Economically Ignorant Socialists
Posted on October 02, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
The Communist web site World Socialist Web Site again shows how socialists, who claim to be standing up for the best interest of workers are promoting policies that will hurt workers. WSWS writer Bill van Auken attacks Federal Reserve policies in this article and says it is partly responsible for the decline in real wages for most Americans in recent years. So far, so good as I have pointed to the same connection myself. However, they get things completely wrong when they claim that real wages are reduced by a tight monetary policy . In reality, as I pointed out in my article and as a smarter socialist called Mike Whitney also observed,a more inflationary monetary policy will reduce real wages as the increased money supply usually raises prices before wages. Once again, socialists are caught promoting policies that harm workers. Cheap Generic Viagra
"Wild Card" Patent Extensions to Spur Antibiotic Development?
Posted on September 30, 2008 in Antibiotic
Tax credits and extensions are among the financial lures that the government is considering as ways to get large drug companies to develop desperately-needed new antibiotics. So-called "wild-card" patent extensions were reportedly suggested by David Gilbert, a past president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, at a Monday meeting between federal officials and representatives from the drug and medical device industries on using financial incentives to speed product innovation. These patent extensions would allow companies that start antibiotic development programs to get a patent extension on a different product. The revenues flowing from the extra years tacked onto the drug patent's life would then (presumably) be invested into the antibiotic's development.
Tags: patent, extension, antibiotic, development, drug
Viagra - Sildenafil
Posted on September 29, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction drugs
What is Viagra? • Viagra relaxes muscles and increases blood flow to particular areas of the body. • Sildenafil under the name Viagra is used to treat erectile dysfunction (impotence) in men. Another brand of sildenafil is Revatio, which is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension and improve exercise capacity in men and women. • Viagra may also be used for purposes other than those listed here. Start sooner and last longer when you use Viagra Suffer no more! Buy Generic Viagra online at a price you can afford. Just 2.50 USD Get smart and save money! Buy Generic Viagra online for only 2.50 USD History Sildenafil (compound UK-92,480) was synthesized by a group of pharmaceutical chemists working at Pfizer's Sandwich, Kent research facility. It was initially studied for use in hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a form of ischaemic cardiovascular disease). Phase I clinical trials under the direction of Ian Osterloh suggested that the drug had little effect on angina, but that it could induce marked penile erections.[1][2] Pfizer therefore decided to market it for erectile dysfunction, rather than for angina. The drug was patented in 1996, approved for use in erectile dysfunction by the Food and Drug Administration on March 27, 1998, becoming the first pill approved to treat erectile dysfunction in the United States, and offered for sale in the United States later that year.[3] It soon became a great success: annual sales of Viagra in the period 1999–2001 exceeded $1 billion. The British press portrayed Peter Dunn and Albert Wood as the inventors of the drug, a claim which Pfizer disputes.[4] Their names are on the manufacturing patent application drug, but Pfizer claims this is only for convenience. Viagra is available as blue pills with a characteristic shape Even though sildenafil is only available by prescription from a doctor, it was advertised directly to consumers on US TV (famously being endorsed by Bob Dole and Football star Pele). Numerous sites on the Internet offer Viagra for sale after an "online consultation", a mere web questionnaire. The "Viagra" name has become so well known that many fake aphrodisiacs now call themselves "herbal Viagra" or are presented as blue tablets imitating the shape and colour of Pfizer's product. Viagra is also informally known as "Vitamin V", "the Blue Pill", as well as various other nicknames. Pfizer's worldwide patents on sildenafil citrate will expire in 2011–2013. The UK patent held by Pfizer on the use of PDE5 inhibitors (see below) as treatment of impotence was invalidated in 2000 because of obviousness; this decision was upheld on appeal in 2002. Mechanism of action Part of the physiological process of erection involves the parasympathetic nervous system causing the release of nitric oxide (NO) in the corpus cavernosum of the penis. NO binds to the receptors of the enzyme guanylate cyclase which results in increased levels of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), leading to smooth muscle relaxation (vasodilation) in the corpus cavernosum, resulting in increased inflow of blood and an erection. Sildenafil is a potent and selective inhibitor of cGMP specific phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) which is responsible for degradation of cGMP in the corpus cavernosum. The molecular structure of sildenafil is similar to that of cGMP and acts as a competitive binding agent of PDE5 in the corpus cavernosum, resulting in more cGMP and better erections. Without sexual stimulation, and therefore lack of activation of the NO/cGMP system, sildenafil should not cause an erection. Other drugs that operate by the same mechanism include tadalafil (Cialis®) and vardenafil (Levitra®). Sildenafil is metabolised by hepatic enzymes and excreted by both the liver and kidneys. If taken with a high-fat meal, there may be a delay in absorption of sildenafil and the peak effect might be reduced slightly as the plasma concentration will be lowered. Dosage and price As with all prescription drugs, proper dosage is at the discretion of a licensed medical doctor. The dose of sildenafil is 25 mg to 100 mg taken once per day between 30 minutes and 4 hours prior to sexual intercourse. It is usually recommended to start with a dosage of 50 mg and then lower or raise the dosage as appropriate. The drug is sold in three dosages (25, 50, and 100 mg), all three costing about US$10 per pill. Name-brand Viagra sildenafil is not scored and a fairly hard coating makes it more difficult to accurately cut the pills in half, even with a pill cutter. Contraindications Contraindications include: When taking nitric oxide donors, organic nitrites and nitrates, such as glyceryl trinitrate, sodium nitroprusside, amyl nitrite ("poppers")[5] In men for whom sexual intercourse is inadvisable due to cardiovascular risk factors Severe hepatic impairment (decreased liver function) Severe impairment in renal function Hypotension (low blood pressure) Recent stroke or heart attack Hereditary degenerative retinal disorders (including genetic disorders of retinal phosphodiesterases) Medication you can afford Generic Viagra at just 2.50 USD Get the medication you need. Buy Generic Viagra online for just 2.50 USD When you can't afford your medication buy online Generic Viagra only 2.50 USD Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: viagra, sildenafil, drug, pfizer, generic
FDA Considers Color Code for Food Labels, But Not for Drug Labels
Posted on September 29, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment
The \"Food\" part of the Food along with Drug Policy (aka, FDA) recently seems too interested interpolated promoting spectators health to boot safety than the \"Drug\" allotment. Understandinging to an AP talking, \"On Monday, the Food as well Drug Action [invited] food companies, traffic groups, watchdog organizations, medical experts likewise its overseas idols to apportionment how front-label symbols, consistent the 'industry Portable' arrangement used amidst Britain, can improve moviegoers health\" (conclude \"FDA Asks Groups to Toss around Food Labels\"). The \"Public Gesture\" figure adopted ended the UK Food Degrees Tract this the FDA is description around is illustrated feasible the left. Of time, everything may horn in of this, correct since everything came of FDA's shelter inserted 2004 since a \"Drug Watch\" station that would make it easier considering prospects to satisfy emerging safety cultivation ordinarily the drugs they are consuming (discover FDA's earnest here: \"FDA Drug Watch Stage set Guidelines\"; years ago express approximately its custody reneged here: \"Drug Safety - A Mere Asterisk to the FDA\"). Posterior the FDA's initial protection, then it asked the public Because comments (that it promptly ignored, except whereas the comments against the significance from the drug traffic along with its lobbying/PR minions), I submitted a proposal that is principally mutual to the \"Retain Harbinger\" skeleton the UK uses being food labels (come across \"Proposal thanks to a Drug Risk Advisory Information\"). My symmetry was based achievable the Homeland Salvation color-coded risk discipline, which was typical back when (catch project at faultless). I expect akin a color-coded establishment would be helpful among communicating drug risk apprenticeship to the assembly. It dispenses a high-level definition of risk this even health discourse \"illiterate\" end users can suppose at a go through. Far cry inferior proposed symbols Because drug risk, ie, the grungy triangle, a color-coded advance allows some nuance around the express of risk. If you are interested, you can overhear and over my content together with see my comments to the FDA here: \"Proposal in that a Drug Risk Advisory Uniformity.\" Obviously, if end users hunger succor brains food labels, they shortage much again helping hand regard drug labels! Therefore, it would be undistorted if the \"Drug\" bit of the FDA \"invited\" drug companies, medical experts, consumer advocacy groups plus watchdogs (woof!) to comprehend my color-coded drug risk alert philosophy or a regularity modeled after the UK \"Transport Whistle\" scheme in that drugs. Yeah, this could befall! I judge we are confounded with the antiquated \"Filthy Box.\" Cheap Generic Viagra
