Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Haslam Medicaid Plan Halted in Tennessee by Koch Brothers

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Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam stalled and waffled for two years while trying to come up with a way to expand Medicaid in Tennessee without starting a Tea Party frenzy. Last year it was obvious that the ill-fated TennCare wasn't working, but he waited until after the November elections to bring up his new plan "Insure Tenn." There was even a hint of optimism in the air last week, as hospital officials, doctors, nurses, the the disabled came to Nashville to testify before the Legislature that insuring the poorest of the poor would be good for everyone.

Coalition for a Healthy Tennessee has a great webpage on Who Falls Into the Tennessee Medicaid Gap

But they were outnumbered by loonies, including a crazy lay-preacher from Dayton, Tennessee - of Scopes Monkey Trial fame - to pray against Medicaid because it's just big government trying to oppress sick people. Just embarrassing and sad.










And another group showed up - Americans For Prosperity - goons backed by the Koch Brothers, sent to remind the Tennessee GOP where it's money comes from. Thus the Insure TN plan was doomed, and never got out of committee for a vote.

From NBC News
NASHVILLE-In December, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, got the deal he wanted from the Obama administration: Tennessee would accept more than $1 billion in federal funding to expand Medicaid, as allowed for in the Affordable Care Act, but Obama aides would allow Haslam to essentially write staunchly conservative ideas into the program's rules for the state. He dubbed the reformed Medicaid program "Insure Tennessee."

But the state's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative group whose foundation is chaired by controversial billionaire David Koch, argued Haslam was just trying to trick conservatives into implementing Obamacare in their state by giving it a new name. AFP campaigned aggressively Haslam's plans for the next six weeks, even running radio ads blasting GOP state legislators who said they might vote for it.

. . . When the legislators walked into a hearing Tuesday morning to debate the measure, they looked out from the dais to a room packed with more than 100 people wearing red "Americans for Prosperity" t-shirts. Some of the activists had traveled on an AFP-chartered bus from Knoxville, more than two hours away, to pack the hearing well in advance of its 9:00 AM start time. . . . The sea of red crowded out representatives of the Tennessee Hospital Association, one of the big advocates of the Medicaid expansion, who were left to stand in the back or unable to get into the room at all.



From MSNBC
And what did the AFP activists have to say for themselves?
“I’m skeptical of government-run programs,” said Louis Stans, a retired engineer who was part of the AFP group. Medicare, Stans said, was “better” and he had “paid into it my whole life.”
Those two sentences tell us a great deal about the state of the debate. Here’s a retiree who doesn’t like government-run programs, instead preferring a government-run program. In other words, an AFP activist traveled to the state capitol to condemn a conservative version of Medicaid expansion, because what he really wants is a socialized system like Medicare.
Levi Russell, a national spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity, told NBC News, “I would hope other governors look at Tennessee as an example.”

And just like the government-paid goons in our national Congress who keep trying to "Repeal Obamacare," the Republicans in Tennessee have no other plan for the poor except to bill the hospitals. They got nothing.

However, Gov. Haslam, to his credit, isn't dropping the subject. He mentioned coverage for the poorest citizens in his State of the State Address. This may seem like lip service, but I actually think he means it. Whether he can persuade the Tea Party to actually vote for something that will help the state is debatable. They'd rather talk about Guns and the Bible.

From the Nashville Banner
“Last week, the decision was made not to move forward with Insure Tennessee. However, that does not mean the issues around health care go away. Too many Tennesseans are still not getting health coverage they need in the right way, in the right place, at the right time,” Haslam said in his address to top lawmakers.
“Last week, I talked about coming here not just to make a point but to make a difference. It’s about looking for answers, not just having an agenda. With great power comes great responsibility. So, though the special session has ended, I hope we can find a way to work together to address those problems,” he said.
















