Susan Edwards /
Eyewitness News
United
States secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinkseki told a group of veterans Tuesday that “we are
going to build that hospital,” referring to the V.A. hospital to built
adjacent to the LSU AMC.
Video: Watch the Story:
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl081109cbvahospital.cfa88e49.html
NEW
ORLEANS – Theriot Adoff served in the Korean War, is proud of his military
background, and is just one example of the hundreds of veterans in the New Orleans region who
have been without full medical care through the Veterans Affairs system
locally since the storm.
"I was a
patient at the hospital but when Katrina came, when I came back there was no
more hospital," said the 83-year-old.
Tuesday, Adoff heard the words he has waited for. Words that give
him hope. And he heard it from the United States secretary of
Veterans Affairs.
"We are going
to build that hospital," Eric Shinseki said to a group of veterans
gathered for the national Amvets Convention Tuesday
evening.
"After
Katrina we did great work in putting community based outpatient clinics
there, but they have no medical center to plug into the flagship, so that's
why this hospital is important," he said.
But the project
has been plagued with red tape, and ongoing squabbles between LSU and Tulane
on a teaching hospital that would adjoin the Veterans Hospital.
Both schools are negotiating how many board members each school should have,
with LSU concerned about being held liable for debt of the teaching hospital.
Although the VA
and teaching hospitals are considered separate projects, Shinseki said the
teaching hospital is a critical component for the Veteran's Hospital.
"It is
important we plug into what we need of it and that's first rate medical
centers, because it is that synergy with the Tulanes
and LSUs and others that give our VA system that
quality we need," he said.
The secretary said
there is also movement regarding the disputes between LSU and Tulane.
"That process
is going to run its course. I'm told there are decisions in the offering, so
I await them," he said. "But we need to be affiliated with those
medical centers, we need to provide the outpatient
clinics the flagship to plug into."
Veteran Jim Martin
was excited to hear the positive, but still waiting for it all to fall into
place.
"There are a
lot of veterans that have needs I wonder where they are going right
now," he said.
Lane Carson,
secretary for the Louisiana Department of Veteran's Affairs, said architects
are meeting this week to come up with a design for the VA and the teaching
hospital projects.
[BACK TO TOP]
Jindal:
Construction "absolutely" to begin in next year for teaching, VA
hospitals
Eric Paulsen /
Eyewitness News
Video: Watch the Story:
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl081009cbjindaloneonone.cabb4d96.html
BATON ROUGE, La. –
It has been talked about, fought over and dreamed of for years – a biomedical
complex for downtown New Orleans with a teaching hospital and the V.A.
hospital at its core, spawning medical research and other high tech business
and a rebirth of the one of the true growth industries in the metro area
pre-Hurricane Katrina – the biomedical industry.
But for some time
there has been fear. The state’s part of the project, what has been called
the LSU teaching hospital, was bogged down about where to build, how big make
it, who controls what and other controversies.
But according to
Gov. Bobby Jindal, significant progress has been
made. He describes it in football terms – the deal is on the one yard line,
but it will be a tough yard to make.
“The one sticking
point is how many members LSU has on the board,” Jindal
said. “Tulane’s board endorsed an agreement that DHH had to craft. LSU’s
board took that same agreement – the only change they made was they increased
by one the numbers of slots that went to LSU, as opposed to the independent
entities. They sent the contract back, they sent the
board agreement back to Tulane.
“Here’s the
fundamental issue. LSU was saying, ‘we’re worried that we could be held
liable for the debt. And to the extent we are held liable to the debt, we
want more board representation.’ So we’re literally working with LSU and
Tulane to say how do we guarantee you that you’re
not going to end of the day held liable for the debt. This needs to be an
independent, self-sufficient hospital that’s able to make it on its own,
because if it’s ran well, it should be able, and it has to be able to sell
these bonds on the marketplace and attract the private dollars, the research
dollars, the grant dollar to be successful so we’re not just rebuilding the
old model.“
The governor said
negotiations are going on right now with the state, Tulane and LSU to resolve
any differences. He also said this is not going to be an LSU hospital or a
Tulane hospital. His vision is for a non-profit hospital that will be self
sustaining, with LSU, Tulane, Xavier, Dillard and other hospitals and
universities involved in a state teaching hospital.
And he is
confident that can happen
“We are going to
get it done,” Jindal said. “And the good news is
this. I told you it wasn’t going to slow down the VA hospital. It won’t slow
down the LSU, the teaching, whatever you want to call it,
it won’t slow down the other hospital as well.
“It’s not going to slow down that hospital
either, because the reality is there is other work that had to be done in the
meantime. We’re not going to allow it to slow down that process. Both sides,
all side, need to have a sense of urgency. We need to get it done.”
Jindal says any infighting or concern about
competition among local hospitals has to go by the wayside. He believes the
competition for this city should not come from within. The real worry is
competing with other cities like Birmingham, Ala. and Houston, taking
away research dollars from there and moving that money here to a biomedical
research complex in New Orleans.
And he is using
his weight as governor to make that happen, and soon.
“Absolutely [it’s
going to happen]. We’ve got to get this done literally, when I say LSU,
Tulane, all these different entities have to get this done in the next few
weeks, the property acquisition will continue over the next few months,” Jindal said.
Jindal said “absolutely” we’ll see construction
on the teaching hospital and the VA hospital in the next year.
That is a short
amount of time to make a lot happen. Backers of the biomedical complex are
hoping this is one political promise that is kept.
[BACK TO TOP]
Advocate Baker -
Zachary bureau
ZACHARY — Lane Regional
Medical Center
is making appointments for free screenings on Sept. 19 for abdominal aortic
aneurysm, one of the 13 leading causes of death in the United States and the third
leading cause of sudden death in American men.
An abdominal
aortic aneurysm is the abnormal swelling of the large blood vessel that
supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis, and legs.