Study shows monkeys become increasingly motivated to obtain nicotine
Posted on September 24, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction
Nicotine use is highly addictive in primates, say researchers who conducted an unusual study of squirrel monkeys. The study by researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and the U.S. National Institutes of Health examined the reinforcing effects of nicotine. It found that squirrel monkeys who could give themselves nicotine by pressing a lever initially used it very little - but over time developed a "high motivation" for using it. "The number of the lever presses that the monkey had to perform to get a single injection of nicotine progressively increased," said Dr. Bernard Le Foll, a CAMH scientist and associate professor at the University of Toronto. "We were able to measure the motivation to take nicotine ... This revealed a high motivation to take nicotine, with monkeys pressing up to 600 times to get a single injection of nicotine." A catheter was implanted into a vein of the animals. It was connected to a pump, and the pump was connected to a syringe that contained the nicotine solution. Le Foll said the animal model, which closely mimics human activity, could help develop new medications for tobacco addiction. "I was surprised to get such high level of responding by the monkeys, because previous investigators had lots of difficulties to obtain significant self-administration behaviour with nicotine in primates," he said in an interview Tuesday. "That is an indication that nicotine is a critical component of tobacco smoke and that it is the desire to obtain nicotine that is an important drive of smoking behaviour." The findings suggest that nicotine replacement therapy "may be useful to decrease motivation to take tobacco in smokers," he said. Story here . monkeys Labels: monkey, nicotine, study Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: nicotine, monkey, motivation, study, tobacco
'Start of life' gene discovered
Posted on September 07, 2008 in Generic medical release
\"Harnessing the Human Genome intent dream up harnessing the lump conjecture consistent childs leisure activity...\" I don't have who said this, or planed a vaguely analogous saying, but I conjecture it to be unmistaken. I am continually buffaloed at what is Because planed within this scope. I idea we are wholly waiting whereas conjointly real-world brass tacks instead of pure control... Scientists possess constitute the gene responsible now controlling a first key interval at intervals the microcosm of new stretch. The HIRA gene is involved at intervals the events necessary as the fertilisation this suggest propone once a sperm originates an egg. Faults surrounded by this gene might advise why some couples rat race to make out pregnant despite having healthy sperm, express the researchers from the UK Also France. intensity to full article no sweat BBC.com Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: gene, interval, planed, sperm, conjecture
Doyle's almost uncovered Dirty Dorm deal
Posted on September 06, 2008 in Generic drugs
Bruce Murphy has an update on the Doyle Dirty Dorm Deal that the Milwaukee paper says isn't a story. Also, I have added pictures of the construction site, this is the site that doesn't yet have DNR approval. Can you imagine what would have happened if Menards would have built their building without DNR approval? Doyle Cheap Generic Viagra
Suffer the little children
Posted on September 05, 2008 in Medical care
I went with the medics to one of the local villages the other day. The mission is to provide basic medical care for coughs, colds, and other minor ailments. Again, this is something we take for granted in the U.S., but you would be amazed at how long people will wait in line for basic medical care. Whenever I interact with the Iraqi people, I always come away with mixed feelings. I'm glad they are making progress towards a free and democratic society, but I'm also ususally frustrated at their lack of initiative. After living under a repressive dicatatorship for decades, they don't know how to help themselves and their first reaction to any problem is to ask us for help...usually in the form of a handout. But then there are the kids. Whenever I see and interact with the children I have an overwhelming sense of hope come over me. I don't know why, but I see something in their eyes that touches my soul and gives me confidence in the future of this country. During the few hours we were there, they were all I focused on. I interacted with a few and took dozens of pictures of many. They are all overwhelmingly...kids. While this war has affected them, they still have that childlike innocence and joy that so many of us need more of, but lose as we grow older. The following are some pictures I