FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog

Key Senate Republicans privately reviewed suggestions Thursday for raising the
Social Security retirement age while limiting future benefits for upper-wage earners, officials said, as they sought momentum for legislation atop President Bush’s second-term domestic agenda.

At the same time, the prospects for swift Senate action on the controversial measure appeared to dim during the day, the result of internal GOP disagreement as well as implacable Democratic opposition to Bush’s call for personal accounts under Social Security.

“I don’t look for it until later on in the fall,” said Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss.

Lott made his comments after he and other Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee attended a meeting where the panel’s chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), R-Iowa, outlined suggestions to achieve financial solvency for the Social Security program.

Grassley declined afterward to provide details, telling reporters he wanted to build “a consensus proposal” among Republicans on the panel.

Republican officials familiar with the presentation said it included a gradual increase in the retirement age, as well as steps to hold down the cost of benefits paid to upper-wage earners who retire in the future.

Well, Trent Lott and the other brain donors of the Senate, look at the poll results above.

This proposal will never fly without some privatization and McCain, Olympia Snow and the Lefties won’t even let you talk about those.

President Bush’s Social Security Plan is DEAD!

So, forget the whole process and let the next President deal with this issue and increasing taxes.

Bush is a lame duck with regards to Social Security so stop wasting your time and confirm more conservative judges.

Former presidential contender Howard Dean insisted he is focused on advancing his Democratic Party’s political agenda, despite a firestorm over his recent incendiary, anti-Republican comments:

He insisted Thursday the despite the flap, he is forging ahead with his efforts to reverse his party’s declining fortunes.

“I think a lot of (the controversy) is exactly what the Republicans want, and that’s a diversion,” he said.

Several member of his party have distanced themselves from Dean’s comments, and some have even called on him to apologize for the remarks.

But the leader of House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, saw Republican opportunism in the contretemps.

“The fact is that the Republicans are trying to make a lot of hay out of Governor Dean’s remarks because they are failing to meet the needs of the American people,” she said at a press conference.

“If Governor Dean were not being effective, they would not be going after him so strongly,” Pelosi said.

Yeah right!

Howard Dean is gone after Labor Day when Hillary and James Carville take over the Democrat party hierarchial structure.

Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader has already had enough!

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled today that prohibitions on private insurance are invalid since the public system has failed to deliver medical in a timely, reliable way and that Government bans on private health insurance have increased the risk to the life and health of Canadians:

The Court majority agreed with a challenge from a Quebec patient and doctor who argued that prohibiting private health insurance jeopardizes the well-being of people who desperately need treatment.

The ruling struck down Quebec laws that guarantee a virtual monopoly on medical services for the public health system, and it placed other, similar schemes in great doubt.

It looks like Canadians will finally have choice in their healthcare choices.

Viva La Free Market!

The evidence in this case shows that delays in the public health-care system are widespread, and that, in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote on behalf of Mr. Justice Jack Major and Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache.

”The evidence also demonstrates that the prohibition against private health insurance and its consequence of denying people vital health care result in physical and psychological suffering that meets a threshold test of seriousness.”

Chief Justice McLachlin said that experience of several other western democracies with public health-care systems is that allowing limited private care can provide benefits to the public.

Yes, a private healthcare system with vouchers for the truely indigent and disabled is the far better system than a socialized state controlled system.

The delays in the Canadian system are well known and the displacements widely documented.

This global track record ”refutes the government’s theory that a prohibition on private health insurance is connected to maintaining quality public health care,” she said.

Madam Justice Marie Deschamps – whose concurring reasons gave Chief Justice McLachlin the majority she needed – said: ”The evidence shows that, in the case of certain surgical procedures, the delays that are the necessary result of waiting lists increase the patient’s risk of mortality or the risk that his or her injuries will become irreparable.

Exactly, and Flap will post links to the written opinions as they become available.

Update #1

The New York Times has the story: Canadian Court Chips Away at National Health Care:

The Canadian Supreme Court struck down a Quebec law banning private medical insurance today, dealing an acute blow to the publicly financed national health care system.

The court stopped short of striking down the constitutionality of the country’s vaunted nationwide coverage, but legal experts said the ruling would open the door to a wave of lawsuits challenging the health care system in other provinces.

The system, providing Canadians with free doctor’s services that are paid for by taxes, has generally been supported by the public, and is broadly identified with the Canadian national character.

But in recent years, patients have been forced to wait longer for diagnostic tests and elective surgery, while the wealthy and well connected either seek care in the United States or use influence to jump ahead on waiting lists.

The court ruled that the waiting lists had become so long that they violated patients’ “liberty, safety and security” under the Quebec charter, which covers about one-quarter of Canada’s population.

Healthcare is only looking up for the many Canadians stuck in the back of the healthcare line.

Small Dead Animals has some good comments on Canadian Healthcare.

Outside the Beltway has their take here.

Thanks to www.brilliantsmiles.co.uk for the graphic.

Tooth whiteners that could enhance teeth’s natural healing ability may soon be available in over-the-counter gels and strips, according to a dental researcher who shared his team’s latest findings today at the American Dental Association’s national media conference.

According to Frederick Eichmiller, D.D.S., director of the American Dental Association’s Paffenbarger Research Center (PRC) in Gaithersburg, MD, PRC scientists have created a “white with might” whitening formula that contains tooth remineralization agents.

Dr. Eichmiller explained that whitening can often open naturally occurring pores within teeth. These open tooth pores can cause temporary sensitivity to air as well as hot and cold food and drinks, a common side effect from tooth whitening.

Sensitivity has long been a problem with teeth whitening. Patients often lose interest in the whitening process and dentists become hesitant to proceed - because it hurts! Some dentists have even prescribed anti-inflammatory steroids to reduce the intense pain - zingers.

Saliva contains minerals teeth need to heal themselves by closing these pores, but this process is slow. The “white with might” whitening formula replenishes essential minerals in teeth as it whitens, resulting in far fewer side effects for consumers.

“It’s like having your cake and eating it, too, when it comes to tooth whitening,’ Dr. Eichmiller stated, adding that laboratory and human clinical trials on this “white with might” technology substantiate the gel’s effectiveness. Currently, the whitening gel and the remineralization ingredients are stored separately and combined just before applying to teeth. Dr. Eichmiller said PRC scientists are working on combining the two into a single product which could then be used in over the counter strips and paint on tooth whiteners.

This is a significant development in teeth whitening.

And the development of over the counter materials will make white teeth a reality for even more patients.

However, caution will be urged and a consultation with a dentist before the start of this teeth whitening technique will be advised.

So much for the numerous commercial in-office and deep bleaching protocols.

Those deep bleaching protocols and techniques will soon be obsolete with these improved materials.