BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Cara You’ve almost certainly heard: in certain U.S. states, insurance companies are legally calling domestic violence a “pre-existing condition” and are therefore refusing to cover any treatment related to it. If the person in question doesn’t disclose the domestic violence prior to taking on insurance, they can have their coverage dropped by the insurance company. And, in the cases that are making the most news, those who have previously been victims of domestic violence are being denied access to insurance entirely. The story has been around for several weeks now. And seemingly, it’s not going away anytime soon. I keep seeing more details pop up in my Twitter feed. In my blog reader, someone shared an item at Jezebel about the Democratic plan to ban the classification of domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. Of course, this ban is a part of the plan to end the denial of coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions, period — but for some reason, the issue of domes...

A couple days ago I was sitting at the doctor's office getting a series of bloodwork done when I saw this: On Monday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that doctors delay mammography screening for breast cancer until the age of 50. The recommendation goes against the American Cancer Society’s long-held position that women receive their first mammogram by the age of 40 and follow up with yearly mammograms until the age of 74. WT#?? Are these people kidding? Yes, I admit I am over 50. Because of having PCOS since age 9 I have been getting regular mammograms since I was about 35 years ago. Drug therapy for infertility as well as for my PCOS and subsequently my Atypical MS means I always err on the side of caution and my doctors agree. PCOS carries a high rate of cancer later in life. Thank God I dodged that bullet after this May's surgery. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't take care of my body - flawed as it is. I have had a number of friends m...

ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL FOR THE U.S.! Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable. "This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States," said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist. The study, appearing in the November issue of Archives of Surgery, comes as Congress is debating the expansion of health insurance coverage to millions more Americans. It could add fodder to that debate. The researchers couldn't pin down the reasons behind the differences they found. The uninsured might experience more delays being transferred from hospital to hospital. Or they might g...

From a consistently great & illuminating blogger -- Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy : There has been a great deal of talk and debate about health care in the country recently as the Democrats push Heath Care Reform. A lot of animosity has been directed at the Health Insurance Industry as a whole. As it turns out, some is justified, but some is not. I was surprised by what is NOT justified, and I think you might be, too But first, another reason to be angry at insurers, especially if you are female, and living in one of thirty-nine states in the union, as this article highlights, Women Pay Up To 50% More For Health Insurance Premiums . Now, maybe I was just naive to not realize this was happening, but happening it is. This article focuses on the state of Colorado: Checking the “female” box when buying health insurance is likely to cost extra — perhaps up to 50 percent more than a man would pay for the same coverage. Gender-rating — or what some term as flat-out sexual discrimination — is li...

From FEMISEX: An astute reader sent this to us. From the WSJ: WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A group of anti-abortion Democrats opposed to U.S. House health-care legislation in its current form have emerged as a major obstacle to Democratic leaders' goal of passing the measure by August. A group of 20 House Democrats signed a letter sent Friday to House Democratic leaders stating they "cannot support any health care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." FemiSex posted on this last week. Read it again.. And remember that THIS moment in time (Blue White House, Senate and House) will be followed by times when Reds will be in control. There is no doubt that a public plan will crowd private insurance out of the picture in the long haul. And then women will be dependent upon the vagaries of Congress to pay for their contraception, hormones, reproductive care. It is no big stretch to im...

Before digesting the below, take a couple minutes to read Chaim's great post on "Obamacare" - Here. by Bronwyn's Harbor At the top of PBS’s latest Bill Moyers Journal , Moyers chose clips of the “usual suspects” opposed to Obama’s health care proposal - a Republican legislator shouting “socialism,” Glenn Beck, Michael Steele, and Bill Kristol, who worked to “drive a stake through” the heart of health care reform in 1993 and 2009. The problem with the GOP’s stock opposition language is that it inaccurately describes what’s really wrong with Obama’s plan, which enriches the profit-motivated private sector and strengthens its controls over policies, at the expense of average Americans forced to sign up. The real reason insurance companies brought back “Harry & Louise” ads: Obama’s plan rewards private health insurance companies with expanded enrollments but little reward for the Americans “mandated” (forced) to buy these plans. (See Paul Krugman’s blog post, “ Why m...

Larry Sinclair will be happy. ;) President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn't yet signed the presidential memorandum. The official said Obama would release more details on Wednesday. The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that in recent weeks has grown frustrated with the White House's slow movement on their priorities. Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a June 25 Democratic National Committee event where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a June 12 Justice Department brief that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian critic...

Alex Isenstadt As President Barack Obama tried to sell the American Medical Association today on his health care overhaul, the top Senate Republicans launched a familiar line of attack. They warned of rationed medical care, lack of patient control and government bureaucracy. “The American people will not stand for rationed health care,” Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl said Monday. “We believe that a one size fits all approach is the wrong approach." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a floor speech scheduled for this afternoon warned that what Americans "don’t want is a Washington takeover of health care along the lines of what we’ve already seen with banks, insurance companies, and the auto industry. Americans don’t want a government-run system that puts bureaucrats between patients and doctors." Kyl and McConnell introduced a bill today that would bar the federal government from using "comparative effectiveness research" — which, Kyl charged in a news ...

Dr. Devin J. Starlanyl Remarks Invisible Illnesses Conference Washington, DC (May 11, 2002) Thanks for all the other wonderful people who have taken so much time and effort to bring about this event. Look around you. Most of us here, those with chronic invisible illnesses, share more with each other than we do with our blood relatives. About 10 years ago, I created a word, FMily, to express the bond that we share. It’s not just people with fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain that share this bond. We all have in common invisible illness, and many of us have more than one. We are a FAMILY, as close as any troops who have been through war together and survived. Welcome, everyone, to the first National Family Reunion. Immobility is difficult for us. It’s okay to move around, stretch, or whatever you need to be as comfortable as possible. I do understand. I’ll teach you a few tricks to help. Contract the muscles on one side of your buttocks, and then relax them, and then do the same w...