Although the chattering classes may have beat the term infrastructure into a hoary cliché, regular folks may see major benefits over time to their health and well-being from the Biden Administration’s finally passed, bipartisan $1 trillion bill that invests desperately needed money into the nation’s roads, highways, bridges, and more. The law will send a….
Continue ReadingArchives for November 2021
Patients can’t escape reminders of U.S. health care’s brutal costs
Soaring medical costs crush the finances of far too many patients, as the public was reminded by the release of an annual report on the high toll of cancer-care spending and a surprising congressional reverse aimed at reining in runaway prescription drug prices — or at least attempting to. Leading organizations dealing with cancer treatment….
Continue ReadingFirst six months of ’21 set U.S. record for road deaths
2021 has become a torment for the safety of the nation’s roads, as the country between January and June hit its largest six-month percentage increase in fatalities in the half-century U.S. officials have kept such records. In the first half of ‘21, 20,160 people died in vehicle wrecks — an 18.4% increase over the comparable….
Continue ReadingThousands admitted to hospitals for other reasons ended up with Covid-19
When hospitals too often fail to disclose and to adequately deal with their problems, patients and their loved ones suffer. That’s what happened during the coronavirus pandemic, when individuals admitted for other reasons were infected in hospitals and died of Covid-19 at alarming rates. The federal government, separately, also is stepping up its efforts to….
Continue ReadingKids now can get Covid shots. Will they? And what about the new anti-Covid pills?
Even as the coronavirus batters parts of the country, notably the Mountain West, public health officials are pointing to key ways in which Americans could safely and effectively further quell the pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and infected tens of millions. Children ages 5 to 12 have been approved for emergency….
Continue ReadingWomen will receive more disclosures about risks of breast implants
Federal regulators have toughened the requirements for surgeons and medical device makers to inform women in detail about rising risks associated with breast implants, which also now will carry the government’s sternest warning — a “black box” label cautioning about the products’ potential harms. The implant alarms, announced after years of complaints by patients, include….
Continue ReadingHealth experts offer anti-drug strategy and fret over cigarette sales spike
Americans have gotten stark reminders of the nation’s struggles with harmful substances and how the coronavirus pandemic has worsened these problems, with the Biden Administration outlining its strategy to combat the opioid abuse and drug overdose crisis and Big Tobacco reporting a rare spike in cigarette sales. The opioid crisis — which is sending the….
Continue ReadingIt’s past time to cry foul on wealthy corporations’ unfair practices
While Republicans and a handful of Democrats in Congress may be filling campaign coffers and pleasing wealthy corporations to the nth degree during the current lawmaking session, regular folks have reason to be aghast at how companies are throwing around their money and weight to get their way. The signs are evident as to how….
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