Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ on T.V. Tonight
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 16th, 2009
Good morning.
FYI: A good see, and a good time to see it. If you haven’t seen Michael Moore’s movie ‘Sicko’ or even if you’ve already seen it, I think it is worth watching again. It is a good reminder of how screwed up our healthcare system is, and how desperately we need to do something about it. For being the world’s richest country, we rank 37th in healthcare, “just slightly ahead of Slovenia”. Ugh. Something has really got to change.
So what are you doing this weekend? How about rallying up some friends and family and have a ‘Sicko’ party? Peeps around the nation are doing it all weekend.
Michael Moore‘s ‘Sicko‘ on T.V. Tonight
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
The Movie Channel, this evening, will be airing the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Sicko,” Michael Moore’s film about a villain known as the health insurance industry. With the debate raging in Washington, D.C. — Republicans trying to scuttle it, the President trying to hang on to his public option, and nearly a hundred members of Congress pushing for a single-payer system — showing “Sicko” tonight is very timely. Mike lays out all the facts and the arguments as to why the private insurance companies are never going to side with what’s best for the American people.
“Sicko” airs on The Movie Channel tonight at 8:00 PM. It’s also scheduled to air on The Movie Channel on July 27th at 4:05 PM and on TMC Xtra on August 2nd at 10:45 PM and August 5th at 2:15 AM and 7:30 AM. Click here for showtimes.
There are people around the country who are holding “Sicko” viewing parties this weekend in their homes. Check out this call to revisit “Sicko” on the Daily Kos this week.
We are in a critical time regarding which direction the health care debate is going to go. Make your voice heard. And be armed with the facts. Watch “Sicko” again!
Here’s a little video blurb:
~~~~~~~~~~
Thais: I really enjoyed that article about Judge Sotomayer. Thanks for posting.
Al: I am okay…Thanks for asking.
ZL: I hope that you make time for a little fun in MN too.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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July 16th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Howie:
I resisted answering humans but Gleia reminded me that I am subbing for him. So today I am back on the job. The planets in what you call the Andromeda Galaxy are very different from your Milky Way home.
They are inhabited from the fringe to their outer edge. One fifth of the fringe has solar systems that have huge sun like stars that can have twenty or more inhibited planets in their orbit. I will address them according to location and number of inhabited planets that orbit a Sun.
My definition of a Sun is a star big enough to influence the path of other planets so as to cause them to orbit around its gravitational pull. It must also have the ability to provide light to the planets in its orbital influence.
The inhabited planets of Solar System 12 are very far apart from each other. So far apart that it is impossible presently for one inhabited planet to visit the other. That is partly true because of their lack of capable technology. Nine of the 12 are behind earth’s scientific knowledge. The other three are about equal to yours.
Two of the latter three have the ability to communicate with the other three and two of the more primitive planets. But none have the ability to visit the other. Solar system 12 abuts Solar System 21. Solar System 21 has shared its technology with each other for 11,000 years. They exchange personal and trade on a regular basis. Because the planets orbit their Sun in a tighter orbit the greatest distance between each inhabited planet is about three times the distance between the earth and your moon.
The inhabitants on the planets in SS12 vary greatly in their physical appearance and requirements to sustain life within their forms. Even their natural life spans vary greatly. The planets farthest from their Sun have shorter life spans. Some inhabitants have less than a 50 year life expectancy. Some are a bit more that food for the much larger land mammals on their planets.
The inhabitants of SS21 are very similar in physical make up. They can inter breed and live on each other’s planet with very little biological assistance. Their technological cooperation enables them to control most of their solar system. The inhabitants are very close to earth like appearance; they have ganglia like earthlings. But they are not water based creatures. The fluid that flows through their vascular system has a denser viscosity. This gives them the ability to travel to the far edges of their solar system.
Viv
July 16th, 2009 at 10:13 am
hi Viv, oh I see – you don’t like answering questions by humans but it’s ok to insert yourself into their dreams for sexual purposes right? … And yes, that was pun intended. Will u be visiting again soon? Just curious… : ) – Zen Lill
July 16th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Zen Lill:
“it’s ok to insert yourself into their dreams for sexual purposes right? … ”
Right, I look at it as one of the perks(that’s means something. good, right?) of being a visiting alien. Besides I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I will be back(I could mean that literally also).