Lane has teamed
with Aneurysm Outreach Inc. to offer the free ultrasound screenings. Those
interested can call (225) 658-4587 to schedule an appointment. Space is
limited and an appointment is required, a hospital news release says.
Caucasian males
and those who have a history of smoking, high blood pressure, hardening of
the arteries, high cholesterol or family history of the condition are most at
risk, the news release says.
The screening also
is sponsored by Volks Constructors, Medtronic Inc.,
SonoSite Inc., and Cardiovascular Institute of the
South.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/53005862.html
[BACK TO TOP]
Shreveport Times | 08.12.09
By Jane Bokun
Alzheimer's has
risen 14 percent in Louisiana.
The demands of the disease are expensive and, oftentimes, overwhelming.
That's a problem
many addressed last week through the Alzheimer's Association's public hearing
on behalf of the Louisiana Alzheimer's Disease Task Force. The purpose of the
event was to receive input from people with Alzheimer's and their family
members. The task force then submitted a plan and recommendations to the
state Legislature. State chairperson Patti DeMichele
set a hearing for Aug. 6 at Christus Schumpert Adult
Day Health
Center.
"We want to
help the powers that be in Baton Rouge with legislation to come up with a plan
for the state to deal with Alzheimer's — financial issues, Medicaid program,
the Department of Health and Hospitals," said JoAnna
Hensley, Alzheimer's Association's regional director.
Hensley said a lot
of the problems include medications families must pay out of pocket.
"Some
families are paying up to $1,200 a month for medications," she said.
Other discussions
included more education for physicians who haven't gone through dementia
training, funding for respite programs, and help for families that don't
qualify for Medicaid. Further discussion included a growing need for those
who have younger onset Alzheimer's at about age 40.
"Doctors are
better at diagnosing the baby boomers that are coming of age," Hensley
said. "We're seeing a huge increase. A head injury is a good indicator
that people may develop Alzheimer's.
The Alzheimer's
Association Hensley heads provides support groups for family and individuals
with the disease, educational resources and referrals to nursing homes.
"Education is
the biggest thing," Hensley said.
It is crucial for
the people of northwest Louisiana
to identify the services and programs needed in the community to best care
for people with Alzheimer's, she said.
Hensley said the
association is there for families touched by the disease
who do not know what to do and where to go.
"All of our
services are free," she said.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090812/SEVOICES/908120301/Alzheimer-s-task-force-might-help-solve-issues#pluckcomments
[BACK TO TOP]
By MARSHA SHULER
Advocate Capitol
News Bureau
Louisiana’s health chief told health-care provider
groups Tuesday that he needs their help in rallying congressional support to
avoid the loss of some $700 million in annual federal support for the state’s
Medicaid program.
“I cannot do this
alone,” Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said.
Levine called the
meeting to spell out what he called the financial “cliff” that’s looming in
the government health insurance program for the poor. And he warned that
higher education funding could become a victim too if dollars have to be
diverted to sustain health care.
The problem
involves a U.S. Health and Human Services formula used to determine the level
of federal support for state Medicaid programs. The funding formula considers
per-capita income over a three-year period to determine the state’s
participation rate.
Louisiana had temporary economic increases because
of an influx of federal hurricane recovery dollars in the wake of hurricanes
Katrina and Rita in 2005 — skewing the true per-capita income.
The result is that
beginning in 2011, the federal government will
contribute 17 percent less than it does today in covering Medicaid program
costs.
“No state has ever
dropped that much,” Levine said.
That translates
into up to $700 million more annually in state expenditures to sustain the
program, Levine said. It’s the biggest and most troublesome part of a
potential $1.2 billion hole in the state’s $6.28 billion Medicaid program, he
said.
Medicaid provides
about one-quarter of the state’s population with health insurance. Most of
those covered are children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled.
Levine said he has
been working with the state’s congressional delegation, with Democratic U.S.
Sen. Mary Landrieu taking the lead, to develop legislation that would provide
some federal relief. No legislation has yet been filed, he said.
The state wants to
adjust its payment by the historical per-capita income growth rate for the
next three to five years, Levine said. That would give the formula time to
adjust itself to normal levels and allow the state
to avoid major Medicaid contribution increases, he said.
“What we are
asking for in Louisiana
… is nothing more than what we would have received but for hurricanes Katrina
and Rita,” Levine said. “What’s happening now is they are taking money away
from us because of the storms. … It’s not fair to suggest we are asking for
more federal money.”
Levine said
health-care provider groups — from hospitals to physicians, pharmaceutical
interests and advocacy groups, must be ready to help the congressional
delegation.
“No. 1, raise the
volume,” Levine said. “You have got to give them the tools to show
(congressional) leadership this is a real problem in Louisiana.”
Levine also said
those who have colleagues in other states should talk to them about the
potential of the legislation being a fix so their states won’t have to face
the potential of Medicaid funding reductions every time there is a disaster.
Levine said among
the other financial hits the program is facing in the next state budget year
are:
* Loss of up to $136 million in money to
care for the uninsured — about 15 percent of the dollars that go to public,
community and rural hospitals today.
* Elimination of $48 million in one-time
funds in social services block grant money that’s helping underwrite
health-care clinics today.
* Discontinuance of about $180 million in
federal stimulus dollars.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/53006357.html
[BACK TO TOP]
By Melody Brumble
Louisiana Gannett News
SHREVEPORT -- The Louisiana
Poison Control
Center in Shreveport won't close at the end of the
year.
Director Mark Ryan
learned Monday his facility will receive another $500,000 in state funding. A
budget glitch earlier this year halved the center's $1.1 million in state
money.
The 13-person
center takes calls about everything from household cleaners to drug overdoses
24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers range from worried mothers to
emergency room doctors.
