Free Republic

Obamacare exchange customers could see a significant spike in their premiums over the next few years as insurers face pressures from both the government and the marketplace, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday in a new analysis finding Obamacare is both cheaper and less comprehensive than predicted. The CBO said the exchanges and other new medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act will cost the government slightly more than half a trillion dollars over the next five years, which is about $200 billion less than than the $710 billion projected when the law was enacted in 2010. Some of that...

A surgeon says full-body transplants could become a reality in just two years. Sergio Canavero, a doctor in Turin, Italy, has drawn up plans to graft a living person’s head on to a donor body and claims the procedures needed to carry out the operation are not far off. Canavero hopes to assemble a team to explore the radical surgery in a project he is due to launch at a meeting for neurological surgeons in Maryland this June. He has claimed for years that medical science has advanced to the point that a full body transplant is plausible, but the...

One of the most under-reported medical success stories in recent years has been the increase in medical tourism: traveling abroad to get high-quality care at a fraction of what it would cost in the United States. The same Lasik eye surgery that might cost $4,400 here (for both eyes) is available in India, for example, for $500, according to the Medical Tourism Association. A heart-valve replacement that might cost $170,000 in the United States could cost less than $30,000 in Israel. While going overseas for care isn’t for most people, it certainly should make us wonder why we don’t encourage...

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama gave cautious support for the anti-vaxxer cause a few years ago. While running for the presidency in 2008, Obama called the alleged link between autism and vaccination scientifically “inconclusive.” In the same year, Mrs. Clinton went further, expressing her support for an official study to track down “possible environmental causes” of autism “like vaccines.” No scandal — though the eventual winner of the race did win a few “Pinnochios” for his statement. (Studies at that time had already determined no such link, hence the Washington Post’s awarding of demerits to both Obama and his Republican...

The government is forcing one of Dr. Oz's favorite supplement peddlers to pay out $9 million to consumers after making deceptive and unsubstantiated claims about weight loss products. In December, researchers writing in the British Medical Journal examined the health claims showcased on 40 randomly selected episodes of the two most popular internationally syndicated health talk shows, The Dr Oz Show and The Doctors. What they found was disappointing but not exactly surprising: about half of the health recommendations had either no evidence behind them or they actually contradicted what the best-available science tells us.

**SNIP** Gov. Rick Snyder just signed a new law that says medical retainer agreements are not insurance. What does this mean in plain, non-lawyer English? Under the Michigan law, individuals and doctors may enter into retainer agreements. The customer pays the doctor a monthly retainer and in exchange for that, the customer gets access to a menu of routine services at no additional charge. These agreements, under Michigan law, do not constitute insurance therefore are not subject to all of the laws, rules and regulations that apply to insurance. This is a great idea. For starters, it gets the insurance...

You may remember my earlier thread from last week. My Uncle Billy has died in the last hour.

Please pray for my uncle. This is a shock and the outcome looks dire.

GPs will be asked to identify patients who are putting on weight under a new national programme to help fight obesity. Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS, said it was time for Britain to "get back in shape" in order to protect millions of people from a host of obesity-related diseases. Under the scheme, family doctors will be asked to identify anyone who has gained weight and is at risk of diabetes – particularly those aged below 40. They will then be offered tests for pre-diabetes, followed by healthy lifestyle advice and close monitoring to ensure they are eating...

They cited the example of the asthma drug albuterol sulfate. The average cost for a bottle of 100 pills was $11 last October, the pair said. The average charge by this April was up to $434. The antibiotic doxycycline hyclate cost $20 last October for a bottle of 500 tablets, the congressmen observed. By April, the price was $1,849. Experts say generics are growing more expensive because of reduced competition among manufacturers and shortages of raw materials. However, that might not explain triple-digit price hikes for some drugs. "Most generics are increasing in price by an average 10% a year,"...

