We waste $1.3 Trillion/yr on inefficient healthcare! The U.S. government, both major political parties, and our corporate news media won't discuss why
per capita US health care spending is DOUBLE that of advanced countries in Europe and Asia (2009) getting better results! (Ref.
2007,
selected 2007 with avg. doctor visits showing we're least cared for for the money, and
2003 and
1998.)
US over-spending is systemic, caused by inexcusable lack of price controls and excessive complexity from states acting like nations. Each state having different insurance companies and coverage and procedures, thus states are allowed to be inefficient which invites–if not requires–bribes/kick-backs & price fixing.
This EXTRA PRICE GOUGING OF $4,000/PERSON/YR is trending ever higher, making US-made products higher priced which invites off-shoring jobs.
Lastly, and importantly, health workers' pay is NOT a significant cause of the problem.
Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis – and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations.
Other wealthy individuals have also funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate
New proposals on pollution levels at beaches from the Environmental Protection Agency would allow one in every 28 visitors to get sick.
So far, Obama and his campaign have been running from climate change. But soon enough, they'll have to embrace it.
The current practice has serious and widespread environmental consequences for countries fishing on the high-seas, the international community, and ocean ecosystems. And time in running out.
In a reversal of policy after a nationwide uproar over its decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen for the Cure will amend its new funding rules and allow continued funding of breast health programs operated by the clinic, news outlets reported Friday morning.
by ERYN BROWN in the
LA Times | 12.02.03
The breast cancer charity's withdrawal of support for Planned Parenthood will sacrifice women's health to anti-choice dogma
The millions of gallons of chemical- laced wastewater that fracking produces must flow somewhere, and Ohio is trying not to be that place.
The aviation fuel known as "avgas" accounts for less than 1 percent of the nation's liquid fuel use, but enough piston engine planes use it to belch out half of all the lead going into the nation's air.
The letter featured in
ads in the New York Times and Politico (PDF), calls for a precautionary, science-based approach to offshore planning that better assesses the consequences of energy development in a rapidly changing marine ecosystem.
No Republicans voted for the bill.
The apparent defeat of SB 810, which faces a Tuesday deadline for passing the Senate, was the latest setback for supporters of the single-payer movement, who have pushed the proposal multiple times in recent years. The last version to win legislative approval was vetoed by then-GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
by TOREY VAN OOT and JIM SANDERS in
McClatchy | 12.01.28
Apple demands that its suppliers come into compliance or risk losing their contracts with the company.
A Chinese environmental group
released its own study claiming that Apple’s suppliers often discharge pollutants and hazardous chemical into surrounding communities, threatening public health.
India joins pockets of Italy, Spain and Hawaii where rising fuel costs and lower panel prices make solar pay for itself without state subsidies.
by NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON in
Bloomberg | 12.01.25
Breathing outdoor air is dangerous! “We’re finding out that many more species are in harm’s way from mercury than we thought.”
...contaminated birds had trouble sitting on their eggs long enough for them to hatch. They seemed easily distracted, and the impact on the rates of reproduction was alarming.
At 8% efficiency the entire world could obtain all the electricity it needs from solar cells covering land equivalent to the size of Colorado (~ 100,000 square miles). Some of the most recent, and experimental, PV cells have surpassed 40% efficiency.
Why does an appendectomy in Germany cost roughly a quarter what it costs in the United States? Or an M.R.I. scan cost less than a third as much, on average, in Canada?
Q. What ingredients used in Twinkies most surprised you?
A. Vitamins. I found they were...made from petroleum and fermented in enormous industrial plants mostly in China. To find out that a lot of my vitamins, and in particular the B vitamins in enriched flour...were made from Chinese petroleum just blew my mind.
How Industry Money Reaches (bribes?) Physicians
OECD Indicators
Why is Healthcare Absurdly Expensive in USA: Graphics (Part 2) (Part 1 is here)
Videos of Health Care Systems in Less Corrupt Countries
SOURCE: Public Broadcasting System & ABC News | Ref.
Health Care Reform Reality Check
SOURCE: The White House | Ref.
Health Care Reform: An Online Guide
SOURCE: Slate Mag. | Ref.
OECD Health Data [Updated 11.08.07]
SOURCE: OECD | Ref.
International Healthcare Systems Primer
SOURCE: The American Medical Student Association | Ref.
Global Warming LinksSOURCE: Readers | Ref.
A foreclosure settlement between five major banks guilty of “robo-signing” and the attorneys general of the 50 states is pending for Monday, February 6th; but it is still not clear if all the AGs will sign.
Why do we lock up so many people?
...there are now more people under “correctional supervision” in America—more than six million—than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.
“...what Congress really wants is... to trick those outside of the Beltway into believing they are doing something about this corruption,”
wrote Yale law professor Jonathan Macey in the Wall Street Journal.
Amazing! How many decades did this take?
The legislation would require disclosure of new stock transactions on the Internet within 30 days and explicitly prohibit members of Congress from initiating trades based on non-public information they acquired in their official capacity.
by LARRY MARGASAK in the
AP | 12.01.31
A U.S. Marine's guilty plea to dereliction of duty closes the books on the slayings of 24 Iraqis. But it also underscores what Iraqis see as American impunity.
The question that needs to be investigated is why robo-signing was being done. The alleged justification—that the bankers were so busy that they cut corners—hardly seems credible given the extent of the practice.
How will what universities teach be different? Here are some guesses and hopes.
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by Readers | Ongoing
Open Letters:
Sugar cane has vanished as a Hawaiian crop; Dole owns the only remaining pineapple plantation. More profitable coffee is grown instead.
