November 2009 | The Health Culture

Accelerate health care reform before it's too late

Posted by Jan on November 30, 2009 @ 10:30 pm

Paul Starr was a senior advisor for health care reform under President Clinton, and he’s the author of a celebrated history of the American health care system, The Social Transformation of American Medicine. He has weighed in on the current health care debate in a New York Times op-ed piece.
In addition to commenting on the public option (it would enroll too few people and cost too much) and letting states run health exchanges (too many states would resist), he points out the importance of accelerating the timetable for reform. His concerns are similar to those raised last week by Maggie Mahar (emphasis added).

For Congress to put off expanding coverage to 2014 would be asking for a lot of patience from voters. It would also give the opponents of reform two elections to undo it. President Obama would have to run for re-election in 2012 defending a program from which people would have seen little benefit.
To speed the process, the legislation ought to give states financial incentives to adopt the reforms on their own as early as mid-2011. … The final deadline for the federal government’s expansion of coverage should be no later than Jan. 1, 2012.

Penguins as canaries

Posted by Jan on November 26, 2009 @ 5:42 pm

Penguins, like canaries in coal mines, are a leading indicator of climate change and other environmental hazards. Their frozen habitat is getting smaller. A warmer ocean means the migration patterns of fish have changed, so penguins are forced to travel much farther for food. The Magellanic penguins of South America now need to travel 25 miles farther than they did just a decade ago. Overfishing and oil pollution also contribute to the plight of penguins.

In honor of Thanksgiving – when we eat another bird – the Washington Post featured a story on a penguin rehabilitation center, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB). Most of SANCCOB’s rescue efforts focus on birds who suffer from oil spills.

Music: Rosen Movement Playlist November 24

Posted by Jan on November 24, 2009 @ 11:02 pm

Source: flickr

Warm Up
o Big Bands – You made me love you
o Rod Stewart – As time goes by
o B52s – Love Shack
Stretch – Scarves
o Offenbach – Tales of Hoffman Barcarolle
o Delibes – Lakme/Viens, Mallika
o Eva Cassidy – Songbird
Circle
o Emmylou Harris – Here there and everywhere
o Frank Sinatra – You make me feel so young
o Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Across the Floor
o Mamas and the Papas – California Dreaming
o Elton John – Philadelphia Freedom
o Guy Lumbardo – Now is the hour (waltz)
On the Floor
o David Lanz – Whiter shade of pale
o Enya – Evening Falls
o Enya – Marble hallways
o Enya – Watermark
o Enya – A day without rain
o David Lanz – Dream of the forgotten

Could conservatives reverse health reform in 2013?

Posted by Jan on November 22, 2009 @ 8:05 pm

Source: About.com, Daniel Kurtzman

Maggie Mahar raises a disturbing point about implementing health care reform once a bill makes it through both branches of Congress. In the House version of the bill, the provisions — the public plan, the Exchanges, regulation of private insurers, subsidies — take effect on January 1, 2013. The Senate version, on the other hand, has all this scheduled for 2014.
What if, in the 2012 elections, conservatives took control of both the White House and Congress? In the House version, they would have only a few months to overturn the legislation and prevent it from happening. But with the Senate version, they would have a whole year.

Sin taxes: Financing health care with soda pop

Posted by Jan on November 20, 2009 @ 10:58 pm

Sourch: On the dash

Sugary soft drinks are under attack from obesity experts, health commissioners, nutritionists, Congress, and President Obama. And the soft drink industry is fighting back.
Health experts have proposed a tax on soft drinks of one cent per ounce. That’s an extra 12 cents on a 12-ounce bottle of Pepsi, which may not sound like much, but it adds up. If a two-liter (67.6 ounces) bottle of Coke sells for $1.35, the price would go up 50 percent.
Health experts claim the tax could cut consumption by 10 percent and, they hope, reduce obesity. Even if the tax had no impact on weight gain, there’s the appeal of generating $15 billion a year in revenues.
Congress likes the idea of a tax on soft drinks because they could use the money to finance health care. The Congressional Budget Office did an estimate last December on a less drastic federal excise tax — three cents for every 12 ounces — and came up with a projected income of $50 billion over ten years. Currently there’s no amendment taxing soft drinks in either the House or Senate versions of the health care reform bill. But that battle isn’t over yet.