Kate Kelland, Reuters December 10, 2014LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Drug-resistant superbugs could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion by 2050 if their rampant global spread is not halted, according to a British government-commissioned review. Such infections already kill hundreds of thousands of people a year and the trend is growing, the review said, adding: "The importance of effective antimicrobial drugs cannot be overplayed." Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill, who led the work, noted that in Europe and the United States alone around 50,000 people currently die each year from...

Callie Van Tornhout was about a month old when her mother noticed that she'd developed a dry cough on a Sunday afternoon in January. Soon the cough worsened, and Callie became pale and started throwing up, Callie's mother, Katie Van Tornhout told ABC News. By the middle of the week, Callie stopped breathing in her mother's arms in a pediatrician's waiting room and was rushed to the hospital. On Saturday, less than a week after the cough first appeared, Callie died at 37 days old on Jan. 30, 2010. It wasn't until a few weeks later that tests confirmed the...

...Yet a very small study out of UCLA is offering a glimmer of hope for those with what is often a hopeless diagnosis. Nine out of the 10 patients involved in the study, who were in various stages of dementia, say their symptoms were reversed after they participated in a rigorous program. The program included things like optimizing Vitamin D levels in the blood, using DHA supplements to bridge broken connections in the brain, optimizing gut health, and strategic fasting to normalize insulin levels. A few months after starting the extreme program, patients in the study, aged 55 to 75,...

Gov. Jerry Brown Considering Expanding Medi-Cal To Immigrants By PHIL WILLON Gov. Jerry Brown is considering expanding state-funded Medi-Cal coverage to residents shielded from deportation under President Obama’s new immigration policies. Nancy McFadden, the governor’s top policy aide, said that possibility is under review by the Brown administration, but implied that the potential cost would be a factor in the decision. “We’re still evaluating, but the president’s recent action on undocumented immigrants could perhaps open a door for more coverage of more people under Medi-Cal,’’ McFadden said. “We’re looking at that. That, of course, is going to cost money.’’ McFadden...

Sixty percent of occupants of HUD properties in California, a Democrat bastion of liberal insanity, are living there illegally according to an internet email making the rounds of conservatives. While these illegals are enjoying free housing, gratis US taxpayers, about 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County live in garages. Other illegals reside in the state’s large prison system at various levels of detention, comprising a 35% inmate total on the public dole because of their crimes, arrests, and other various nefarious behaviors. Amazingly, this web report, which is attributed to local Los Angeles media outlets, says OVER 75% of...

Camp Liberty is currently facing a humane and human rights crisis On Wednesday, 26 November 2014, patients in Camp Liberty adjacent to Baghdad International Airport held a rally protesting the medical siege imposed by the Iraqi government on the residents of this camp. The inhumane medical siege against Iranian dissidents, members of opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Iraq, continues after the transfer of their protection from the US government to the Iraqi government in early 2009 and with Nouri Maliki – a political ally of the Iranian regime – coming to power in Iraq. To this day 22...

Just got a call that our Grandson collapsed to the floor while getting ready to go to Thanksgiving Dinner. Father thought he was playing and realized that was not the case. Got him awake and asked what happened and Grandson answered "I don't know" and then went out again. Transported to Hospital by EMS and are waiting further update/info. Prayers would be greatly appreciated for Him and the Family. His name is Josh. I have one Grandmother here that is freaking out due to lack of info. We are 10 hours away.

Next year, 35 percent of uninsured people would rather pay the upped fine for not having health insurance than buy Obamacare coverage — up 6 points from this time last year, when the penalty was hundreds of dollars lower. According to a Gallup poll released Thursday, 55 percent of the uninsured said they’re planning on getting coverage in 2015, but 35 percent are fine with just paying the individual mandate’s tax on going uninsured. In November 2013, just 29 percent of the uninsured said they were willing to pay the $95 fine in 2014 for remaining uninsured. But in 2015,...

Can anyone recommend a good CPAP supplies website?

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the "Secretary"), in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose of specifying certain communicable diseases for regulations providing for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable diseases, the following communicable diseases are hereby specified pursuant...