In the chart below, I’ve plotted IHE (Ishares Dow Jones Pharmaceuticals ETF), IHF (Ishares Health Care Providers), and IHI (Ishares Medical Devices), with SPY (S&P depository trust) included for comparison purposes. I’ve also included vertical lines marking various landmarks in the road to healthcare reform (left to right): May 11, healthcare industry players meet with Obama; June 8, Senate HELP committee releases initial draft bill; June 23, Obama presser on healthcare; July 22, Obama prime time presser on healthcare; July 31, Congress recesses to go home and get yelled at by constituents; November 19, Reid unveils bill in Senate; December 24, Senate passes healthcare bill. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, money, politics & government by Dooley Womack
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Dramatis Personae
Barack Obama, President of the United States
Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House

OBAMA: Guys, what’s this I hear about you conferencing my health care bill in secret?

REID: Well, Mr. President, like they say, legislation of this type is a lot like sausage. It’s better if the people don’t know how it’s made.

OBAMA: But I promised during the campaign that all negotiations surrounding this bill would be public. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Colin Cohen
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It’s a contentious time in America. Between fighting over health care, over terrorists and TSA regulations, and dealing with standard-issue holiday stress, we all seem to be teetering on our last nerves. So for my debut column at When Falls the Coliseum, I’ve decided to start 2010 on an uncontroversial note and champion a cause we all can get behind. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, science by Matt Feltz
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It was during the first hour of 2010 that I resolved to visit my friend Monty Gelstein in the hospital as often as possible. He won’t know I’m there, but I will. And hopefully that good karma will assuage the guilt I feel for putting him there in the first place. I’d never administered electroshock therapy and should have practiced a bit before treating my best friend. [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, health & medical by David A. Brensilver
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I was posed a question by the reader wjv in an earlier thread, asking me if I could work some of my ideas on the nature of government, and the freedoms of individuals and groups, into a few thoughts on health care.  I must admit that I find it interesting that anyone would care what I think about it, but it was a great question/suggestion, and provided quite a bit of food for thought as I wandered the crisp, breezy woods yesterday afternoon.

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Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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We’ve been dealing with health care reform for the better part of a year now, and progress today is still as iffy as it was before the “Summer of Angry Town Halls”.  The Senate is debating amendments and provisions, jockeying for votes, and trying to keep together the fragile coalition which allowed for debate on the Senate floor to occur.  The average American, having long ago made up their mind, is probably becoming tired of the same speeches, the same talking points, and the intolerable actions of Congress people on both sides of the aisle.

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Tags: damned lies, health & medical, politics & government by Mike McGowan
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Many unprogressives stubbornly insist that the health care reform legislation making its way through Congress will do little or nothing to provide coverage for the estimated 46 million people in America without health insurance. But these deniers and haters have simply failed to recognize the mechanism that will surely provide coverage for all; that is, the provision that will mandate, under penalty of law, that all individuals purchase insurance. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Colin Cohen
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Organic farmers are in crisis. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to convert their conventional farms to organic in the past few years, they are now faced with the shrinking organic market and a mountain of debt. The middle class are looking for ways to cut expenses as they deal with job loss or job insecurity, and forgoing organic products has been an easy way to save a few dollars. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, recipes & food by Jessica Alfreds
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If you would have asked me just a few months ago if the healthcare system in this country needed fixing, my immediate answer would have been, “hell yes.” Like most Americans, I hated high deductibles, costly procedures, tiresome claims, ambiguous benefits, dysfunctional emergency rooms, etc, etc. Unlike most Americans, I had a chronic condition, so for me the madness was amplified. But now there is a president and congress committed to helping. So why am I not excited? [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Robert O'Hara
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At least 60% of Americans have a Vitamin D deficiency. As we avoid the sun more and more for fear of developing skin cancer, we may be creating an even bigger problem. Vitamin D is absolutely essential for our bodies and 15-45 minutes of direct sunlight each day is the best way to get it (the darker your skin, the more time you will need in the sun).

When an adult does not get enough D they can experience the following: aches and pains, lowered immunity to disease, bone softening, increased rates of cancer (especially breast, prostate, and colon cancers), heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and high blood pressure. Men, age 40-70, with low levels of Vitamin D have a significantly higher risk of heart attack than men of the same age group with normal D levels.

[Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, health & medical, race & culture by Jessica Alfreds
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The latest iteration of the proposed healthcare bill, the one being championed by Montana Senator Seiman Baucus (recipient of over $4 million in healthcare lobbyists’ money), ignores the President’s promise that he would not levy taxes on those who were not rich. It also ignores the promise the President made to negotiate the healthcare changes on C-Span but since he ignored the promise to make his campaign financing transparent, we really didn’t expect him to keep his word.

