Strollerderby : schip

Morning News: Obama Says 'I Screwed Up'

Madeline Holler — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:30:00 GMT

President Barack Obama took full responsiblity for the latest embarrassment to his new and still forming administration. He told CNN's Anderson Cooper last night that though he thinks Tom Daschle was the man for the job, ignoring the former senator's tax mistakes would send the wrong message to Americans.

Politico has a whole list of Plan Bs (not that Obama had a Health and Human Services secretary Plan B). But the good president is right: none seem quite the perfect fit that Daschle was (except for that damn tax thing ... is it really so hard?) In case you're out of the loop, Daschle surprised everybody by withdrawing his nomination for the top HHS job yesterday.

Sending the right message to many Americans, Obama set a salary cap for executives of the banks and companies getting bailed out by taxpayers. Sure, you hear that there are loopholes galore. But there shouldn't be. The cap is set at $500,000 a year. Come on, people, live with it!

Be careful what you reveal in your 25 Random Things About Me note on Facebook. MySpace deleted some 90,000 known sex offenders' accounts and word on the virtual street is that they're all moving over to Facebook. Of course the entity putting that word on the street is the company that was hired to clear MySpace of the perverts. Still. Maybe it's also time to change your Flickr settings to friends and family only.

Here's an uplifting-yet-makes-you-hate-the-world story: the world's youngest divorcee through a snowball and did other childish things in Paris last week. The 10-year-old (!) Yemeni managed an escape from her husband (who is three times her age) and found a judge who granted her the divorce almost immediately. She's now back in school and getting to be a girl. Not sure why the Time interviewer took her to a dimly lit bar in Paris to do the interview. The first line kind of creeps us out.

Have you ever thought about why organ recipients might reject a transplanted kidney, but pregnant women's bodies don't reject a fetus (which is not genetically identical to the mother)? Us either, but it's a great question! And researchers may have found a reason. Maternal cells seep into the fetus at a very young age, boosting the baby's regulatory T cells, which in turn tell mom's body to not reject the baby. Kinda sweet.

The latest in octuplets news: their mom has filed two worker's compensation claims in the past -- one in 1999 and another in 2001. What does this tell us? Not sure. But since her oldest child is 7, at least one of the claims was filed before she had been pregnant with him.

The publicist for Elizabeth Edwards's forthcoming book, Resilience, tells us that the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards will make reference to her husband's affair and the woman who says he is her daughter's father. The book comes out in May.

Let's leave on a high note: Obama will sign into legislation this very minute an SCHIP bill, which will extend healthcare benefits to low- and moderate-income worker's children. Now, lawmakers of yore, was that really so hard?

Video: CNN

U.S. Birth Centers in Danger of Closing

Miriam Axel-Lute — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Everyone likes a best of both worlds solution, right? For many pregnant women, birth centers provide just that. For low-risk pregnancies, they are a comfortable, calm, non-hospital atmosphere in which to give birth. They often have pools, and kitchens for family members to cook in. They don't separate mother and baby after birth, but check vitals right there. And yet, for those uncomfortable with birthing at home, there are also a staffed and equipped medical facility, usually quite near a hospital and with established transfer protocols in place. They are often crucial in rural areas where hospitals are few and far between.

And yet, after 20 years, the federal Medicaid agency has all of a sudden begun to refuse to pay for them. (Why? Do they prefer to pay tons more for a hospital birth?) The agency claims there is nothing specifically in any legislation saying that it's a covered cost. (Ah, I see. Bureaucracy strikes again.)

This is not merely a case of the poor getting screwed either notes the American Association of Birth Centers. Other payers follow Medicaid's example, they say. Basically, if the law isn't changed, pronto, freestanding birth centers will be fighting for their financial lives. Many are already suffering from refused payments.

There is a chance to clarify the law when the SCHIP bill passes, but it has to be done before the Christmass recess, so AABC is asking everyone to call their congresspeople and let them know that this is in fact important—a no-brainer even (but perhaps you oughtn't to use that phrase).

Photo from Alma Midwifery.

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Bush Refuses Treatment for Wounded Healthcare System

Madeline Holler — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:33:00 GMT

As promised, President Bush vetoed a children’s health insurance bill that passed in both the House and Senate and had unusual bi-partisan support. The bill would have expanded the number of children covered by State Children’s Health Insurance Program to 10 million, whereas now the same program covers 6.6 million.

The president argued the bill moved Schip away from its initial purpose of paying to cover poor children and instead start providing for children from middle-class families. Which would be a crime? Does he know how a large part of the middle class lives nowadays?

While a “middle-class” income might seem like a goldmine in some parts of the country, it is barely adequate in plenty of cities, where housing costs and income are completely out of whack (I’m looking at YOU, Los Angeles County!). Pile on the high cost of fuel and increasing costs of food -- the year-over-year increases in healthcare premiums can quickly become hard to reach. Most uninsured families have at least one person employed full time. That's just wrong that a full-time worker who can't afford health insurance also can't get help with it.

At our pediatrician’s recently, I overheard a woman who was holding a toddler ask how much the shots would cost. The assistant had to ask around and look things up and started listing off the shots, this one’s $80, that one is $210. Didn’t her child have health insurance? Did she earn too much for Schip but not enough to pay for a plan? Even the most basic plans cover child vaccinations, right?

What’s you’re solution for healthcare in the U.S.? Canadian-style? Great Britain-style? Leave it alone? Scrap it all and start over? Are you glad Bush vetoed this bill and prevented families and companies from taking advantage of a government healthcare program, as he argued?