"For the next
fiscal year, (the state Department of Health and Hospitals) wants to work it
out so it will be a collaboration between DHH's
Office of Public Health and LSU (Health Sciences Center)," Ryan said.
A bond payment
that was lower than expected freed up money that will go to the center, said
Lauren Mendes, a DHH spokeswoman.
"We believe
that the continuation of the program is critical to the health of Louisiana's
citizens," she said via e-mail. "In addition, we believe that the
program actually contributes to reducing expensive emergency room costs.
"To that end,
we will be seeking funding in the DHH budget for next fiscal year to fully
fund the Poison
Control Center."
DHH officials plan
to create a partnership with LSUHSCenter-Shreveport
for the Poison Control
Center's state funding instead of
routing the money through the University
of Louisiana at Monroe, Ryan said.
The center
originally was housed at the northeast Louisiana
school. When the center moved to Shreveport,
the money remained in the university's budget. Ryan learned late in the state
budget process this year that the school had trimmed the center's
funding to help meet state-imposed budget cuts.
Sharon Williams,
of Shreveport,
said she is relieved the state came through. Several times she has relied on
the center to provide advice.
"The Poison Control Center's
phone number has been in my address book for years," Williams said.
"And it is very comforting to me to know that I can call any time if my
dad accidentally, due to poor eyesight, ingests something that is harmful."
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090812/NEWS01/908120334/1002/Officials-find--500K-to-keep-Poison-Control-Center-open
[BACK TO TOP]
by The Associated
Press
BATON ROUGE -- The
state's health chief said Monday that Louisiana parents with special-needs
children may get some help in the future with the advent of pediatric day
health care facilities.
The state
Department of Health and Hospitals is publishing licensing rules that would
allow the new type of health care provider to operate in the state, state
Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine said.
The facilities
would serve "medically fragile" children and young adults under age
21. The children may need help with medications, treatment or medical
equipment such as ventilators.
The facilities
would provide nursing care and therapy while allowing children to socialize
with one another and participate in educational programs, he said.
Levine said the
pediatric day health care facilities should be cost-neutral to Medicaid the
government insurance program for the poor and uninsured.
State budget cuts
have prompted Medicaid program reductions in many areas.
No new money will
be required for the program, Levine said.
He said the
facilities will likely be less expensive because services will be delivered
in one place. In addition, he said parents won't have to struggle to set up
separate appointments in various locales for health care services.
"The only way
parents get their children one-on-one care today is in their homes and it
costs Medicaid and insurers more," Levine said.
"This way
they can drop the child off going to work and the child has all the services
they need through the day."
The state licenses
adult day-care facilities, which help families caring for their elderly
relatives.
Levine said the
pediatric day health care facilities would also be required to be a part of
parish emergency preparedness plans, equipped with generators and other items
to care for those they serve.
Levine said such
facilities are available in 13 or 14 states.
Levine said the
state has not yet developed the Medicaid rate reimbursement structure.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/day_care_considered_for_specia.html
[BACK TO TOP]
Theodore Heine
I believe everyone
agrees that we need changes in our health care system. The question is: Is
the bill on the table the health care reform that the American people want?
The bill should be
made available for review through many sources. This would give the American
people time to read, study and ask questions about
it. Then after two or three months, let the American people vote on the bill.
Let us forget
about the Democrats and the Republicans. Let us remember only "we, the
people."
Health care reform
is too big an issue to take lightly. This will affect us, our children and
all generations to come in the United States.
Theodore Heine
Gretna
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/letterstoeditor/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1249968029258960.xml&coll=1
[BACK TO TOP]
Roger Lawson
Re: "Try
representing the citizens on health care," Your
Opinions, Aug. 1.
I am a
conservative, and I can only agree with letter-writer Terry Verigan on one statement: "Louisiana's congressional delegation needs
to try representing American citizens for a change."
If Congress does
that, they will vote "no" on the health care bill since, according
to polls, a majority of Americans are against it.
I will also add
that I would love to have the same plan as Congress, too, but contrary to
what the letter-writer thinks, it is not a government-run plan. It is a
private plan that you, as a taxpayer, subsidize on their behalf. And it is a
plan they aren't going to give up.
Furthermore,
surely no one believes the government-run plans for the elderly and for
veterans are successfully administered and managed.
If you do, you
have not talked to a VA nurse about conditions at the facilities or the lack
of adequate equipment, nor have you talked to veterans who have had to deal
with the governmental bureaucracy, red tape, delayed care and denied medical
procedures these heroes need but often don't receive.
The government's
record of managing any program efficiently and effectively is dismal.
Medicare and Medicaid are broke -- as is Social Security. Amtrak is still
being subsidized after 40 years. And do you realize that the Obama
administration has proposed cutting $500 billion from the growth of Medicare
in the next decade, because the government says it can't afford it?
I do think that
the health care system needs improvement in some areas, but you don't blindly
rush into something this complicated and totally junk the whole thing for the
sake of change.
Roger Lawson
Pearl
River
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/letterstoeditor/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1249968027258960.xml&coll=1
[BACK TO TOP]
By MARSHA SHULER
Advocate Capitol
News Bureau
A Republican
lawmaker said Monday that he will propose a constitutional amendment to
protect Louisiana
from the repercussions of possible national health-care changes.
“This is kind of a
way to throw the gauntlet down and stand up for ourselves as a state,” said
state Rep. Kirk Talbot, a River Ridge businessman.
Talbot said he
wants to protect state rights in the health-care arena via a constitutional
change he will seek in 2010.
The change would
require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, then approval by the state’s
voters to take effect.
Arizona and Florida
are already considering similar proposals.
“I think you will
see other states following next trying to exert their state independence,”
Talbot said.
Talbot said there
is a debate over whether such proposals meet constitutional muster. But, he
said, he thinks an argument can be made that states rights should rule.
