the suit contends that blue shield has illegally canceled the coverage of more than 850 policyholders including people like the simoeses since 2002. - latte times

Labels: california, healthcare, los angeles, public health, two americas

doctors in naples have begun screening residents for deadly dioxins as fears grow that the city's rubbish crisis would unleash a "chemical bomb".

the mass blood tests started after hysteria gripped the city that the piles of festering rubbish in the streets would contaminate water and poison food.

as the rubbish crisis in the city entered its fourth week, more than 200,000 tons of refuse still lie uncollected.

...the panic has led to an open revolt from other parts of the country that have been asked to help naples.

..in sicily, locals threw rocks at a container ship of rubbish as it tried to dock. "we will not take any more," promised salvatore cuffaro, the regional governor.

...acerra, nine miles north-east of naples, where a new incinerator is about to open, is also within the so-called "triangle of death". an agricultural area, it is also home to a rubbish dump that is supposed to be shut, but is secretly in operation.

the number of birth defects in the area has risen by 83 per cent in the past decade. - the telegraph

Labels: environment, public health, trash

...the three cases aboard the comfort were the first of a stubborn outbreak that has spread to at least five other american military hospitals, including walter reed army medical center in washington and the army's landstuhl regional medical center in germany.

hundreds of patients - the military says it has not tabulated how many - have been infected with the bacterium in their bloodstream, cerebrospinal fluid, bones or lungs.

now...imagine the consequences to our society if people get sick but choose not to go see a doctor because they don't have insurance nor the money to pay for the visit or even have to wait for months and months to get into even see a doctor.

Labels: public health

perchlorate enforcement: state to begin to regulate toxin levels in drinking water. this month, for the first time, the state will begin regulating the amount of the toxin perchlorate in drinking water. - san bernardino county sun

Labels: environment, public health

nearly two dozen private hospitals in los angeles and orange counties, accounting for up to 15% of beds in the region, are in dire financial straits and in danger of bankruptcy or closure, according to hospital administrators, industry experts and state data.

the troublesome development follows the closure of community clinics and hospitals in recent years that has left the healthcare system seriously overburdened.

if even a few other hospitals close or reduce costly critical-care services, it could mean longer ambulance rides to hospitals, additional delays in emergency rooms and less access to care, especially for poor and uninsured people. - latte times

Labels: healthcare, public health

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Labels: food safety, public health, usda