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Florida Accused of Concealing Worst Tuberculosis Outbreak In 20 Years
NotSanguine writes "The state of Florida has been struggling for months with what the Centers for Disease Control describe as the worst tuberculosis outbreak in the United States in twenty years. Although a CDC report went out to state health officials in April encouraging them to take concerted action, the warning went largely unnoticed and nothing has been done. The public did not even learn of the outbreak until June, after a man with an active case of TB was spotted in a Jacksonville soup kitchen. The Palm Beach Post has managed to obtain records on the outbreak and the CDC report, though only after weeks of repeated requests. These documents should have been freely available under Florida's Sunshine Law."
TB was pretty much a solved problem in the 1st world. Then we decided we couldn't force people into quarantine to ensure they got proper treatment and to prevent the spread of such a readily transmissible disease. And then AIDS pitched in to help brew up especially virilent strains in immune compromised patients with no self control. Add in the general problem if drug resistence and we have a major epidemic waiting to happen. Who knows where it will go nuts, but sooner or later... BAM!
Best I can tell from what passes as thought in the politically correct set, diseases got rights or something. Or people got the right to not get treated and to pass on the crap they catch. I really can't decipher it.
But don't worry, this is all the evil Republican's fault. ObamaCare^WTax will fix all these problems.
Democrat delenda est
And, I'll also throw this in there: homeless people and the poor often are not as likely to be diagnosed, and, due to this and other reasons, aren't as likely to receive treatment. Oh, and take your ObamaCare issues somewhere where people give a shit about offtopic things like that.
The article says that the Democrats suppressed the information. How do you Democrats feel now?
OBAMA!
So now we need a government department to let people that there is an outbreak? What happened to people? Does every aspect of our lives rely on someone else? come on people! It's an outbreak! Pay attention!
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According to the article, the Democrats were the ones who suppressed this information. How do you Democrats feel now?
Read the article. It is full of how the Democrats used every method they could to conceal this report. Truly amazing.
Of course it's all Obama's fault. Even though Rick Scott(R) closed the last TB hospital 3 months after a report from the freaking CDC came out detailing the outbreak.
But hey! Don't let the facts get in the way of your Fox news deluded rant.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I know this is Slashdot, and no one reads the articles, but this one shows an unbelievable story of Democrat corruption. They pushed to conceal the truth about TB and it was incredible.
Florida just closed down it's only state hospital specializing in tuberculosis cases on July 2nd. Bad timing.
Report: Fla closed TB hospital as cases spiked
Who cares? Let em rot. why should we pay for their medical treatment!
>=|
Dear Editors and NotSanguine,
When you copy and paste an entire paragraph from a linked source without actually citing that source as the author of said material, you're committing plagiarism. NotSanguine did not write this blurb; Muriel Kane of Raw Story did.
Respect authorship.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
He's not wrong. You're looking through rose coloured glasses, even up here in "socialized medicine canada" we're having a hell of a problem dealing with drug resistant TB because immigrants refuse to undergo TB diagnostic testing. Guess what's happening? We're seeing large numbers of drug resistant TB popping out in the immigrant communities, and it's spreading into the homeless communities. Police and EMS have had a policy in place of "in all unknown cases, drive with windows down, and with surgical masks on" then you go for weekly screenings for the next year. Fun huh?
We're going to have to see the return of the old quarantine system because that's one of the sure fire ways to contain it.
As for obamacare? You guy's are just idiots, and anyone who supports it is an idiot. Yep, I ad-hom'd you. Know why? Because any massive power grab at the federal level in terms of healthcare is a bad idea. Know how we do it in Canada? It's at the provincial level(equivalent to state). The Federal healthcare act in Canada fits on 1 8x11" sheet of paper. That's it folks. And in brief it says: The provinces shall cover healthcare. There shall be minimum level of healthcare. The federal government shall appoint a neutral auditor to ensure said care is equal across all provinces(some provinces have better care(those with more money). Those provinces who have less money, will receive money from the general revenue fun(aka income tax and GST--nationwide sales tax). In cases where there is no province(aka territories, or natives, or military, the federal government shall provide said care.
And that's it. Yep. Massive power grab, with a massive tax grab, and you liberals support it? Idiots.
Om, nomnomnom...
Looks like their thoughts on consumption didn't have much... gumption? IGMC
As for obamacare? You guy's are just idiots, and anyone who supports it is an idiot. Yep, I ad-hom'd you. Know why? Because any massive power grab at the federal level in terms of healthcare is a bad idea. Know how we do it in Canada? It's at the provincial level(equivalent to state). The Federal healthcare act in Canada fits on 1 8x11" sheet of paper. That's it folks. And in brief it says: The provinces shall cover healthcare. There shall be minimum level of healthcare. The federal government shall appoint a neutral auditor to ensure said care is equal across all provinces(some provinces have better care(those with more money). Those provinces who have less money, will receive money from the general revenue fun(aka income tax and GST--nationwide sales tax). In cases where there is no province(aka territories, or natives, or military, the federal government shall provide said care.
