* You will have access to cheap Canadian drugs if you live in Canada.
* States whose names contain vowels will be allowed to opt out of the plan.
* You get to choose which doctor you cannot afford to see.
* You will not have to be pre-certified to qualify for cremation.
* A patient will be considered "pre-existing" if he or she already exists.
* You'll be free to choose between medications and heating fuel.
* Patients can access quality health care if they can prove their name is "Lieberman."

Mitokine Bioscience was founded in Down East Maine in 2006 to develop a critical new treatment for diabetes. This year - 2009 - Mitokine’s treatment will be tested at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in companion dogs that are insulin dependent, a natural diabetes model. A larger canine study to meet requirements for FDA approval for a veterinary pharmaceutical product will follow. In the mean time, research at Mitokine continues to develop a similar treatment for human diabetes.

Quiz time: Which of the following provisions has been tucked into the most closely watched health-care bill on Capitol Hill thanks to Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine? Is it a) an annual checkup for every Medicare beneficiary, b) a special health-insurance marketplace in every state that would cater to the needs of small businesses or c) new tax credits to help modest-size firms buy coverage for their workers?

Peter O'Toole leads engineering and product development.  At mTuitive, O'Toole designed and developed the mTuitive Agile Author, a visual tool that lets medical experts encode their knowledge as data and rules.  He works closely with MDs to turn their knowledge into applications using mTuitive's unique tools and platform.  He is mTuitive's technical and subject matter liaison to Cancer Care Ontario as well as other standards groups and professional societies.  Presently, O'Toole is leading development of a new operative reporting product, including a port of mTuitive's core technology to a web-based solution using Microsoft Silverlight.  He has previous experience in development, technical writing, and product marketing during stints at Cognitive Arts, eObject, and SilverStream Software. ... bachelor of arts from Brown University.

Resources:

• mTuitive

No one warned me I’d miss my oncology nurses, the radiation techs, and the feeling of safety I got from the routine of cancer treatments. But I did. I seemed to cruise through that part but then came year two. It was really hard. I didn’t go back to a full-time career or kids, just a loving husband who had taken such good care of me–even read to me at night. I floated aimlessly around–with a lot less money and confidence than I once had. I couldn’t focus or get things done. I even read and reread the same books over and over again. (I know Harry Potter really well.) I missed the closeness with my husband and the amazing clarity and gratitude I’d found in the mundane.

Health systems in other countries and pilot projects in the United States have demonstrated that effective primary patient care that is comprehensive and accessible has the potential to improve health outcomes and lower costs. Primary care does this by ensuring that patients receive effective care measures for prevention and for management of chronic illness, by coordinating the use of testing and specialist evaluation and treatment, and by providing a comprehensive array of medical services in one clinic or office. Avoidance of duplicative care, unnecessary hospitalizations, and emergency room visits results in reduced health care costs. However, the necessary infrastructure and human resources to provide comprehensive and effective primary care are generally not adequately reimbursed to practitioners by payers. For this reason, it is difficult for primary care practices to supply services that are recognized as effective.

Morning Edition, April 15, 2009 · A federal proposal to restrict a plastic additive called bisphenol A (BPA) is focusing attention on a guiding concept known as the "precautionary principle."

The proposal would ban BPA from food and beverage containers. Proponents say the precautionary principle requires such a ban because high doses of BPA can cause reproductive abnormalities and cancer in animals.

But whether you agree with that stance depends on how you define the precautionary principle. It's not written into federal law, and it turns out that people have widely differing views on what it is, and how it should be applied.

June 9, 2009 Reported By: Josie Huang Governor John Baldacci plans to sign a bill tomorrow that's aimed at giving the state's DirigoChoice health insurance program much-needed financial stability. To pay for Dirigo, the state charges health insurers a fee each year, which invariably leads to fights over how much the fee should be. Dirigo supporters say the bill to keep the fee fixed from year to year will avoid the expensive legal battles and bad blood. "The Number one thing that it does is it makes the funding source predictable and stable," says David Farmer, spokesman for the governor. Farmer tried to reassure the 9,000 people getting insurance through Dirigo, which is priced on ability to pay, and another 5,500 people who get Medicaid through the use of Dirigo dollars.

The Maine Senate has given final approval to a measure intended to put Maine's Dirigo Health Insurance program on a healthier financial footing.  The House approved the bill Friday, and Gov. John Baldacci, the bill's sponsor, is expected to sign it.