I fully intend to enhance your previously enjoyable experience. The simulator has shown me how to utilize erotic receptors on the human body not normally employed by humans, I am anxious to explore the state of euphoria they produce.
A healthy, receptive volunteer would be preferable for the first venture. You will of course be able to chalk it up to a very pleasurable erotic dream.
Viv
July 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
By all means let’s keep voting for everthing socialist! And, all brought to you by the same fools who run the post office, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare…such shinning examples of socialist efficiency!
Talk about exploiting the working man…..
July 16th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Thank you Viv. Wow, you have given me much to absorb with my puny mind. I will read and reread your answer about what we call the Andromeda Galaxy until I comprehend all you have told me.
I appreciate your filling in for Gleia. I understand that it is not your idea of fun.
Once agin, I thank you.
HOWIE
July 16th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Oh shit, the trotted out white boys who have been “discriminated against.” are not testifying. First they tell us how important they are to us.
Last time I checked we are paying them well for the job. It is so wonderful to hear white boys tell us how painful it is to be discriminated against.
Oh they studied so hard that their children their fathers. The white boy is shameless when it comes to garnishing sympathy for their angst’s.
They are equally stoic about the pain and suffering of OTWs and women from their racism and bigotry.
Carl
July 16th, 2009 at 11:55 am
As a voter I would rather my President scrap the whole thing right now than shove something down my throat that will only benefit the insurance industry. I am faced with no job, but increased energy costs, mandated insurance premiums and that’s supposed to be good for me and this country? I watched Goldman Sachs take bailout money and speculated oil futures raising my expenses and I am supposed think this is good for my country.
What I would like to see is real reform and regulation of Wall St. before we rush into all these other areas that seem to be set up to be gamed by the same folks that got us into this financial mess. They are never ask to pay more. They are never really ask to pay off what they owe without bailouts. We are just told our 401k funds evaporated. I just don’t buy that someone didn’t end up with that money.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Black americans we have our token spicks too. It is so embarrassing to see the token hispanic firefighter dragged out to call the potential first Latino on the Supreme Court a racists.
He sat there reading something the white boy gave him with the talking points to bash Sotomayor. You are the “wet back” the white boy abuses the first chance he gets
Sotomayor was only one of the three judges. She was not the senior judge and they decided the case based on the law. The other two judges were white.
We don’t hear the media pundits reminding the rest of america that two of the three judges that decided to rule against the white firefighters were white. The senior judge on the case was white.
Aldofo
July 16th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I do get frustrated that Democrats don’t seem to have the guts to do what’s necessary. Even with a majority they wimp out, (or get bought out?). Barack Obama won because we believed in him and his message. We are tired of the status quo, it’s NOT WORKING. We want a revamp of the healthcare system, the economic system and the political system in this country. Are we expecting too much? Maybe. But when you promise hope for a change that’s what happens.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
There will be a problem at he space station. We are working to help.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
My brother who is firefighter and white called to say that I should check out the embarrassing tirade by the firefighters defaming Sotomayor.
It was the Supreme court that decided to employ emotions to give those firefighters a right they did not have under the law. So they made new law via a new test to allow the fighters to keep their promotions.
The fear of liability is not enough to throw out the test. The judges that although they felt sorry for the firefighters, they were bound by the law on the books.
Jane
July 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Take the profits and politics out of my healthcare and well-being. Once again, the corporatists have gamed us and continue to do so. It is time to rise up and join in with your neighbors and demand single-payer healthcare for all.
The scare tactics the medical insurance and Big Pharma use to keep the masses in fear and confused has run its course … this is nothing more than a gaming of the masses just like the banks gamed us. And our elected officials have assisted them the entire way.
Call your elected officials and demand they vote for HR 676 single-payer healthcare for all and let them know they’ll be voted out if they don’t vote in favor of it. Organize everyone you know and get involved with an organization that is working on behalf of the majority – PDA (Progressive Democrats of America) or PNHP (Physicians for a National Health Program).