And that's it. Yep. Massive power grab, with a massive tax grab, and you liberals support it? Idiots.
Once again, TAKE your OBAMACARE ISSUES SOMEWHERE ELSE where PEOPLE GIVE A SHIT ABOUT OFF-TOPIC SHIT LIKE THAT.
THEY ARE IRRELEVANT. IRRELEVANT. IRRELEVANT. IRRELEVANT.
Thanks. Your friendly neighborhood moderator with 10 more points to spend.
Florida is always fscking something up! Weather, voting machines, elections....
"That's right...I said it."
So you can specify a minimum level of health care on one 8x11? Bullshit. You are a liar.
Also, EXACTLY what aspect of the ObamaCare bill is a power grab? Yes, the government can specify standards of insurance, just like your government specifies a minimum coverage.
Medicare would actually work just fine in the US if the GOP would stop blocking the efforts to get past the "doc fixes" every year and reform the system to reimburse not per test but for a typical course of treatment per disease. Works better than your shit system in Canada and could be even better.
Fuck off, you pathetic little dog fuck. Just fuck right off.
Giant African snails and man-eating alligators?
None of the linked articles even have the word Democrat. You're a spamming sack of shit.
Currently just about every one of our southern states is racing toward third world status just as fast as they can and you think giving them more power is a good idea? You don't have states like Mississipi and South Carolina in Canada.
I hate relative terms when there is no indication as to what the term is relative to. For example, if the second worst outbreak in the last 20 years involved 80 people then this one could be the worst and involve 99 people.
What I would rather see is how important is this outbreak. The fact that it is the worst in 20 years does not mean that it is something to be concerned with. The questions to ask are as follows;
1. How much of the population is at risk?
2. Would spreading the information cause more harm than good. Will the populous be more frightened that necessary.
The 13 death tole can be misleading too. Are most of the deaths in people who live on the streets, avoid contact with health facilities and have compromised immune systems. I am not saying to ignore them but health warnings would not help as they would be ignored.
None of the linked articles even contain the word Democrat.
Whos the governor of florida? Republican Rick Scott
Which party controls both the florida house and florida senate...Republicans
Who voted to defund the TB hospital in Florida...Republican state legislators
Which governor said he would not accept federal "Obamacare" funding to expend medicaid which provides TB medication ....Republican Rick Scott.
None of the linked articles even contain the word Democrat. What the fuck are you talking about?
The case could be made that a 'massive power grab' is a hell of a lot better than no health care at all.
Mind you I'm from Australia. Needed 2 stitches recently, went in, showed my Medicare card, got the stitches and walked out end of story.
Too easy.
So you can specify a minimum level of health care on one 8x11? Bullshit. You are a liar.
Yes, you can. You're just an idiot. And the entire bill is a power grab. Oh here's the "entire " of the CHA. Or the Canada Health act. This is the entire legal framework which all healthcare in Canada is based on for "socialized medicine."
The person who wrote the law was brilliant, and was able to condense the entire act simply and fill in everything fully. Ensuring that the provinces were fully responsible. While the federal government provided a fully hands-off approach to the entire system. So, now don't be so naive.
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-6/FullText.html
Short title
1. This Act may be cited as the Canada Health Act.
1984, c. 6, s. 1.
INTERPRETATION
Marginal note:Definitions
2. In this Act,
âoeAct of 1977â
âoeAct of 1977â[Repealed, 1995, c. 17, s. 34]
âoecash contributionâ
 contribution pécuniaire Â
âoecash contributionâ means the cash contribution in respect of the Canada Health and Social Transfer that may be provided to a province under subsections 15(1) and (4) of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act;
âoecontributionâ
âoecontributionâ[Repealed, 1995, c. 17, s. 34]
âoedentistâ
 dentiste Â
âoedentistâ means a person lawfully entitled to practise dentistry in the place in which the practice is carried on by that person;
âoeextended health care servicesâ
 services complémentaires de santé Â
âoeextended health care servicesâ means the following services, as more particularly defined in the regulations, provided for residents of a province, namely,
(a) nursing home intermediate care service,
(b) adult residential care service,
(c) home care service, and
(d) ambulatory health care service;
âoeextra-billingâ
 surfacturation Â
âoeextra-billingâ means the billing for an insured health service rendered to an insured person by a medical practitioner or a dentist in an amount in addition to any amount paid or to be paid for that service by the health care insurance plan of a province;
âoehealth care insurance planâ
 régime dâ(TM)assurance-santé Â
âoehealth care insurance planâ means, in relation to a province, a plan or plans established by the law of the province to provide for insured health services;
âoehealth care practitionerâ
 professionnel de la santé Â
âoehealth care practitionerâ means a person lawfully entitled under the law of a province to provide health services in the place in which the services are provided by that person;
âoehospitalâ
 hÃpital Â
âoehospitalâ includes any facility or portion thereof that provides hospital care, including acute, rehabilitative or chronic care, but does not include
(a) a hospital or institution primarily for the mentally disordered, or
Om, nomnomnom...