Louisiana’s health chief Alan Levine said the legal
debate should be an interesting one.
“The 10th
amendment to the Constitution ensures states have the right to conduct their
affairs except for those things specifically ascribed to the federal
government,” Levine said. “Health care is not one of those things the federal
government has the ‘right’ to impose on states.”
Talbot’s proposal
comes as the national health-care debate rages with major disagreements on
legislation. It’s a hot topic of meetings with constituents during the August
congressional break — bringing boisterous and sometime unruly crowds.
“This is not
related to one bill. It’s related to the issue of government-run health
care,” Talbot said. “They are going to penalize employers with this mandate,
penalize people for not getting their own health care.”
Talbot said he is
worried about the impact of a government-run plan on businesses.
His proposed
constitutional amendment would say “Everybody in Louisiana has the right to buy their own
insurance, get into the plan of their own choosing,” Talbot said.
Levine said
Talbot’s concerns about small business being taxed “are real and
significant.”
Levine said
Congress has passed one measure out of committee that increases penalties on
business, including small business, if they don’t participate.
“The congressional
bill will push Louisiana’s
tax burden for the highest bracket to a rate above 50 percent,” said Levine.
Levine said the
congressional package also mandates expansion of Medicaid for people up to
133 percent of the federal poverty level.
That would
translate into a major expansion of Louisiana’s
government insurance program for the poor which today struggles to provide
access to care for those enrolled, he said. Today, the program only covers
adults to 12 percent of the federal poverty level, he said.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/politics/52924797.html
[BACK TO TOP]
By JUSTIN GRANT
Handout/ABC
New
Orleans Adolescent
Hospital is shown
in this undated file photo. Even as it faces a skyrocketing suicide rate and
increases in cases of depression and post-traumatic stress, the Gulf Coast
city is slated to lose the hospital, which has been the center for mental
health care for residents young and old since Hurricane Katrina devastated
the city nearly four years ago.
The only hospital
in New Orleans
providing in-patient mental health treatment will close next month despite an
epidemic of psychological problems plaguing the hurricane-ravaged city.
New Orleans Adolescent
Hospital is shown in this undated file photo. Even
as it faces a skyrocketing suicide rate and increases in cases of depression
and post-traumatic stress, the Gulf
Coast city is slated to
lose the hospital, which has been the center for mental health care for
residents young and old since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city nearly
four years ago. Collapse
Even as it faces a
skyrocketing suicide rate and increases in cases of depression and
post-traumatic stress, the Gulf Coast city is slated to lose the New Orleans Adolescent
Hospital, which has
been the center for mental health care for residents young and old since
Hurricane Katrina devastated the city nearly four years ago.
The shutdown
"is extremely unfortunate for New Orleans
and for the many children who will be left without what had been an excellent
resource," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president
of the Children's Health Fund and a professor at Columbia University's
Mailman School of Public Health. "I am amazed that nobody in government
has found a way to step in and save that resource. But I am quite sure that
this is going to have disastrous consequences for the community."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8296501&page=1
[BACK TO TOP]
Meg Farris /
Eyewitness News
Video: Watch the Story:
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl081009tpoverflow.c8bdba22.html#
NEW ORLEANS – Around the country the topic of health
care reform is causing people to shout at politicians at town hall meetings.
Monday morning,
Sen. David Vitter invited people to a town hall meeting in Jefferson Parish,
but this time the people who were upset were those left outside.
It was standing
room only at the Yenni Building
in Elmwood. The Fire Marshal let 350 in the room. Outside sheriff's deputies
estimate another 200 wrapped around the building. Those who stood in the heat
for hours believe 500 were turned away.
"We weren't
allowed in because it was packed. If they would have gone to some place like
the Pontchartrain Center, we'd have all been able to go in,"
said Jim Brousse of New Orleans.
They let people
feel the weight of a health care reform bill, many inches thick, and passed
the time in solidarity.
"I suggested
that everybody start saying 'The Pledge Allegiance to the Flag' so they are
not intimidated and not full of fear. Then we did 'God Bless America'
and then we said 'The Lord's Prayer' and that's who we are. We are civilized
people," said Cindy LeBlanc, a Mandeville Resident who was stuck
outside.
Inside it was
civilized but spirited. It was first come, first served. No one had to prove
their ideology to get in. There were speeches by a panel: a doctor, a small
business owner and an expert in government run health care.
"Attorneys
wrote the bill, but I can guaranteed you that if you put a panel of doctors
and patients who have been in hospitals and who have waited in doctors'
rooms, our plans would be far superior to what's before us today," Dr.
Peter Galvan, the St.Tammany Coroner said to a
loudly cheering crown.
Vitter, a
Republican, spoke to an audience that, for the most part, held his similar beliefs: reform
only some things, let small businesses pool together nationally for lower
premiums, let Americans buy
prescriptions at Canadian prices and get rid of frivolous law suits.
But this audience
was against a government run option.
"I want to do
some repositive reforms. I just don't want to throw
out the baby with the bath water," Vitter said.
And they all
agreed that some things have to be changed so that Celedonia
McPherson, 56, of Jefferson Parish, who works and pays taxes, is allowed
affordable access despite her diabetes and kidney problems.
"I have
applied to almost every insurance company and I am denied. They'll take my
husband, but they won't take me," said McPherson after she left the town
hall meeting.
People outside say
they saw only two people with printed signs and
t-shirts for the administration plan. And they say they came only to be
heard.
"I was not
coerced into coming here, that I came here of my free will. I am not part of
a mob," said Gail Andrew, a Jefferson Parish resident who got into the
meeting.
She was responding
to congressmen and congresswomen who say the people who show up at these town
hall meetings are part of a planned operation.
The Obama
administration estimates the number of uninsured at 45 million. Vitter said
that includes illegal aliens and young people who choose not to buy health
care, and he said it's closer to 20 million who need
assistance.