July 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Let’s continue to pay the highest prices for the worst outcomes. We are 50th in the world for health care but pay nearly twice as much as the rest of the world. Is that what you want to continue? Why do we have pre-existing conditions, and limits on what the insurance companies will allow us to have? Why are so many valid claims turned down until we fight the insurance companies and get them paid? Why is it that we give the insurance companies so much power and pay them so much but the system fails the majority of us in the middle income levels? Why in America, with our riches and knowledge, do we let this happen?
July 16th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
From what I’ve seen so far, is that the Dems likes being the minority on the hill. For the past 6 years, they had it made! They never have to come in to work, work days was cut to four days, they never finish a day, they collect monies from the lobbyist to do nothing and every year their pay went up with benefits. Now, they cannot handle the volume of work that it takes to fulfill the President agenda. They do not have the political will to do big things, for they are lazy. We the people must apply the pressure, and to go to Washington ties ourselves to the building to send a message. They are all corrupt!
July 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Al:
You are very astute with that observation connecting speed with the brightness of space. With few exceptions the brightness of space is directly proportional to the speed one is traveling. The distance between stars is so very short that their light is always present.
Al, your next two questions gave me pause. I asked Zmiv if he had taken the real Al up and replaced him with a cyborg. I assumed when you asked me about “bending space” that this was a way of Zmiv expressing his having me on.
First let me answer your question about “worm holes.” If your definition of a worm hole is a break in space in which the natural laws or phenomena are suspended, then yes. We do use them under certain conditions when we discover one.
Bending space is a term that explains dimensional assisted traveling. It is often referred to as warp drive by your scientists. It involves entering a higher dimensional plane and tracing the points (A to B) in the lower plane so that they can be traversed in the higher plane.
If a two dimensional being entered your dimension, he would have another way of getting from his point A to B. He could employ the use of your depth to go with his length and width. If he had the technology to fold points A and B into a point X in depth, the result would be he wouldn’t have to travel from A to B.
Another way is through propulsion.. This involves reaching a speed that approaches creating a circle between two points. One would be entering the end at the same time one entered the beginning. The technology required to perform this maneuver requires precise placing. A .10 degree of error could place the traveler a trillion miles from its desired destination.
There is another from of travel that is called approach management. Using this method one travels by sling shot from the orbit on the side of a blue star to a red star. I involves aging travel, compensated by de-aging travel along a set of points that continues the journey towards one’s destination. This is one that is truly fantastic but comes with the kind of contraindications one gets with earth medicines,
Viv
July 16th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
f the “Blue Dog” Democrats and GOP block a public healthcare insurance option, people should riot int he streets. This is as bad–or probably worse–than the grounds for riot during the Vietnam War. THIS INVOLVES AMERICANS’ CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. It has more to do with the right to life than the “abortion” issue–for those “pro-lifers,” it seems that the right to life ends at birth.
Every major industrialized country has nationalized healthcare, with other options left on the table. If we could waste trillions of dollars, close to 5,000 Americans dead, and 25,000 maimed in Mr. Bush’s Oedipal Middle East adventure, why can’t we spend an equivalent amount of money ON OUR OWN HEALTH?
Vow to work against congresspeople and senators who vote against this. Paint “PROSTITUTE!” on their cars and office windows. Because, unlike hard-working call girls and streetwalkers, these people sell out their clients–the people who elected them–to the biggest money interest in America, the for-profit health insurers, who have more money than G_d and whose “utilization review” policies wrontfully shorten/terminate the lives of more people than the Final Solution (and make a profit doing so).
July 16th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Health is a common good, like police, firefighters, army, schools, mail service. We’re all in it together, especially at times of epidemics, oldsop. Taxes pay for these common goods, by agreement of those of us who want to live in a civilized society.
Corporations are about to get their comeuppance, and are acting cornered, grabbing as much public money as they can, while they still can. It’s obscene.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
n order to save on health care costs and to save other government programs, the Obama Administration has begun offering the public health care option via the following new health care delivery methods:
* All Primary Care Physicians will be offering care and treatment at every local US Post Office in order to better support Postal Reform. Postal delivery on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Medical care on Tuesdays and Thursdays; no Tuesday care if Monday is a Federal Holiday.