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Monday, February 2, 2015

Chris Christie and Rand Paul Want "Measure of Choice" for Vaccinations ~ Updated

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Previous Related Post:
Measles Epidemic Pits Anti-Vaxx Parents Against Public Health

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Presidential hopefuls Chris Christie and Rand Paul have decided that raising money for their 2016 campaigns is more important than the health of children everywhere. Both are pandering to the Anti-Vaxx movement, saying that vaccinating your kids should be a "choice" and not a mandate from the government. This is an epic fail on their parts, and completely irresponsible!

But what do they care about the public good? They only want to be President of the United States, right?

In order to get elected, these guys have to be seen as the "Anti-Obama," and the President is pro-Vaccination (because he is also pro-science and has a brain).





It's bad enough that Rand Paul's father, perpetual candidate Ron Paul, is a medical doctor, and Rand Paul himself is some type of doctor. But Chris Christie is worse, since he recently had an Ebola patient quarantined and basically held at house arrest in New Jersey, but for kids who get measles from the unvaccinated - you're on your own, kids!

UPDATE: The Nurse who was quarantined by Chris Christie for Ebola had some words for him:

"I think this is a good example of Gov. Christie's making some very ill-informed statements. We heard it a lot during the Ebola discussion, and now it seems to have happened again," Maine medic Kaci Hickox said in an interview that aired Monday night on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes."
. . . "I think the unfortunate thing or the scary thing is that I want a leader who consults experts and thinks about sort of all of the different sides to an issue before making statements and — and policies that are unfounded in science," she said.



They are both being intellectually dishonest about their true beliefs. Notice they both used the phrase "measure of choice," which tells me that this is probably a GOP talking point and not something they actually wanted to say. They are pandering to the base.

From Guardian UK
Christie, who is considered a leading presidential candidate, told press during his visit to the UK that parents should have “some measure of choice” in the decision to vaccinate their children.
“It’s more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official,” said Christie. “I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So that’s the balance that the government has to decide.”
Within hours, Christie’s office had sent a clarification. “The governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated,” wrote a representative. “At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate.”

From The Hill
Paul was asked to weigh in on vaccines, after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a likely rival for the GOP nomination in 2016, said Monday morning that there should be "some measure of choice" for parents leery of vaccinating their children.

"I'm not anti-vaccine at all, but most of them ought to be voluntary," Paul, an ophthalmologist, said Monday on the "Laura Ingraham Show," in a segment circulated by the Democratic National Committee along with criticism of Paul's views.

Paul added a shot at potential presidential primary rival former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who made an HPV vaccine mandatory in his state before later calling it a "mistake."

"I think there are times where there can be some rules, but for the most part it ought to be voluntary and the biggest one is — I don't know if you remember when Governor Perry made it mandatory to get, for a sexually transmitted disease, to have everybody have to take it," Paul said. "While I think it's a good idea to take the vaccine, I think that's a personal decision for individuals to take and when they take it."































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Measles Epidemic Pits Anti-Vaxx Parents Against Public Health

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No parent enjoys taking their infants and toddlers in for vaccinations. My husband hates needles, which meant that I was the one who always had to take our kids to the health department for shots against Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) or Diptheria(whooping cough) and Tetanus (DpTt) shots. I would go in with a happy smiling baby, come out with a screaming, cranky baby who would then run a fever for several days as the antibodies from the shots built up immunity in the blood.

No parent enjoys taking a little lamb in for shots, but I always reminded myself that children once died from things like Measles and Whooping Cough. Vaccines are a miracle. The kids in the U.S. are lucky to have nearly free vaccines for the asking.

Except when parents don't ask and don't care, and don't take the steps to get their children vaccinated. And when there's an actual "Anti-Vaxx" movement, then many more children are at risk. And now it is causing a dangerous epidemic that started, of all places, in Disneyland!

From Time Magazine
Somewhere in Orange County, Mary Poppins and Ariel the mermaid may be running a fever. The same could be true for her coworkers—any of the other 23,000 people (OK, or characters) who punch in for work at Disneyland every day. And the same could be true too for any one of the estimated 16 million people who will pour into the theme park this year.

