Free Republic

For days now, the health care legislation in the Senate has been stalled. Democrats are divided over a proposed amendment that would let consumers buy pharmaceuticals from abroad. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to allow such purchases. But earlier this year he announced his opposition in return for pharmaceutical companies promising to spend at least $150 million, and possibly as much as $200 million, to push his health care legislation. President Obama obviously faces a dilemma: either he keeps the campaign promise he made to voters or he keep his later promise to drug companies. Passing the proposed drug...

It's probably just coincidental that bad numbers about President Obama's much-coveted healthcare legislation came out late last week when few people were paying attention. This is the absolutely crucial healthcare reform plan that simply had to be drafted, discussed, debated, amended and passed before early August. It's supposed to cover millions more Americans and reduce the nation's soaring medical costs. Turns out, not. Here's a little chapter review before semester finals:

New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows... --snip-- The F.D.A. has approved antipsychotic drugs for children specifically to treat schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder. But they are more frequently prescribed to children for other, less extreme conditions, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, aggression, persistent defiance or other so-called conduct disorders — especially when the...

A natural glue that sticks mussels to rocks and boat hulls has inspired US scientists to develop a new type of medical adhesive for use in pancreatic islet transplantation, an experimental medical procedure for treating patients with type 1 diabetes. The glue, developed by Phillip Messersmith's team at Northwestern University in Evanston, consists of a branched poly(ethylene glycol) core with catechol-derived end groups. Speaking at the Materials Research Society's meeting in Boston last week, Messersmith explained that the catechol functional group plays a key role in the solidification and adhesive capabilities of the marine blue mussel Mytilus edulis' adhesive proteins. 'Catechol in the presence of an...

December 10, 2009 Palin on Obama Speech: 'I Liked What He Said' December 10th From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart (CNN) – Sarah Palin had some rare praise Thursday for President Obama after the president delivered his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo. But the former Republican vice presidential nominee added that she would like to see the president act more like his predecessor, George W. Bush. "I liked what he said," Palin told USAToday in an interview after the speech. Palin said the president's remarks had a familiar ring. "I thumbed through my book quickly this morning to...

Polled support for the health care plan wending its way through Congress continues to crash downward in the polls. And before you say it, it's not just Rasmussen, which has actually been pretty much in the middle of the other polls. Here's where we stand as of today. For reform advocates, this is not good news. At 40% approval, it probably passes. At 30% approval--what Social Security reform enjoyed by the time it imploded--it's not going to no matter how the Senate massages their plan. Democrats cannot pass a bill this large on a straight party line vote if the...

More on Politics >> * That Grand Health Care Compromise? Jerry Nadler Has His Doubts * With Sampson's Support, Malcolm Smith Might Just Hang On * Unless He Wins the Governor's Race, Paterson Wants to Be on The View * Between Andrew Cuomo and a Balanced Ticket * The Elephants and the Ants All year, the biggest fault-line in the health care debate has been the public option–a proposed government-run insurance plan that Americans without access to group coverage would be eligible to sign up for. To liberals, it has been the reason for doing health care reform, an innovative...

A temporal twist to a therapeutic technique could block old terrors. Fearful memories can be wiped out for at least a year using a drug-free technique, according to a study done in the United States. The technique exploits the way that human brains store and recall memories. When a long-term memory is recalled, it goes through a brief period of vulnerability, after which it must be stored anew to be remembered again. While the memory is in its fragile state, it can be modified or disrupted. Studies in animals1 have used drugs to interfere with this reconsolidation process, stirring hope...

"I cannot think of anything, domestically, that would do more harm to our country and to the people of our country, and to future generations, than the health care bill thats being promoted right now. Nobody in this country wants this defeated more than I do." -U.S. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl The Arizona Senator made the statement on the heels of this: Tea Party Support ( http://teapartysupport.com ) and the Social Security Institute ( http://socialsecurityinstitute.com ) joined forces yesterday to blast out a million-and-a-half email messages asking people to demand that Republican Senators stop assisting Harry Reid to ram...

