Ala. Doctor Might Bring Attention to Moribund Post
Once the governments leading voice on health issues, the surgeon general faded into relative obscurity in recent years. When asked to name a surgeon general, many people can only recall Dr. C. Everett Koop - the famous Reagan appointee with the look and bearing of a biblical prophet.
Some thought that would change under the Obama administration, which early on considered popular CNN medical reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta for the job.
Gupta withdrew and more than four months later, the Obama administration on Monday forwarded a new name - Dr. Regina Benjamin.
She has piled up an impressive list of accomplishments - shes [...]
Kennedy Seeks Public Health-care Tactic That Finances Itself
A summary of the provision written by the Massachusetts Democrats Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee describes a public insurance plan that could be quickly available around the U.S. with payment rates set by the Health and Human Services Department. The summary was provided by a person close to the committee.
President Barack Obama said in a June 2 letter to the chairmen of the health and finance committees that government- backed insurance is necessary to make affordable coverage available to everyone and keep private insurers “honest.” [...]
Sebelius Sees Room For U.s. Health Cooperative, Few Gop Votes
The former Kansas governor, 61, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday that the Obama administration “remains open to all serious ideas” that give all Americans “real health- care choice.” Those also include government-backed insurance based on Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled.
Separately, she told Bloomberg News in an interview she expects both houses of Congress to approve overhaul legislation and send a final measure to the president by October. The Senate bill will have enough Republican votes to keep passage from being strictly along [...]
They Shoot Frequent Fliers, Dont They? Only In Chinas Flu Era
The people in white are health workers dispatched by Chinas government to scan every arriving person for fever with the gun-like laser instruments, which detect infrared energy. Eden is one of almost 23 million people authorities have screened since April 25 at Chinas borders, including about 30 international airports, according to government figures. So far, tests have found 90 people with swine flu, among 6,000 with possible signs of the disease such as fever.
“There were people hovering around this one guy and whispering toward the front,” [...]
Scottish Swine Flu Patient Dies; First Demise Outside Americas
The WHO last week declared the first influenza pandemic since 1968, indicating that the virus is spreading in communities outside the Americas. A total of 145 people in the Americas have died from the disease, including 108 in Mexico, the organization said in a statement on its Web site June 12.
The person who died in Scotland was among 10 people hospitalized with the virus, the Scottish Government said in an e-mailed statement from Edinburgh. No details were given. The victim had “underlying health conditions,” the government [...]
Doctors Chief Says Coverage Can Expand Without New U.s. Tactic
The American Medical Association thinks the health system can be fixed through changing private insurance, and its worried a government alternative would end up underpaying doctors the way Medicare and Medicaid do, Nancy Nielsen, the groups president, said in an interview in San Diego today.
President Barack Obama said this week he “strongly” supports a government-sponsored alternative to compete with private insurers. That proposal met resistance this week from Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, which is drafting legislation, and a group of 51 House Democrats who [...]
Mexico Raises Swine Flu Demise Toll to 159 as Businesses Hurt
About 2,498 people have been diagnosed with symptoms related to swine flu, while 1,300 of those are hospitalized, Health Minister Jose Cordova told reporters late yesterday. Hospitalizations have declined over the past few days, he said.
Mexicos swine flu outbreak is punishing businesses in the capital, which generates 22 percent of the countrys gross domestic product, according to Credit Suisse. Mexico Citys government yesterday ordered all 35,000 restaurants shut, after saying that economic activity has fallen 60 percent since schools were first closed on April 24. [...]
Mexico Declares Crisis On Swine Flu as Fatality Toll Rises
Authorities closed schools until May 6 in Mexico City and the states of Mexico and San Luis Potosi, where infections have been concentrated, and canceled most public and official activities. The emergency decree, published in the state gazette, gives the president authority to take wider action.
“The federal government under my charge will not hesitate a moment to take all, all the measures necessary to respond with efficiency and opportunity to this respiratory epidemic,” Calderon said yesterday during a speech to inaugurate a hospital in the southern [...]
Cdc: Most Adults Should Restrict Salt But Dont
That group should eat no more than about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt each day. But only 1 in 10 people in that targeted group are meeting that guideline, according to estimates released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I dont think alarming is too strong” a term for describing the results, said Dr. Darwin Labarthe, director of the CDCs Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.
Sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, which is major cause of heart disease and stroke. Salt - or sodium chloride - is the main source of sodium for most [...]
W.r. Grace Kept Montana Asbestos Jeopardy Secret, U.s. Claims
“This case is about a company that mined and manufactured a hazardous product and individual executives that chose profits at the expense of peoples health and chose avoiding liability over disclosing the health hazards to the government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean said yesterday at the opening of a federal court trial in Missoula, Montana.
The company and five former executives are charged with conspiring to contaminate the northwestern Montana town, where Grace mined and processed vermiculite from 1963 to 1990, and obstructing government investigations. [...]