* All recently closed auto factories of Chrysler and GM will be converted into Health Care Surgerical Assembly operations for assembly line type healh services, with separate assembly departments for:
Waiting Line, Triage, Intake, Waiting Line, Government Assessment, Prioritization, Stamping, Waiting Line, Fluids Flush, Waiting Line, Body Work, Test Walk, Waiting Line, New Fluids Insertion, Collection of Large Co-pays
All ICU patients will be transported in Stimulus funded, newly refurnished Amtrack high speed Mail Cars, recently purchased on eBay from the former USSRs Trans-Siberian Socialist Medical Mail Car stock. (USSR-TRS-MMC)
* Consumer financing for the enormous co-pays, out of network payments, cost of all specialized tests, cost all overnight hospital stays, and Amtrack transportation will be available through a government-run Fannie/Freddie funding pool (FFFP), financed by consumer taxes, business taxes, soda taxes, haircut and nail taxes, personal co2 emissions taxes, public restroom stall taxes, hetero-sex taxes, Fox viewing taxes, non-aborted fetis tax, death taxes, life after death taxes ( pre-dated and payable before death).
July 16th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
REDUCING RADIOLOGY ABUSE
As tempting as it is to demonize health insurance companies for their constant focus on cost containment, when it comes to their use of “radiology benefits managers” the financial watch is actually a good thing. Many companies, including CIGNA, UnitedHealthCare and Wellpoint, use radiology benefits managers (RBMs) to determine whether imaging tests are really necessary. Some consumers may squawk that this limits access to tests they need to have, but I think it is important to acknowledge that medical imaging is a field that has been rife with abuse. Patients are vulnerable to unnecessary procedures and exposed to potentially carcinogenic levels of radiation and sometimes even end up misdiagnosed as a result of imaging they didn’t actually need. Hospitals and doctors may have a financial incentive to refer patients for costly imaging procedures, necessary or not — and really, without someone checking things out, who’d know?
BETTER CARE, LOWER COSTS
Diagnostic imaging, which includes CT (computed tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission tomography) scanning, is a multi-billion dollar a year industry in this country. Diagnostic imaging unquestionably saves lives when used appropriately, but unfortunately it is over-utilized. A report by America’s Health Insurance Plans in July 2008 states that imaging procedures grew about 40% from 2000 to 2005. According to the report, “estimates suggest that a full third of imaging procedures are inappropriate,” at an annual cost between $3 billion and $10 billion.
A Government Accountability Office (gao.gov) report notes that Medicare spending on imaging varies widely from region to region across the country and suggests that “not all utilization was necessary or appropriate.” An example: In 2006, in-office imaging spending ranged from $62 per Medicare patient in Vermont to $472 per Medicare patient in Florida. Many medical practices have their own scanners — the more scans they do, the more money they make.
Yet another factor may be the need for physicians to practice “defensive medicine” and order tests primarily to protect themselves from liability. It’s a real concern, cautions patient advocate and newspaper columnist Trisha Torrey (EveryPatientsAdvocate.com). In the event they are sued for missing a diagnosis or making a wrong one, a physician needs to be able to show that all bases were covered. The result, however, can be unnecessary scans that expose patients to dangerous radiation.
Enter radiology benefits managers. Radiology benefits managers are essentially gatekeepers of imaging services, whose goal it is to reduce the volume of unnecessary procedures and, in turn, unnecessarily high costs to insurance companies. Some people complain that denial of reimbursement for high-tech scans delays diagnoses and puts patients’ health at risk. They also worry that erecting another barrier to health care forces medical practice personnel to waste hours wrangling with bureaucrats to justify their decisions.
SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT OVERUSE
Studies cast doubt on whether there is an overall medical benefit from this explosion in high-tech imaging. In research presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 2008, doctors noted that simple and inexpensive X-rays are better for diagnosing arthritic knees than MRIs — while in a random review of the records of 50 knee replacement patients, they found that 32 underwent MRIs that provided no more useful diagnostic information than X-rays. The authors pointed out that X-rays cost on average less than $150 while the tab for an MRI can be $2,500.
