: …The role of consumers has had considerable attention … because the economy desperately needs additional spending… But it is not … the responsibility of middle-income families to provide that spending. If … families want to … pay down their bills or save a little more, concerns about the economy shouldn’t stop them.
Government is in a far better position to provide immediate economic stimulus. … [E]ven by mortgaging itself Read the rest of this entry »

A PSYCHOTHERAPIST friend says that several of her patients are fretting about whether they have an obligation to help the nation spend its way out of the current downturn. Some of them are having a hard time making ends meet, she said, yet are reluctant to cut back for fear they would cause the economy to slide further.
The role of consumers has had considerable attention in the press because the economy desperately needs additional spending right Read the rest of this entry »

By Merrill Matthews Jr.
The past few years have been tough, shaking both Americans’ finances and consumer confidence.
One reason for the negative impact on consumer confidence came as a result of multiple revelations that there are dangerous products out there—products whose safety many of us had taken for granted; products that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), as well as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), were Read the rest of this entry »

The Australian Department of Health has come under fire for appointing two men’s health ambassadors who were allegedly involved in writing a document that espoused homophobic views.
Gay rights groups have called upon Health minister Nicola Roxon to dismiss Warwick Marsh and Barry Williams from the newly created men’s health panel, designed to promote male health issues.
The paper entitled ‘21 Reasons why Gender Matters’ was published by the Fatherhood Read the rest of this entry »

Critics are raising flags about a provision in the economic recovery package that they say would give the federal government
too much control over health care.
The sticking point is a section that would direct billions of dollars toward
digitizing medical records and would authorize a “National Coordinator for Health Information Technology” to provide information
to “help guide medical decisions at the time and place of care.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Other researchers had previously begun human testing of embryonic cells derived from adults and fetuses, but the new study will mark the first authorized use of those derived from embryos, which have been highly controversial because the embryos are destroyed in the process.
The Food and Drug Administration approved a request from Geron of Menlo Park to test the stem cells on eight to 10 patients with severe spinal cord injuries. The study, which Read the rest of this entry »

Wes Sears NASM CPT-CES, Jan Sears NASM CPT-CES
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched the first-ever Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic that spans across America. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, adult obesity rates have doubled since 1980 from 15 percent to 30 percent and childhood obesity rates have nearly tripled from 6.5 percent to 16.3 percent. Obesity Read the rest of this entry »

The proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” is affirmed in neighborhoods all over Martin Luther King Jr. County. Part of that village is the web of community health and human services that strengthens families in need, provides opportunities for seniors and gives children a head start in life. This web of diverse housing, food, health care, youth and children’s programs are intertwined like fishing nets: If one part breaks, the harvest may Read the rest of this entry »

For instance, Healthy Families, a federally funded children’s health
insurance program, costs $4 to $15 per month. Most families who
qualify are unaware of the program. In California alone, nearly 1
million uninsured children are eligible for a number of comprehensive
health coverage programs such as Healthy Families, CaliforniaKids,
Kaiser Permanente Child Health Plan and Healthy Kids, but are not
enrolled. Among disease-specific programs Read the rest of this entry »

Medicaid provides coverage to poor and disabled Americans, many of whom face the highest burden of chronic disease owing to cultural and socioeconomic challenges. The program beats being uninsured, but it often relegates the poor to inferior care.
Reimbursement rates are so low, and billing the program so complicated, that it is hard for internists like me to get beneficiaries access to specialized care or timely interventions. For my patients as Read the rest of this entry »