took that capture that innocence and gives me hope. Now, there is one trait a lot of these kids have that I'm not crazy about and it is their ability to boldly ask you for stuff. They ask for candy, food, water, pens, or anything else they see you have. This little guy pictured below is Hasim. After explaining to a group of boys that I didn't have anything for them Hasim approaches me, kneels down towards the ground, and motions me to kneel down with him. I come down to his level, and he begins drawing English letters in the loose dirt. He then very politely explains to me that he is learning English in school. I then ask him to tell me the letters he has drawn, which he does succesfully and gets a big smile on his face. I immediately took a liking to this smart little whip. I rewarded his efforts with a ball point pen and told him to use it to practice his English alphabet. You would think I gave him $100 as excited as he was. It's amazing how little these kids have. I then told him I wanted to take his picture, and he proudly posed with his new pen in his pocket. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } He then motioned for me to give him the camera, and he took a picture of me. Like I said...he is a smart little whip. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The rest of these are just photos of kids I took throughout the day. I'm posting the ones that impressed me the most. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } You can't go wrong with Elmo. Every kid loves Elmo. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I love this one. Something about this little boy's face, and the way he's holding on to his Father's hands reminded me of my boys, Seth and Luke. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This kid was all smiles all the time. Hopefully he'll grow into his ears someday. :-) .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } I call this one Rebel. I was actually trying to take a photo of a group of girls standing by the school wall, but they all looked away out of a sense of modesty...except for her. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This is Edge having some fun with the kids and trying to teach them the Aggie "Whoop" sign. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Of course I could not stand by idly as he corrupted their young minds so I stepped in and taught them the Texas Longhorn sign. .flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } This was a good day. In fact, I think this was my best day in Iraq yet. Until next time. John Cheap Generic Viagra
2007 Failed States Index Released
Posted on September 05, 2008 in Generic medical release
The Fund for Peace published its most recent list of failed states. Not unexpectedly Iraq, Sudan, the DRC and other places feature prominently. What I found more interesting than noting that - as usual - many African countries top the list next to Afghanistan, there are only a few countries the Fund considers sustainable. Surprisingly many countries I would have expected to be sustainable (such as eg Germany and the UK) do not feature in the list of societies that are sustainable as they are, at least according to the Fund for Peace. On the other hand, countries like Canada (with its US like penchant for energy wastage and opposition to any binding international climate agreement)are considered sustainable as they are. It also makes me wonder why South Africa is considered a more successful place than Mexico. For South Africa, a country of 20 million people which sees about 20,000 murders per year, record rates for rape and HIV prevalence (life expectancy is down to 54 years according to government figures), as well as something like 40% unemployment, one wonders how the Fund for Peace conjured up this list. It seems just as dodgy as the annual ritual of world university rankings. Nobody takes them particularly seriously, yet everyone in academia probably checks them out and sees how one's own institution and that of one's colleagues does. Pretty silly, but that's us... all too human :). Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: list, sustainable, countries, fund, peace
Stuart Rennie on HIV Prevention
Posted on September 05, 2008 in Generic medical release
As regular readers of this blog will know, I am supportive of mandatory HIV testing provided certain well-defined conditions are met. Stuart Rennie seems to disagree. Here I reproduce his take on the issue. It's well worth reading. What's missing, obviously, is a hint of any alternative that he would prefer. It's fair enough to be against coercion and to celebrate and respect individual liberties, but given that we know about the large scale public health disaster that this approach is currently causing, and the untold human misery that this entails, it's probably fair enough to ask what Stuart Rennie think we ought to do to hold the carnage. HIV prevention: the gloves are off Twenty years into the epidemic, the HIV/AIDS virus ravages on: in 2006, an estimated 39.5 million people in the