The bill provides an alternative to the Dirigo Health Program's current funding mechanism, a so-called "savings offset" fee assessed on insurers, which is based on how much health care savings the program generates.  Because the amount of savings is difficult to accurately nail down, the system has led to court battles.

Instead of relying on savings estimates, the new system will assess a fixed 2.14 percent fee on paid claims.  The Maine House passed the measure Friday by a vote of 83 to 53, and the Senate followed suit today by a vote to 20 to 15.

Maine health program funding bill OKd

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) By a vote of 83-53, the Maine House has given its final approval to a bill that would create a new funding source for the state's Dirigo health program.

Representatives on Friday approved legislation to replace the savings offset payment, now assessed at a variable rate of up to 4 percent of paid claims, with a fixed 2.14 percent payment on paid claims paid monthly.

The savings offset payments that have been used to pay for the state-subsidized Dirigo program have been challenged repeatedly by the health insurance industry.

The measure directs Dirigo's board to reach more uninsured and underinsured Mainers through a more affordable product.

It faces a Senate vote before it can be sent to Gov. John Baldacci for his signature.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Snowe has said she supports a national reform based on regulating insurance markets to increase competition while ensuring consumer protections. The primary alternative under consideration — a single-payer, government-run plan similar to Medicare — “is no panacea and should be a last resort,” according to a recent statement from Snowe’s office.

Rosemary Gladstone thinks the nation’s employer-based private insurance coverage system has proven a failure. She thinks a single-payer system is a better idea, and that people should be required to have insurance of one sort or another.

She worries that the Dirigo program, in danger of losing its funding, will collapse.

For now, though, she’s just glad to have coverage.

“I love having health insurance,” she said. “It gives me more motivation to take care of myself, and it provides an extra layer of stability.”

 Miss Susan has been using this song for years and it works!
For a healthier world, teach it to your kids, your grandchildren, your friends children.

Cough Cough
Sneeze Sneeze
Cover your mouth
Please Please
Let's be careful
How we cough
Let's be careful
How we sneeze
Catch those germs
Right i-in your sleeve
Ah Ah Ah Choo!

Credits:
Susan Plimpton - Writer Songsinger
Fr. Richard Tardiff - Guitar
Filmed on location at the Southwest Harbor Public Library
http://www.swhplibrary.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Miss Susan has been using this song for years and it works!
For a healthier world, teach it to your kids, your grandchildren, your friends children.

Cough Cough
Sneeze Sneeze
Cover your mouth
Please Please
Let's be careful
How we cough
Let's be careful
How we sneeze
Catch those germs
Right i-in your sleeve
Ah Ah Ah Choo!

Credits:
Susan Plimpton - Writer Songsinger
Fr. Richard Tardiff - Guitar
Filmed on location at the Southwest Harbor Public Library
http://www.swhplibrary.org/
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

I like the way this is written with the bold paragraph labels. "Bottom line: Some private Medicare plans can be good deals. Others will wind up costing you more than you would pay with a Medicare-Medigap combination." "Also: Some Medicare Advantage plans are evaluated by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, with results published periodically in US News & World Report. To see how 325 plans rank, go to http://health.usnews.com/usnews/ health/best-health-insurance/rank_ medicare_2006.htm."

"The legislation directs Dirigo’s board of trustees to revamp the program to make it more affordable. The bill also replaces the savings offset payment with a monthly payment from insurance companies that equals 2.14 percent of their total claim payments. It’s estimated that would generate $42 million a year."

"creating a state of universal coverage. ... DirigoChoice insurance plan has opened enrollment for small businesses and self-employed individuals, through a public-private health insurance venture with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine. More than 1,000 individuals have already enrolled, and coverage is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2005. In May 2005, the state announced that Dirigo Health will provide coverage for families earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, up from the previous limit of 150 percent. In announcing the news, Governor John Baldacci said that by expanding coverage, the state will save an estimated $10 million in charity care and bad debt for those who previously had no health insurance. For More Information Web site: http://www.dirigohealth.maine.gov/index.htmlContacts: Trish Riley, Executive Director and Adam Thompson, Legislative and Constituent Liaison, Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance Phone: (207) 624-7442 "

"Governor John Baldacci hopes, however, that under the incoming Obama administration, Maine could get federal Medicaid dollars to match Dirigo premiums paid by employers and individuals, which would help sustain and expand the program. This federal match was originally intended for the program but was rejected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) and is now under appeal."

