Free Republic

Whatever you made of the Chancellor’s various sleights of hand on Tuesday, lurking beneath his Budget plans was one inescapable fact. The hungry maw of the NHS is swallowing more and more resources, at the expense of virtually everything else. The defence budget is at its lowest since 1930, despite our dwindling troops being dotted across three continents. Prison overcrowding is at such record levels that Jack Straw will have to release even more inmates early in a few weeks’ time. But the health service marches relentlessly on, having hoovered up two thirds of the increase in public spending in...

As time ticks down on any chance for legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to agree this year on a bill to expand access to health insurance, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is trying to turn up the heat on the governor. With a mix of legislative maneuvering, press conferences and interviews, Núñez is sending Schwarzenegger a message that the perpetually optimistic chief executive seems determined to ignore: Republican lawmakers are never going to vote for his plan. Schwarzenegger is proposing a mix of taxes and fees on employers, doctors and hospitals to subsidize insurance for those who cannot afford it. He...

The Senate is now debating a bill to take low-income children (including illegals and children of illegals) off of state-run health insurance programs in order to stick them on some new federal health insurance program. Trent Lott just said the proposal before them is already $60 billion over "the baseline"..."and that's before it's even gone to committee." Sorry I couldn't fit a BOHICA alert in the title, but still thought some of you might want to know this is going on right now, live.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland lawmakers began work yesterday on another effort to expand health coverage -- but they were warned by several specialists that the task will be both difficult and expensive. A panel of lawmakers held the first of three meetings to regroup after failing last legislative session to agree on a plan to chip away at the estimated 750,000 residents without health insurance. A health care proposal made earlier this year sputtered amid concerns it would cost too much -- but in yesterday's briefing, speakers agreed that the job won't get cheaper. "What's our goal? Is our goal near-universal...

A state Senate panel is expected today to begin the first formal scrutiny of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sweeping proposal for overhauling health care in California. Wielding the gavel at the Health Committee hearing will be a member of the Legislature who believes many of the governor's ideas won't work. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl isn't rushing to judgment. For the past four years, the Santa Monica Democrat has studied health care while pushing California to abolish private insurance and replace it with universal coverage administered by the state. Schwarzenegger last year vetoed Senate Bill 840, Kuehl's bill establishing such a single-payer...

IF IT'S wrong for illegal immigrants to have drivers' licenses, why should the state provide them with health care? That's the conundrum that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to address as, after vetoing bills to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses, he pushes his plan to provide health care to all Californians, including illegal immigrants. First, let me say that Schwarzenegger deserves praise for attempting to tackle the thorny and thankless task of trying to provide health care for the 4.8 million Californians who lack health care at any given time. (You've seen the number 6.5 million, but that's...

Last year a primary care trust announced it would take smokers off waiting lists for surgery in an attempt to contain costs. In this week's British Medical Journal, two experts go head to head over whether smokers should be refused surgery. Denying operations is justified for specific conditions, argues Professor Matthew Peters from the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Australia. Professor Peters says that smoking up to the time of any surgery increases cardiac and pulmonary complications, impairs tissue healing, and is associated with more infections. These effects increase the costs of care and also mean less opportunity to treat...

Fidel Castro was rumoured to be having hospital treatment in Spain. According to internet reports, the Cuban dictator is staying in a restricted wing of the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid. He is said to have arrived on the same plane as the Spanish surgeon who flew to Cuba last week to treat him at the request of the island's authorities. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who works at Gregorio Maranon has denied reports that Castro, 80, is suffering from cancer. The surgeon said he was recovering well from stomach surgery to repair a problem with his digestive system. Details of...

by Mark Finkelstein August 1, 2006 - 12:12 We're #156! Cuba, that is, in this CIA ranking of per capita income of the world's countries. Cuba trails such economic powerhouses as Guyana, Micronesia and, of course, Niue. But, hey, it's a full $200 ahead of basket-case Angola! But economic beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. To the Associated Press, the Cuban economy, with a litle help from designated Fidel-successor Raul, is 'successful.' Here's an excerpt from an AP article of today [hat tip to Drudge]: "Raul has been deeply involved . . . with the military's successful peacetime...

FORT WORTH -- The Tarrant County League of Women Voters is joining another political advocacy group’s campaign to expand publicly funded healthcare to illegal immigrants through JPS Health Network clinics.The group is expected to ask the Tarrant County Hospital District board Thursday to reverse its position on charity care for illegal immigrants at JPS clinics. The board could consider the request at its August meeting.The board voted in 2004 to restrict charity care to legal residents of Tarrant County. Illegal immigrants can still access JPS clinics if they have health insurance or if they pay cash for services.“I think the...