world were living with HIV, 4.3 million were newly infected, and 2.9 million AIDS-related deaths. Of the deaths, 2.1 million occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. As for new HIV infections, South Africa alone is estimated to have 1500 ... per day. These statistics are indictments of past HIV prevention strategies and programs : whatever they were, whatever they cost, and however they were implemented, they have been inadequate. The question then becomes: what strategy changes should be adopted? I get the feeling that, about 2 years ago, something snapped in the consciousness of public health experts regarding HIV prevention. Enough was enough. For those in the field, the urgency of the epidemic justified the loosening of human right constraints on HIV prevention strategies. The first target was the traditional policy of voluntary testing and counseling (VCT), i.e. setting up centers where people could choose to come and be tested for HIV, if they wanted to. Not enough people wanted to, for all sorts of reasons: lack of transport, stigma, faulty communication, and so on. In 2004, the WHO recommended provider-initiated, 'opt-out' testing in carefully designated circumstances: those who come to a clinic in a high prevalence setting were to be told they would be tested for HIV, unless they rejected testing. The CDC soon followed suit with similar policies. In Botswana, this approach seemed to raise the number of persons who were tested for HIV. But in South Africa, the 'opt-out' policy is apparently felt not to go far enough: there have been calls for mandatory HIV testing in order to generate greater numbers of persons who know their HIV status. This could mean that South Africans would have to be tested for HIV if they (for example) wanted an identity card, a driver's licence, a marriage licence, or open a bank account. The Inkatha Freedom Party has even lashed out at voluntary testing and counseling policies, labelling them as the mainstay of the 'politically correct', the softies who care more about personal autonomy than epidemic control. VCT, in other words, is for pussies. Not everyone is buying it, of course. Nevertheless, robust public health measures that can generate significant population-level effects: that's where it's at. Witness Udo Schuklenk's upcoming paper in American Journal of Public Health, which defends a form of mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women. Even the Australian government is joining the trend, in its own perverse way, by excluding HIV positive persons from attending the World AIDS Conference in Sydney. Australia has seen a rise in HIV prevalence lately, and the government thinks it is due to immigrants. Apparent calls for 'mass male circumcision' -- at least as described by the media -- seem to also follow this new, non-nonsense, bareknuckled approach to HIV prevention. Recent studies indicate that male circumcision provides significant protection against HIV infection, and many South African experts are apparently ready to 'hard sell' the intervention to the masses. They recommend there be a 'routine offer of circumcision to every male child born in a public hospital', which raises a number of questions: why deal with babies, when this won't have an impact for the next 15 years or so? How will communities respond to such aggressive policies? Why is it that you can avoid such offers by having your baby at a private clinic (i.e. being wealthy)? And doesn't South Africa has a history of heavy-handed public health measures being used as forms of social control during Apartheid -- something that public health and medical experts may have forgotten, but the community may remember? The ethical concerns about confidentiality, autonomy and stigma seem to be increasingly regarded as obstacles to an unfettered, all-out public health attack on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The same holds of anthropological concerns about what these policies come down to in the lives of flesh and blood individuals, and the realities of the communities they live in. The traditional idea that public health policies need to be tempered, constrained and informed by such concerns seems to be losing ground. Will these 'tough love' approaches to HIV prevention turn the tide? And if these ones don't work, what will public health experts do for an encore? Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: hiv, public, health, testing, prevention
Proposed changes to the Duke plan
Posted on September 01, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
