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(Reuters) - As fear of Ebola infections spreads to developed economies, U.S. and British insurance companies have begun writing Ebola exclusions into standard policies to cover hospitals, event organizers and other businesses vulnerable to local disruptions. As a result, new policies and renewals will become costlier for companies opting to insure business travel to West Africa or to cover the risk of losses from quarantine shutdowns at home, industry officials told Reuters.

A transsexual who had a £10,000 sex change on the NHS to become a woman now wants the taxpayer to foot the bill for a further £14,000 of surgery so she can become a man again. Chelsea Attonley, 30, who was born a boy and called Matthew, said she now finds being a woman 'exhausting', is tired of putting on make-up and wearing heels, and now accepts that she should always have stayed a man... But now, seven years after surgery to become a woman, Chelsea wants to go back to being a man - and wants the taxpayer to...

The New York Times laid out some of the problems with socialized medicine in Britain in an article published Wednesday. The Times points to a case in which a five-year-old boy with a brain tumor set off an international hunt for the boy and his family. Critics of the National Health Service say Britain far overstepped its boundaries after it arrested the boy’s parents. NHS denied five-year-old Ashya King an advanced cancer treatment known as proton team therapy for his brain tumor. In a desperate attempt to get treatment for their son, Ashya’s parents traveled to Madrid to sell their...

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell insisted Monday that Obamacare is “clearly working,” trying to move past the rocky rollout of President Obama's signature health law by insisting that her agency was not concerned with fighting “last year's battles.” Burwell in a speech at George Washington University said that the verdict was in on Obama's signature domestic initiative. “The Affordable Care Act is clearly working,” the HHS chief said. “Healthcare is more affordable for families, businesses and for our economy as [a] whole. Coverage and services are more widely available to more people. Doctors and hospitals are delivering...

the latest Fox News national poll finds voters oppose the law by a 52-41 percent margin. As in the past, the new poll shows that most Democrats favor Obamacare (74 percent), while most Republicans (84 percent) and independents (61 percent) are against it. Voters in every age group are more likely to oppose the law than favor it, with one exception: those ages 65 and over. And that group only favors it by two percentage points. President Obama receives higher job approval ratings on health care than on almost any other issue: 42 percent of voters approve, while 53 percent...

A national business group representing the nation’s large employers reported Wednesday that companies desperate to avoid a 40 percent ObamaCare “Cadillac tax” are finding ways to shift the costs to workers. The so-called “Cadillac tax,” now four years away, will affect health plans that spend more than $10,200 per worker. Meanwhile, employers are shifting workers into plans with higher deductibles, just as ObamaCare does in the health care exchanges, and using health savings accounts to help defray the costs.

Scotland's second largest health board, NHS Lothian, will not be giving further treatment to smokers for non-urgent cases, with referrals from GPs being refused. Dr. Zahid Raza said: "In Edinburgh, we will not see patients at the clinic that are still smoking. Evidence shows that they would not do well with the treatment." He also went onto say: "We try to avoid intervention and, in around 80 percent of cases, a smoker’s condition will improve just simply by stopping smoking and smoking other lifestyle changes."Dr Jean Turner of the Scotland Patients Association said that she was "extremely disappointed", adding: "I'm...

Dr. James Beattie, a cardiologist who works at the East of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, believes hospitals should let more elderly patients die and “quality of life” should be given more consideration.According to an article in the Daily Mail, Beattie said that society no longer accepts mortality and is much less familiar with death. ‘If a person is in hospital, particularly an elderly person with multiple co-morbidities, if they have a cardiac arrest it’s a sign they are in decline,’ he told Radio 4.‘It’s their act of dying and they should not be resuscitated, they should be allowed...

While the United Kingdom's National Health Service spends more than £50 million per year subsidizing breast augmentation surgeries it refuses to pay for a drug that can help extend the survival time for cancer patients. A stark contrast between the cases of Josie Cunningham and Reece Hawley has raised eyebrows. The buxom Ms. Cunningham's breast enlargement was funded by the NHS back in 2009. She currently is selling pay-per-view tickets at £10,000 a pop to see her giving birth later this month. Reece Hawley is a trainee teacher. NHS spokesman Howard Titman attempted to explain the seemingly anomalous treatment of...