[BACK TO TOP]
LaPolitics
| 08.10.09
John Maginnis
Sen. Mary Landrieu
plans to host a town-hall meeting on healthcare reform later this month
somewhere in the river parishes. Bring a helmet.
That would be the
advice of Democratic congressmen around the country who have been booed,
heckled, shouted down and threatened while trying to explain and/or defend
their positions on health insurance legislation, particularly the 1,017-page
bill that will be on the House floor when lawmakers return from August
recess.
Republican
operatives and conservative talk show hosts have been blamed for or credited
with whipping up the masses, but they didn't wholly manufacture the genuine
anger, fear and confusion over an omnibus bill that people felt was being
jammed down on them.
Even before the facilitators
got involved, one of the first such outbursts of public wrath took place in
Reserve, La., last month, when a national rural listening tour of federal
Cabinet secretaries, particularly Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, received a hostile earful from a loud and angry
crowd.
The prospect of
walking into another raucous town-square shout-out doesn't seem to rattle
Landrieu, who has been attacked already over national healthcare--not by
conservatives but by liberals in her own party. Last month, advocacy groups
MoveOn.org and Change Congress ran radio and TV ads, respectively,
that painted Landrieu as a toady for the insurance industry because
she opposed a government-run health insurance option. She was urged to get in
line with other Democrats supporting the government plan that would compete
with private insurance.
One month later,
the worm it is a-turning.
Even before the
town-hall riots of August, the notion of a federally-run insurance program,
the centerpiece of the House bill, was starting to founder in the Senate.
There, negotiations over an elusive bipartisan bill have been moving away
from the government option toward coverage offered by a network of non-profit
member-owned cooperatives, which would be subsidized by the feds but run by
the states.
Though the
bipartisan Senate bill has not taken full shape, it alone among the major
bills under consideration would rein in the growth of federal healthcare
spending over ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The notion of more
local control diminishes fear of Big Brother with a needle. Yet critics point
out that under a subsidized co-op plan, like with a government plan, cheaper
rates would lure many businesses who now offer insurance to employees to drop
their private plans for the public model. So when the president says that if
you like your insurance policy you can keep it, he should add, "unless
your boss chooses the government option or co-op for you."
Landrieu has
similar reservations about the government and employers determining the
coverage for workers. She and 11 colleagues--six Democrats, six
Republicans--have co-sponsored the Healthy Americans Act, which would grant
individuals, instead of employers, substantial tax deductions to use to
purchase insurance in the marketplace. Everyone would be required to have
insurance, but the government would subsidize those with low incomes.
Employers would be required to increase wages to replace what they were
spending on health insurance. And insurers could not deny coverage based on
pre-existing conditions.
It sounds too
reasonable and straightforward to be taken seriously in Congress, and it
hasn't been yet. A large number of Democrats will not let go of the
government option, while many Republicans still oppose required coverage and
more government rules.
Frustrated
Democrats, angered by the mobbish disruptions in
the heartland, might urge the president to pass a bill without any GOP votes.
They would do so at their peril, for passing a law is only the first step.
Making that much change work, at what cost, and getting the people to like
it, will be how healthcare reform is won, or lost.
Sen. Landrieu,
meanwhile, seems comfortable on the middle ground she has staked out, though
she is scorned on the left and distrusted on the right. Yet the longer she
stays there, the closer the debate seems to move toward her. Down home later
this month, armed only with her centrist plan, she will stride into the
valley of the town-hall meeting, where, who knows, both sides might stop shouting
long enough to listen.
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Recognizing and
preventing men's health problems is not just a man's issue. Because of its
impact on wives, children, and other family members, men's health is truly a
family issue.
For the past seven
years, the Louisiana Men's Health Organization has organized an annual Men's
Health Conference. This conference, which brings together men of all ages
from Baton Rouge
and its surrounding areas, gives men an opportunity to explore ways to better
care for themselves and their health.
Each year, local
health professionals, organizations, and companies gather at the conference
to offer advice and help on various health issues relating to men.
Take the time this
year to attend our 8th Annual Men's Health Conference Saturday, August 22,
from 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM at the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center
located at 6400 Perkins Road.
Conference Schedule of Events:
7:00-8:00:
Registration, Exhibits, Screenings
8:00-8:30:
Introduction, Early Bird Door Prize
8:30-9:30: Keynote
Speaker - Jeffrey Marx
9:30-10:00:
Break/Visit Exhibits
10:00-11:00
Breakout Sessions (#1)
11:00-11:15:
Break/Visit Exhibits
11:15-12:15:
Breakout Sessions (#2)
12:15-12:45:
Exhibits
12:45 Jambalaya
lunch; door prizes, wrap-up
Screenings:
Prostate Screening
(PSA blood testing and exams)
Blood Pressure
Blood Glucose (not
necessary to fast)
Blood Cholesterol
Ankle-Brachial
Index
Waist
Circumference
Body Mass Index
(BMI)
To learn more and
to register for the 2009 conference, visit www.LouisianaMensHealth.org
http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=10861709&nav=menu57_5_3
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Jindal
Approves Fiscal Aid Package For La. Hospitals
Legislation
approved by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will
compensate the state’s hospitals for hurricane-related losses suffered during
the past few years and cover costs for treating uninsured patients. House
Bill 879 will compensate hospitals more than $212 million after the state’s
medical infrastructure was hit hard by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike last year
and Katrina and Rita in 2005.
For hurricane
relief, the law includes $170 million for hospitals in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish. Another
$18 million will go to other hospitals along the coast and north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
The legislation
also calls for $24.9 million to be distributed to hospitals statewide to help
offset the cost of uncompensated care.
http://news.nurse.com/article/20090810/SC02/108100082
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by Philip Elliott,
The Associated Press
Alex Brandon / The Associated Press
President Barack Obama speaks about health care,
Tuesday at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, N.H.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is turning his
eyes West and hitting the Web as he steps up his counteroffensive against
critics of a proposed health care overhaul.