via http://blog.spn.org/id.3508/detail.asp via http://blog.spn.org/id.3505/detail.asp

"Results of these studies to date give no consistent or convincing evidence of a causal relation between RF exposure and any adverse health effect. On the other hand, the studies have too many deficiencies to rule out an association. A key concern across all studies is the quality of assessment of RF exposure. Despite the ubiquity of new technologies using RFs, little is known about population exposure from RF sources and even less about the relative importance of different sources. Other cautions are that mobile phone studies to date have been able to address only relatively short lag periods, that almost no data are available on the consequences of childhood exposure, and that published data largely concentrate on a small number of outcomes, especially brain tumor and leukemia. Key words: electromagnetic fields, EMF, epidemiology, health effects, radiofrequency, RF. Environ Health Perspect 112:1741-1754 (2004) . doi:10.1289/ehp.7306 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 23 September 2004]"

"This recommendation should be seen as an interim precautionary limit that is intended to guide preventative actions; and more conservative limits may be needed in the future." More liberal limits might ultimately be indicated.

"Ten months ago, Achatz was given a diagnosis of tongue cancer. He was informed that if he did not start treatment immediately he would die. “You have Stage IV cancer,” he remembers being told by a doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “There is no Stage V.” Doctors removed lymph nodes from his neck; a pink scar now extends from an inch below Achatz’s left earlobe to an inch above the collarbone. He was also given twelve weeks of chemotherapy treatment, which made his hair fall out, and six weeks of radiation, which nearly swelled his throat shut, and caused the skin inside his mouth and on his face to peel. “They burned me so bad I had to wear a burn mask,” he recalls. The therapy also destroyed his sense of taste. Although it is slowly returning—the process can take a year or more—he is in the precarious position of having to create and serve food that he cannot really taste."

"The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks. It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long. "

You miss stuff without the video.

"specifically designed to answer the clinical questions that arise in daily practice and to do so quickly and easily so that it can be used right at the point of care. Our physician editors and authors review and update our content on a continuous basis and a new, peer-reviewed version is issued every four months. The published evidence is summarized and specific recommendations made for patient care. Independent research shows that UpToDate outperforms other resources and has a significant impact on patient care. How can we help you today?"

"Most important, try to get a letter report from your doctor which explains in detail whether or not you can work full time in a competitive job. Submit medical documentation dating back more than 12 months if it helps to depict your disability accurately."

" * Contact the BONIVA Reimbursement Hotline at 1-888-587-9438 (Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM ET) * The BONIVA Reimbursement Hotline will assist you with‡: o Coding/billing information o Coverage details "

"not a fan of bisphosphonate drugs in light of the recent lawsuits and revelations about jaw necrosis, I think it's great that she is drawing attention to osteoporosis. But teaming up with a drug company and asking people to sign a pledge and promise like little children to take a drug seems to me to be inappropriate and quite scary."

"he reaction to Boniva when a person has low blood calcium and a low vitamin D level. Testing proved that I was definately in that category. The specialist is convinced that the reason for my low calcium and Vitamin D level is because I have been on Nexium (acid blocker) for almost 5 vears. Supposedly Nexium will not allow much calcium absorption into the body at all. Now I am off of Nexium, and am taking arm loads of Vitamin D and Calcium Citrate."

"Provides report cards and ratings on hospitals, physicians, health plans, nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice programs, and fertility clinics. Fees charged for many reports.--Last checked: 03/2004 ahml"

"L. acidophilus, B. longum, L. bulgaricus, and B. bifidum—that promote a healthy balance of flora in your gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Williams discovered an advanced encapsulation process, in Japan, that delivers these four strains of powerful bacteria right where they're needed. Each "beadlet" of Probiotic Advantage contains one billion beneficial bacteria that go to work in your intestines and colon to: Aid digestion and nutrient absorption by: • Stimulating the digestive process and making it more efficient • Enhancing lactose digestion and utilization • Breaking down undigested foods, including carbohydrates, in the intestines • Helping you absorb nutrients better, including B-vitamins and vitamin K. Keep your gastrointestinal tract healthy by: • Neutralizing some of the toxic products produced during digestion and everyday toxins we encounter • Promoting optimal pH, helping to balance the delicate flora. Enhance your overall health by: • Promoting regular bowel movements • Boosting immune function. A special "triple-layer capsule" seamlessly encloses the probiotics. The active bacteria are first covered with a"

