Free Republic

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor The shake-up of NHS dentistry has been condemned as a failure after official figures showed fewer people are receiving health service treatment. More than 300,000 people lost their NHS dentist in three months alone Eight hundred thousand fewer people saw an NHS dentist in the two years up to December than in the last two years under the old dental contract. The shake-up was aimed at simplifying the payments system, encouraging more preventive work and reducing the 'drill and fill' culture in NHS dentistry. But the contract was so unpopular many dentists left the NHS...

British doctors will take the historic step of admitting for the first time that many health treatments will be rationed in the future because the NHS cannot cope with spiralling demand from patients. In a major report that will embarrass the government, the British Medical Association will say fertility treatment, plastic surgery and operations for varicose veins and minor childhood ailments, such as glue ear, are among a long list of procedures in jeopardy. James Johnson, the BMA chairman, will warn that patients face a bleak future because they will increasingly be denied treatments. He will urge the NHS to...

Low water pressure hampered efforts today to fight a fire that raged through the Universal Studios backlot in Universal City, destroying a soundstage, the theme park's King Kong attraction, a video vault and sets such as the Courthouse Square seen in "Back to the Future" and the New York street scape from "Bruce Almighty." As the equivalent of two city blocks burned -- firefighters were still dousing hot spots 10 hours after the blaze began in predawn darkness -- a mushroom-like cloud of smoke drifted over surrounding neighborhoods, raising some health concerns. A large explosion near the video storage building...

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) — A massive fire raged on a back lot at Universal Studios early Sunday, devouring several movie sets, including mock New York and New England streets. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Daryl Jacobs said at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed. Though the fire was contained, it was still raging, Jacobs said. "The facades are constructed of heavy timber and they tend to burn quite freely," he said. The blaze broke out just before dawn on a sound stage,...

According to the sages of the Talmud, there are 70 families with 70 paths within the great Family of Man. And each individual has his or her path within a path. Yet, there is one universal basis for us all. At the dawn of human history, G-d gave man seven rules to follow in order that His world be sustained. So it is recounted in the Book of Genesis as interpreted by our tradition in the Talmud. There will come a time, our sages told us, that the children of Noah will be prepared to return to this path. That...

Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new patients. Those fortunate enough to make it soon learn they face another long wait: Dr. Atkinson’s next opening for a physical is not until early May — of 2009. Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have...

Medicare is poised to wreak havoc on the economy. And our presidential candidates are avoiding the issue. Twice I have asked Alan Greenspan what he considers the greatest threat to the U.S. economy, and both times he has answered immediately with a single word: Medicare. He isn't so worried about the trade deficit and the housing crash; he figures market forces will sort them out. But Medicare is something else - a multitrillion-dollar problem that's about to get dramatically worse, and one that nobody wants to talk about. You'd think that the greatest threat to America's economy would be Topic...

TOKYO - An 89-year-old woman died after an ambulance crew spent two hours trying 30 hospitals before finding one that would accept her for treatment, Japanese officials said Friday. The woman's family called an ambulance early Tuesday morning after she became ill with vomiting and diarrhea, said Hideto Matsumoto, a fire official in Tondabayashi City, Osaka prefecture (state). The ambulance crew and local fire department contacted 30 hospitals before one finally said it could admit her, Matsumoto said — about two hours after her family had called for an ambulance. The woman's heart stopped when she was taken to Osaka...

I am a small-government conservative/libertarian and have hated the concept of socialized medicine almost all my life. But now, I could live with universal health coverage in the U.S.. Here's why. We now have the worst of both worlds: we are paying for universal health coverage, but not getting it. In fact, we pay more for health care in taxes than countries that provide universal coverage. Then we pay more than that amount again in private coverage. Additionally, what we have now in the U.S. is nowhere near a free market in health care. Defending the status quo is not...

Democrats’ assault on Americans’ rights and personal freedom continues unabated, even in the wake of fairly stunning rebukes suffered as a result of their having to call off the presidential authority usurpation dogs. General David Petraeus’s well-managed presentation in his testimony before Congress as well as the ongoing success of the Iraq troop surge has put paid to that. Indeed, despite the fact that American troops are more active in the field and are thus more exposed to enemy attack, the combat death toll of Americans continues to lessen. That doesn’t mean, though, that Democrats have abandoned their power grab...

Like getting cold cocked in a barroom fight .. it hit me today ...

...As she spoke, memories of the Clinton years wafted through my head — government by seminar running into the late hours. But as she will tell you (before you even have a chance to ask), she has learned a lot since the early 1990s, and while the conversations may still be endless, they are also more restrained. And it’s true. The plan she unveiled yesterday is much simpler than the one she came up with 14 years ago. Back then, she and her staff were like technocratic engineers, one of her advisers told me, trying to patch every last gap...

RUSH: If John Edwards is going to require every one of us under his universal health care plan, socialized medicine, to go to the doctor all the time -- it's going to be mandatory; the government is going to make us go to the doctor -- then I have an idea. I think the government should make every American have access to a lawyer. I think the federal government should take over the whole legal field, just like they're taking over the whole health care industry. Take over the legal business. Set prices for all services. Set salaries for all...

Universal Housing It’s time that America stop being so greedy and take care of it’s people better. Right now there is a crisis which affects tens of millions of Americans who are trying to improve their lives. They are not getting the most basic of needs. Often they have to decide between food and this other need. Often they cannot afford both. It’s disgusting that in a country so full of wealth that there are still people who don’t own their own home!! All across America, real estate costs have increased so much that some Americans will never have the...

A strange-bedfellows alliance of liberal advocacy groups, labor unions and Big Business is trying to resurrect “HillaryCare.” Major corporations, which will benefit if government picks up the tab for their employees’ health care, are joining with the liberal group Families USA to press for more government health care spending. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is in on the deal too. Its partner? Wal-Mart!...... For conservatives, it must seem like HillaryCare Redux. This time, however, the reform effort is different in one important respect. In 1993-1994 many industry groups opposed Hillary Clinton's attempt to nationalize America’s health care system. Now...

A grandfather died after a blister caused by tight new shoes led to blood poisoning and massive organ failure. Peter Catterall, 60, was given dressings by a district nurse and told the sore on his toe should heal by itself. But just over a week later, the retired electrician suffered two heart attacks. [snip] But according to his youngest daughter, Sara, 21, the sore continued to weep, and when she went to see him a week later on July 1 he confessed: "This toe is killing me." Miss Catterall said yesterday: "I am no nurse, but I immediately knew he...

BOSTON - The goal was as audacious as it was simple: Plug the holes in Massachusetts' health care network without resorting to the politically nuclear option of a single government-funded program. The result is a landmark insurance law praised as innovative, derided as a house of cards and touted by former Gov. Mitt Romney as he runs for president. As of Sunday, nearly everyone in Massachusetts must be insured or face a series of increasing tax penalties. The law won't result in universal coverage immediately, but the deadline is a critical mile marker. "July 1 is really a call to...

Waiting four months for an MRI, sitting for seemingly interminable hours in emergency rooms and having cancer surgery considered “elective” are a few of the risks those country’s with universal healthcare take. If America listens to Democrats and Michael Moore, waiting lists, under-funding and less medical options are the future of American healthcare. I watched “Sicko” on the internet, where a bootleg copy was posted before the film’s release. Moore’s new film, “Sicko,” released June 29, attacks the American healthcare system, trying to make a case that patients in communist Cuba get better care. The documentary targets viewer’s emotions with...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Universal health care is the primary focus of the new "progressive" agenda for liberals now back in the political driver's seat after winning control of Congress, according to liberal leaders attending the annual Take Back America conference in Washington this week. On Monday, leaders from the sponsoring group, Campaign for America's Future, joined representatives of other liberal advocacy groups to introduce what they called "bold reforms" for the political debate. Propelled by momentum from the November 2006 elections, liberals are pushing for an end to the war in Iraq, political action to address climate change and increased...

Governor Deval Patrick plans to unveil a proposal today to make Massachusetts' community colleges, among the priciest in the nation, free to all high school graduates in the state by the year 2015, according to documents obtained by the Globe. The proposal is the centerpiece of Patrick's vision for a "cradle to career" education system that would dramatically expand the concept of public education in Massachusetts. The plan, which he will outline during commencement at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, would also provide preschool for all children, extend the school day and year, and guarantee two years of community...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans get the poorest health care and yet pay the most compared to five other rich countries, according to a report released on Tuesday. Germany, Britain, Australia and Canada all provide better care for less money, the Commonwealth Fund report found. "The U.S. health care system ranks last compared with five other nations on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes," the non-profit group which studies health care issues said in a statement. Canada rates second worst out of the five overall. Germany scored highest, followed by Britain, Australia and New Zealand. "The United States is...

Thirty-six companies have decided to join forces in a push to extend health insurance to all Americans, The Los Angeles Times reported today. Similar proposals have come from presidential candidates, Congress and labor groups, but this appears to be the biggest effort by corporate America so far. Members of the coalition “employ more than 1.7 million workers, and 18 of the companies are among the Fortune 500’s biggest firms,” The Times said. The leader of the Coalition to Advance Health Care Reform would seem an unusual choice. As chairman and chief executive of Safeway, Steve Burd endured a strike of...

PORTLAND, Me., April 23 — When Maine became the first state in years to enact a law intended to provide universal health care, one of its goals was to cover the estimated 130,000 residents who had no insurance by 2009, starting with 31,000 of them by the end of 2005, the program’s first year. “I think when we first started, in terms of making estimates, we really were kind of groping in the dark,” said Gov. John E. Baldacci, who this month proposed a host of adjustments. The story of Maine’s health program — which tries to control hospital costs,...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Monday to create a universal health care system if elected, saying she "learned a lot" during the failed health care effort of her husband's presidency. "We're going to have universal health care when I'm president ? there's no doubt about that. We're going to get it done," the New York senator and front-runner for the 2008 nomination said.

While American politicians talk about the wonder of Canadian socialized medicine a movie producer is creating a project to rescue Canadians from that very system. "WaitList Rescue" is finding American doctors willing to do operations for $1 for Canadians on waiting lists. The Fraser Institute’s sixteenth annual waiting list survey found that Canada-wide waiting times for surgical and other therapeutic treatments increased slightly in 2006. Total waiting time between referral from a general practitioner and treatment, averaged across all 12 specialties and 10 provinces surveyed, increased from 17.7 weeks in 2005 to 17.8 weeks in 2006. "WaitList Rescue" is the...

The crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, the water from the rock, and the war with Amalek, are some of the events described in this week's Torah portion. Each of these pleads for discussion, and at the moment we will dwell on the manner of victory over Amalek. The Torah portion's last words make Amalek the eternal enemy of Israel, proclaiming "war with Amalek from generation to generation." "When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. And the hands of Moses became heavy…"1 With these words the battle is decided; not...

Health care for all - an elusive goal that has tantalized presidents and governors for decades - is roaring back this year with ambitious proposals in a handful of prominent states. The promise: Cover millions of uninsured adults and children. Improve the quality of care at hospitals and doctor's offices. Rein in rising costs that are eating up workers' wages, company profits and state budgets. The problem: Someone's got to pay. And getting those with a stake in health care - doctors, insurers, hospitals, workers, employers, government - to agree on who and how much won't be easy. The most...

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Pennsylvania became the fifth U.S. state to seek universal health coverage for its citizens on Wednesday when it unveiled a plan to provide medical insurance for some three-quarters of a million residents who currently have none. Along with other states including Massachusetts and California, Pennsylvania is joining a growing movement among U.S. states to tackle the problem of residents without health care insurance, which according to some estimates number as many as 46 million Americans or about 15 percent of the population. The problem of uninsured medical costs, often left to be covered at taxpayer expense,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed to extend health coverage to nearly all of California's 6.5 million uninsured people, promising to spread the cost among businesses, individuals, hospitals, doctors, insurers and government. The plan contains elements that are likely to provoke opposition from a wide range of powerful interests, including doctors, hospitals and insurers, as well as employers and unions. But it also contains incentives for each of them. All children, regardless of their immigration status, would be covered through an expansion of the state and federal Healthy Families program. "I don't think it is a question...

Universal Music, the world’s largest record company, has launched the established media industry’s first legal action against user-generated internet sites in the wake of its distribution deal last week with YouTube, the most popular video-sharing website. In separate lawsuits, Universal alleged that Grouper.com – recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment – and Bolt.com had built up traffic by encouraging users to share music videos from its artists without their permission. In one incident, it claimed a video for the Mariah Carey song “Shake it Off” was viewed more than 50,000 times on Grouper without the company’s permission. User-generated sites have...

WASHINGTON - The quality of the health care provided to millions of Americans improved last year across several dozen categories, including increased immunization rates among insured children. The improvements are seen through the reporting of data that the White House and Congress want more of from health-care providers. They're contained in a report being issued Wednesday by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, which accredits and certifies insurers. The association tracks dozens of care measurements, submitted by many of the nation's insurance plans. The long-term tracking of the measurements helps improve the quality of care, according to the report. For...

Who's Afraid of TV 2.0? If you work at NBC Universal, beware the ides of September. Peacock staffers are sweating bullets over the impending release of what the company is calling TV 2.0, a proposed top-to-bottom reorganization of the network to streamline it for the Internet age. While NBC Universal Television Group honcho Jeff Zucker is pitching the project—recommendations are due mid-month, according to one source—as a visionary look to the future, staffers suspect it will be a merciless look at the bottom line. "Everyone is waiting for the ax to fall," says an NBCer. "There was a board meeting...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday that he will veto a universal health care bill that is headed for his desk, claiming the measure would set up a "vast new bureaucracy" that would be too expensive. The Republican governor said the single-payer system proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl would "cost the state billions and lead to significant new taxes on individuals and businesses, without solving the critical issue of affordability. "I won't jeopardize the economy of our state for such a purpose," the governor said in a statement. Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said Schwarzenegger's comments indicated he "has not read the...

The studio could lose as much as $30 million on the movie, dashing parent GE's hopes. GE was counting on "Miami Vice" to sizzle at the box office this summer. But fizzle is closer to the truth. At a cost of at least $235 million to make and market, the remake of the iconic 1980s TV cop show was the biggest bet of the year for the company's studio Universal Pictures. During an earnings call with financial analysts in July, GE's chief financial officer singled out the stylish crime drama as a coming bright spot for the third quarter. That...

LOS ANGELES - Universal Music, home to artists such as U2, The Killers and Audioslave, will make its catalog of recordings and music videos available for free on an ad-supported Web site launching later this year, the site's operator said Tuesday. The two-year deal calls for New York-based SpiralFrog.com to split advertising revenue with the recording company, said Lance Ford, chief marketing and sales officer for SpiralFrog. Users can download an unlimited number of songs or music videos if they register at the site. The tracks cannot be burned to a CD, but users will be able to transfer music...

No one knows exactly how much Californians spend on health care, but it's somewhere between $150 billion and $200 billion a year. ... Nor do we know exactly how many of California's 37 million residents lack health insurance, but it's somewhere between 6 million and 7 million, one of the nation's largest proportions of medically uninsured, reflecting the state's immense population of illegal immigrants and the multifaceted and diffused nature of its economy. --snip-- ... in the final days of the 2006 legislative session, with the Legislature once again poised to approve a state-operated, universal health care system and Gov....

SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to make the city the nation's first to provide all residents with health care, approving a plan that would give adults access to medical services regardless of their immigration or employment status. Financed by local government, mandatory contributions from employers and income-adjusted premiums, the universal care plan would cover the cost of everything from checkups, prescription drugs and X-rays to ambulance rides, blood tests and operations. Unlike health insurance, however, it would not pay for any services participants seek outside San Francisco. Instead, residents would receive care at existing...

Universal Says It Doesn't Think Coulter Plagiarized in Her Columns Deborah Feingold Ann Coulter By E&P Staff Published: July 10, 2006 5:05 PM ET NEW YORK Universal Press Syndicate said today that it doesn't think controversial columnist Ann Coulter is guilty of plagiarism. In a statement sent to E&P, Universal President and Editor Lee Salem said: "Last week a software program company official ran Ann Coulter's columns through a 'match-text' program, frequently used by teachers to detect original work. The New York Post cited two columns in which some text matched other published materials and also mentioned three snippets in...

I visited San Francisco about 2 years ago. I spent about four days there at the end of which I truly knew the meaning of the phrase, "Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Literally, I could not walk 10 feet on a downtown street without being accosted by a homeless person. I couldn't help but think, "Is this what liberals call taking care of their fellow man?" For a city where liberal socialist ideology is not only en vogue but also a matter of public policy (a city that would rather be European than American),...

An Assembly committee approved a bill Tuesday that would mandate Californians buy health insurance coverage much like drivers are required to purchase auto insurance. Although California voters and politicians repeatedly have rejected forcing individuals and employers to pay for a universal insurance program, lawmakers are seeking to capitalize on the momentum from a new Massachusetts law that will make that state the first in the country to establish mandatory health insurance. "We have a choice about whether we're going to stay stuck in the mud," said Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. "We have a situation where we have 20 percent...

Complaining of "personal political attacks," Hollywood director Rob Reiner resigned Wednesday as chairman of a statewide preschool commission he helped create that's under scrutiny for $23 million in advertising spending. Just two weeks ago, Reiner dismissed suggestions that he should step down from the California First 5 Commission, which has collected nearly $4 billion in tobacco taxes to fund early childhood programs. "Everything I've done is completely legal," he said at the time. But Reiner called Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the weekend and resigned, said Margita Thompson, a Schwarzenegger spokeswoman. In a letter to the governor Wednesday, Reiner said, "We...

Greetings. I have a piece of text I'd like to copy and paste from a topic on another forum (known as Marble Garden, which is where political, philosophical, and sociological threads and debates are posted). I had started a topic (username: Ultra Sonic 007) about health care, asking which system would be better; socialized or private? One of the forumers there is TheCycle, a Canadian. He just recently posted a long post on the universal health-care system and why it would be a good idea for the US to make the switch to such a system. It was in response...

Groups that want California to support universal healthcare for the state's children are looking to the governor's office with growing optimism, despite the veto of such a bill earlier this year. "This is high on their radar screen," said Wendy Lazarus co-president of the Children's Partnership, a group that advocates for low-income children. "They've certainly suggested that they want to do something in 2006." The Partnership is part of a coalition of groups that are working to qualify an initiative for next November's election. The Tobacco Tax, Disease Prevention and Children's Health Insurance Act of 2006 would fund provide $435...

'Medicare for All' would cure health care crisis Saul Friedman December 3, 2005 Where were we? Oh, yes. I was saying last week that it's about time we joined the rest of the civilized and industrialized world in providing publicly financed, universal health care for the American people and their families. But I didn't say why or how. After all, the United States has some of the finest, most modern medical facilities in the world. I ought to know; Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Medical Center saved my life. ......... If you don't have a life-threatening illness, you won't have to wait...

For six months starting in September 2004, Rob Reiner hosted "house parties" every week, sometimes at his Beverly Hills home. The guests did not talk about Hollywood or the actor/director's new movie starring Jennifer Aniston. They talked about politics and public school and the monumental idea of offering each California 4-year-old free preschool for a year. It was an odd group of folks at the table: union officials, business leaders, early childhood experts and sometimes civil rights advocates and attorneys. Instead of spending massive amounts countering criticism during a campaign, Reiner took a novel approach, spending the time to get...

CHICAGO, Oct. 5 -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) will unveil a proposal Thursday to subsidize health insurance for 253,000 uninsured children in Illinois, a move that specialists describe as more far-reaching than any other program in the country. Seventy-percent of the state's uninsured children belong to families that earn $40,000 to $80,000 a year -- too much to qualify for government programs but often too little to afford private insurance. Under Blagojevich's All Kids proposal, endorsed by the leaders of both houses of the state legislature, a family of four earning $40,000 to $59,000 would pay $40 per month per...

Halo, Microsoft’s popular video game, will be coming to a theater near you in a movie from Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The two studios will be paying Microsoft a guaranteed $5 million advance, according to Daily Variety, plus up to 10 percent of domestic United States box office receipts. Microsoft had originally demanded $15 million plus 15 percent of the initial gross box office from several studios. Universal and Fox will divide up responsibilities, with Universal managing production and U.S. distribution, and Fox distributing the film internationally. Microsoft’s Bungie Studios unit will act as creative consultants. Universal announced...

BRITISH scientists are developing a revolutionary vaccine that works against all types of flu, the UK DAILY MAIL fronts on Friday. It would protect people against flu and a single jab could give lifelong immunity. Currently, new vaccines have to be developed each year. The major breakthrough has been made by the Cambridge biotech firm Acambis. When it announced the news yesterday the value of its shares jumped by 9p. Such a vaccine would be massively lucrative for its manufacturer. Each year, flu kills up to 12,000 people in the UK, many of them elderly. But experts have been warning...

Clinton Library's universal appeal seen in its 365,000 visitors By DAVID HAMMER Associated Press Writer July 15, 2005, 7:07 PM EDT LITTLE ROCK -- The everyman appeal that Bill Clinton peddled in his political campaigns lives on at his presidential library. Among the more than 365,000 visitors who have passed through the library since November, no single demographic stands out. "I just think he is the only president I'll ever see who will really understand me as a person, and that's why I wanted to see more," said Ava Carter, 48, a black Democrat traveling with James D. Stearns, 55,...

Many of us Sci-Fi fans have been waiting on this one. Universal bumped the release date to September due to "The Interpreter" being released this past weekend. But the trailer is now online and may be shown with "Hitchhikers Guide" this Friday. Enjoy!