Posts Made By: david elosser

"Patients in Health Service hospitals are far more likely to go hungry than criminals in jail, scientists warned yesterday. They say frail and elderly patients do not get the help they need with meals, and nobody checks whether they get enough to eat. Despite years of Government promises to tackle poor hospital nutrition, food still arrives cold, and patients often miss out because meal times clash with tests and operations...Meanwhile, prisoners are enjoying carbohydrate-rich, low-fat foods which in many cases are better than they would have been eating on the outside."

"The latest figures show 242 patients died of malnutrition in NHS hospitals in 2007 - the highest toll in a decade. More than 8,000 left hospital under-nourished..."

Meanwhile..."The NHS throws away 11 million meals every year, and many nurses say they are too busy to help the frail eat."

"Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'It's incredible that so many hospitals are failing to serve healthy meals. If prisons can serve good food then so can hospitals.'"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1210109/Prisoners-better-diet-Health-Service-hospital-patients-scientists-warn.html

David E

"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President..." while "Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11"

"It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

David E

There are a lot of lies going around about Republicans in Congress and Health Care Reform, not just here but in Washington and the liberal news media as well. "Republicans have no health care plan." "Republicans are the party of NO." "All Republicans can come up with is tort reform."

Well, I've done some research. It turns out that Republicans, in spite of being vastly outnumbered by the Democrats, have indeed been working quite hard on health care reform legislation. Here are just some of the bills up before Congress that Republicans have supported or cosponsered.

1)HR3218 Improving Health Care For All Americans Act

To provide a refundable tax credit for medical costs, to expand access to health insurance coverage through individual membership associations (IMAs), and to assist in the establishment of high risk pools.

Sponsor: Rep Shadegg, Republican Arizona, on July 14th,
Status: tied up in House Ways and Means Committee.

2)HR636 Health Care Freedom of Choice Act

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve health care choice by providing for the tax deductibility of medical expense by individuals.

Sponsor: Bachmann, Republican New Mexico on Jan 23rd 2007.

Never became law. Reintroduced as HR 502 on Jan 14th 2009.
Status: tied up in House Ways and Means Committee.

3)HR1086 The HEALTH Act

To improve patient access to health care services and provide improved medical care by reducing the excessive burden the liability system places on the health care delivery system.

Sponsor: Gingrey, Republican Ga, on Feb 13th 2009.
Status: tied up in House Energy and Commerce Committee.

4)HR2516 Medical Rights Act of 2009

To guarantee the rights of patients and doctors against Federal restrictions or delay in the provision of privately-funded health care.

Sponsor: Kirk, Republican Illinois on May 20th 2009.
Satus: Tied up in House Ways and Means Committee.

5)HR2607 Small Business Health Fairness Act

Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for establishment and governance of association health plans (AHPs), which are group health plans whose sponsors are trade, industry, professional, chamber of commerce, or similar business associations.

Sponsor: Johnson, Republican Texas, on May 21st 2009.
Status: tied up in House Ways and Means Committee.

6)HR1118 Health Care Choices For Seniors Act

To amend the Social Security Act to improve choices available to Medicare eligible seniors by permitting them to elect (instead of regular Medicare benefits) to receive a voucher for a health savings account, for premiums for a high deductible health insurance plan, or both and by suspending Medicare late enrollment penalties between ages 65 and 70.

Sponsor: Blackburn, Republican Tennessee on Feb 23rd 2009.
Status: tied up in House Energy and Commerce committee.

7)HR1203 Federal and Military Retiree Healthcare Equity Act

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow Federal civilian and military retirees to pay health insurance premiums on a pretax basis and to allow a deduction for TRICARE supplemental premiums.

Sponsor: Van Hollen, Democrat Maryland on Feb 25th 2009
Status: sent to House Oversight and Government Reform committee, referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia. (Note: there are 179 cosponsors of this bill, a genuine bi-partisan health care reform bill and it’s currently going nowhere.)

So, you liberals and democrats (I'm not naming names, you know who you are), and those of you who are tired of the Republicans doing nothing on Health Care Reform, why no get involved and write, email, or call Charles Rangel and ask him when he expect these bills to clear his committee? (You might at this point want to avoid asking him about his own tax problems right now...) And Henry Waxman is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee. (You might at this time want to avoid teasing him about his nose...)

You republicans and conservatives might want to bookmark this thread to refer to the next time someone tells you that Republicans are the do-nothing party.

Remember, all these bills are already written, and ready to be sent the the full House for debate and vote.

David E

This current article from the WSJ makes a lot of sense to me:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125176363081674373.html

"Recent town-hall uproars weren't just about health care. They were also eruptions of concern that the government is taking on too much at once."