"AUGUSTA, Maine — Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will not provide health coverage to Mainers through the state’s Dirigo Health Agency after this year because the two sides could not agree on terms to extend the contract. In a joint statement Wednesday, the two sides said they were unable to agree on acceptable financial terms to extend the contract for one year. Dirigo "is finalizing its plan to transition the program by Jan. 1, 2008, to assure that current members continue to have access to the DirigoChoice product and its subsidies," the statement said. About 15,000 subscribers are enrolled in the DirigoChoice insurance product that’s been administered by Anthem since 2003, two-thirds of them with individual coverage and a third in the group market, said Anthem spokesman Mark Ishkanian. What will happen to those subscribers when 2008 arrives was unclear Wednesday, Ishkanian said, because "we don’t know yet the direction the state’s going to go with the program." But he said Anthem is committed to helping the Dirigo agency make its transition. "We want DirigoChoice to succeed," Ishkanian said. "There are no hard feelings here." Anthem is also obligated to offer a similar insurance product to subscribers now covered under a DirigoChoice plan if they choose to remain with Anthem, but their premiums could go up, Ishkanian added. Dirigo Health was created by the Legislature in 2003 to curb health care costs, broaden access to coverage for thousands of Mainers who lack health insurance and promote health care quality. It is funded in part through savings in the health care system generated through the program. In July, Dirigo’s board of directors determined that the program will save $78 million in its third year of operation. The Maine Association of Health Plans, which represents state’s major health insurers, disputed the figure, saying the savings estimate is excessive. Maine’s major health insurers include Anthem, Aetna, Cigna HealthCare of Maine and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Wednesday’s statement by Anthem and Dirigo Health said the two organizations "have worked diligently to make this program a success and feel very good about what has been accomplished over the three years." "We are grateful that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield stepped up three years ago to help make DirigoChoice a reality and that they will work with us closely to transition the program," the Dirigo board’s chairman, Robert McAfee, said in the statement. A message left with Dirigo Executive Director Karynlee Harrington was not immediately returned."

"He bought some mice, bred them and produced the first inbred strain of genetically identical rodents. In coming decades he bred more strains and eventually founded the Jackson Laboratory, the world's foremost lab mouse breeder. Today, the descendants of C.C. Little's humble cheese-chasers are the foundation of modern biomedical research. Nearly all FDA-approved drugs on the market were tested first in the descendents of these mice. Much of the basic research behind those drugs, the explorations into physiology and pathology, were conducted in mice. When scientists want to know what a gene does, they tweak that gene in mice and see what happens. "

"It’s no secret that drinking soda, which is loaded with sugar and empty calories, can pack on the pounds, but a new study conducted by BU doctors reveals more dire results — drinking even one can of soda a day, regular or diet, can increase your risk factors for heart disease. The study was conducted by doctors at the Framingham Heart Study, the long-running National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute epidemiological study begun in 1948 and run by BU since 1971, and the results were published in the July 31 issue of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. “We were struck by the fact that whether it was diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present,” says Ramachandran Vasan, a professor of medicine at BU’s School of Medicine and the study’s lead investigator and senior author. Vasan says that study participants who drank soda on a daily basis exhibited an increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome. The syndrome, which doubles a person’s risk of heart disease, is a grouping of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors. These factors include excess waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of HDL (good cholesterol), and high blood-sugar levels even on an empty stomach. According to the American Heart Association, more than 50 million Americans have metabolic syndrome. “The findings are striking,” says Vasan. “Just one soft drink a day increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 45 percent.” The study looked at 9,000 middle-aged men and women three times over a four-year period. Compared to participants who drank less than one soda daily, those who drank more had a 31 percent greater risk of developing new-onset obesity, a 30 percent increased risk of developing increased waist circumference, a 25 percent greater risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high fasting blood glucose, measured after an eight-hour fast, and a 32 percent higher risk of having low HDL levels. Prior studies have linked soda consumption to risk factors for heart disease, but this is the first linking the risk factors to artificially sweetened diet sodas. “We are a little bit cautious to emphasize this, but there is an association,” says Vasan. “We don’t know whether diet soda is causing it. More research needs to be done.” This study also departs from previous research connecting soda to weight gain in children and adolescents. “In our study the mean age was fifty-three years old,” says Vasan. Susan K. Neely, president and chief executive officer of the American Beverage Association, says that the study simply underscores the need for moderation, and the researchers agree that diet and exercise habits could be related to consumption of these products. “People who drink soda also tend to eat more calories, trans fats, and saturated fat and less fiber, and exercise less,” says Vasan. “So it could be that a lifestyle pattern is increasing risk.” Other possible explanations for the association include the fact that soda is a liquid and liquids don’t fill you up like solids. “Liquids satiate you less than food like salad, so if you drink a large amount of liquids at a meal, you are more likely to eat more at the next meal,” says Vasan. The sweet taste also conditions drinkers to prefer sweeter things, such as cookies, cakes, and candy, which cause weight gain. Even cola’s color could have an effect, because caramel, which gives cola its color, has been associated with inflammation of the tissues and insulin resistance. The high-fructose corn syrup used in soda does not appear to be a factor, because the connection to metabolic syndrome occurs also in drinkers of diet soda, which does not contain the syrup. “These are theories, which are being debated,” says Vasan. “The bottom line is that it’s an interesting association between soda and increased risk for metabolic syndrome, and we hope doctors will do additional research into the subject.” "

