Medical News Digest on the Politics of Health

Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

New Rules Thursday On Appealing Insurance Claims, States Take Lead In Health Reform Implementation (KHN)

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: ALL well and well intentionned maybe, but, quoting KHN:
“…Now, state and federal officials are wrestling with how to define “unreasonable” premium increases, a thorny issue Congress has handed regulators…”
Now the real discussions are coming, past the Obama PR….

MediNewsDigest:: This is the link to Politico about the power of the state insurance commisioners now.
state power, any republican happy? or just closed door wranglings…

Tags: careresourceguide, commissioners, Health Care reform, insurance rates, KHN, Obamacare, state
Posted in Health Care Law, Health Care reform, Uncategorized, coverage, insurance, politics | No Comments »

Medicare Portal : Medicare.gov Site Updates

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

MediNewsDigest: Update on useful site covering the whole gamut of Medicare help:
Dialysis Facility Compare May 20, 2010
Helpful Contacts June 23, 2010
Home Health Compare April 15, 2010
Hospital Compare March 18, 2010
Medicare Options Compare July 15, 2010
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder July 15, 2010
Nursing Home Compare June 23, 2010
Physician and Other Healthcare Professional Directory May 13, 2010
Supplier Directory
Click Here for link to the medicare portal. Worth checking out…
A note on the services covered partially or full: Medicare wants you to go through institutions, which is the costly,red tape/union ladden way, even if you could private contractors. This is particularly apparent in the Home Health where services

MediNewsDigest: The following list to caregiverlist show the extent of agencies’ overhead

Tags: careresourceguide, directory, homehealth, Medicare, Medicare.gov, MediNewsDigest, resource, site, Updates
Posted in HHS, Health Care reform, Homecare, Medicare, Uncategorized, care quality, caregivers, elderly, politics | No Comments »

The Euthanasia Drumbeat Gets Louder (AmericanThinker)

Monday, July 5th, 2010

MediNewsDigest: The hate of normative religions ( particularly the judeo-christian heritage) is embraced wholeheartedly by the left leaning, liberal thinking, academics of the west. The result is a society on it’s way to depravity. Such a society is getting ripe for the picking by ferocious zealots…

Tags: americanthinker, careresourceguide, depravity, Drumbeat, euthanasia, Louder, MediNewsDigest, religious fascism
Posted in Assisted Suicide, Eugenics, Medical Ethics, coma patients, politics, societal trends | No Comments »

Brain-Computer-Interface for Coma Patients and the new Ethical Issues

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: Our post in the Disease Management Blog presents new way to interface with the comatose. What this means is the ethical issues of tentative life vs. cost to society will become more accute and shrill. “scientific” opinions will be heavily biased toward politico/religious/atheistic backgrounds. At the Digest, we are fiercely on the side of the defenseless comatose, even if it will cost some people their lattes……
Life vs death is not the only issue, pain/anguish control in the patient also is…To add to the fray, the burnout rate of family or professionals is high. Complex isn’t it? Time to check your belief system..

Tags: brain, careresourceguide, coma, Computer, Ethical Issues, Interface, MediNewsDigest, new, Patients
Posted in Academia and Family, Eugenics, Health Care reform, Medical Ethics, care quality, coma patients, palliative care, politics, societal trends | No Comments »

Reproduction and public policy: disentangling morality from religion (sciencedirect)

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

MediNewsDigest:: Here we go, an article from “Reproductive BioMedicine Online”, published by a “respected” house, Elsevier, attacking Catholic Church dogma, or the belief system of any religion for that matter. The premice is that if you have a stethoscope around your neck that puts you in a position to attack priests, or rabbis, or..because your have acquired infinite wisdom. The presence of articles like this among genuine works of research is troubling…..

Tags: disentangling, MediNewsDigest, morality, public policy, Religion, Reproduction, ScienceDirect
Posted in Academia and Family, abortion, politics, societal trends | No Comments »

Medicare: “Extra Help with Prescription Drug Costs for Medicare Beneficiaries”

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

MediNewsDigest:
Great news! Charity from your families and friends is not considered income anymore by the Medicare administration! CLICK HERE for first Medicare link.

MediNewsDigest:
Here are the requisites to qualify:
“..To qualify,[for the Medicare's Low-Income Subsidy Program], Medicare beneficiaries’ incomes must be less than $16,245 a year (or $21,855 for married couples) and have resources limited to $12,510 (or $25,010 for married couples). Resources include bank accounts, stocks, and bonds, but do not include houses, cars, or life insurance policies…”
What’s wrong with this picture? Plenty, lower middle class gets no help at all, that is until they fall in the “poor” category…

Tags: benefits, careresourceguide, low income, Medicare, MediNewsDigest, middle class, program, subsidy
Posted in Medicare, Uncategorized, activism, benefits, elderly, middle class | No Comments »

Consumers Not Too Psyched About ‘Evidence-Based Health Care’ (WSJ)

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: what a surprise! Evidence-Based is the death knoll of innovative treatments and of Doctors right to think for themselves!

Tags: careresourceguide, Consumers, Evidence-Based, health care, MediNewsDigest, wsj
Posted in Health Care reform, Medicare, Uncategorized, activism, care quality, politics | No Comments »

Obamacare Results: “Two Tiered Medical Care for Haves and Have Nots” (KHN)

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

MediNewsDigest: To be expected, the wealthy will not suffer under Obamacare, only the middleclass will.

Tags: KHN, Medical Care, MediNewsDigest, Obamacare Results, Two Tiered, wealthy
Posted in activism, benefits, care quality, healthcare, insurance, middle class, politics | No Comments »

Schwarzenegger Preps ‘Terrible Cuts’ to Close Californian Deficit (bloomberg)

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

MediNewsDigest:
Quoting Bloomberg: “… In January, the governor said California may have to eliminate entire welfare programs, including the main one that provides cash and job assistance to families below the poverty line, without an influx of cash from the federal government…”
Not going to be pretty: Will the Californian middle class who are ill be pushed into poverty?
Remember the Democrats protect the Unions,the very poor, the social fringes and/or immigrants( legal or not). The Republicans are busy protecting Liberty and Business.
I suppose it leaves most of us without a champion…

Tags: Bloomberg, California, careresourceguide, cuts, deficit, Democrats, MediNewsDigest, Republicans, Schwarzenegger, SJCRG, terrible
Posted in HHS, Uncategorized, california, politics, societal trends, unions | No Comments »

Obama’s new health-care law could potentially add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending over the next 10 years (washington post,GAO)

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

SJCRG: Obamacare = Democrat’s political pork…..
(In political lingo, pork is money governement allocates to “special” interests such as unions, liberal social engineering, etc.)

Tags: $115 billion, at least, careresourceguide, GAO, government, health care, Health Care Law, MediNewsDigest, More, next 10 years, Obama's, potentially add, SJCRG, spending, washington post
Posted in Health Care reform, activism, middle class, politics, societal trends, unions | No Comments »