New WhatIf Content on Veterans Care, Resources
April 24, 2008
The newest piece on our website explores the crossroads of two of the most important policy issues to Americans:
Health care and the War.
As of April 2008, 1.6 million U.S. troops have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Whatever your stand on the war or on health care, true patriots would give our men and women who suffer injury and trauma overseas the very best care when they return home.
You may be surprised, however, to learn they are not getting it.
Insurers Dropping Patients Should Think Twice
April 24, 2008
UPDATE:
On April 17, California’s Department of Managed Health Care announced the state’s most assertive stance yet on policy recission: that an independent arbiter will review and hold accountable the state’s 5 major insurers for its past 4 years of canceled policies. Thousands of people will have a chance to win back their coverage and be reimbursed by the insurers for outstanding medical bills if they were deemed to have had their coverage wrongly rescinded.
Originally posted March 17, 2008:
Get Active to Save Medicaid!
April 22, 2008
April 23 UPDATE:
Thanks to your support the bill passed! The final count was 349 in support and 62 against (20 didn’t vote). See how your Representative voted.
Also, read this Congressional report to see what was at stake: THE ADMINISTRATION’S MEDICAID REGULATIONS: State-By-State Impacts
Today, Tuesday, the House will vote on a bipartisan bill that would suspend harmful Medicaid regulations from being implemented – regulations that cut billions from Medicaid. Passing this bill would be a significant victory in our struggle to protect health care for our most vulnerable citizens.
The President has already threatened to veto.
Thank You for Smoking
April 14, 2008
People have been smoking tobacco for over a thousand years. Even a generation ago smoking was considered the norm. Now we know of its link to a variety of cancers and diseases, and many laws have been introduced at all levels of government to try to protect nonsmokers and smokers alike. The numbers of U.S. smokers are declining, but cigarette smoking is the still the single most preventable cause of untimely death in this country – claiming 400,000 Americans each year – 1 in every 5 deaths. Treating cancer cost $219 billion in 2007.
Have a Heart
April 9, 2008
Have you heard the flak that began early this year over the now infamous ad for the cholesterol drug Lipitor? In the world of marketing nothing beats celebrity.
In the view of Pfizer, apparently, nothing beats a celebrity doctor to convince folks that the science behind a medicine is sound. Thus began the 2-year ad campaign in 2006 in which the famous inventor Dr. Robert Jarvik touts what became the world’s best selling medication, Lipitor, with billions in sales. Except that, even though Robert Jarvik got his M.D. and created the artificial heart, he is not licensed to practice medicine. (He tells his side of the story here.)
“Is Inequality Making Us Sick?”
April 4, 2008
As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in America, the gap between the healthy and the unwell also widens. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data showing that life expectancy for the most affluent group of Americans exceeds that for the poorest Americans by nearly 4.5 years or 6% on average.
- Health gains for the poor are decades behind those for the wealthiest Americans, whose life expectancy in 1980 was higher than that of the most impoverished in 2000.
Dialysis Treatment – A Punch in the Kidneys
April 2, 2008
Here’s a fact that may surprise you: kidney failure is the one disease that you can get coverage for – from the Federal Government - no matter what.
For this reason, after 30 months of treatment by a private insurer, dialysis facilities bill Medicare regardless of whether the patient is over 65 or financially stable. For those with kidney failure (End Stage Renal Disease) due to diabetes or other causes, having a machine take over the complicated (and therefore expensive) task of cleaning their blood several times a week allows them to live.
-
Connect to WhatIfPost.com