Doc Holliday back from the grave and sleeping around? He's your huckleberry.
FTFY
What do you expect from a crumbling empire, that invade foreign countries under false flag of weapons of mass destruction, and then goes downlow as cost and casualties became unsustainable in Vietnam-2.
Meanwhile domestic resources are cut to the bones, so hurricane in New Orleans, and blackouts in the east coast wreak havoc with rescue and reconstruction services.
Perhaps it is time that the vaccine was recommended for all people?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Communistic States of America!
Ideology is different, methods are the same!
Conceal big bad things, by censorhip. Put loads of people into jails. Looks like exact methods of Soviet Russia. And I know what I am talking about, I am from there.
I'm in Miami and I've had a cough for 2 weeks. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday. This is NOT what I needed to read.
My kingdom for a donkey!
I think it's about time they quarantined off Florida. Between flesh eaters, old people and the TB, turn Disney World into an Auschwitz where you simply don't come back from The Haunted Mansion.
If you mean this Canada Health Act then no it does not fit on a 8"x11" sheet of paper. Also the Canada Health Act grew out of provincial plans for universal health care. There are no equivalent plans in the US. There are no state health care acts that require every citizen to pay premiums for health care as there were in some provinces in Canada. The Canada Health Act defines what must be done by the provinces and the provinces implement it. It is this way because the British North America Act 1867 stipulates that health care implementation is a provincial area. I know of no similar law in the US.
Right now most health care in the US is provided to people who have private health insurance usually paid for by their employers. That puts many people in the US without adequate health care. Perhaps if there was a better way of providing health care for everyone in the US than obanacare might agree but as of now there is not.
Really? So, let's compare. You take the choice of a massive power grab which is going to more than likely collapse the economy when businesses fall under due the taxes. Or you do it right, and let states decide what, when and how they should do it. Instead of faceless bureaucrats in washington.
Tough one indeed. You're trading depressed economy with no healthcare, for no healthcare. Especially when that more recent poll says 83% of doctors have considered quitting over obamacare. Yeah, good luck finding a doctor. Well maybe there won't be a doctor shortage in Canada anymore.
Om, nomnomnom...
Wait. So let me get this straight, in some broken universe in the US, stripping states of power and handing it over to the federal government. Than ensuring the continuity of power, and ensuring it rests with the people? And ensuring that they have a voice in the decisions on which their healthcare would be made. Okay, no wonder things are so broken down in the US. You'd rather have someone you'd never see making important decisions for you.
And actually yes we do, they're called the maritimes.
Om, nomnomnom...
Tuberculosis isn't the only disease making a comeback this year. Pertussis is also coming back.
Across the United States, 8,159 provisional pertussis cases have been reported to the CDC as of May 5, 2012, representing an 87 percent increase compared to the same time period in 2011. Pertussis cases reached epidemic levels in Washington state this year, and cases are trending high in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
From MarketWatch.
So fear not. If you've been coughing for weeks, it may only be whooping cough, which does little or no damage to your lungs, instead of tuberculosis, which can do major damage to your lungs.
Also, if you're coughing, do your best to get into a meeting with your CEO/CTO/CFO/VP/etc. Really, any major corporate officer will do. Biological warfare is a fine answer to class warfare.
You're completely delusional. My relatives in Ireland, England, and Australia have much better healthcare than we have here in the US. They don't have to waste ages filling out forms; they just get care because they are citizens. And you know what? They pay less for their healthcare than we do.
Yes, you heard that right: we pay as much in taxes for Medicare & Medicaid as they do for universal healthcare. Plus, on top of medicare/medicaid, we also pay private insurance. Here's a breakdown of how we pay through the nose for our stupid healthcare system.
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/oecd042111.cfm
We should stop paying private companies and make Medicare universal. There's no reason healthcare in the US should be so miserable. If you still want a private plan, great, but stop making me pay twice what my cousins pay.
Oh, and by the way, Australia is not a depressed economy. And no, doctors don't consider quitting over "Obamacare". Creating a phony survey isn't the same as actually doing real work:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/10/comically-awful-survey-says-83-percent-of-docto/187029
Delusional would imply that I didn't know what I was talking about. Let's not forget that those of us in "socialized medicine" countries get to pay lower drug and medicine costs, because we pay a locked healthcare rate, and those get passed on to the US. Which is unlocked as well. Let's also not forget that because those rates are unlocked that it becomes a "shop around system."
The reality is, the Obamacare would depress the US economy, as the only way to pay for the 2-4T in costs, would be to tax everything into the ground. Now tell me, where do you come up for the money on that? And mediamatters is not a reliable source for anything, it's on-par with "world weekly news" and other tabloid services.
Om, nomnomnom...
I thought it was Quebec. They get more handouts and contribute the least to the country. If they ever did separate they'd have to declare bankruptcy just about immediately.
" 22. (1) Subject to this section, the Governor in Council may make regulations for the administration of this Act and for carrying its purposes and provisions into effect,"
Thanks for noticing. I didn't even bother to read any more of it, I knew that kind of clause would be somewhere within it.