A new analysis, using H1N1 deaths in the United States in the spring and projecting likely outcomes for this fall, shows that a typical -- or possibly even a milder flu season than average -- should have been expected. The finding begs the question: Has swine flu been oversold? The new study, done by researchers at Harvard University and the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit in the U.K., says swine flu cases in the spring indicated a flu season that might be, at worst, slightly worse than normal. "It would have been great to have that back in June," said...

President Barack Obama is spending almost $600 million to build community health centers and to make medical records easier to find. The White House on Wednesday painted the spending -- part of the $787 billion stimulus bill the president championed during his first days in office -- as a way to add jobs to a struggling economy. Officials also linked it to the administration's broader push for an overhaul of the nation's health systems that remains unfinished in Congress.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts up to 10 million people would lose employer-sponsored health care coverage under Senate Democratic health care reform plan. The CBO released the data last night. "Firms that would choose not to offer coverage as a result of the proposal would tend to be smaller employers and employers that predominantly employ lower-wage workers‚"people who would be eligible for subsidies through the exchange," The CBO reports, "although some workers who would not have employment-based coverage because of the proposal would not be eligible for such subsidies."

Constipation is one of those topics few like to talk about, according to WebMD.com. If you've suffered from this problem, though, you know it can be both painful and frustrating. Almost everyone gets constipated at some time during his or her life. It affects approximately 2% of the population in the U.S. Women and the elderly are more commonly affected. Though not usually serious, constipation can be a concern.

Nancy-Ann DeParle, one of President Obama's chief advocates for the health care reform bill wending its way through Congress, earned more than $6.6 million as a paid director for health care firms, some of which were targeted in government investigations or whistleblower lawsuits on suspicions of billing fraud and other legal problems.

In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus can damage cells throughout the respiratory airway, much like the viruses that caused the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics, report researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. The scientists reviewed autopsy reports, hospital records and other clinical data from 34 people who died of 2009 H1N1 influenza infection between May 15 and July 9, 2009. All but two of the deaths occurred in New York City. A microscopic examination of tissues throughout the airways revealed that the virus caused damage...

This is for discussion and ideas of what to do about impending coersed healthcare (cap and trade can be added as well). We must co-ordinate with other organizations and websites to take actions necessary to kill this bill. The News does not report the publics contempt for all the many dictatorial and life altering sections of this bill. As a matter of fact, not much of the public actually know what is in this beast. But we do know the vast majority of the public do not want it. Some of my ideas are contacting The Chamber of Commerces across...

Look who's at the health care negotiating table -- Tom Daschle. The former Senate Democratic leader's nomination as health and human services secretary was derailed over a back taxes flap earlier this year. But that's not stopping Daschle, a close ally of President Barack Obama, from playing a significant role in Capitol Hill health care talks -- much as he'd be doing if he'd actually gotten the job. The outsized role is unusual for someone who's an adviser to lobbying firms, especially given Obama's campaign vow to change business as usual in Washington. Daschle was in a strategy meeting earlier...

LAS VEGAS — Amid the alphabet soup of hepatitis virus types, the one that should most concern physicians these days is hepatitis C. “This is going to be the big virus in the next 20 years in the U.S.,” Dr. Marsha H. Kay predicted at a meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In fact, at a recent national forum on chronic viral hepatitis, several experts emphasized the need for a new, coordinated national response to screen and treat hepatitis C viral infections in the United States because too many infected patients live unaware of their disease and go...

Another day, another study confirming that ObamaCare will increase the price of health insurance. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has found that premiums in the individual market will rise on average by 54% over the status quo, which translates into an extra $3,341 a year for families and $1,576 for singles. The White House denounced the report as a "sham" before it was even released, which shows how seriously it takes such concerns. The Congressional Budget Office also found this week that ObamaCare will boost premiums in the individual market by as much as 13%. But the White House...

They believe the liberal base expects them to deliver and will punish them if they don't. Voters are increasingly worried about unemployment, but Democratic leaders in Congress remain obsessed with passing health- care reform. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin was asked recently if a health-care bill would pass the Senate by the end of this month. "It must," he said. "We have to finish it." Still, many in the trenches are uneasy about the sprawling, complex bill they privately acknowledge has no bipartisan support, doesn't seriously tackle soaring costs and will increase insurance premiums. That may explain Majority Leader Harry...