Music: Rosen Movement Playlist November 17

Posted by Jan on November 17, 2009 @ 7:50 pm

Source: Ellf House

Warm Up
o Rod Stewart – I only have eyes for you
o Rod Stewart – Let’s fall in love
o Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris – For a dancer
Stretch
o Caccini – Ave Maria
o Rachmaninoff – Vocalise
Circle
o Eric Clapton – Malted milk
o Cher – Believe
o Four Tops – I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
Across the Floor
o Elton John – I don’t wanna go on with you like that
o Fleetwood Mac – Say you love me
o Guy Lombardo – Tennessee Waltz
On the Floor
o Iz – Kaulana Kawaihae
o Iz – Opae E
o Cesaria Evora – Crepuscular solidao
o Cesaria Evora – Xandinha
o Cesaria Evora – Cize

Baby RB: Ethical dilemmas of modern medicine

Posted by Jan on November 13, 2009 @ 11:11 pm

Source: Karen Bown Photography

In the days before informed consent – when doctors knew best and it hadn’t occurred to patients that they had rights – newborn babies with life-threatening birth defects were declared “stillborn.” The motives were compassionate: Spare the parents an agonizing choice and a lifetime dedicated to full time care. This medical practice continued well into the post-World War II era.
Today, due to a combination of technological advances in medicine and the rise of bioethics, that’s not what happens. Premature babies, for example, can be kept alive. Those first few months may be very difficult on the parents psychologically, and — if they have good health insurance — may cost a million dollars, but premature infants are saved all the time.

Music: Rosen Movement Playlist November 10

Posted by Jan on November 10, 2009 @ 9:37 pm

Lisa Thompson, right, with Marion Rosen

Warm Up
o Madeleine Peyroux – I’m All Right
o Kiri Te Kanawa – I got the sun in the morning
o Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Rich Woman
Stretch
o Tracy Chapman – I’m ready & Save a place for me
o Natalie Cole – The very thought of you
Circle
o Renee Olstead – Breaking up is hard to do
o Eagles – Peaceful easy feeling
o Ella & Louis – Comes love
Across the Floor
o Belanova – Me Pregunto
o Kasey Chambers – If I were you
o Sinead O’Connor – Her mantle so green
On the Floor
o Peggy Lee – Come rain or come shine
o Peggy Lee – Deep purple
o Peggy Lee – The Man I Love
o Peggy Lee – Unforgettable
o Rosemary Clooney – Tenderly
o Bruce Cockburn – Closer to the light

The problem in Afghanistan is hunger

Posted by Jan on November 6, 2009 @ 9:27 pm

Source: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

The typical diet in Afghanistan is bread with a watery soup, some onions, a potato, perhaps a bone and some yogurt or oil. One third of the population is hungry or in danger of starving – humanitarian groups call this being “food insecure.” Another third of the population is on the border of food insecurity.

In the old days, before their country was overrun by foreigners, Afghans could produce enough to eat by subsistence farming – growing enough to feed one’s family. Between the disruptions of armed conflict and an inadequate, unpredictable rainfall, that’s no longer possible. Afghans must earn money to buy food.
Read more

Music: Rosen Movement Playlist November 3

Posted by Jan on November 3, 2009 @ 11:38 pm

Source: AppuVista

Warm Up
o Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Killing the blues
o Talking Heads – Take me to the river
Stretch
o Richard & Linda Thompson – Dimming of the day
o Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris – You’ll never be the sun
o Carl Orff – In trutina from Carmina Burana
Circle
o Loreena McKennitt – Tango to Evora
o Natalie Merchant – Wonder
o Willie Nelson – If you’ve got the money I’ve got the time
Across the Floor
o Nikka Costa – Everybody got their something
o 101 Strings – Edelweiss
o 101 Strings – Fascination
On the Floor
o Aaron Neville – Cry me a river
o Aaron Neville – Come rain or come shine
o Aaron Neville – The very thought of you
o Aaron Neville – Blame it on my youth
o Aaron Neville – The shadow of your smile
o Aaron Neville – Our love is here to stay

Monthly Archives: November 2009