Dr. Lissa is a healthcare professional with over 30 years experience. From the bedside to the boardroom, she has seen it all, and here she'll help you make sense of your health and the industry built around it.

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Divided We Fail: What do Ben Affleck and Reese Witherspoon know that we don't?

3 comments

July 2, 10:25 AM

by Doctor Lissa, Health Care Examiner

Health care in the U.S. is in crisis, as I'm sure you know. Many organizations are fighting over who will exert the most power and influence going forward. In the past, the pharmaceutical companies, American Medical Association, and various groups representing hospitals have held enormous power. They still do, but there are others who are emerging as forces that will shape the nature of this debate. Perhaps the largest in this country is AARP, which many see as a group representing our grandmothers. Actually, AARP has been recruiting members of younger and younger ages (50+) and has an enormous impact in Washington and in other states.

AARP is currently in the midst of a massive campaign called Divided We Fail in which they are appealing to citizens of both political parties to come together rather than work against each other per usual. Their ads feature children as well as adults, movie stars as well as regular people, imploring us to be rational and work together to insure the following:

All Americans should have access to affordable health care, including prescription drugs, and these costs should not burden future generations.
Wellness and prevention activities, including changes in personal behavior such as diet and exercise, should be top national priorities.
Americans should have choices when it comes to long term care- allowing them to maintain their independence at home or in their communities with expanded and affordable financing options.

AARP also requests that voters take a pledge to vote for candidates who support the agenda. With millions of members, this is a serious effort and should be regarded with more than passing interest. It is also scary to a lot of folks who want business as usual. But the voice of the people is being heard. AARP is driving much of this effort. The campaign is founded on the following statement:

"Instead of bringing solutions to this problem, politicians in Washington have been content to stall, to argue, to criticize and to blame each other. While they play politics, we are left with huge health care bills, health care premiums and deductibles that are climbing through the roof, eroding benefits and little hope of reasonable, common-sense, balanced solutions."
Their aim? To improve the health care system by making it more affordable, boosting quality and eliminating waste.

47 millions Americans, many of them children and young adults need this now. The rest of us with health insurance need this to occur because our insurance rates are climbing at around 8%-10% a year to pay for those who are uninsured and for the cost increases borne through inefficiency, greed and waste. It's about time!

For more info: http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/
about_issues/access_to_health_care.html

http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/

Topics: health care , Divided We Fail , AARP , AMA , AHA

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12 ways to health from the CDC

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December 1, 10:50 PM

Yes, boys and girls, it's that time again. The holidays. And I don't know about you but I always look forward to another iteration of the 12 Days of Christmas! This time the good elves at the CDC bring you their recommendations for... Read More
Topics: health , safety , CDC , Christmas music

December 1st: World AIDS day

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November 30, 9:53 PM

World AIDS Day was started on December 1,1988 with the purpose of raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education worldwide. Twenty years after it began, World AIDS Day remains an important reminder that HIV... Read More

November is AIDS awareness month: HIV/AIDS facts for those 50 and above

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November 26, 12:18 AM

Of all the groups affected with HIV/AIDS, one rarely considered is the group over 50. In fact, the number of persons aged 50 and above living with HIV/AIDS has been increasing in recent years in part due to highly active antiretroviral therapy... Read More
Topics: HIV/AIDS , Magic Johnson , Oprah , AIDS testing , CDC

National Diabetes Month: Generation XL

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November 23, 10:19 AM

Generation XL. That's the new term some are giving to children in the U.S. under 12. Why? Because they are the largest, most obese, sedentary generation we have ever produced. How bad is it? Well, the government is running ads... Read More
Topics: health care , diabetes , Generation X

Nothing's as Irish as Barack O'Bama

1 comment

November 14, 1:06 AM

Around St. Patrick's Day, 2007, Ancestry.com issued a press release revealing that Barack Obama is part Irish. In fact his third great-grandfather on his mother's side, Fulmoth Kearney, is Obama's most recent connection with the "old country". ... Read More
Topics: Barack Obama , health history , ancestors

Have we lost the true meaning of Halloween?

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October 31, 11:58 AM

How many of us still remember why we acknowledge Halloween? It's a "holiday" for some, a reason to eat a bag of chocolate and popcorn balls for others, and yes, a time of warding off the evil spirits that may give us sickness for a very,... Read More
Topics: health , Halloween

Coca Cola: not your average spermicide

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October 28, 10:04 PM

This just in: among this year's winners of the Ig Nobel prize, an annual award given by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine to weird but practical scientific research, is Dr. Deborah Anderson for her work with Coca Cola. Dr. Anderson, a professor... Read More
Topics: health , prevention , Coca cola

Top-ranked U.S. hospitals reduce death rate by 70%

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October 22, 8:42 PM

Death is something we all want to avoid. That's why when I saw the 11th HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study which noted that the death rate at top-ranked U.S. hospitals is 70% lower than at the lowest-ranked hospitals, I thought you... Read More
Topics: health care , hospitals , death rate

1 in 10 Americans understands the health care system

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October 20, 11:16 PM

Did you know that just 12 percent of America's 228 million adults have the skills to manage their own health care proficiently? According to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research (AHRQ), these skills, known collectively... Read More
Topics: health care , access , health , insurance , AHRQ , literacy