Archive for April, 2009
No, the Obama Administration will simply enter the medical marketplace and train more doctors.
Good luck with that.
Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president.
The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.
One proposal — to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists — has touched off a lobbying fight.
Family doctors and internists are pressing Congress for an increase in their Medicare payments. But medical specialists are lobbying against any change that would cut their reimbursements. Congress, the specialists say, should find additional money to pay for primary care and should not redistribute dollars among doctors — a difficult argument at a time of huge budget deficits.
Some of the proposed solutions, while advancing one of President Obama’s goals, could frustrate others. Increasing the supply of doctors, for example, would increase access to care but could make it more difficult to rein in costs.
Every socialized plan by the Obama Administration and every argument for universal care leads to the main question: Who is going to pay for this?
Unless you ration the care like the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, bureaucratize care and have government price controls, universal health care is simply too expensive for the government to provide. Even with that the NHS provides abysmal care with horror stories at least once a week in the U.K. press.
Now, the Obamacare advocates are worried about the number of primary care physicians. They might want to address the question as to how many doctors will continue to practice if they radically change the health care system in the United States?
Technorati Tags: Socialized Medicine, Obamacare
Tags: Obamacare, Socialized Medicine
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Posted by Flap in Swine Flu
There is NO panic but countries are rushing to contain the Swine Flu outbreak.
Governments including China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to put anyone with symptoms of the deadly virus under quarantine. Other governments were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright.
Many nations issued travel warnings for Mexico.
Australia said airlines would have to identify passengers who may be infected, who would then be assessed by quarantine officers and sent for medical treatment if necessary.
“Before flights will be able to land here in Australia, pilots will have to ascertain whether anyone on board has flu-like symptoms,” Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.
Tests were also under way on people with flu-like symptoms in Israel, France and Spain.
In the United States, at least 11 cases of swine flu have been confirmed. Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones said six cases had been confirmed there, and all had links to people who had traveled to Mexico.
In Singapore, the health ministry said it began using thermal scanners Sunday at Changi International Airport to check passengers arriving from the United States. Travelers with high temperatures would be given a thorough medical examination, it said.
Thermal scanners and upgraded checks for flu-like symptoms were also being put in place at main airports in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia.
Hong Kong and Taiwan said visitors returning from flu-affected areas with fevers would be quarantined.
China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival had to report to authorities.
A Russian health agency said passengers from North America running a fever would be quarantined until the cause is determined.
Many measures recalled those taken across Asia during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, epidemic and used more recently to monitor bird flu.
And, now Fox News is reporting that the United States State Department is FINALLY discouraging American travelers to Mexico.
Compared to the rest of the world, the United States seems to be slow to react to the outbreak.
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Swine Flu
Tags: Swine Flu
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Posted by Flap in Day By Day
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Well, Chris, that is another way to open the pickle jar but sort of self-defeating, no?
Use those synthetic rubber jar openers or a can opener to release the vacuum.
Works like a charm and plus, it saves ammunition.
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The Day By Day Archive
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Facebook Inc. is expected to announce significant plans to open up core parts of its sites — namely the information that appears in the stream of updates on users' homepages and profiles — to third-party developers so that they can build new services on top of it, people familiar with the matter say.
The announcement, expected Monday, means developers can build services that access the photos, videos, notes and comments users upload to Facebook, with users' permission. That's a big change for the social-networking site, which has exercised tight control over the look and feel of its service and how developers can interact with it.
Facebook isn't charging for the feature, instead hoping that developing new ways to access the information it houses will build user loyalty and get people to engage more often with the site, say people familiar with the matter.
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The Wall Street Journal is reporting Facebook will open up most if not all of their user-contributed data to developers at a developer event tomorrow. This has been long expected and will likely trigger a wave of third-party integration of Facebook streams with other popular feeds, most notably that of Twitter.
Should players such as Seesmic Desktop and FriendFeed roll out an integrated service, we will be a major step closer to a single stream of realtime events. This in turn will rapidly accelerate a convergence around micromessaging similar to the one around email when it achieved a critical mass following AOL’s opening up of the limited educational and government mail systems to average users.
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"There is a sense of rebellion brewing," said Katon Dawson, the outgoing South Carolina Republican Party chairman, who cited unexpectedly high attendance at anti-tax “tea parties†last week.