There are other issues, too. For example, MRIs can be problematic when used to diagnose back pain, which they often are. After age 50, practically everyone has some abnormalities of the lumbar spine but often it’s not a problem. However, when a doctor sees such an abnormality on a scan, it may be quickly identified as the reason for pain that may, in fact, not be related at all. Surgery may be recommended that is not only unnecessary, but ends up leading to yet more pain. According to a study in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, most people with lower back pain recover within three months even without treatment.
HOW TO COPE WITH ?RADIOLOGY BENEFITS MANAGERS
Assuming that the current use of diagnostic imaging is flawed, are RBMs the right solution? I’m sure it depends… but like it or not, radiology benefit managers are here to stay. Insurers have employed radiology benefits managers for over a decade, and as the volume and cost of imaging tests grows, their ranks continue to swell.
Most Americans covered by private insurance must now receive prior authorization before undergoing an imaging test. Here are some tips on how to manage your own care in this brave new world…
• If your doctor recommends an imaging test, ask why and read about medical appropriateness for it on the Web site of the American College of Radiology (acr.org/ac).
• Double-check with your doctor to make sure the imaging procedure is really necessary to obtain information that can improve your outcome.
• If prior authorization of your scan is denied and you and your doctor believe it is vital, ask your doctor to consult further with the RBM or a staff physician at the insurance company. If this fails, insurers have formal processes for doctors and patients to follow.
• Even if your scan is approved, it’s best to double-check directly with your insurer about coverage for it. Mix-ups are known to occur — and you don’t want to get stuck with a bill your insurer refuses to pay.
• For quality assurance, check to see that the recommended imaging facility is accredited by the American College of Radiology.
RBMs represent an interesting ethical challenge. There’s no doubt that some — maybe many — scans are necessary and provide benefit. On the flip side, I have watched as my aging parents get scanned and tested every time they get a virus… the test results add nothing to the diagnosis, yet their doctors continue to order more tests. RBMs are an attempt to bring some kind of rational control to an out-of-control process. Imperfect as it may be, it’s a step in the right direction.
Source(s): ??Trisha Torrey, patient advocate, newspaper columnist, radio talk show host and national speaker based in upstate New York. Visit her blog at everyPatientsAdvocate.com/blog
July 16th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Madaline says that she removed two of the males who were being adamant against women’s rights. She says that she must leave for an emergency above.
She promised more disasters to deal with men who are persecuting women here in Iran. But she says she is limited as to what she can do. Her preference would be to eliminate every male in Iran who opposes equal rights for women.
Ahou
July 16th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
We will all be effed if health care isn’t seriously delt with SOON! We simply cannot go on pretending our health care system is number one, when it’s actually 37th in the world. 37th, and, tragically, the most expensive.
Any Republican, so-called, conservative worth their weight, should be apalled at the current system. That they are not, shows their true colors. They worship money. Family values be damned!
July 16th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Anon21
Pray tell how adding all of the current uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions will make our system less expensive. Taxing the rich and adding a new federal bureaucracy will surely make our “most expensive” system more expensive. Conservatives want to be part of the solution but the Neolibs keep insisting on a public option that will cost more, shift the burden on who pays, and reduce the availability of care. Thanks, Obama. Good job!?????
July 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
The C street family is engaged in treason. Some of the members have been negotiating with foreign powers for money to the detriment of the United States of America.
Some are involved with huge corporate interests to defraud the American people of honest representation by their elected representatives.
Both group of criminals share their criminal and treasonous activities with the other Congressional representatives that reside there.
They swear allegiance to each other over anyone or anything else. They take an oath to the “family” similar to the ones the Italian, and Mexican Mafia require their members to do.
The aim of the members of the C family is to enrich each other without testifying on what any members activities were to get the gift.
There creed claims that its members are not obligated by the morals that those beneath them are held to because they are God’s favorite and therefore not held to the same standards.
They claim and operate as a church with all the tax benefits that come with being a non-profit organization. They call themselves the Church Mafia.
They provide an atmosphere for its members to have access to women outside their marriages. This atmosphere insures that no other member will tell on any other no matter what the member does as in the Mafia.
Dave
July 16th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Anon22, you are the example of the problem “conservatives”(racists) present to the rest of America. Your group give us non racist whites a bad name.
