Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
13 Things Your Pharmacist Won’t Tell You (Readers Digest)
What to bear in mind the next time you visit the pharmacy counter.
1. Don’t try to get anything past us. Prescriptions for painkillers or sleeping aids always get extra scrutiny.
2. We’re not serving fries in here. I’d think twice about using a drive-through pharmacy. Working there distracts us-not a good thing when it comes to pharmaceuticals.
TO CONTINUE [...]
How Will The New Health Care Bill Affect Medicare? (Reuters)
The sweeping healthcare overhaul the U.S. House of Representatives approved on Sunday includes about $455 billion in spending cuts for Medicare and other federal health programs over the next 10 years.
Here are some questions and answers about how the reforms will affect the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly.
WILL THE LEGISLATION CUT MEDICARE BENEFITS?
There are [...]
HEALTH CARES BIG WINNERS: The Drug and Insurance Companies Gain Millions of Customers (Business Week)
Drugmakers and health insurers will gain millions of customers under legislation overhauling the U.S. medical system. The industry also will pay new fees to the government, and face stricter rules that may narrow profit margins and fuel mergers.
The bill that the House passed on a 220-211 vote yesterday expands coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, [...]
Health Care Bill Update: Closing The Medicare ‘Doughnut Hole’ Will Actually Cost Seniors (Washington Post)
Six years after Congress added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Democrats in the House and Senate are poised to make a central change that they and most older Americans have wanted all along: getting rid of a quirk that forces millions of elderly patients with especially high expenses for medicine to pay for much [...]
FROM THE “THESE GUYS PUT MONEY INTO MY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN” DEPARTMENT:Obama Flips On ‘Low Cost Drugs’ Campaign Promise, Sides With Pharmaceutical Companies (And Higher Costs) (Washington Post)
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to take on the drug industry by allowing Americans to import cheaper prescription medicine. “We’ll tell the pharmaceutical companies ‘thanks, but no, thanks’ for the overpriced drugs — drugs that cost twice as much here as they do in Europe and Canada,” he said back then.
On Tuesday, the [...]
SWINE FLU UPDATE – NOVEMBER 6TH
More than 38 million doses of vaccine against pandemic H1N1 influenza are now available for ordering, 11 million more than were available last week and double the number available two weeks ago, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. Another 8 million doses are expected to arrive next week “if everything [...]
Special Report: More Than 1M Preemies Die In First Month Annually
More than 1 million babies born prematurely die each year before they are a month old, the March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births.
The organization suggested the situation could worsen if the rate of premature births increases.
Each year, 12.9 million infants — or nearly 10 percent of the [...]
Most Babies Born This Century Will Live To 100
Most babies born in rich countries this century will eventually make it to their 100th birthday, new research says. Danish experts say that since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living about three decades longer than in the past. Surprisingly, the trend shows little sign of slowing down.
In an article published Friday in [...]
Democrats And Republicans ‘Poke Holes’ In Health Care Plan. Question Deal Obama And Baucus Did With Drug Makers
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) faced an early test of his leadership Wednesday after fellow Democrats challenged the $80 billion deal he struck with drug makers to help pay for health-care reform.
Nearing the end of a 13-hour opening day of work on Baucus’s bill to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, several committee members [...]
Manufacturing Overload Causes Delays In Swine Flu Deliveries
Faced with an unexpected delay, health officials are trying to counter new problems with swine flu vaccine production including a logjam at factories that put the precious liquid into syringes.
The newest calculations show the nation won’t have the long-promised 120 million doses ready to dispense by Oct. 15, but just 45 million instead. It appears [...]