You just proved the point.
Freedom of speech was meant to protect you from the government taking any action based on knowing you were saying things the government may not like.
It affords you protection from the government, but not protection from your fellow citizens thinking you're a moron.
paintball
Of course, the easiest way to fix the problem would be to drop the employer health insurance tax credit, strike down the interstate barriers to health insurance(Oddly enough, a power the commerce clause was actually meant to have), give a 3 year amnesty to move to a private health insurance plan with the health care providers unable to say no, force hospitals to itemize their bills and have price lists available for non-emergency care, and have the feds take care of the less than 10% of people who health insurance won't insure at all.
Thanks for noticing. I didn't even bother to read any more of it, I knew that kind of clause would be somewhere within it.
You just proved the point.
That's nice. Too bad you didn't read the the preamble which supersedes s.22. Get back to me when you do okay? I don't want you do look anymore of an ass, if that's possible. Remember, in law. S1 can never be superseded by s.2, and the highest law of the land is always the charter.
Om, nomnomnom...
We have Alberta though... damn Easterners!
Fuckit. Just pretend you get TB from sex. And we can ignore it like the other std epidemics.
Maybe have a ribbon for it. that must work well, i see it all the time!
Delusional would imply that I didn't know what I was talking about.
Do you have any sources, case studies, journal publications, examples or real numbers for this?
There seems to be a lot of facts about government run healthcare that makes it look good. I have not seen evidence of the opposite. Just appeals to authority I don't know nor see a reason to trust.
Am I the only one who's gonna say it? Fine then.
Fuck Florida.
Let them all die off as a result of their stupidity.
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
I'm from Jacksonville, FL, and had (and was treated for) latent tuberculosis there quite a few years back. Had no idea it was anything more than an isolated incident.
(some provinces have better care(those with more money)
(aka income tax and GST--nationwide sales tax)
(aka territories, or natives, or military, the federal government shall provide said care.
Please balance your parentheses. It's driving me crazy.
Signed,
lisp guy
Quebec contributes significantly to the country.
Quebec would have to declare bankruptcy though, but that's not an indication of the productive output of the province, but of rampant government corruption and mismanagement, across both the Quebec LIberals and PQ.
How is it that the most taxed jurisdiction in North America has to deal with massive social unrest due to hiking a heavily subsidized tuition?
I'm a quebecker, it makes no sense...
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
what is this obsession of yours to having one government be responsible over another government?
Federal, state, province, county, municipal, bouncer at the fancy club, it's just politics man.
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
Of course, the easiest way to fix the problem would be to drop the employer health insurance tax credit
and increase the costs to people who have health insurance.
strike down the interstate barriers to health insurance(Oddly enough, a power the commerce clause was actually meant to have),
Take a look at this article
give a 3 year amnesty to move to a private health insurance plan with the health care providers unable to say no
It does not matter how long is given if people can not afford the coverage
force hospitals to itemize their bills and have price lists available for non-emergency care
So hospitals itemize care thet the general public can not afford. How does that help?
have the feds take care of the less than 10% of people who health insurance won't insure at all
What about the other people who can be insured but can not afford it? Sixteen percent of the US population does not have health insurance. Another point is that having health insurance does not mean it is adequate. Some healt insurance has such low caps that a major illness or accident can still be financially devistating.
Supersedes? In what way? Are you implying that the section is moot? Because you seem to be trying to make that argument and imply that there are no regulations, rendering that section void.
It doesn't work that way. That section exists for a reason, because specifics matter, and more regulations are needed than can just be written on an 8x11 sheet of paper.
At least, not in a human readable form. They are doing amazing things with lasers, but the human eye, not really capable of processing it.
You might as well claim that you can describe a government in a single sentence, when all you offer is some vague aphorism. Sure, you can do that.
But that's not the end of it in any sane world.
Sorry, you just proved the point, you just won't admit it. People like you never will. It's like arguing with somebody about the 1st Amendment in the US who sanctimoniously proclaim it only applies to Congress, so they can set up their own theocracy, while trying to ignore the rest of the law.
No thanks, if we're going to stick with some horrible frankenstein private plan like Obama care, I don't want insurance companies that only have to abide by Mississippi law operating in my state.
Play Command HQ online
"Or you do it right, and let states decide what, when and how they should do it. Instead of faceless bureaucrats in washington."
Where does this delusion that the states are better at handling things than the federal government come from? The bureaucrats in my state capital are just as faceless as those in Washington, and are far more susceptible to corruption than federal employees because they're under far less scrutiny.
seems like you have half way (that is already a good sign) reasonable approach to this. I cannot understand why a law has to be written on thaousands of pages - seems to be a system thing. Germans here have the same sickness - they even have an act of law to simplify acts of law so that acts of law can get all tidy :) Not sure if this is because our political and law system has been fucked up by occupying forces (US apparently designed big part f it) or it is original German idea - maybe combination of those? Still I believe we do not have an act of law spanning over 1000pages (I hope at least).