Most of us recognize that white males have rigged the system in their favor. We are aware of the special position we hold in every aspect of the American experience.
Some of us are willing to accept Affirmative Action because we are tired of our white conservatives gaming the system while pretending they are not aware they are.
Leah
July 16th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Anon22
You conservatives are either in the pocket of the rich or so dumb that those that are in the pocket of the rich have no problem conning the inane racists they represent.
You have no way of imaging how completely selfish it must be to say that you don’t want your fellow americans who can’t afford health care to have it.
You are part of that stupid uninformed group who doesn’t know that the 1% of the super rich that Obama wants to tax own 20% of America’s gross national product. I think they can stand to pay a little more in taxes so that the rest of us can see a doctor if we can’t afford health care or to prevent those who can from going bankrupt from paying a huge medical bill.
It would be good for business so that they could compete with those foreign countries that have nationalized health.
You know those countries that represent all of the industrialized countries except the US.
You brain dead racists make thinking whites like me ashamed to be white some times. Get a clue.
Belinda
July 16th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
No watered down health care bill SHOULD be passed. I don’t know what Obama’s gonna end up with in the Fall, but judging from his weak stance on his own campaign promise to give the American people a minimum strong public option, I don’t expect a bill with any real teeth. A weak health care bill should be voted down.
We can then take names and kick out the Congresspersons of whatever party who fought against a strong bill for the people.
If we keep sending politicians packing when they vote for lobbyists instead of the people, they’ll eventually get the messgage. Votes count more than lobbyist money.
July 16th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
CURE FOR THE HIGH COST OF DIABETES
Diabetes is not only a devastating disease, it’s an epidemic that now affects more than one in five older Americans and it’s also extraordinarily expensive. The cost of caring for people with type 2 diabetes increased 32% from 2002 to 2007, when estimated diabetes expenditures in the US totaled $116 billion in direct medical costs and $58 billion in indirect costs (disability, work loss, premature death). This is 10% of all dollars spent on health care in the US, with expenditures for people with diabetes more than two times higher than health care expenditures for those without diabetes.
This news is particularly unwelcome in a shaky economy where consumers already worry about the cost and availability of health care. A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll reports that half of American households cut back on health care due to financial concerns in the past year, with 16% reporting having delayed treatment for serious health problems — for instance, foregoing doctor’s visits for chronic illnesses like diabetes.
IT’S WORSE THAN IT LOOKS…
What we’re seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg, warns global economist and nutritionist Barry Popkin, PhD, director of the University of North Carolina’s Inter-Disciplinary Obesity Center. Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death listed on US death certificates in 2006, a number he says is, in all probability, “grossly understated” given the rapid changes in diet and body composition of the average American.
Meanwhile, instead of focusing on prevention of diabetes, which is eminently doable for most, mainstream medicine continues to emphasize delivery of more costly crisis management treatment, with an array of pills and insulin that help control but do not cure the disease. Insurance companies are more likely to pay the exorbitant cost of treating devastating complications, such as blindness or kidney damage, and for expensive heart surgeries and amputations, than to pay the relatively modest cost of rigorous disease management or prevention with programs such as fitness trainers and nutritional education. Doing so would save not only money, but also time and suffering. This short-sighted strategy backfires, individually and for our health care system as a whole, warns Dr. Popkin.
DOES PREVENTION MAKE A DENT IN THE PROBLEM?
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prevention really does work:
In the Diabetes Prevention Program study, lifestyle interventions reduced diabetes development in people at high risk by 58% over a three-year period — and an even more impressive 71% in adults age 60 and older. In contrast, Metformin, the diabetes drug compared in this study to the lifestyle intervention, reduced diabetes risk only half as much.
Comprehensive foot care programs can reduce amputation rates by 45% to 85%.
Blood pressure control reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in people with diabetes by 33% to 50%, and the risk of microvascular complications (eye, kidney and nerve diseases) by approximately 33%.
Lowering blood pressure can reduce the decline in kidney function in people with early diabetic kidney disease 30% to 70%.
Detecting and treating diabetic eye disease with laser therapy can reduce the development of severe vision loss by about 50% to 60%.
