Our WikiLeaky Health Care System

This is a must read IMHO on healthcare.

Remember I only steal from the best.

What I know of history seems to fit the proposition that power hierarchies thrive on secrecy and information management, while populist reforms tend to wither and petrify without the sunshine of open exchange.

Via Bad Attitudes.

Just say NO!

This is NOT universal health care, but universal health insurance with subsidies to the insurance companies. This is NOT what America needs.

Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would require every American to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.

Obama said putting in place universal health coverage has been debated for decades, but the time has finally come to act. He said his plan could save the average consumer $2,500 a year and bring health care to all.

"The time has come for universal, affordable health care in America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery at the unveiling of his plan Tuesday in Iowa City.

A copy of his remarks and documents describing the program were obtained by The Associated Press.

Under Obama's proposal, every American would be required to carry health insurance, and the Illinois senator would create a National Health Insurance Exchange to monitor insurance companies in offering the coverage. In essence, Obama's plan retains the private insurance system but injects additional money into the system to pay for the expanded coverage.

Until politicians quit taking money from the insurance industry, this is all they will ever offer you. Keep those two terms separate.

Update: Changed quite to quit. Gawd I hate it when I do such stupid shit.

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This is a problem US healthcare doesn't need

A potential pool of 17,000 nurses, sorely needed in the US is quarantined.

The Philippine government is to appeal a move by the US to ban some 17,000 nurses who passed the 2006 nursing examination amid allegations of mass cheating.

The United States Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) issued the temporary ban this week insisting that Filipino nurses retake sections of the 2006 examination where mass cheating took place.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to appeal the decision.

The order comes after a nursing review centre disclosed it had leaked answers to some students who took the examinations.

The scandal rocked the country's medical profession and cast a shadow over the quality of its nurses, who are in high demand overseas, especially in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.

The story goes on to say the students will be re-tested, so the ban may be short lived, but my guess is the nurses are now more likely to opt for the UK or other European countries since they'll consider this ban a slap in the face.

Its quite unfortunate, but demanding re-examination before authorizing these graduates to work in the US or anywhere else only makes sense.

Its quite unfortunate in another aspect. A couple years ago I was hospitalized for two weeks, twice, after major surgeries. One week I was in intensive care. During those hospital stays I had a large number of nurses attend me around the clock. They were all very good at their jobs. They were all, with the exception of one male nurse, Filipinas.

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