Insert copy/paste stupid comment here.
As a western country, USA is pretty third world
I fail to see the relevance. This is not a political problem. The Lord will cure these people. If they cause an epidemic, killing millions, that's obviously just His will.
That is the poor Republican response. The rich Republican response is: Fuck em, they are the poor and probably brown people to boot.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
83% of doctors have considered quitting over obamacare.
That story about 83% of doctors threatening to quit under Obamacare is bullshit.
Slate had a nice story about it. http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/09/about_that_83_percent_of_doctors_hate_obamacare_so_much_they_might_quit_poll.html
About That "83 Percent of Doctors Hate Obamacare So Much, They Might Quit" Poll
By David Weigel
Posted Monday, July 9, 2012, at 5:12 PM ET
"Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association."
What is the "Doctor Patient Medical Association"? Short answer: A bunch of right-wing Republican wackos, like Kathryn Serkes and Mark Schiller, who previously claimed Obamacare would kill off elderly sick people.
"The survey was conducted by fax and online from April 18 to May 22, 2012. DPMAF obtained the office fax numbers of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice, and 16, 227 faxes were successfully delivered... The response rate was 4.3% for a total of 699 completed surveys."
Translation: 83% of 4.3% said they considered leaving under Obamacare. That's 3.6% of those polled.
But most people who have taken a college statistics course would throw a survey with a 4.3% response rate in the shredder.
They "considered" leaving medicine. What were they leaving medicine for? Real estate sales? Financial planning? Opening a restaurant? There aren't too many other occupations that can bring in a doctor's salary in the US. Doctors are always threatening to leave, but few do.
Strawmen abound. I'll spoil our Quixotic fun for just one of these false targets since I get tired of refuting all this nonsense.
" doctors don't consider quitting over "Obamacare". Creating a phony survey isn't the same as actually doing real work"
I want to make it clear from the start that I do not judge the value of such things based on if doctors quit or not, but the facts are worth clarifying anyway. The following demonstrates direct claims from doctors that they are indeed closing up shop as a result of the judges giving the affordable care act the green light:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsIJnzAWoTU
Mediamatters.org denies a specific case(dunno if it is true or not, doesn't really matter for my point) which permits sloppy debaters a way to say that there are no such cases at all. This is a failure in reasoning and it is entirely false.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
And that's why I will refrain from responding to this ignorant WHARRGARBL
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
While I mostly agree with you, I wouldn't dismiss relative terms completely in this short of cases. For example, if outbreaks have been in very steady decline for several decades and then we suddenly get worst outbreak in twenty years, it might tell us something very important (Is the trend turning? Has someone/-thing just made a very serious fuckup that caused it? How likely is it that it's just a statistical anomaly?) even if it doesn't tell us how worried we should feel about acute problems.
or perhaps it's the Invisible Hand of the Market that is deciding? ;-)
I thought when the "political correctness!" cry is made, it is generally associated with concerns that a centralised government authority has too much power over the citizens.
Interested to hear you use it in the context of 'too much citizen choice, not enough regulation'.
Ireland is not a great example. Medical cards are available to people of very strained means, while for the rest of us we'll be paying for most of our care. Dentists are far from cheap, GP visits have an automatic fee (not including costs for x rays and referrals, and a trip to the emergency room too has a flat fee). Granted, emergency room stuff is relatively cheap, as this can cover many follow-up visits for treatment. Private insurance is highly recommended, and most professionals would expect this as part of an employment package. As an example, I can pay 50 odd euro just to talk to my GP, paying more if tests must be run. If seeking treatment, bring your credit card.
Free to get sick and die! All else is prohibited...
A TB outbreak is an emergency. No making immediately sure all affected are treated is just stupid. In the modern wold, nobody messes with this stuff. People that refuse treatment or do not take their medication go to closed hospital wards within a few days, and that does not require a court order initially.
Mess with TB, and what you get is resistant strains that often cannot be cured anymore and people will start dying. This is one area where saving money initially is very, very expensive.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The case could be made that a 'massive power grab' is a hell of a lot better than no health care at all.
That's a false dichotomy. There are a wide variety of different systems which can be used to provide healthcare for those who are too poor to afford it on their own. It doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing affair.
Mind you I'm from Australia. Needed 2 stitches recently, went in, showed my Medicare card, got the stitches and walked out end of story.
Too easy.
Yes, entirely too easy. Especially if you're well off enough to have paid for those yourself instead of having someone else foot the bill.
At the end of the day, the taxpayer ends up footing the bill for everyone else in every healthcare system except one which only provides coverage based on individual financial need. The Obama & Romney solution is designed to grease the pockets of the insurance companies, actually helping get people the care they need is mostly an after-thought.
The power grab comes not from providing the healthcare, there are plenty of ways to provide such services, but rather from the manner in which the funds to support the system are being appropriated. In the end, it's just a complex shell game, but as it's currently being played it opens the door for them to essentially ban or force certain activities by imposing a "tax" instead of making it outright illegal.