That same sense is detectable in New Hampshire, where Union Leader publisher Joseph McQuaid – a stalwart of the base – warned in a column last weekend that the push for same-sex marriage in the state legislature was really about “forcing society to embrace and give positive reinforcement to their lifestyle and agenda in our schools and in every other area of public life imaginable.â€
And it is perhaps most tangible in Iowa, where same-sex marriage will become the law this month in response to a state Supreme Court ruling. There, Republican activists and officials say the party is as resolute as ever, if not more so, on cultural issues – regardless of the soundings of some party elites.
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Russia suspended imports of all meat from Mexico and the U.S. states of Texas, California and Kansas shipped after April 21 on concern about the spread of swine flu, the country’s veterinary watchdog said.
The suspension also affects pork from Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Salvador, and the U.S. states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Florida, the watchdog added in a statement on its Web site today.
Swine flu, known as the H1N1 virus, originated in Mexico where it has been linked to as many as 81 deaths.
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The swine flu virus that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico may mutate into a "more dangerous" strain, the World Health Organisation has warned. Skip related content
"It's quite possible for this virus to evolve… when viruses evolve, clearly they can become more dangerous to people," said Keiji Fukuda, of the global health watchdog.
Mr Fukuda also called for international vigilance as health experts wait to see whether the virus will turn into a worldwide pandemic.
Over 1,300 people are now thought to have contracted the virulent H1N1 swine influenza after it mutated into a form that spreads from human to human.
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The United States is not testing airplane travelers from Mexico for the swine flu virus that has heightened fears of a possible pandemic, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Sunday.
"Right now we don't think the facts warrant more active testing or screening of passengers coming in from Mexico," she said at a White House briefing.
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Chris, I, also, wondered why Perez Hilton, a renown homosexual who loves to OUT fellow travelers of the gay persuasion was selected by Donald Trump’s organization to judge a female beauty pageant? Seems sort of perverted, if you know what I mean? I beleive there was another homosexual among the judges but believe me I didn’t check out who it was.
It is obvious that the Trump owned and run Miss USA Pageant is all about shocking the culture and generating marketing buzz. Trump validated that belief when he was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly last week.
But, is this surprising from Trump or NBC? After all poker player Annie Duke on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice was boasting that she was a complete woman because of her demonstrably superior fellatio capabilities.
Shocking and crude mark the Trump and NBC brand.
Kind of a shame for the Miss USA pageant and the young women who participate.
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The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Perez Hilton, Donald Trump, Annie Duke, NBC
Tags: Annie Duke, Donald Trump, NBC, Perez Hilton
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Andrew Sullivan seizes on a repackaging of yesterday's news to inform the world that the absence of proof equals the absence of evidence. Just for starters, this will surely simplify the global warming debate – since the IPCC is the first to admit that they cannot prove that humans are contributing to global warming, we can now apply Sully-Logic to conclude that there is no evidence of any human influence at all, and nothing to talk about. Andrew Sullivan, global warming denier – who knew?
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Tests show that eight students at a Queens high school are likely to have contracted the human swine flu virus that has struck Mexico and a small number of other people in the United States, health officials in New York City said yesterday.
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17. SARAH PALIN ON: "I WON" AND THE DEATH OF BIPARTISANSHIP
"Obama soared to victory on the hopeful promise of a new era of bipartisanship. During his inaugural address he even promised an 'end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.'
"Too bad it took all of three days for the promise to ring hollow.
"Start with Obama's big meeting with top congressional leaders on his signature legislation — the stimulus — on the Friday after his inauguration. Listening to Republican concerns about overspending was a nice gesture — until he shut down any hopes of real dialogue by crassly telling Republican leaders: 'I won.' Even the White House's leaking of the comment was a slap at the Republican leadership, who'd expected Obama to adhere to the custom of keeping private meetings with congressional leadership, well, private.
"It's only gone downhill from there. The stimulus included zero Republican
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The Alaska Governor comes in with a scathing attack on Obama's failure to embrace Republicans in the New York Post's "100 Days, 100 Mistakes" broadside at Obama:
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is an embarassment. So, if you display a Don’t Tread on Me Flag then you are a right-wing extremist who bears watching by law enforcement?
Do these folks at the April 15th National Tax Day Tea Party look like subversives or domestic terrorists?
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Janet Napolitano, Don’t Tread on Me
Tags: Day By Day, Don't Tread on Me, Janet Napolitano
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