Universal Health and the Poor

Paul Krugman, who I usually take issue with has a great column in the NY Times today on the need for Universal Healthcare and politics. Take a look.

My Mumps, My Mumps, Those Lovely Pharma Lumps

As if healthcare didn't have enough woes, now it seems an old enemy has resurfaced - and I fear the pharmaceutical companies are part of the problem. Reuters reports Mumps are making a comeback. Says the article: "Mumps made an alarming comeback in the United States in 2006 and may take years to completely eradicate. The outbreak of the viral disease came despite the widespread use of a second dose of a mumps vaccine, produced by Merck, beginning in 1990."

It goes on to say there were no deaths from the virus, which can be as mild as a fever and swollen glands, or severe enough to cause deafness, testicular inflammation and encephalitis. But there were 6,584 cases nationwide and 85 hospitalizations, most concentrated in eight midwestern states and on college campuses.

Here's what's alarming to me: Besides the fact that a terribly awful affliction that we thought was on its way out is flaring up, there's the problem of the ineffective vaccine. According to the article, 84% of the people between the ages of 18 and 24 who became ill in the outbreak had received the second recommended dose - and the CDC says we may need to produce a new vaccine. In light of law suits and widespread speculation that similar vaccines are causing Autism and other defects/disorders in children (sorry I don't have time to research sources, though I heard it mentioned most recently in the HBO doc film Autism The Musical), I think the government might want to pay a little more attention to these pharmaceutical companies' effectiveness and not their bottom lines. I don't mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but something's rotten when drug companies continue to profit while people continue to get sick...with Mumps, no less!!! Mumps????!!!

New Blogger comes to Policythought

Our blogging team has expanded by one. Introducing another sister of mine...Lauren Bedell to the fold. Working in the medical industry, she brings insights into the healthcare issues of today like no one else on our team, and her first post proves it...

Without much fanfare she enters the fray and takes on our healthcare system and the attitudes we share as Americans toward what is "healthy." Check out as it was inadvertently buried below the fold yesterday.

Thanks, Dr. Zizmor

The concerns over health care have been a hot topic this primary season, with candidates dissecting each other in order to discredit the other's plan. But maybe the problems with our health care system aren't just about mounting costs and greedy pharmaceutical companies. The NY Times published this article about the shift in focus of top medical school students. Thanks to our deeply unhealthy obsession for unrealistic standards of beauty and anti-aging, Americans have made dermatology and plastic surgery a gold mine. When people are willing to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on a 45 minute procedure, is it any wonder that medical students are lured in to the promise of a high standard of living and no rough hours? Who wouldn't go for a job that's less stressful but allows you to earn two times more? But as more and more of our most promising medical students compete and fight for their place in these industries, there is inevitably a shortage of students going into things like internal medicine and family practice. So, essentially, you'll get the C student operating on your heart or diagnosing your cancer, but the A student injecting Botox in your face. C'mon....don't you think we need to reorder our priorities a little bit?

Tuesday: Brooks Day

As an avid PBS NewsHour viewer, I became introduced to David Brooks. A NY Times conservative columnist and general pundit. I like his column because he's conservative, but thoughful and balanced. He's non-partisan, and while I tend to disagree with him, I like his style and his approach.
And thus, I link to his column here. Amid all the hoopla over Super Tuesday, Brooks is talking about the health care debate and Hillary Clinton's style.