Wake Up and Smell the Health Insurance: The Key to Turning Around Starbucks

by John Geyman, Aug 4, 2008

...NHI will not solve all of the problems now being confronted by Starbucks and other U. S. employers, but will go a long way to level the playing field in a global economy. We can no longer afford the skyrocketing costs of private health insurance for less reliable and more skimpy coverage each year. Employers and employees alike, as well as our country, will win with NHI...

http://www.pnhp.org/blog/2008/08/04/wake-up-and-smell-the-health-insurance-the-key-to-turning-around-starbucks/

US Lags Behind Europe in Regulating Toxicity of Everyday Products

DemocracyNow!
February 24, 2009

We speak to award-winning investigative journalist Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power. Schapiro writes, “The European-led revolution in chemical regulation requires that thousands of chemicals finally be assessed for their potentially toxic effects on human beings and signals the end of American industry’s ability to withhold critical data from the public.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/24/us_lags_behind_europe_in_regulating

...Aside from adding spice and being inexpensive and easy to obtain, cinnamon's glory may lie in its ability to regulate blood sugar. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published several cinnamon studies on human beings. Findings report that about one half teaspoon a day results in an impressive improvement in blood sugar. Cinnamon works by enhancing the body's ability to use the insulin it already produces, especially in muscle tissue.

Cinnamon has also demonstrated a highly beneficial impact on cholesterol. Specifically, it lowers the LDL, more commonly known as the "bad cholesterol."
...

http://www.naturalnews.com/025590.html

Immediate Action Needed to Reverse Dangerous Midnight Regulation

(Washington, DC) The National Women’s Law Center applauds the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Judiciary Committee for holding a hearing today on the Bush Administration’s “midnight regulations.”

“It is imperative that the Bush Administration’s last minute attempts to diminish women’s rights and health be reversed,” stated Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center. The National Women’s Law Center is particularly concerned about a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation, which went into effect on January 20, 2009, that significantly limits patients’ access to health care and even to basic information about their health care options...

http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=3461§ion=newsroom

Three Health Insurance Mistakes to Avoid

By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
January 29, 2009

I just switched to a new health insurance plan through my employer, which took effect on January 1. It's the first time I've had a high-deductible plan and a health savings account. What do I need to know to make the most of this kind of health insurance?

Switching to a high-deductible health plan account can save you a lot of money in premiums, and you get tax breaks for using a health savings account. But you also need to become a much smarter health-care consumer to make sure the insurer gives you credit for everything you deserve. Here are three mistakes to avoid when you have a high-deductible health insurance policy...

Beyond Disability: The Fe Fe Stories

By Jennifer Roche

When was the last time you saw a positive (or even negative) image in the media of a teenage girl with disabilities? It wouldn’t surprise the Empowered Fe Fes to hear that you can’t remember. So, rather than wait for a reflection of themselves to show up in the media, the Fe Fes, a diverse group of 12 young female Chicagoans with disabilities, created their own video instead.

Single-Payer Health Care Would Stimulate Economy

by John Nichols on 01/14/2009
The Nation

There is an unhealthy tendency on the part of politicians and journalists to see discussions about economic recovery and health care reform as separate debates.

In fact, one of the most important steps on the road to economic recovery – or, more precisely, toward a new, responsible and sustainable prosperity – involves the fundamental reform this country's broken health care system.

But it must be the right reform: the establishment of a national single-payer style healthcare reform system by expanding the existing Medicare system to cover all Americans. According to a new "Single Payer/Medicare for All: An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Nation" study released today by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, such a reform would provide a major stimulus for the U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs and infusing $317 billion in new business and public revenues into the economy. This reform would, according to the study, add $100 billion in wages to the currently sputtering U.S. economy.

Indeed, notes the NNOC/CAN, the number of jobs created by a single-payer system, expanding and upgrading Medicare to cover everyone, parallels almost exactly the total job loss in 2008. "These dramatic new findings document for the first time that a single payer system could not only solve our healthcare crisis, but also substantially contribute to putting America back to work and assisting the economic recovery," says NNOC/CAN c o-president Geri Jenkins, RN.

Specifically, notes Jenkins, expanding Medicare to include the uninsured, and those on Medicaid or employer-sponsored health plans, and expanding coverage for those with limited Medicare, would:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/396919?rel=hp_picks