Obama assailed
"wild misrepresentations" of his health care plan Tuesday during a
town hall-style meeting in Portsmouth,
N.H., taking on the role of
fact-checker-in-chief for his top domestic priority. It's a strategy he will
employ at two more town halls this week in Montana
and Colorado,
and on the White House Web site.
To that end, the
Obama-aligned Democratic National Committee is running health care overhaul
ads nationally on cable channels and in spots the president will visit,
joining a chorus of ads that has become a cacophony over a problem that has
vexed Washington
for decades.
On the other side,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was joining the fray Wednesday, beginning to air
30-second spots in about 20 states criticizing the Democratic proposal to
offer optional government health coverage, according to R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the nation's largest business
group.
The
multimillion-dollar buy would be one of the largest so far critical of
Obama's effort, in a year in which opponents have been heavily outspent by
supporters of the president's plan. The spot, showing a balloon being
inflated until it bursts, says: "Big tax increases, huge deficits,
expanded government control of health care. Call Congress."
In Portsmouth, Obama faced
a polite crowd of 1,800 packed into a high school auditorium and a nationwide
audience watching on cable television. He urged them not to listen to those
who seek to "scare and mislead" on his plans to overhaul the
nation's health care system.
"Where we do
disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild
misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been
proposed," he said. "Because the way politics works sometimes is
that people who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the
heck out of folks, and they'll create boogeymen out
there."
The boogeymen have prompted the White House to strike back.
The president ticked off the highest-profile, most emotional issues that
critics have used to greatest advantage to interrupt town hall meetings held
by lawmakers home for the August congressional
recess.
For instance,
Obama said the Democratic health care legislation would not create
"death panels" to deny care to frail seniors -- or "basically
pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let
her live anymore," as the president put it. The provision he said had
led to such talk would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling
patients about end-of-life care if they want it, he contended.
He also disputed
accusations that he seeks a federally run system, or one in which the
government makes decisions about care.
Obama's new
message, sharpened amid sliding public support for him and his plan, targeted
a vital and, polls show, particularly skeptical audience: the tens of
millions of people who already have health insurance and aren't yet convinced
of a need to spend billions of dollars to change it or cover the nearly 50
million people who lack coverage.
That message is
finding reinforcements online. The White House launched a Web site to counter
critics and asked supporters to share with them e-mails they say misrepresent
Obama's positions. It's a tactic similar to the one the tech-savvy Obama
campaign used to win the White House.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/obama_hits_the_road_works_the.html
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By Randy Dotinga
TUESDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- It's no secret that men don't like to
go to the doctor, but new research finds they're especially likely to stay
home if they're big on being macho.
Middle-aged men
who are most devoted to traditional beliefs about masculinity are half as
likely as other men to get routine medical care, researchers report.
It's not clear whether
feelings about masculinity directly make men avoid doctor visits; the study
only indicates that a cause-and-effect link might exist. Nor do researchers
know what this might mean for men's health.
Still, the
findings suggest that "we could help men's health if we could dismantle
this idea that manhood and masculinity is about being invulnerable, not
needing help and not showing pain," said study author Kristen W.
Springer, an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers,
the State University of New Jersey.
Previous research
has suggested that "men are less likely to go to the doctor than women,
across the board," Springer said -- a notion she finds surprising
because men are wealthier overall, potentially giving them better access to
medical care.
Springer and a
colleague launched their study to determine the role that ideas about
masculinity play in the decisions men make about their health care.
Springer said she
defines masculinity as a "stereotypical, old-school, John Wayne- and
Sylvester Stallone-style" approach to life.
The researchers
examined the results of surveys taken in 2004 by 1,000 white, middle-aged men
in Wisconsin.
The men answered questions about their beliefs regarding masculinity and
disclosed whether they'd gotten recommended annual physicals, prostate checks
and flu shots.
After adjusting
the results to reduce the chance they would be thrown off by such things as a
high number of married participants, researchers found that men who were the
highest believers in masculine standards were 50 percent less likely to get
the recommended care than other men.
Springer was
unable to provide statistics about the percentage of men in each group who
got the recommended care. Overall, though, fewer than half of all men did,
according to the study.
There was one
exception to the rule: Blue-collar workers who had a high attachment to
masculinity were more likely to get the recommended health care.
The study has
limitations. All participants were white, and all had completed high school.
And Springer said unanswered questions remain, such as whether spouses play a
role through "support or nagging."
The findings were
to be presented Monday at the American Sociological Association annual
meeting in San Francisco.
Howard S.
Friedman, a professor of psychology at the University
of California at Riverside, said his research has found that
less masculine men live longer than masculine men. But the new study doesn't
show anything like that because it doesn't examine long-term effects on
health, he said.
As for the gap
between men and women when it comes to living longer, he said, "it would
be a stretch, going beyond the data, to link it closely to men's increased
mortality risk as compared to women."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090811/hl_hsn/formachomendoctorvisitsarelesslikely;_ylt=AgyeS3sjNc1QI8Bq2zvfxY0DW7oF
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The New York Times | 08.11.09
By GINA KOLATA
A patient in Illinois was charged
$12,712 for cataract surgery. Medicare pays $675 for the same procedure. In California, a patient
was charged $20,120 for a knee operation that Medicare pays $584 for. And a New Jersey patient was
charged $72,000 for a spinal fusion procedure that Medicare covers for
$1,629.
The charges came
out of a survey sponsored by America’s
Health Insurance Plans in which insurers were asked for some of the highest
bills submitted to them in 2008.
The group, which
represents 1,300 health insurance companies, said it had no data on the
frequency of such high fees, saying that to its knowledge no one had studied
that. But it said it did the survey in part to defend against efforts by the
Obama administration to portray certain industry practices as a major part of
the nation’s health care problems.