At $6.5 million per year, a Medicaid program that pays for prenatal care for immigrant women is costing the state more than five times what officials predicted two years ago. The unexpected higher cost stems from Medicaid officials underestimating the number of women who would qualify and failing to factor in the cost of prescription drugs and hospital stays after deliveries. "I can't imagine the department missing the target so far on cost," said state Rep. Jay Bradford, D-White Hall. "And I'll have to follow up with them on that as chairman" of the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee....

Enhanced pension deals are county's albatross... The county has the distinction of carrying more retirees (6,050) than active employees (4,631) on county health insurance. Add in 3,100 spouses and dependents of retirees, and the county is insuring more than 9,000 individuals on the retiree side. The county now pays out more in health care for retirees than for active employees. In addition to her monthly check, she was promised, and cherishes, free health insurance for the rest of her life. It is the sum of such promises to Schumann and 6,000-plus other retirees that is a major stumbling block as...

BISBEE — Three or four years ago, Jim Dickson, CEO of Bisbee’s Copper Queen Community Hospital, was not feeling very upbeat. He had had to cut back on employees and hours, shutter his skilled nursing facility and close the hospital’s maternity ward. The reductions, he says, were largely due to a massive influx of patients from Mexico — illegal immigrants or residents of nearby Naco, Sonora — who could not pay for services. Today, however, things are looking brighter for the hospital and its CEO. Federal funds that provide partial compensation for treating undocumented immigrants have finally started to come...

Friday, April 21, 2006 Local News Four killed, 20 hurt when truck wrecks near Elgin By Manuel C. Coppola Friday, April 21, 2006 12:42 AM MDT Wick News Service ELGIN — Four people died and 20 people were taken to Southern Arizona hospitals after a pickup truck believed to be filled with illegal immigrants crashed around midnight Thursday. “This is the worst incident (in Santa Cruz County) involving so many victims in recent memory,” said Antonio Estrada, the sheriff of Santa Cruz County. Estrada said his department received a call shortly after midnight Thursday from Border Patrol. His department is...

Hospital officials pleased but wary about multimillion-dollar reimbursement for ER costs MISSION — Local hospital officials expressed wary optimism Wednesday at news that Texas would receive up to $23 million from the federal government to offset costs of providing emergency care for undocumented immigrants. "I’ll take whatever they can give," said Mission Regional Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Randy Slack. The hospital received a $100,000 payment this week to offset the costs of ER care between May and July 2005.The payment is only one-quarter of the amount requested, Slack said. "It’s a Band-Aid on a big wound." The payments are...

CHICAGO, Nov. 15 - Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich signed a measure on Tuesday intended to allow all children in Illinois, including those in working-class and middle-class families, to obtain health insurance. National experts on health care said the new law, which will offer discounts on premiums for those who qualify, was the broadest plan to insure children by any state. Political leaders in other states, the experts said, are certain to be watching whether Illinois succeeds in expanding coverage to its 250,000 children who are now uninsured, about half of whom are not from the poorest families but from families...

— Alice Martínez was focused on passing out health information Tuesday while others in the consulate Tuesday worried more about their running toddlers, their immigration status and other, more immediate matters. Martínez was trying to get visitors to today’s Ventanilla de Salud, or “window to health,” which will be in the lobby of the consulate to educate people about services at Su Clínica Familiar. “Any organization that provides health information has to get the community involved in the interest of their own health,” said Martínez, public relations specialist for Su Clínica Familiar. The clinic is a co-sponsor for this week’s...

Undocumented immigrants are urged to receive free services, checkups at spots around county OAKLAND, CA — Undocumented immigrants in Northern California can receive free health services and information during the fifth Binational Health Week, which starts this weekend. Vision and dental screenings, blood pressure checks, mammograms, cancer workshops and other services will be offered at Alameda County health centers, community clinics and a few private hospitals today through Oct. 17. But the emphasis will be on providing information about low-cost health insurance programs available to immigrant families but often not used. Organizers say many families do not know the programs...

Narcotics officers stumbled upon a record number of illegal immigrants Friday evening while searching the Madera County home of a man arrested in a drug sting, police said.Fresno police say they found 80 undocumented Mexican immigrants at the home of 38-year-old Jose Esparza, an accused methamphetamine dealer who allegedly sold an undercover officer a half-pound of drugs Friday afternoon.The discovery marked what appears to be the largest immigrant smuggling ring uncovered by the Fresno Police Department, said Sgt. Alex Flores, supervisor of the major narcotics unit..Flores says federal agents needed two large buses to take the immigrants to Fresno, where...

Health care tightened in Montgomery County Undocumented immigrants can't get most services By RENEE C. LEE Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle CONROE - While the Montgomery County Hospital District provides public health care for documented immigrants who live in the county, it does not extend those services to illegal immigrants. The district stopped providing non-emergency health care to illegal immigrants more than three years ago. ''We didn't think people who were here illegally should get care provided by the taxpayers," said board Chairman Francis Bourgeois. A district policy removing undocumented immigrants from the medical rolls was adopted in 2001. At the...