I just came from one of the finest medical complexes in the world, the Houston Medical Center. So many of the buildings, research labs, hospitals, etc were built with multi million dollar donations from generous benefactors. My question is: Will people donate to build a hospital or a lab that is run & controlled by the government?

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is warning that the "nuclear option" is being considered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass ObamaCare... This means only 50 votes would be needed to pass a healthcare takeover bill that would tax Americans to the tune of $500 billion, while gutting Medicare $464 billion. Grassley, and others believe the current plan on the table would lead to "rationed care, shuttered hospitals, overburdened doctors and waste." No doubt feeling the pressure to punch ObamaCare through before Christmas, Reid is now demanding lawmakers work on Sunday... Reid's quick-step signals a shift for Grassfire. We can't...

The Connecticut senator, free of partisan loyalties, has a pivotal role in the health-care debate. 'About two months ago my wife and I were out with another couple, and they said 'So, how's it going?'—and I knew what they meant. I said, 'I'm doing my own independent thing, but for the first time in five years, I feel out of the crossfire . . .' And my wife said, 'Knowing you, before long you'll mess up.'" Joe Lieberman laughs a big, hearty laugh, then adds: "And then came the public option!" The senator from Connecticut doesn't look sorry. Sitting in...

Patient Money WHEN I stock up on ibuprofen (my painkiller of choice), I typically buy a 500-count bottle of a store brand like Kirkland or Rite Aid. After all, ibuprofen is ibuprofen. Each pill costs me about 3 cents — or only one-third the cost of 9-cent Advil. Yet, when it comes to vitamins — which I take only when I feel run down — I turn to name brands like Centrum or Nature Made. My thinking has been: Why mess around with quality when it comes to the essential ABCs? But now that I’ve done some research, I might...

Rinderpest will be only the second disease to be wiped out. Rinderpest, the world's most devastating cattle disease, will be declared eradicated within 18 months, according to world health bodies. The effort will make it only the second disease to be wiped from the globe — the first was smallpox, eradicated in 1980. "Rinderpest tops the list of killer diseases [in animals]," says Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer for the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. It not only kills cattle and other wildlife, it also causes famines when people in developing countries lose the...

WASHINGTON -- Senators voted to safeguard coverage of mammograms and preventive screening tests for women under any health care overhaul legislation. The 61-39 vote Thursday on an amendment by Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine would allow the Health and Human Services secretary to require insurers to cover preventive health screenings free of charge.

At A Glance A large-scale clinical trial has found that annual screening with ultrasound in addition to mammography may find more cancers in women with dense breasts who are at elevated risk for breast cancer.For some groups of women, screening with MRI in addition to mammography helps detect breast cancer at an earlier stage.Supplemental screening with ultrasound or MRI increases the risk of false-positive findings. Media Contacts: RSNA Media Relations: (630) 590-7762 Maureen Morley (630) 590-7754mmorley@rsna.org Linda Brooks1-630-590-7738lbrooks@rsna.org CHICAGO — Results of a large-scale clinical trial presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America...

At A Glance Two studies explored ultrasound as an alternative to invasive biopsies for young women with lumps or other specific, localized signs or symptoms.Targeted breast ultrasound successfully distinguished between benign and cancerous tumors in all cases across both studies.The researchers recommend ultrasound as the tool of choice for evaluating palpable lumps in the under-40 population. Media Contacts: RSNA Newsroom 1-312-949-3233 Before 11/28/09 or after 12/03/09: RSNA Media Relations: 1-630- 590-7762 Linda Brooks1-630-590-7738lbrooks@rsna.org Maureen Morley1-630-590-7754mmorley@rsna.org CHICAGO — Targeted breast ultrasound of suspicious areas of the breast, including lumps, is a safe, reliable and cost-effective alternative to invasive biopsies for...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House budget director said Wednesday that it may take decades for America to have an efficient health care system even if Congress passes a major overhaul this year. "It will be years to decades" before the nation has a properly working health care system that rewards quality over quantity, Peter Orszag told reporters. He said improving the quality of health care "is more like a lifelong nutrition or diet, not studying for an exam," but he added that continuous progress is a crucial goal.