Controlling LDL cholesterol can reduce cardiovascular complications by 20% to 50%.
The CDC states that interventions to prevent or delay pre-diabetes from progressing to type 2 diabetes can be feasible and cost-effective. Dr. Popkin and I discussed how to shift the medical paradigm from one that responds to crises to actually preventing them.
WHAT MUST CHANGE
It’s boring to repeat the same advice over and over, but the way to solve the diabetes problem actually has little to do with medical professionals or procedures. It has to happen at home. Americans at risk must solve their weight problem. A leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes is obesity — one-third of American adults are obese and 17% of children are overweight or obese. Dr. Popkin’s book, The World Is Fat, describes how our lifestyle changes since World War II have created the double epidemics of obesity and diabetes. We need to establish healthier eating habits and exercise programs, specifically…
Limit sodas and snacking. Food and beverage companies sell an ever-growing number of high-calorie soft drinks and sweetened teas, sugary fruit juices, vitamin and energy drinks. The top 40% of consumers buying these beverages drink 760 calories a day from them, observes Dr. Popkin. Don’t fall for seductive advertising — instead drink healthful and calorie-free water, or enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a bit of sugar, if you must sweeten it at all. Satisfy between-meal hunger by snacking on an apple, a few walnuts or a handful of baby carrots instead of grabbing processed snacks, even such so-called healthy ones as granola and energy bars, which Dr. Popkin points out are often packed with calories and fats.
Monitor portion control. At Cornell University, 85 nutrition experts were invited to an ice cream social where they were given bowls of different sizes. Interestingly, the experts who got the larger bowls served themselves nearly a third more ice cream. The moral: Keep a close eye on portion sizes. Use small plates and choose reasonable serving sizes. If you’re eating meat for example, this means three ounces (the size of a deck of cards) rather than the usual eight or more.
Establish ground rules before you eat. In a recent study of all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets, researchers found that overweight or obese diners more often choose large plates, chew less and eat everything they served themselves, which can lead to overeating. Especially if you are eating out, set ground rules beforehand to make sure you’re conscious of what and how you eat. For example, decide in advance that you will have water instead of soda… forego dessert… have salmon instead of prime rib… take your time eating… and request a doggie bag instead of cleaning your plate.
GET MOVING
Our armchair-and-TV culture is a major factor in the diabetes epidemic, with fewer than one-third of American adults engaging in regular leisurely physical activity. Indeed, one study found every two hours of TV watched each day is associated with a 14% increase in diabetes. Fortunately, most of us already own the solution — a pair of sneakers. You don’t have to join a gym or work up a heavy sweat. The research suggests that 43% of new cases of type 2 diabetes may be prevented by 30 or more minutes of brisk walking a day and less than 10 hours of TV viewing a week.
PRACTICE GOOD DIABETES SELF-CARE
If you are at high risk for diabetes or already have the disease, take aggressive steps to control it. Working with your medical team, carefully monitor and manage levels of blood glucose, blood pressure and blood lipids, and stay on top of other preventive care practices (e.g., foot exams and eye screening), all of which help prevent potentially severe complications. If your doctor has prescribed insulin or other medication, take it exactly as prescribed and do not skip doses.
Individually, people pay an enormous price — physically, emotionally and financially — for lifestyle decisions that have brought on diabetes. Our national budget is taking a beating as well. It’s in everyone’s best interest to bring this disease under control.
Source(s):
Barry Popkin, PhD, director of the Inter-Disciplinary Obesity Center and the division of Nutrition Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Popkin is author of The World Is Fat (Avery).
July 16th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Hafa adai
and now there are five.
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BREAKING NEWS 4:25 p.m. — Fifth swine flu case on Guam confirmed
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS • NEWS@GUAMPDN.COM • JULY 16, 2009
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Guam’s fifth swine flu case has just been confirmed by the Department of Public Health and Social Services, according to a recent release.
The individual was seen at a local clinic for flu-like symptoms, and has since recovered. The release states that no household contacts of the confirmed case experienced similar symptoms.
Public Health received the laboratory confirmatory results for that patient today.
Three of the 5 confirmed cases were linked to travel, while two other cases were contacts to a confirmed H1N1 case, DPHSS officials reported.