The health
insurers, saying they felt unfairly vilified, gave the report to The New York
Times before posting it online on Tuesday, explaining that they wanted to
show that doctors’ fees are part of the health care problem.
The group said it
had used Medicare payments for comparison because Medicare was so familiar
and payments are, on average, about 80 percent of what private insurers pay.
“It’s the wild,
wild West when it comes to prices of anything in the U.S. health care system,
whether for a doctor visit or for hospital charges,” said Jonathan S.
Skinner, a health economist at Dartmouth.
The situation is
so irrational, said Uwe E. Reinhardt, a health
economist at Princeton, that it simply cannot go on. “We will not emerge out of
this decade with this lunacy,” Dr. Reinhardt said, adding, “You worry about
credit card charges, you scream for consumer protection — why not scream for
it here?”
But Dr. Robert M. Wah, a spokesman for the American Medical Association,
said there was another side to the story: insurers’ low payments to doctors
who enter into contracts with them and the doctors’ difficulties, in many
cases, in getting paid at all. That is why, he said, doctors may simply
abandon insurance plans. Then patients end up with extra fees because they
have to go outside their networks.
Karen M. Ignagni, president and chief executive of America’s
Health Insurance Plans, had a different view, saying: “As we think about the
health care debate, what’s been talked about is, What are
the cost-sharing levels? What are the premium levels? How much do health plans pay? No politician has asked how much is
being charged.”
Some of the health
care legislation being considered by Congress would require insurers to
increase their disclosure to patients of possible out-of-network costs. And
President Obama has proposed changing how Medicare sets its payments to
doctors and hospitals. But there are no specific proposals to control prices
for out-of-network medical services.
In the survey,
patients were insured but saw doctors who were out of their networks of care
providers. Those doctors have no obligation to accept the out-of-network fee
from insurers as payment in full. Patients may then be accountable for the
balance.
“That is what
generally happens,” said Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for the health insurers’
group. “The consumer is responsible.”
The survey looked
at 10 companies that insure patients in the 30 most populous states; the
companies provided some of the highest bills from 2008. Researchers excluded
two types of charges that were likely to be erroneous: those that were
greater than 10,000 percent of Medicare’s fees for a procedure, or more than
2,000 percent of Medicare’s fees and also more than 50 percent higher than
the next-highest bill for the same procedure.
State laws
protecting patients from getting stuck with medical bills in excess of their
normal deductibles or co-payments vary widely, said Betsy M. Pelovitz, the group’s vice president for state policy.
And, she said, the laws often offer little or no protection to patients who
seek care outside their insurance networks.
In New York, patients
with managed-care insurers cannot be asked to pay more than the applicable
co-payment, deductible or co-insurance for an ambulance regardless of whether
the provider is in or out of their network. In New Jersey, hospital emergency rooms
treating Medicaid managed-care patients must accept Medicaid payments as
payment in full and cannot bill patients extra. In Connecticut, a state law says it is
“unfair trade practice” for medical providers to ask patients to pay more
than a deductible or co-payment for services covered by their insurance.
But in general,
patients hit with high bills from out-of-network doctors and hospitals may
have little recourse, said Leslie Moran, senior vice president of the New
York Health Plan Association. “When patients dig in their heels and say, ‘No,
I’m not going to pay it,’ it sometimes goes to collection,” she said.
While there is no
way of knowing how often doctors submit exorbitant bills, insurers tell
America’s Health Insurance Plans that they see such bills “all the time,
every day,” Ms. Pisano said.
The New York
Health Plan Association provided more examples. In testimony at a state
hearing in October, it told of a Long Island
surgeon who charged $23,500 for an emergency appendectomy. The patient’s insurer
paid its out-of-network fee of $4,629. The surgeon demanded the balance or
said he would force the patient to pay. The insurance company paid the bill.
Patients who
receive unexpected bills may not know what to do. That happened to Charles Bacchi’s mother. Mr. Bacchi,
executive vice president of the California Association of Health Plans, said
his mother was admitted to a hospital that had just dropped its association
with her insurer.
Mr. Bacchi’s mother, who spent less than a week in the
hospital, received a bill for nearly $90,000 and was
told that her plan would pay only a small part of it. Mr. Bacchi
said she was terrified and hid the bill. “She thought the entire family
savings would go up in smoke,” Mr. Bacchi said.
When his mother
finally told him about the bill, Mr. Bacchi
intervened, and eventually the matter was settled by the hospital and the
insurance company.
No one intervened
for Maria Davis, though, when her son fell and banged his mouth. Ms. Davis, a
respiratory therapist in Miller
Place on Long Island,
took 4-year-old Ryan to an emergency room. “He was bleeding a lot, and it
looked like he had a bad cut on the inside of his mouth,” she said.
After a long wait,
she said, a doctor said he would put in stitches but seemed uncomfortable
treating the agitated child. When he said he could call a plastic surgeon,
Ms. Davis agreed.
The plastic
surgeon, Dr. Gregory J. Diehl of Port Jefferson, “was very nice, very gentle,
very kind,” Ms. Davis said. He put in three stitches, and Ms. Davis assumed
her insurer, UnitedHealthcare, would cover the
bill.
It did not. The
bill was $6,000 — $300 for the emergency room consultation and $5,700 for
putting in the stitches. The Davises paid their deductible of
$350 and waited.
After the insurer
paid $2,024.80, Dr. Diehl cut his bill by $2,100 and billed the Davises
for the balance, $1,525.20. He did not return calls to his office.
So far, the Davises
have not paid. “I told them I thought it was an unreasonable amount,” said
Jonathan Davis, Ryan’s father.
“We have gotten
several letters, and they have gotten more than a little threatening,” Mr.
