Them Scandals Some More
I DO mind that MY health care is at risk from a transparent smear and slur campaign, and nobody “responsible” in the so-called “liberal” media says a word.
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In The Sphere
Category Archives: Health Care
The Politics behind the Killing of Americans
Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) opposes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and vows to block the expansion of Medicaid in his state. At a news conference this past week, Perry, flanked by conservative senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, declared “Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration’s attempt to force us into the fool’s errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system.” About one-fourth of all Texans do not have health care coverage. According to an analysis by the Dallas Morning News, if Texas budgeted $15.6 billion over the next decade, it would receive more than $100 billion in federal Medicaid funds, allowing the state to cover about 1.5 million more residents, … Continue reading
Universal Neglect: A Failure to Protect Americans’ Health
I received a letter from a friend this past week. It was a letter he should never have had to write, yet did so out of desperation. He is 80 years old, living off occasional writings and Social Security. He has Medicare, but no dental insurance, and that’s the problem. He needs dental work. A lot of dental work. Some $10,000 worth of dental work. Many dental insurance plans for individuals are so expensive, and give relatively few benefits, that many dentists suggest the premiums just aren’t worth it. Without the dental work, my friend, like many people in the country, will suffer significant additional problems. Infection is one. Poor nutrition is another. There are even links to diabetes and … Continue reading
You Can’t Wash Away Fracking’s Effects
José Lara just wanted a job. A company working in the natural gas fields needed a man to power wash wastewater tanks. Clean off the debris. Make them shining again. And so José Lara became a power washer for the Rain for Rent Co. “The chemicals, the smell was so bad. Once I got out, I couldn’t stop throwing up. I couldn’t even talk,” Lara said in his deposition, translated from Spanish. The company that had hired him didn’t provide him a respirator or protective clothing. That’s not unusual in the natural gas fields. José Lara did his job until he no longer could work. At the age of 42, he died from pancreatic and liver cancer. Accidents, injuries, and … Continue reading
A Letter To The President
Dear Mr. President, The pomp and circumstance of your second inauguration is over, and the American people are ready to follow your lead, well then again maybe only 51% of us. Stay true to yourself, don’t allow the political tomfoolery of Washington DC deter you or hinder your resolve. The majority of America voted for you, not because of what we feared from a Mitt Romney presidency, it was because we believed in you. Mr. President we still believe in hope and change. We believe in the hope and change of an America where all people, no matter their race, creed, or sexual orientation have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We still believe in the … Continue reading
Obama Launches Gun-Violence Task Force
At a press conference this morning President Obama said “he would make gun control a “central issue” as he opens a second term” and he announced the formation of a special task force on gun violence, to be headed by Vice President Joe Biden. Obama’s announcement came as “House Republicans restated their firm opposition to enacting any new limits on firearms or ammunition, setting up the possibility of a philosophical clash over the Second Amendment early in Mr. Obama’s second term.” President Obama noted that the task force ”will formulate a package of policy recommendations by January.” The announcement came five days after the deadliest elementary school shooting in American history. “The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse … Continue reading
First Debate Falls Flat
Everyone is opining on last night’s presidential debate and I feel compelled to add my 2 cents. I didn’t have a sense that Romney won the debate as some claim, I felt as though the debate fell flat on many levels and was out of control on others. Jim Lehrer gave Romney the floor, continuously, and allowed him to run rough shot throughout the debate. Some folks may call that winning, I don’t. I call it stealing the show… or stealing the debate. The fact checkers have been busy all day checking the facts from the debate. Paul Krugman’s points about Romney’s fudging of the facts rang completely true to me: [...]the fact is that everything Obama said was basically … Continue reading
Senator Kerry’s Daughter Launches Nonprofit Volunteer Program to Solve Shortage of Medical Workers Abroad
Senator John Kerry’s daughter, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, a 35-year-old Massachusetts General Hospital physician, is launching a new non-profit program which “aims to improve health care, both in developing nations and in the U.S.” The new non-profit, called the “Global Health Service Partnership, will send doctors and nurses to work in developing countries and in return help pay off their hefty student loans.” Dr. Kerry has “partnered with the Peace Corps both for its name recognition and its institutional knowledge — it’s been sending workers abroad “in a sensitive, integrated way,” Kerry said, for 50 years.” The goal of the program, which is partnered with the Peace Corps, is to aid countries with severe shortages of health professionals. But, as NPR reported, … Continue reading