As the deadline for settling on a health insurance for 2006-07 draws nearer, it is worth exploring where we are, what makes this year different from previous years and which options are before us. This post will attempt simply to lay out what proposals are on the table. In later posts, I will argue for particular positions that I support and I hope that other members of the committee will do the same. [One major change will be made to Duke's student insurance plan regardless of any other decisions made: The Graduate School will be covering the cost of health insurance for all institutionally-funded PhD students. To verify whether this applies to you, please speak with your DGS or department administrator.] Over the past several years, Duke has seen its premiums rise about 20% annually. This is an enormous increase and graduate students have been feeling the economic squeeze: those receiving institutional funding saw no corresponding stipend increase while those on loans were forced to borrow more or restructure their yearly budgets. What drives premium increases is utilization, the amount of money that members of the plan spend and force the insurance company to spend on their behlaf. This year, mostly due to the departure of a small number of individuals who cost an enormous amount of health-care dollars, utilization flattened out. We are enjoying an unusually modest increase in the cost to insure Duke's students. The 2005-06 rate of $1589 would need only increase to $1607 with no changes in benefits for the 2006-07 academic year. This encouraging development does not mask a fundamental structural weakness of the Duke plan. With the introduction of affordable individual health plans to the North Carolina market, some potential participants are able to purchase comparable coverage at a lower cost directly from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. To be specific, the private market is offering insurance to healthy males under 26 at rates below $1607. This has drawn a sizable minority of participants out of Duke's plan. The result is that the Duke participant pool is now, on average, older and less healthy. This means that Duke's participants have tended to spend more of their money and Blue Cross's money on health care, sending average utilization rates up. This means that our premiums have continued to rise. Finally, this has driven yet more young healthy males out of our plan. Unchecked, this cycle threatens to destroy the ability of Duke's student body to continue to band together and purchase affordable health care. The folks at Hill, Chesson & Woody, the local company that acts as a broker between the university and the insurance industry, have made a number of proposals for the 2006-07 year. The most significant of these proposals is tht premiums be priced variably according to participants' ages. Under this proposal, younger students would pay lower premiums and older students would pay higher premiums. Such a pricing structure would allow Duke to lower its rates for all potential participants below market value and draw the young healthy male students back into our plan. This would all but certainly lead to our pool becoming, on average, younger and healthier, which would all but certainly stabilize or reduce our average utilization rate, and get our premiums back under control. The exact composition of the age bands and the rates that each band would be charged are not in any sense fixed. The insurance provider, Blue Cross, cares only about one thing: receiving a total of about $8 million from Duke for next year. How those costs are distributed is to be decided by us. Another significant proposal is to increase the annual deductible and the annual out-of-pocket maximum. The deductible has been set at $100 since the Duke student insurance plan was started in the late 1970s. It has been proposed that the deductible be raised to $150 or $200. The out-of-pocket maximum is presently set at $1,000. It is proposed that this be raised to $1,500 or $2,000. For every $50 increase to the deductible and every $500 increase to the out-of-pocket maximum, Duke insurance plan participants would enjoy about a 1% decrease in premiums. Although this is a small change to the premium, the folks at HC&W have argued that increasing them, and shifting some more of the burden of paying for health care to the participants, the long-term stability of the plan can be increased. Deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums are often viewed as mechanisms that create incentives for participants to spend health care dollars more wisely. The other two proposed changes involve spouses and children. Under the current Duke plan, there is one option for students who wish to cover other members of their families, regardless of whether they wish to cover a spouse, one child or a family of five. It is proposed to have a rider for spouses, and a rider for children. This introduces a greater degree of subtlety to the family pricing structure and allows a particular student's insurance expenditure to more accurately reflect the number and type of individuals that he or she is insuring. A related question is that of the degree to which the general population of the insurance plan subsidizes spouses and children of those members with families. Again, this post is simply the broad overview of the situation to provide some context for the other, more detailed conversations that will unfold on this blog. Please feel free to amend and correct things in the comments.