Part of the Baucus plan is to create new taxes for medical devices based on the three categories created by the FDA. The categories break down medical devices into those that present minimal potential for harm to the user (Class I), those for which general controls alone are insufficient to assure safety and effectiveness (Class II) and devices where insufficient information exists to assure safety and effectiveness solely through the general or special controls (Class III). [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, health & medical, politics & government by David "Preacher" Slocum
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Certain words in the English language make me cringe. There is one in particular that I have never liked, even before I had a child. Now that I have one, I really don’t want to hear this word. It’s not the “F” word. It’s the fucking “A” word. Autism. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, health & medical by Nancy DeGregorio
3 Comments »

Last night, my husband and I had the following dinner-time conversation:

Husband: A few people in my office have swine flu.

Me: (choking) What? How do you know they have swine flu? Were they tested for it?

Husband: Their doctors told them they had swine flu. Doctors aren’t testing patients for it anymore.

Me: Then how are they sure it’s swine flu? [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical by Nancy DeGregorio
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In one of the uncountable number of healthcare articles to come out over the last three months it seems President Obama is going to try and “reset” the debate. Apparently the 44th President has not heard of the laws of physics: an object at rest wants to stay at rest. As much as I’d like to see any piece of legislation on this topic make it out of the crib, I think the reset tactic is flawed. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Steve Mazzeo
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10. If you plan to get sick, you must give the government at least three months notice.

9. To pay for it, taxes will be raised only on those earning more than $250 per year.

8. All cigarettes will be banned, except Newport 100s (Obama’s brand).

7. Our new Secretary of Health and Human Services: Michael Moore.

6. We will not pass the cost of this plan on to our children, or to our children’s children; it will be paid for by their children.

5. Prostate exams will be made more comfortable, via candlelight and romantic music.

4. Once healthcare rationing begins, registered Democrats get first dibs.

3. Coming soon to every mall in America: free abortion kiosks.

2. In early spring, all the elderly will be rounded up and placed on ice floes.

1. The plan won’t cover people born in foreign countries — Obama included.
 

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, health & medical, politics & government by Bob Sullivan
1 Comment »

Strange visions can come to us late in the night. Yesterday I beheld a TV commercial that was so bizarre it felt like a dream.  The scene was as follows: a woman was travelling on the moving walkway in an airport, looking robust, cheerful and confident — rather like the heroine of a Soviet propaganda film. She passed under an image of her own face when suddenly another woman ran up to her and declared:

WOMAN: You’re the colon lady!

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Tags: health & medical, television by Daniel Kalder
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Confronted with a dilemma that begs for remedying, the instructive aphorism goes: get to the root of the problem. This cliche adage of deracination implies that the most efficient way to correct any issue is not to pluck minor branches or leaves, but to uproot the plant all together — to not treat the ailments, but the sickness itself.

There is a word that categorizes this philosophical bent toward problem-solving. It’s called radicalism, and the word’s connotations have undergone a transformation during it’s timeline of etymology. When spoken, it is often thought of as a brazen and irreverent worldview that aims to pick-apart orthodoxy whenever possible — just because it can. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, politics & government by Nathan Cushing
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The other day my husband took our 3-year-old son to a water park. Most people, when they go to water parks, leave their electronic devices in some kind of locker. My husband decided to take his with him as they walked through the park. At one of the “rides” where the little kids run around in the water my husband tried to get in front of our son to take a picture with his cell phone and he fell. He was fine; his phone submerged. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, health & medical by Amy Boshnack
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As a child of the 80’s, I’m a great fan of Michael Jackson’s music. Whenever I hear “Thriller” or “Billie Jean”, I still crank up the volume. He was just a brilliant musician, and his music resonates with millions of people. However, I’ve never been too keen on Michael Jackson as a person. The plastic surgery was odd enough, but the sleepovers at Neverland Ranch and sips of “Jesus juice” were beyond creepy. Still, it’s shocking and sad when someone passes so suddenly. [Read more →]

Tags: health & medical, music by Nancy DeGregorio
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Leaving home for work in the mornings, I found I was occasionally leaving something behind. My train pass. My ID badge. My keys, sunglasses, phone, wallet. So I made a list on my phone which I check every now and then — not every day, mind you, but on those days when I have that nagging feeling I must be forgetting something. [Read more →]

Tags: getting older, health & medical by Mark Guerin
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