For example, we can tax everybody in the name of eliminating DUI's, and give you a credit if you install a breath analyzer in your car. That would be legal, where requiring the device without reason as a matter of criminal law most likely would not be held up as constitutional. We could impose a law enforcement tax, and then give you a credit if you supply your cell phone records to the police. We could levy a "piracy" tax, and give you credit if you record everything you do on your computer and provide it to the MPAA/RIAA.
Do you see what the objection is now? I'm really not trolling, and I do think we should provide means for people to get care. But the way that Romney and Obama are doing it is simply wrong.
You're completely delusional. My relatives in Ireland, England, and Australia have much better healthcare than we have here in the US. They don't have to waste ages filling out forms; they just get care because they are citizens. And you know what? They pay less for their healthcare than we do.
Right. And when they start bleeding out of their ass, and need a colonoscopy, they won't pay a penny to wait six months for the rationed procedure. And they'll get free cotton to keep stuffing up their bum, in the meantime!
Can't wait until Obamacare gets as good as that.
This is all part of the depopulation plan. No healthcare no medicare for poor americans, who will most likely suffer TB and die from it. Only 500 millions will be left as per Georgia guide stones. That means most poor americans have to go.
In 2008 there were a total of 12,904 cases of TB in the US reported to the CDC. The number reported in Florida was 954. The 99 in one area seems to be a cluster rather than a concern.
You're completely delusional. My relatives in Ireland, England, and Australia have much better healthcare than we have here in the US. They don't have to waste ages filling out forms; they just get care because they are citizens.
I also have relatives in the EU and Australia and have seen the EU's healthcare system up close and personal, while there is much to like about it there are also some downsides. Emergency care is great - simply go, get treated and leave, in emergency rooms that aren't crammed full of people using it as their primary care doctor because that's the only way they can get care. The down side is they ration care by availability while we ration it by ability to pay. Unless it is a serious health issue you may have a wait to see a doctor. In some places, doctor can have private practices and as a result their is a two tier system. Personally, while I think universal coverage is a better system overall it isn't perfect either.
And you know what? They pay less for their healthcare than we do.
Yes, you heard that right: we pay as much in taxes for Medicare & Medicaid as they do for universal healthcare. Plus, on top of medicare/medicaid, we also pay private insurance.
Excellent point - people forget they pay 100% of their insurance costs - either by a deduction from their pay or by a lower salary that factors in what the employer pays.
One downside of universal care is the system will set prices for things like drugs; driving down the profits and incentives for research. We cant argue whether or not that is a good thing but it will be one unavoidable economic result from the US adopting such a system. In effect, much of the world will stop getting a free ride from the higher cost of drugs in the US.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
A human being with a dangerous communicable infection becomes a BIOLOGICAL WARFARE DISPERSAL DEVICE first and foremost and will remain so until either death or cure arrives.
--
Disagreement with the preceding constitutes sedition.
One downside of universal care is the system will set prices for things like drugs; driving down the profits and incentives for research.
You know, if we remove the incentive that drug companies currently have to produce pills requiring lifetime subscriptions, and instead give them an incentive to produce cures or limited-time treatments, we might see some wonderful products. Health care companies know how to milk the system as well as the best welfare recipient - we just have to make the system encourage the greatest possible benefit.
The 'bird flu' epidemic a few years ago? Then recently, swine flu?
When bird flu first hit, the doomsayers were saying it would infect 25 million people, the horror! (Don't worry that 50 million people have AIDS, it's just on one continent.) The final tally probably was less than a million.
With Swine flu, there was a lot of rhetoric about how contagious it was and millions would be infected. But that epidemic ended in a month.
The reason these disasters didn't occur: massive mobilisation of doctors and vaccines. Increased medical support prevents the spread of disease. That is what you should think about when you hear someone bleating that free medicine is wrong. Paradoxically, the US funds most of the vaccination programs around the world. Yet their own citizens are saying Americans shouldn't have free health-care.
Couldn't care less. Couldn't. Once might be an accident; twice is... careless.
Hey republicans claim global warming is part of a natural cycle. So why can't this TB outbreak be part of a natural cycle too? I mean we just had the hottest year on record ever, while this TB thing is just a 20 year max? Just asking.
Holy crap, 8.5x11 must be HUGE in Canada!
No way that would fit on what the U.S. calls 8.5x11-inch paper. Obviously, the metric system provides a much better ink-to-paper conversion rate.
The maritimes are just fine you arrogant asshole. If you're looking for Canada's bible belt look no further than Alberta. "Woo cowboys n oil, we's so cools. Gerd will rapture us all neways so lits peearrty!"
You got a complaint take it up with the Heritage Foundation. This was their plan. Republican supported it until Obama did.
Wow a Herman Cain supporter.....
Apparently refers to the sunshine blown up their constituency's asses.
Where should I start?
How about with the reporter's misrepresentation of the facts? The CDC doctor's report was acted on, just not effectively. The reporter makes it look like the Florida Department of Health did nothing. They underestimated the danger.