"At August's town-hall meetings, voters often started with complaints about health care, only to shift to frustrations about all the other things President Barack Obama and the Democrats have done or tried to do since January. The $787 billion economic-stimulus package (which by Obama-Kennedy's own admission has increased unemployment), the government-led rescue of General Motors Corp.(whereupon they ended up sending hundreds of millions of dollars to Brazil and China) and climate-change legislation all came in for criticism." (So the Democrats in Congress now think they can change the climate by legislative fiat.)

David E

"Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away. But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn."

"Forecasting death is an inexact science,... Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong. As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."

"Dr Hargreaves said "some patients were being “wrongly” put on the pathway [to death], which created a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that they would die."

"A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Many people receive excellent care at the end of their lives. We are investing £286 million over the two years to 2011 to support implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy to help improve end of life care for all adults, regardless of where they live.”

"Many people" receive excellent care? Does that mean that many do not???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6127514/Sentenced-to-death-on-the-NHS.html

David E

"CBS 2 HD has learned of more alleged back-door dealings and political power peddling by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel. Congressman Rangel has been arrogant in refusing to discuss how, as the man who writes this country's tax laws, he failed to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House, lapses under investigation by the House Ethics Committee."

But that's not all...

"...since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him."

http://wcbstv.com/local/charles.rangel.ethics.2.1160326.html

Remember, Charles Rangel is the man holding up bipartisan health care reform legislation in his committee.

David E

This article is a bit behind the cure, as the role of the IRS in health care reform has been known for months now.

"Under the various proposals now on the table, the IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an "acceptable" health insurance plan; for finding and punishing those who don't have such a plan; for subsidizing individual health insurance costs through the issuance of a tax credits; and for enforcing the rules on those who attempt to opt out, abuse, or game the system. A substantial portion of H.R. 3200, the House health care bill, is devoted to amending the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in order to give the IRS the authority to perform these new duties."

"Under current plans, insurers would be required to submit to the IRS something like the 1099 form in which taxpayers report outside income. The IRS would then check the information it receives from the insurers against what you have submitted on your tax form."

"Under current law, it is a felony for a government official to release taxpayer information in all but the most limited of circumstances."

House Bill HR 3200 of course, changes everything. I realize there are some on this forum that see no problem in this. I however, am very alarmed at this pending legislation. I wonder if President Obama-Kennedy is going to mention this new role of the IRS in his upcoming speech in front of Congress?

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Health-care-reform-means-more-power-for-the-IRS-56781377.html

David E

AP while embedded with Marines took photos and film of a mortally wounded Marine soldier.

"Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said [Defence Secretary] Gates called [AP President] Curley yesterday and was "begging him" to "defer to the wishes of the family," adding that the publication of the photo would "cause them great pain." [Curley] disagreed and the photo was released. "

"...Gates was disappointed that he could not convince Curley "to do the right thing," but that the secretary is pleased this morning that most news outlets chose not to publish the photo."

My prayers and sympathies go out the the family of the fallen Marine.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/04/2053049.aspx?GT1=43001

David E

Low cost retail health clinics "which operate under names like MinuteClinic, TakeCare and MediMinute, have become increasingly popular as convenient options for Americans seeking routine care without the expense of visits to doctors’ offices or hospital emergency departments."

"...new research, the first large-scale study of the care provided in U.S. retail clinics, found “no difference in the quality offered to patients visiting retail clinics, physician offices and urgent care centers.” For some services, retail clinics even did slightly better than hospital emergency rooms, said the researchers, who published their findings in two papers this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine."

"“These findings provide more evidence that retail clinics are an innovative new way of delivering health care,” said the lead author, Ateev Mehrotra, a physician and professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “Retail clinics are more convenient for patients, less costly and provide care that is of equal quality as received in other medical settings.”"

(Now, if President Obama-Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi are so smart, why didn't they think of this?)

According to the article, the biggest concern about these retail clinics, "is that there aren’t enough of them."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32681973/ns/health-health_care

David E

"From a Nexis search on Sept 4th:

Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the New York Times: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy in the Washington Post: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on NBC Nightly News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on ABC World News: 0.
Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CBS Evening News: 0"

What Van Jones controversy???
Who the heck is Van Jones??? Oh, President Obama-Kennedy's Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, whatever THAT is. What does President Obama-Kennedy's Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation do?

This, I guess:
http://www.breitbart.tv/van-jones-uses-ebonics-to-do-lively-imitation-of-george-bush-on-crack/

Now, we all know derned well that if someone in President's Bush's cabinet made remarks like this about Senator Kennedy's HMO legislation, it'd be all over the news!
David E