Global Update A new drug-resistant strain of bacteria has emerged in the last decade in Africa and is causing unusual numbers of deaths there, British and African researchers said on Monday. The strain, a variant of Salmonella typhimurium, is named ST313. Its genome was decoded by researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and researchers in Kenya and Malawi. While most salmonella bacteria cause diarrhea and are rarely fatal, this one causes death in one of four cases among children and vulnerable adults in some African regions, the researchers said. Many of its victims have been weakened by the AIDS...

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struggles to pass a health care bill in Washington and his polling numbers in Nevada continue to tank, there’s another aggravation he can’t seem to escape — the Las Vegas Review-Journal and its publisher, Sherman Frederick. Frederick has called Reid a “political corpse,� said a visit by President Barack Obama to Nevada earlier this year “was only to try to stop Nevadans from bouncing their unpopular senior Sen. Harry Reid in 2010� and suggested that “Reid’s power so far has done more for Reid personally than it has for Nevadans as a whole.�...

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama's explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit. The House bill mandates, and the Senate bill strongly encourages, businesses to extend health care coverage to all employees. But the bills do not have exemptions to screen out illegal immigrants, who usually obtain jobs by using false identities and are indistinguishable from legal workers.

Unless I misunderstand, the socialized medicine plan from hell would not only bilk other patients to provide elective abortions for those who want them, but require all enrollees – even those who view those abortions as murder – to finance them! Sure, this may be in the Constitution, but … on what planet?

Less than 24 hours ago, I lay prostrate on an operating table while surgeons aided by a robot(da Vinci) made six deep cuts in my belly area and carved out my oversized cancerous prostate. The robot allegedly made such precise cuts that important nerves and muscles were protected from damage so my functionality would be maintained. Makes one wonder if you can rent it for carving turkey— Hmmmm.

MADISON, Wis. — Seven and a half months into Ta-Shai Pendleton’s first pregnancy, her child was stillborn. Then in early 2008, she bore a daughter prematurely. Soon after, Ms. Pendleton moved from a community in Racine that was thick with poverty to a better neighborhood in Madison. Here, for the first time, she had a full-term pregnancy... --snip-- The lives and pregnancies of black mothers like Ms. Pendleton, 21, are now the subject of intense study as researchers confront one of the country’s most intractable health problems: the large racial gap in infant deaths, primarily due to a higher incidence...

(CNSNews.com) – The House health-care reform plan unveiled last week by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) would do more than regulate insurance companies – it would even regulate vending machines. The bill, which is posted online, would require that vending machine operators either create new machines that allow the customer to view nutrition facts or post nutritional information for each product near “each article of food or the selection button.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Top aides to President Barack Obama have met early and often with lobbyists, Democratic political strategists and other interests with a stake in the administration's national health care overhaul, White House visitor records obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press show.

Make no mistake about it: the health care bill that moved forward to debate in the Senate on Saturday is simply a power play by the government to gain more control over how we live our lives. It could easily lead to government control over the continuation of our families.

WASHINGTON — Americans could pay billions of dollars more in new taxes for a few years before they're likely to see significant change in the nation's health care system under legislation that Congress is considering. Some analysts said that's not necessarily bad. Delaying major health care changes until at least 2013, as the pending Senate and House of Representatives bills would do, would give the government sufficient money and time to get things right.

Today, the biggest event of the holiday, though competing with watching parades and football games on TV all day, is the preparation of the Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving Day is a time-honored American tradition, a time for family gatherings and a holiday meal that encourages over-the-top decadence, according to WebMD.com. And for many (some 97% of us), the thought of a Thanksgiving without turkey is heresy.