The reason? Measles. The cause? This may not come entirely as a surprise: the anti-vaccine crowd.

. . . The outbreak has spread to five other states—which is to be expected when the place that is ground zero for any infection attracts visitors from all over the world. Of the first 20 Disneyland victims, 15 were unvaccinated. Concern about the infections has gotten so great that California State epidemiologist Gil Chavez warned the public that anyone who has not had the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine should avoid all California theme parks “for the time being.”



Schools were once the frontline against epidemics, either becoming makeshift clinics for vaccinations, or by insisting that parents have their children vaccinated before they could attend school. But thanks to the Anti-Vaxxers, some systems began to allow parents to opt-out of the requirement for religious or personal reasons. In politically red states, the Anti-Vaxx movement has been helped along by a GOP that appears to hate any type of mass health care, and who like to pander to far-right Libertarians and Homeschool parents.





How did the Anti-Vaxx movement get started? Mostly because there are "clusters" of autistic children around the country and no one has proven scientifically why that is happening. One scientist decided to "prove" that it was the vaccination mixtures causing autism. And since autism remains vastly more frightening to parents who have never actually seen what measles can do to child, they bought the idea hook, line and sinker.



From Forbes
...The wave began with a 1998 paper published in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield, claiming that the MMR vaccine was linked to autism. Wakefield’s work was later shown to be fraudulent, and his claims about the vaccine “dishonest and irresponsible.” After lengthy investigations, the paper was retracted and Wakefield lost his medical license. Despite this very public repudiation, Wakefield has stuck to his claims, though, and has spent much of the past 15 years speaking (or perhaps “preaching” would be a better term) to anti-vaccine groups, to whom he is a kind of folk hero.
It’s not just Wakefield, though. Anti-vaccine messages have been broadcast aggressively by the group Generation Rescue, led by former Playboy playmate and MTV host Jenny McCarthy, and by Age of Autism, a group dedicated to the proposition that vaccines cause autism. (Age of Autism is doing it again right now.) And just last summer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. published a new book further promoting the long-discredited claim that thimerosal causes autism.

Who are these parents?

From Washington Post
. . . the anti-vaccination movement is fueled by an over-privileged group of rich people grouped together who swear they won't put any chemicals in their kids (food or vaccines or whatever else), either because it's trendy to be all-natural or they don't understand or accept the science of vaccinations. Their science denying has been propelled further by celebrities, like Jenny McCarthy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and actress Mayim Bialik, who is also a neuroscientist and even plays one on TV.

Of the 34 patients in the current measles outbreak whose vaccination status is known, only five were fully vaccinated, according to the Los Angeles Times. And the worst of the outbreak is centered in Orange County, ground zero for the anti-vaccination movement that's put children at risk over junk science.
























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Friday, September 21, 2012

Mitt Gets a Doctor's Note for Gym ... wait, President of U.S.


Doctor

Complete Doctor's Note on Official Site

In a note from one Dr. Randall D. Gaz of Massachusetts General Hospital, Mitt Romney is described as “a vigorous man who takes excellent care of his physical health.” Additionally, Romney is “a healthy appearing, energetic, strong, physically fit male.” He eats a lot of fiber and is allergic to penicillin. Note that no where in this letter does his doctor explicitly characterize Romney as a human being. Curious.
~ Juli Weiner on Vanity Fair


The Atlantic Tumblr ~ Doctor's Note as a Poem
“A Vigorous Man”: A Poem Composed of Excerpts From Mitt Romney’s Doctor’s Note
He has reserves of strength,
The ability to meet unexpected demands,
No physical impairments,
The next President of the United States.
Slow,
         resting,
                     regular heart rate
Rigorous and demanding,
Intensive exercise with regular running,
Close observation of the prostate,
Leadership skills.
He is a vigorous man.
[Arranged by James Hamblin]

























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