How about with the post's title? Florida is not accused of concealing. It is being said they didn't publicize the outbreak.
How about with the submitter's apparently lack of knowledge about the Sunshine law. It says documents must be available. It doesn't say the documents weren't available. The article says that the reporter had to travel to Tallahassee to get the documents. The reporter and the submitter imply that the government was hiding the information when they could have been serving the requests of people in the office first, and the mailed requests in order.
I also notice that the article talks about the closure A.G. Holley hospital, but fail to mention that it only has 55 beds and was being closed to be consolidated with other facilities. According to the article, less than half of the infected could be housed at that hospital.
Seriously, the submitter, the reporter, and many slashdotters seem to have forgotten Hanlon's Razor.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
And in brief it says: The provinces shall cover healthcare.
I'm not sure this would work in the U.S. After all, this whole article is about my state closing down a TB hospital and suppressing evidence of the reasonably expected consequences having occurred. There's really no reason to expect our wonderful governor would have done anything different if he'd been given a federal mandate.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
... not the other way around. This nonsense began when we started changing the notification rules for HIV patients. Before that time, dangerous communicable diseases were dealt with in a way that valued the health of the public higher than the "privacy" of infected individuals. Now, I understand the issue, and we all saw Philadelphia, but the result is that, clearly, we have gone too far, and in Florida, people are going to die because of it.
He never specified the font size.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
It's all a cover up. Start buying your canned food, ham radios, solar panels, guns, shields, melee weapons, and buy a bug-out cabin because we're about to hit the zombie apocalypse, people!
At the very least, Florida will be the first to go. Anyone wanna go down there and prevent the destruction of wang of America?
Ya... didn't think so.
Mind you I'm from Australia. Needed 2 stitches recently, went in, showed my Medicare card, got the stitches and walked out end of story.
Too easy.
Yes, entirely too easy. Especially if you're well off enough to have paid for those yourself instead of having someone else foot the bill.
At the end of the day, the taxpayer ends up footing the bill for everyone else in every healthcare system except one which only provides coverage based on individual financial need.
Look at you, pretending that the GP isn't a tax payer himself.
Supersedes? In what way?
Subject to this Section,
Republicans.
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
"Now tell me, where do you come up for the money on that?"
Oh, let me think here. How about we stop fighting pointless wars in the middle east? Then, maybe our elected reps can stop acting like a bunch of children and FINALLY trim pork and earmarks from the budget instead of using them as a way to attack the other side. Then let's go after those feelgood but useless agencies like the TSA that do nothing but suck money and create controversy.
Don't be fooled, the money is there. It's just being wasted to enrich companies and the politicians they've purchased. In the meantime, the machine will keep us all fighting each other over REALLY IMPORTANT stuff like gay marriage and abortion and Janet Jackson's nipple on TV.
What's depressing the US economy is a government that will not compromise and a bunch of selfish, self centered citizens that always want more but are never willing to give something up.
Because it's the straw that broke the camel's back...
What's the point of being the most taxed in not america if you have to pay for your services to. And the debt is still growing....
The madness as to stop somewhere.
Currently just about every one of our southern states is racing toward third world status just as fast as they can
Is that why all the jobs are moving here? Is that why we're getting all the business investment in new factories?Is that why Texas is the number one state in business growth? Is that why Apple just expanded in Texas? Is that why Airbus is building a factory to produce A319 airliners in Alabama? Is that why Austal is building Littoral Combat Ships there for the Navy? Or why Thyssenkrupp is building a steel plant there? Have you noticed all of the auto plant construction in the South in the past two decades? Ever been to the huge shipyards in Mississippi? The aircraft plants in Georgia? The South is racing towards "Third World Status"? Try California. You know, the progressive model for America that's 3 billion in the hole, but is racing ahead to build a bullet train to nowhere at a commitment of $100 billion. The same California where jobs and people are leaving at a steady clip. You keep your progressive paradise. We'll keep taking the jobs, thanks.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Fucking idiot AC. Quebec has exports of $150 billion and is as large an economy as Norway's.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
....And by Tuberculosis we mean covering up people eating other people's face then blame "Bath Salts" before a tox screen came back.
Florida had an active program for dealing with TB because of all the illegals coming in. Gov. Rick scott killed the program last year, even though he was told that there was a major issue with it. Upon having this expand, the Florida state gov. has been working hard to COVER IT UP.
Now, the question is, where is the real issue? The illegals that are coming in. Everybody that comes here as LEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO WORK HERE, have clean bill of healths, or enough that we know that it is not a transmittable disease. The illegals that come here are never checked. So, how to stop this?
1) Florida Republicans need to restore their TB program. Worse, they will probably have to provide 3-5x the funding now to catch all of those who have it and stop it from spreading further.
