Remarks by Dr. Claudia Fegan (board member & past president of PNHP) at the reception at the DNC in Denver, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 for co-sponsors of HR 676:

There are 45.7 million uninsured people in the United States.  There are probably some 50 million people who are underinsured, meaning even though they have health insurance they cannot afford the care they need. While it is true we saw a slight decrease in the number of uninsured last year, this was due to a massive expansion of public programs. Were it not for the fact that 2.7 million more people were covered by public programs last year; Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare we actually would have seen an increase in the number of uninsured. It is so clear that a public national health insurance program is no longer the best option to cover all Americans, it is the only option. The private insurance industry is never going to get us to universal coverage.

We live in the richest, most powerful country in the world. How long are we going to allow this to go on?

Two months ago I admitted a woman to the hospital. Both of this woman’s breasts were rock hard filled with cancer, the skin was discolored and dimpled, her armpits were filled with swollen lymph nodes. How could this happen?

According to the Hindustan Times, in India's rural Kanpur area, an unknown infection has spread from one village two weeks ago to now 350, killing 160 with "thousands" more bed-ridden.

On an average, 15 to 20 people have been dying every day; Saturday saw the highest toll in a day: 24.

The district’s health department is somewhat confused about the nature of the disease that has struck. At the beginning, the diagnosis was viral fever. Then doctors concluded that it was falciparum malaria. But after two weeks, they have ruled out both but still don’t have an exact answer.

"We really don’t know what exactly it is; we are depending on the finding of a team of specialists from New Delhi," said Dr RC Agarwal, the district’s new chief medical officer.

• The Washington Post reports that the government’s reckless overspending over the last few years, is now directly affecting the health of America’s disabled and elderly.  The Republican-led Congress of 2003 created a "doughnut hole" in drug benefit coverage in order to make it more affordable for the federal government.   Nearly 3.4 billion people were affected in 2007, having to pay the entire cost of their medication until they spent, out of pocket, $3,850.  Many people in Medicare have diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions.  The result?  15 percent stopped taking their medications when forced to pay for the entirety of their prescriptions.  For example, 10 percent of diabetes patients stopped buying their medication, while 16 percent of high blood pressure patients and 18 percent of osteoporosis patients stopped as well. 

Fitness Monday is a community series for health and fitness support.‭  ‬None of the hosts or diarists are professionals.‭  ‬Please consult your own general practitioner if you have questions.‭  

Fit Kos-friends have more energy to elect more and better Democrats‭!  

After seeing this post on former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher's current medical difficulties, I'm wondering why the news media isn't asking pertinent questions about John McCain's public exhibitions of forgetfulness and whether they raise questions about his fitness to be president.
Yes, McCain did release more than 1,000 pages worth of medical records, yet from looking at the linked document from the McCain campaign, there is no explanation about why McCain can't recall even the most basic information about himself, such as the car he drives and the number of homes he owns.
More below.

As my  sister's cat gets even rounder, I am working on losing the apple shape.

The first diary in the series, which gives the background of my challenges, is here
Read below to find out what I've been doing, how it's working, and I hope you'll share what's happening for you in the comments. Pootie pics also welcome as they are known stress reducers.

I just found out that some awesome organizers had the foresight to think:

"Hey--there are thousands of protesters coming to St. Paul who probably aren't too keen on talking to police departments. If any of them get sexually assaulted while they're in the Twin Cities, they could feel really, really stuck!"

So they've organized a Republican National Convention -specific sexual assault peer advocate phone line and wellness center in case anyone wants to seek support, healing, and accountability in an alternative way (to the formal criminal justice system).

I don't yet know what the access phone number will be, but when I find out, I will post it on the Daily Kos.

For now, for everyone who's coming to my fair state to protest the RNC - know (and tell your friends!) that if anyone tries to sexually assault you and you aren't comfortable telling the police, there will be fellow protesters organizing alternative ways of support, healing, and accountability for just your situation.

The Department of Veterans Affairs uses it in their Hepatitis C treatment program. Fort Bliss' Warrior Resilience program -- the same one Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey believes should be replicated throughout the military -- uses it as one tool to help soldiers strengthen and recover following combat.

Military OneSource's Health Library says it can increase wellness and "treat diseases of all types."

And it's the reason given by New Zealand's champ cyclist Hayden Roulston for bouncing back from a serious heart condition to claim both Olympic silver and bronze medals this past week in Beijing.

What is it? Reiki [pronounced "Ray-Key"] energy healing...

Fluoride chemicals added to 70% of US waters supplies never were tested before for their brain effects. Recent research shows fluoride enters the brain and can lower IQ and cause other neurological defects.

Yesterday our great orange leader Markos asked to know more about Obama's being quoted in the Wall Street Journal as supporting Single Payer national health coverage. Here's what Obama actually said at the New Mexico event:

"If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system," Obama told some 1,800 people at a town-hall style meeting on the economy.

[snip]

But Obama repeated that he rejects an immediate shift to a single-payer system. "Given that a lot of people work for insurance companies, a lot of people work for HMOs. You’ve got a whole system of institutions that have been set up," he said at a roundtable discussion with women Monday morning after a voter asked, "Why not single payer?"

Yet another vacuous phony beltway coalition has gotten undue attention by rolling out Harry & Louise the fictional couple originally featured in the Insurance lobby’s campaign against the Clinton plan in 1993.

Meanwhile, while respectable moderates like Timothy Noah and Maggie Mahar begin to get it, our friends from FamilyUSA to HCAN and MoveOn to drop the ball badly.

This was diaried yesterday and needs to get more visibility.

Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) was found unconscious behind the wheel of a moving car yesterday and is now in the hospital.  Link to Politico from this morning:

http://www.politico.com/...

More below the jump.

Fitness Monday is a community series for health and fitness support.  None of the hosts or diarists are professionals.  Please consult your own general practitioner if you have questions.  

Fit Kos-friends have more energy to elect more and better Democrats!

I did it again today.  It had been a couple of weeks since the last time and I was feeling the "itch".

I snuck out of work early and went to my favorite place.  It's safe, clean and comfortable there and the people who run it are good.

When they slide the needle into your vein, you barely feel it.

The only problem is they want payment in blood or more accurately blood components.

HR-676 is the United States National Health Insurance Act (or the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act) sponsored by John Conyers and co-sponsered by some 91 congresspeople in the House. It is the so-called single payer  bill supported by CNA/NNOC, PNHP, Health for Now and endorsed by many unions and other civic organizations.

But what does it actually say?

nyceve, me, and many others have diaried about with much linky goodness, but not everybody clicks through. So below, here it is in all it's cut-n-paste glory from Rep. Conyers house website and the "thomas.loc" house website.

Let us take time to know what it is we are supporting.

MoveOn.org mobilizes its 3.5 million members to stop the Bush Administration's attempt to define contraception as abortion. RH Reality Check is cited as source.

Original at RH Reality Check.

HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt blogs again about the proposed HHS regulations that redefine contraception as abortion, without mentioning the word contraception. But he demonstrates he knows how to play the game of far-right ideological abortion politics.

Written by Scott Swenson and originally published on RH Reality Check.