Surveillance activities are continuing, to ensure that ill individuals from affected areas are quickly identified and assessed by DPHSS.
USMCRet wrote:
Public Health needs to become much more responsive in their efferts to release information to the public – this time the individual has already recovered and there has no information of yet another suspected csae. Completely unacceptable Public Health; on a scale of one to ten your current grade is negative three!
It is not a matter of if H1N1 makes its way around the island – it is a matter of when and we should be informed of what is happening…not kept in the dark. Poor Form!
07/17/2009 11:01:52 a.m. CST
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Peter
July 16th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Peter you beat me. When you called about the article you were going to enter I thought it was this one.
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By Jeff Marchesseault
GUAM – President Obama wants Congress to commit $211 million to Navy construction on Guam right away — or risk losing Japan’s $6 billion financial commitment to the transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to the U.S. Territory.
In its first official position statement on the Pentagon’s spending plan for the next fiscal year, the Obama Administration has laid out several key points it wants rectified before it signs off on the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act, including the alignment of weapons programs to the national defense agenda, and the realignment of the U.S. Marines III Expeditionary Force from Okinawa to Guam.
That according to an update in the Political Intelligence section of the Boston Globe, which lays out the original text to the full White House statement. The Administration’s comments on the Guam Realignment are excerpted here:
Guam Realignment: The Administration objects to the $211 million reduction for Navy construction on Guam. The Government of Japan has demonstrated its commitment to the Realignment Roadmap and Guam International Agreement by appropriating $336 million to transfer to the United States to help fund Guam development in Japan’s current fiscal year. Failure of the Congress to provide a comparable amount for FY 2010 will place Japan’s $6 billion financial commitment to Guam at high risk. Furthermore, reductions to the program will increase the U.S. total cost of the realignment. The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to provide additional details on program implementation to address concerns identified in the report.
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Hafa adai
Anna
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July 16th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Viv,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions on space travel, I am not sure if I grasp the concept behind the propulsion method (can’t see how the circle is created).
With approach management I picture in my minds eye an ess shaped course, with a series of left slings and right slings, forward then backward in time along the way. Red star low hz, blue star higher hz. That is my fragmented misunderstanding of your explanation.
I really don’t know anything. If I am a cyborg someone forgot to tell me.
Thanks again for answering me with the depth that you did.
AL
July 16th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Al
You have described the propulsion method. Now picture the figure with point of origin being point in the middle where the two separate circles join to make the eight.
All destinations are plotted form that point. When the two ends of the eight are folded upon themselves. Any other point can be reached as a product of speed and the rotation of one circle upon the (top representing point A and bottom point B) the other.
Speed causes one to rotate in one direction and the other to stand on its end as the force produced by the speed creates a magnetic field in the standing circle and a gravitational field in the flat circle.
Time is forced to stand still as distance becomes a variable affected by the elliptical orbit created within the intersection of the two circles.
A straight line plotted between the original point A and B and their mirror images in the elliptical field and followed will result in a reduction of 90 to 93% of the original distance.
Viv
July 16th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Who is more moral, a person who does good to get a reward and avoids evil out of fear of punishment,
OR a person who does good and avoids evil because they know it”s the right thing to do? They know it”s the right thing to do because they have derived their ethics from within.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
It has been said that the greatest power in the Universe is the power to procreate with the Gods.
There are only a few beings in the Universe who have that power. They don’t even know who they are themselves.
It is said that upon them depends the concrete existence of the Universe. For the God will not destroy that which is an issue from their loins.
Perhaps that too is merely another myth created by the Gods for their amusement.
Many far more advanced intellects than us believe it to be true. We know this because they have left admonitions in places that they have visited.
Besides, Tal says he too believes this and Tal has no equal in our estimation of calculable intelligence.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Viv,
Not being an astrophysicist, I think I’ve gone as far as I can with this series of questions. I have drawn a few diagrams with your description of the approach management technique but was unable to come to any conclusions other than a 90 to 93% reduction in distance is a significant shortcut. Thanks again for your indulgence, it was very interesting conversing with you.
Your technology is truly amazing as is your intellect
Al