2) USA needs to stop illegals. The putting up walls on Mexico is a joke. More than 40% of the illegals came here via legal means (almost all were here on tourist visas, but some were on work visas that expired). We need e-verify with REAL penalities. HR-2885 claims to be that, but it does not require that businesses work only with e-verified businesses (IOW, a company can sub out to somebody that does not e-verify) and it does not have stiff penalties. Worse, the neo-cons have sat on it for the last year in the house and are obviously going to spring it in the next couple of months. But without compromise, there is ZERO chance of passage. What compromise? I think that dealing with the kids that were brought here and spent X (say 5) years in our schools, and have a decent history (no legal issues, intregrated with society, either still in school and has legal guardian to live with or graduated with GED or better), OR served in the military. That would put a lot of pressure on dems to come on-board.
But to date, the neo-cons have only played games with illegals. They pass many bills that have zero teeth esp. against businesses that hire them.
Hopefully, our congress, esp. the neo-cons, will quite trying to the party in control and will start working together to take care of our nation.
AFAIK you don't have *states* at all! (provinces maybe)
The cause of this modern outbreak is the deliberate Democrat refusal to protect the borders. Diseased people come into the country and spread their sickness.
Florida is heavily dependent on tourist money, and any government there is going to hide a dangerous disease outbreak. That Republicans are responsible for hiding it is shameful, but you're deceiving yourself if you think Democrats wouldn't hide it also.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
After all, the non-poor people's salaries cut into their profits.
would be funny if your were seven. As someone who thinks they are an adult, it's kind of sad and pathetic.
according to fox news and my fellow teabaggers. although, with such a deliberate misuse of facts, we already figured that out.
the millionaire who had their jet fund slightly lowered. I know, I know, leaches like you just don't feel like paying for the society that is responsible for their self-important, parasitic existence.
I was just laughing at the situation with a new employee here, new to Quebec as well. Highest taxes in North America, but not a penny of it reaches the infrastructure.
"There's no reason healthcare in the US should be so miserable"
There are over a hundred million reasons, and they all think evolution is a myth.
Currently just about every one of our southern states is racing toward third world status just as fast as they can
Is that why all the jobs are moving here? Is that why we're getting all the business investment in new factories?Is that why Texas is the number one state in business growth? Is that why Apple just expanded in Texas? Is that why Airbus is building a factory to produce A319 airliners in Alabama? Is that why Austal is building Littoral Combat Ships there for the Navy? Or why Thyssenkrupp is building a steel plant there? Have you noticed all of the auto plant construction in the South in the past two decades? Ever been to the huge shipyards in Mississippi? The aircraft plants in Georgia? The South is racing towards "Third World Status"? Try California. You know, the progressive model for America that's 3 billion in the hole, but is racing ahead to build a bullet train to nowhere at a commitment of $100 billion. The same California where jobs and people are leaving at a steady clip. You keep your progressive paradise. We'll keep taking the jobs, thanks.
Yes, yes it is. Getting FoxConn to move in because you've dropped your regulations below China's is pretty much the definition of regressive. I know it's hard to remember, but Nixon, a staunch conservative, enacted the EPA. Stripping it of power and allowing wanton destruction of the environment in the name of getting "more jobs", along with removing any concept of worker or consumer protections, will get you business, it's true... until the area is stripped bare, everyone is in severe poverty while working (and then completely destitute when they're fired under at-will clauses) and therefore unable to afford, well, anything, they're all sick from the pollution in the air and water (and therefore costing the company more to keep around as productivity drops), and then some other government gives the corporate CEO a better blow job, and you end up like Detroit. Do you want to be the next Detroit?
~Anguirel (lit. Living Star-Iron)
QA: The art of telling someone that their baby is ugly without getting punched.
The answer to all your questions is a resounding YES. They are locating plants in those states because those states have lax labor laws, lax oversight of business, and cheap labor. Just like third-world countries. It's just more publicly palatable to source your labor in a third-world-like American South than it is to source your labor in the actual third world. Furthermore, political patronage is a major reason for some of the location of those plants (especially the Austral plant in Alabama). Just like a third-world country, the politicos and elites siphon off most of the cash by exploiting cheap labor.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The associations that profit from selling ABA services to understandably scared parents claim that it's "proven" because the kids they use it on show development. Note the lack of any controls or rigorous scientific studies -- the research on autistics is full of poorly-designed studies without controls, unfounded assumptions, charlatans and so forth. (Anyone interested in the topic should check out the blog of researcher Michelle Dawson.)
The few times researchers have tried to compare treatment approaches, they've found that ABA isn't any better than other interactive methods like Floortime, and in some cases (like a major study in the UK a few years ago) the ABA kids end up falling behind other groups. That's because being autistic doesn't mean not developing any further, it means having a brain wired to function & develop differently from that of non-autistics.
You should seek out the many other parents online that aren't using ABA; they've been finding their way together online with the help of autistic adults (some of whom are also parents), and doing quite well. The best person to start with would be Estée Klar; she knows where all of the resources/groups are online for different approaches, and her blog/site is quite interesting/informative to boot.
Now mostly at Usenet:comp.misc & SoylentNews.org (it's made of people!)
Funny thing, according to Medpage, most doctors support Obamacare.
So, who should I believe, a bunch of investors or a bunch of doctors?