Alison Phillips says the Health Service MUST put life before cosmetic surgery after 21-year-old Reece was told he’ll have to fund his own cancer treatmentLast year the NHS spent £52.5million on boob jobs. This month 21-year-old Reece Hawley was told he’ll have to fund his own cancer treatment which could let him live another two years. Don’t think we need any more figures or facts, or justifications or explanations. Those two facts say everything we need to know about the muddle-headed madness that is destroying our National Health Service. We know, because we read about it daily, that the health...

UNKNOWN QUESTIONER:“Um, you mentioned the Health Insurance Exchanges for the States. And it’s my understanding that if the States don’t provide them, that the Federal Government will provide them.”M.I.T. economics Prof. Jonathan Gruber:“Yeah, so these Health Insurance Exchanges —once you go on MA-HealthConnect.org and CRS [is] in Massachusetts—will be these new shopping places. And they’ll be the place that people go to get their subsidies for health insurance. “In the law it says [that] if States don’t provide them, the federal backstop will. The Federal Government has been sort-of slow in putting in this backstop, I think partially, because they...

Liberals are now in damage control mode on the heels of the discovery of not one but two videos of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber claiming in January 2012 that the subsidies for that program were limited to exchanges set up by the states. Their contention is that while Gruber might have worked closely with Congress to create the Obamacare bill, he is still not Congress. The other claim is that there is no document that backs up what they consider to be merely a Gruber "Speak-O." Newsflash folks! Your humble correspondent has come upon a 2011 General Accounting Office report...

Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette and his supporters pioneered long-shot primary challenges, strong ideology, and populist rhetoric a century ago.

The head of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans gave a hint of what might come soon to those who pay for health insurance coverage through MNsure, Minnesota's health care exchange. Julie Brunner is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, which is the professional association for the HMOs that offer health coverage through MNsure. Brunner recently told a University of Minnesota symposium that she would "not be surprised if the health plans increased their rates by 8, 10, or even 12 percent." Gov. Mark Dayton tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he would be disappointed by such a...

There's triple trouble with electronic health records: patient safety, medical privacy, and data security. And there are at least eight hazards. But much taxpayer money has been thrown at the highly speculative, untested EHR for political and profit purposes. And there are at least eight hazards. But much taxpayer money has been thrown at the highly speculative, untested EHR for political and profit purposes. England has already tried and failed. The National Health Service, which serves a population of 53 million, began building a national EHR system in 2002. By 2007, it missed key deadlines. In 2011, the $20 billion...

Nine out of ten hospital wards may be at risk of overheating, increasing the dangers for vulnerable patients who are left sweltering in temperatures of more than 26C (78.8F), government advisers have warned. Poor ventilation, thin walls, low ceilings and big windows that can barely be opened are contributing to temperatures far exceeding acceptable levels during hot weather, according to the Committee on Climate Change. One fifth of domestic properties could also already be overheating, with flats especially vulnerable, it finds. The number of people dying prematurely from overheating could triple to 7,000 per year by the 2050s as global...

Britain’s obesity crisis is so serious that hospitals are buying specialist equipment to keep bodies cool because they are too large to fit into mortuary fridges. Hospitals are also having to widen corridors, buy reinforced beds and lifting equipment in order to cope with the growing numbers of obese patients coming though their doors. Figures obtained by The Telegraph show that hospitals have spent at least £5.5 million over the past three years to adapt allow them to treat larger patients. Experts now warn the cost of treating overweight and obese patients could rise to at least £10 million a...

“Today, liberty is under assault,” declared conservative firebrand Ted Cruz before an adoring audience Friday at the Republican Party of Texas State Convention. The GOP senator and Tea Party darling left virtually no red meat unthrown, calling for a return to the Constitution – “the most extraordinary document crafted in history” – a resurrection of American leadership abroad – where “bullies and tyrants are laughing at [us]” – and a rebuilding of jobs and economic growth at home, through adhering to free market principles, supporting “the American energy renaissance,” abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and repealing “every blessed word of...

link only: http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/letters/2014/05/26/bernie-sanders-blocked-va-accountability-act/9614547/

Imagine the press letting a Republican or conservative try to get away with trying to avoid uncondtionally calling something as infuriating and outrageous as the Veterans Administration waiting list scandal a real scandal. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did that on Monday (HT Patterico and Real Clear Politics) in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein, who naturally let it slide right on by: