Health Policy
scientificactivist | October 24, 2007On Monday, Mike the Mad Biologist posted about the sheer idiocy of "choice-based health care," which seems to be so en vogue today in the Republican party and elsewhere. He writes:
One of the most ridiculous ideas to come down the pike is the notion that most people, who are woefully ignorant of medicine and biology (e.g., the massive misunderstandings about antibiotics and infectious disease), will actually make intelligent decisions regarding their own healthcare. In fact, I bet most people would do worse than flipping a coin in many situations. That's before you get to the roughly…
scientificactivist | October 3, 2007As promised, Bush vetoed the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) earlier today. As the AP notes (in an article with a glaring typo in its title), "The White House sought as little attention as possible, with the president wielding his veto behind closed doors without any fanfare or news coverage."
Yeah. Duh. This is one of the more hardheaded and heartless things that the Administration has done yet, so it's not surprising that Bush would try to slip it in under the radar. Just tell that, though, to the 3.3 million kids who would have been added to SCHIP…
scientificactivist | September 26, 2007Yesterday, the House passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion by a vote of 265-159. The bill enjoyed some bipartisan support, although Republicans accounted for only 45 of the votes in favor and almost all of the votes against. Unfortunately, this is a bit short of the supermajority needed to override President Bush's promised veto. According to Roll Call (subscription required), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) claims that this 2/3 majority can be achieved if just 12 additional Republicans cross party lines (although this assumes that the entire…
scientificactivist | September 22, 2007Congress appears to be on track for another major standoff with President Bush. The Washington Post reports today that the House and Senate have reconciled their differing versions of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP) expansion and will be voting on it this coming week (Tuesday in the House, Thursday in the Senate). Predictably, President Bush still promises a veto of this bipartisan compromise legislation, a position he took long before the bill was voted on in either chamber.
The current bill, which calls for a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP over the next five…
scientificactivist | September 13, 2007There's been quite a bit of blogging lately about HIV denialism, so I thought I would take this opportunity to write a little bit about HIV denialism in South Africa--a subject that gets mentioned pretty often is rarely discussed in much detail. I spoke about this topic in my talk on Wednesday, though, because it serves as a nice lesson in the importance of not looking at certain problems too simplistically. The following--an excerpt--is a basic introduction to Thabo Mbeki's HIV denialism based on what I've learned traveling in South Africa and talking to a variety of people who study the…
scientificactivist | August 21, 2007Although the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP) passed in both the House and the Senate earlier this month, the Bush Administration has once again decided that it prefers to preempt the Democratic process. President Bush had already promised to veto the legislation before it had even come up for a vote, but now it seems that the Administration can't even wait for the two chambers of Congress to reconcile their versions of the bill and has instead decided to carry out its agenda uninhibited while Congress is on recess.
Last Friday, the Director of the…
scientificactivist | August 2, 2007After the House passed its expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program on Wednesday, the Senate passed its version late Thursday. Although the House version passed along party lines, against strong Republican opposition, the Senate version enjoyed more bipartisan support, passing 68-31 (although all 31 "no" votes came from Republicans, with no Democrats voting against the measure).
scientificactivist | August 2, 2007Here's some good news from Congress, where the House of Representatives yesterday passed HR 3162, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007. This is the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP or SCHIP) that I've been blogging about recently. For more information on CHIP check out these previous entries.
CHIP expires this year and Congress has now voted to renew and expand the program. The Senate is expected to vote on (and pass) its version today or tomorrow, although President Bush has absurdly and preemptively promised to veto the expansion. The…
scientificactivist | July 18, 2007As I've mentioned previously, the Senate Finance Committee is considering a $35 billion expansion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP), which is currently scheduled to expire in September. Incredibly enough, President Bush has already declared that he will veto such a bill. This is the same president who, just a year ago from tomorrow, used his first veto after five and a half years of office on, of all things, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. It appears, then, that the President will be the most significant obstacle to overcome in passing an expansion of…
scientificactivist | July 16, 2007The Corpus Callosum has more on the currently unfolding CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) fiasco:
In the context of the pro and con lobbying over the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, pharmaceutical companies decided to join the pro side. After all, if more children are insured, more of them will get prescription medication. But is is not just the drug companies, it is a broad-spectrum coalition....
And the response of the Administration? ...
Bush administration officials recently advised drug company executives not to support a major expansion of…
scientificactivist | January 11, 2007What is big and flashy, capable of generating plenty of press, and claims to be the solution to all (or at least a sizeable chunk) of California's problems?
(a) Arnold Schwarzenegger
(b) his new health care proposal
(c) all of the above
You can decide for yourself, but from my perspective, the bold new semi-universal health care plan that Schwarzenegger is pushing for the state of California reminds me quite a bit of the Governator himself. And, like Schwarzenegger--whose policy agenda is largely shaped by external forces outside of his control due to the fact that he is a…
scientificactivist | January 5, 2007The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is a matter of British pride, despite some minor shortcomings. Strong on preventative and routine medical care, the NHS has on the other hand been criticized for its long waiting lists required for more involved procedures. The BBC reports today, though, that the NHS is making progress in this area, as waiting lists are now at an all-time low:
Between October and November 2006, NHS inpatient waiting lists dropped by 8,000 to 769,000.
This meant the number of patients waiting for treatment was the lowest since the records began in 1987....
Mr Burnham…
scientificactivist | October 26, 2006When you live in the wealthiest nation in the world but can still claim over 40 million people without health insurance--despite spending more than twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation--you might have a problem. Nowhere is this more apparent than in my home state, Texas, which leads the nation with 24.5% of its population uninsured.
Since the state government has done little to address the situation (often making things worse, by significantly defunding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIPS), for example), others are taking up the slack. Yesterday's New York…
scientificactivist | October 18, 2006Last month, a group of prominent scientists launched the new organization Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA). The organization has already received quite a bit of press (including a nice article in The New York Times, but I would be remiss if I didn't give them a shout out and let readers know how they can help out.
The group is dedicated to supporting science-friendly candidates for public office, pushing for the proper use of science in formulating science policy, and opposing political interference in science. Among the points in its "Bill of Rights for Scientists and Engineers"…
scientificactivist | August 1, 2006Yesterday, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee released a report entitled Drug Classification: Making a Hash of It?, which challenges the logic behind current drug classifications in the UK, especially when tied to legal penalities. The report discusses specific cases where drugs were misclassified or their classifications were changed for political, rather than scientific, reasons. The report is particularly critical of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) for not doing enough to push for a more scientifically based drug classification system.
The…
scientificactivist | July 26, 2006From the archives:
(17 February 2006) I'll be honest with you: I really don't know what to think about drug companies. I'll give them some credit, since unlike many of their peers they produce a product that is useful to society and has important humanitarian implications. I want to like them--I really do--but when I read about things like this, it becomes pretty difficult.
On 15 February, The New York Times published a detailed account in its business section on the exorbitant prices some pharmaceutical companies are willing to charge for their therapies. The report focused on Avastin,…
scientificactivist | July 25, 2006From the archives:
(18 April 2006) If Massachusetts were a physician, I'd have mixed feelings about visiting him or her. Sure, Dr. Massachusetts would be incredibly persistent and would do its best to make sure I left its office feeling better than when I arrived, but on the other hand if I had any sort of serious condition, I'm skeptical about how far Dr. Mass. would go to treat the underlying causes, rather than just the immediate symptoms. Massachusetts would probably be an adept surgeon, but maybe not a great family doctor.
Last week, amid great fanfare, Massachusetts governor Mitt…
scientificactivist | July 24, 2006From the archives:
(21 January 2006) I had a great trip to the doctor the other day. I showed up for my appointment (one I had made only one day before), waited a few minutes, saw the doctor, and then I left. There was no paperwork, no long wait, no money exchanged, and no stress. Basically, there was nothing standing in the way of what I had come there for--medical care.
And, no, I don't live in some fantasy world.
I live in England.
I love universal health care, and for me it's because of the small things. I never had any major problems with my health insurance in the U.S., but I still…
scientificactivist | July 20, 2006From the archives:
(19 January 2006) Which of the following does not belong?
(a) abortion
(b) medical marijuana
(c) physician-assisted suicide
Although all three are contentious and litigious medical issues, the answer seems to be choice (b), medical marijuana, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On January 17, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzales v. Oregon that the U.S. Attorney General did not have the authority to criminalize the prescription of lethal doses of drugs, currently allowed under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, originally approved in 1994. The act, approved again in a…