Davis said. Had he known the doctor would charge $6,000, he said, “we may
have looked for another doctor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/health/policy/12insure.html?_r=1&ref=health
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The New York Times | 08.11.09
By RONI CARYN
RABIN
It has long been
known that people who took aspirin regularly were less likely to develop
tumors of the colon, and now a study has found that even after a diagnosis of
colorectal cancer, patients who took aspirin had a much better chance of
surviving than non-users.
The improvements
in outcomes were striking. Patients with colorectal cancer who regularly used
aspirin before and after a diagnosis were almost one-third less likely to die
of the disease than non-users. Patients who initiated aspirin use only after
a diagnosis did even better and had half the risk of dying from the cancer,
possibly because of differences in their tumors. The patients were all being
treated for nonmetastatic, or localized, cancers,
and were followed for almost 12 years on average.
The study, written
by researchers from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is being published in this week’s
Journal of the American Medical Association. An abstract is available online.
“This is a
remarkable breakthrough — for a pill that costs a penny,” said Dr. Alfred I. Neugut, a colon cancer expert at Columbia
University’s College of Physicians
and Surgeons, who was not involved in the research but wrote an editorial
accompanying the article. “Aspirin is not a benign drug, so I can’t recommend
purely on the basis of this study that someone should take aspirin, but it’s
pretty darn close.”
The paper was
based on an observational study that followed 1,279 men and women with nonmetastatic colorectal cancer, and thus was not the
kind of randomized controlled clinical trial considered the gold standard for
determining the course of treatment in medicine.
What lends
credence to the results is that doctors understand the biological mechanism
by which aspirin may prevent the growth and slow the spread of colon cancer,
since most colorectal cancer tumors are positive for cyclooxygenase-2, or
COX-2, an enzyme that is not expressed in a healthy colon but flares up under
certain circumstances, and aspirin is a COX-2 inhibitor.
As part of the new
study, the researchers analyzed the tumors that were available from a
subgroup of 459 patients, and discovered that those whose tumors overexpressed the COX-2 enzyme were particularly
responsive to aspirin use. Among those patients, regular aspirin use was
associated with a 61 percent drop in death rate compared with patients who
used aspirin but had tumors that did not express COX-2 or
had only weak expression.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/health/research/12aspirin.html?ref=health
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The New York Times | 08.10.09
By NICHOLAS
BAKALAR
A nationwide
survey of obesity rates offers very little good news. More than two-thirds of
Americans are now overweight or obese, and the percentage is still rising.
The report is
based on data for 2005 through 2009 gathered by state health departments with
the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study defines
overweight as a body mass index of 25 to 30, and obesity as a B.M.I. over 30.
The authors
acknowledge some debate over the use of B.M.I. For example, the index does
not distinguish between fat and muscle, and some well-muscled people can have
a high B.M.I. without an unhealthy amount of fat.
Racial and ethnic
factors may also affect the measurement, and the number may underestimate
health risks in non-Europeans.
Still, compared
with 2008, obesity rates rose in almost half the states, and decreased in
none. In four states — Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee
and West Virginia
— more than 30 percent of adults are obese. Eight of the 10 states with the
highest obesity rates are in the South, and Colorado is the only state with a rate
under 20 percent. Seven of the 10 states with the highest poverty levels are
also among the 10 states with the highest obesity rates.
The trend is up
sharply. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent, and in 1981
the national average was 15 percent.
The study,
published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s
Health, found that in 30 states, 30 percent or more of children ages 10 to 17
were overweight or obese.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11stat.html?ref=health
[BACK TO TOP]
Nicky Skubal - Wisconsin Weight Loss Examiner
A new Time Magazine article claims exercise won't
make you thin. Does it hold any weight?
This week's Time
Magazine cover story proclaims that exercise won't make you thin. Is it
possible that the sweating, stretching, and pain has all been for nothing?
Not likely. First
off, studies have proven for years that regular physical exercise is
essential for good health. It's important for cardiovascular health and it
helps lower risk for many diseases, including diabetes and cancer. Exercise
also leads to improved quality of life - from more endurance to play with
kids to hobbies and interests that require physical stamina.
So why is exercise
getting a bad rap? The article quotes researcher Eric Ravussin,
chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State
University as saying "In
general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," because exercise
may stimulate hunger. (Though other recent studies have found that some
exercise can actually decrease appetite.) An LSU study found that of four
groups of women who exercised, some lost weight, while others gained. The
study led researchers to believe that exercisers compensate, either by eating
more after exercising or doing less physically at home. An interesting side
note: the women who lost the greatest amount of weight were in the group that
exercised and recorded what they ate.
It's true that
exercise alone, or even traditional methods of diet and exercise may not
bring the results many dieters seek. New studies show that human brains may
pre-determine a set weight for adults. These new findings don't mean you should
stop exercising, but they do mean you need to examine what and when you're
eating, and strictly monitor portion control.
And you may want
to re-think your exercise program. "You cannot sit still all day long
and then have 30 minutes of exercise without producing stress on the
muscles," according to Hans-Rudolf Berthoud, a neurobiologist at LSU's
Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "The muscles will ache, and you
may not want to move after. But to burn calories, the muscle movements don't
have to be extreme. It would be better to distribute the movements throughout
the day."
So maybe hour-long
blasts at the gym aren't the key to your weight-loss success. Try adding in
more exercise throughout the day, like taking the stairs, parking at the back
of the lot, and going on walk during your lunch break. "Even if people can get out of their
offices, out from in front of their computers, they go someplace like the
mall and then take the elevator," says Berthoud. "This is the real
problem, not that we don't go to the gym enough."
Copyright 2009
Examiner.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.examiner.com/x-10114-Wisconsin-Weight-Loss-Examiner~y2009m8d10-Time-Magazine-proclaims-exercise-WONT-help-you-lose-weight
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