Since I will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with a group of relatives, I thought I would take the time to develop a Fact Sheet covering the things they will be dealing with by next Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, most of them are liberals and one I think is a closet DU reader. Hopefully, at least a little education can be accomplished …and… some might even change their minds and call their Congresscritter or Senator. Clearly there may be a big chunk out of their wallet and some really painful health care insurance issues to deal with next year. If nothing else,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cases of a drug-resistant bacterial infection known as MRSA have risen by 90 percent since 1999, and they are increasingly being acquired outside hospitals, researchers reported on Tuesday. They found two new strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- MRSA for short -- were circulating in patients and they are different from the strains normally seen in hospitals. Ramanan Laxminarayan of Princeton University in New Jersey and colleagues studied data on lab tests from a national network of 300 microbiology laboratories in the United States for their study. "We found during 1999-2006 that the percentage of S. aureus...

The real liberal objection to the war on terror is that it takes away from domestic spending priorities like ObamaCare. The White House says domestic politics is irrelevant to its pending Afghanistan decision, but domestic politicians beg to differ. "There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan," the liberal warhorse David Obey told ABC's Jonathan Karl, before threatening a "war surtax" if President Obama does end up granting General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops. "That's what happened with the Vietnam War, which wiped out the Great Society," the House Appropriations...

The flap over breast cancer screening has provided a fascinating insight into the political future of ObamaCare. Specifically, the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening. No sooner had the Health and Human Services Department's U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended against mammography for women under 50 than Secretary Kathleen Sebelius rushed to say don't worry. The decision had "caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women," she said, promising that no policies would change. New Jersey's Frank Pallone vowed to hold hearings, and Senator Dick Durbin leveled the...

The health-care bill in its current form would create a regulatory mess estimated by one Senator to add100,000 new administrators in over 100 new bureaucracies. Many of these bureaucracies will get between doctors and patients. Others are simply a waste of money.... To pay for all this new bureaucracy there will be dozens of new taxes totaling nearly $800 billion and extending to items such as wheelchairs and hospital gowns. Almost every major recent public opinion poll has shown more Americans oppose Obama/Pelosi/Reid Care than support it. Just this week, in The Wall Street Journal, the Dean of the Harvard...

In light of yesterday’s display of political prostitution by U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Storyville), which is being dubbed The Louisiana Purchase by some in the media, one wonders whether this isn’t the perfect time to launch a recall effort... ----------- Clip ----------- Is a recall difficult? No doubt. Louisiana law requires signatures of a third of the voters in last year’s election within 180 days of the petition’s filing, which means 632,192 signatures would be needed in six months. Over 908,000 people voted against Landrieu last year, so there is a market out there which can be tapped to achieve...

Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Neurology. "Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke," says Deborah Gustafson, senior lecturer at the Sahlgrenska Academy. "If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia." The research is based on the Prospective Population Study of Women...

He promised to end the old Washington games yet plays along with health care gimmicks and lies!It's little more than a year now since Obama was elected. Plenty of time for the not so well informed public to forget the principles Obama campaigned on and the promises he made. Even as he repeated his "eight principles" in his budget message in February, he is set on a course that will violate nearly every one of them. By now it should be painfully clear to all but the most diehard Obamaton that the current "reforms" violate every principle and promise Obama...

A new pill that could cure one of the most lethal forms of cancer is being developed by scientists. British researchers have found that a drug destroys tumours in a form of inoperable lung cancer that kills more than nine out of 10 sufferers. The treatment works by blocking the growth of the cancer cells and eventually causing them to self destruct. In more than 50 per cent of the trials, the treatment, which appears to have no side affects, killed all traces of the disease. "We are very excited about it," said Professor Michael Seckl, the molecular oncologist who...

Enlarge ImageBusybody. A new study suggests HSV-2, seen here as orange particles, is constantly active even when patients don't have symptoms. Credit: Dennis Kunkel Microscopy Inc./Visuals Unlimited, Inc. Genital herpes comes and goes--at least that's what it looks like to patients. But a mathematical model published in the 18 November issue of Science Translational Medicine suggests that herpes never slumbers. Instead, nerve cells continuously pump out the virus in minuscule quantities over a sufferer's lifetime. If the findings hold, it may be much harder to stop patients from passing on the infection than researchers thought. As many as one...