In depth look at pretty much everything to do with bicycles: technology, sports medicine & culture. Include audio and video of athletes and bicycle designers explaining their work and passion.

"I started making Zappers in March 1996, soon after reading a bit of THE CURE FOR ALL DISEASES while using a Hulda Clark Zapper that I bought for $125, made in Yelm, Washington. The 'Experiences' link to the left has that story. I discovered the work of Dr. Reich a year or so after finding out about Zappers and I then began making orgone accumulators in many configurations and sizes, based on the excellent basic material recommendations of Serge Kahili King in his book, EARTH ENERGIES. It was obvious that the orgone devices had a healing, regenerative effect that was mostly lacking in simpl"

"Fluoride carrier: a flexible mouthguard which covers the teeth and is used to apply topical fluoride to prevent the onset of radiation-induced tooth decay for patients who have undergone radiation therapy of the head and neck. Example"

"From Kirkus Reviews Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer, attempts to cure Friedrich Nietzsche of suicidal despair in the clinics, cemeteries, and coffeehouses of 19th-century Vienna--in this first novel by the author of the bestselling Love's Executioner: an entertaining and highly original tale of an uncompromising friendship between two brilliant men. Distinguished physician, renowned scientist, beloved husband and father, Josef Breuer finds himself at 40 simultaneously at the crest of his professional life and near the bottom of a pit of incomprehensible despair. Cursed with nightmares, insomnia, and obsessive sexual fantasies of his former patient, Anna O. (whom he cured, miraculously if temporarily, through a new technique called ``talk therapy''), Breuer welcomes the distraction when the imperious future psychoanalyst Lou Salom‚ demands that he use talk therapy to cure the suicidal depression of her friend, Friedrich Nietzsche. Because the poverty-ridden, unknown philosopher is too proud to accept spiritual help from anyone, Breuer must somehow cure the younger man without his knowledge--but the physician welcomes the challenge, and soon solves it by posing as the patient himself and begging Nietzsche's help in relieving his own existential pain. Unable to refuse, dour Nietzsche agrees to embark on a month of daily ``talks'' with the physician. The ensuing dialogue between a man of the world and an unworldly man becomes increasingly compelling as first Breuer, then Nietzsche, uncovers his forgotten past and delves deep into his own and the other's unconscious desires and fears. Throughout, Yalom's evocation of Breuer imprisoned in a classic midlife crisis, Nietzsche stymied by his own pride, loneliness, and terror, Lou Salom‚ cracking her feminist whip, and young Sigmund Freud eagerly following each conversation's twists and turns make for a stimulating dip into the pools of 19th-century philosophy, psychology, and culture. A delectable fantasy--in which the sole disappointment is that it didn't actually occur. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. "

" 1. Who is Eligible? 2. What is Available? 3. What About Pre-existing Conditions? 4. What is DirigoChoice? 5. What are HSAs? 6. How Much Does It Cost? 7. Standardized Major Medical Plans 8. Non-Standardized Plans 9. Standardized HMO Plans 10. Benefit Comparison Charts "

"may be utilized for certain effects including sedation and anxiolytic effect."

"to meet the needs of local government employees, retirees, dependents and employer groups by providing cost-effective, quality employee benefit programs and superior services. "

This is way misleading. During the first three month he was having chemo treatments. "He introduces us to a young man who's reached the end of three months of paid sick leave and is asked by his doctor if he's finally ready to return to work. No, not yet, he says. So the doctor gives him another three months of paid leave