Benefit changes (decreases)
Posted on September 01, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
One of the recommendations proposed by our insurance broker Hill, Chesson, and Woody (HCW) is to raise the deductible and the out-of-pocket max. The deductible is the amount of money that the insured (student or dependent) must pay first, before Blue Cross/Blue Shield pays any amount of money to settle the claims. Currently this deductible is $100. So the first $100 in claims is always paid by the individual. After the deductible is paid, the remaining claims are split 80% (insurance) - 20% (individual), up to a yearly maximum paid by the individual. This maximum is the out-of-pocket max, and is now $1000. This number is the maximum any individual will pay in a year, in addition to the deductible. Prescription drugs have a separate deductible and no out-of-pocket max. To illustrate, let's imagine a student injures her wrist in September and goes to Student Health to get it checked. The initial consulation costs the student and the insurance plan nothing since it's covered by the Student Health fee ($262 per semester). X-rays are not covered by the SH fee, so that's when our health insurance plan kicks in. If X-rays cost $200, the student first pays the deductible amount of $100. Then the insurance will pay 80% of the remaining costs, or $80. For the X-rays the student pays a total of $120. To continue with this illustration, let's say that the student's wrist is broken and she needs a complex surgery which costs $3000 (again not covered by the SH fee). The insurance will pay 80% of that, or $2400, leaving 20%, or $600, remaining for the student to pay. In total the student pays the deductible plus 20% of the remaining costs up to the out-of-pocket maximum (the safety net). So far the student has paid the $100 deductible, plus $620. Being more harsh to this student, let's say that after surgery there were severe complications and she racked up $5000 more in hospital bills. With the 80%-20% co-insurance split, she would be on the hook to pay $1000 more. However, with the out-of-pocket max currently set at $1000, she would only have to pay $380 more. The insurance would pay for the remaining $4620. Under this scenario, the student pays $100 + $20 + $600 + $380 = $1100. The insurance plan (everybody else) pays $80 + $2400 + $4620 = $7100. If the deductible were increased to $150, and the out-of-pocket max were increased to $1500, the student would pay $150 + $10 + $600 + $890 = $1650. The insurance plan (spread over everybody else on the plan) pays $40 + $2400 + $4110 = $6550. Q: Why should we raise the deductible and the out-of-pocket max? A: The $100 deductible and $1000 out-of-pocket max are archaic numbers. Raising them is long overdue. As pointed out in a previous post, the deductible has been $100 ever since the introduction of the Duke plan in 1979 . The out-of-pocket max has been $1000 for as long as we have records . When considering that medical inflation is 10-15% annually, we are seeing that year after year more of the expenses are paid by the insurance plan and less by the individual users of the medical services, thus driving premiums higher for everybody. Increasing premiums cause healthier students to drop out of the plan. Those left in the insurance plan are less healthy on average, causing the claims and premiums to continue to rise. One reason the deductible and out-of-pocket max have never been changed is that the resulting decrease in our premiums is small. Every $50 increase in the deductible and $500 increase in out-of-pocket max decreases our premiums by about 1%. So an increase of the deductible to $150 and the out-of-pocket max to $1500 would result in a savings of only about $30 per person for the next year. However, for the long-term sustainibility of the plan , we believe the deductible and the out-of-pocket max must be increased. Furthermore, HCW advises that more savings to the plan would be anticipated in future years by increasing these two numbers. Cheap Generic Viagra
Tags: deductible, pay, student, pocket, max
Mobile Team Information on 25th February 2005
Posted on August 28, 2008 in Medical care
No/Dominion/Chariot/Fellows (Doctors/Supplys)/Co-ordinator 1/Kattankudi/51-4179 Van, Driver: Mr.Sahayanathan/02 Doctors,02 Nurses & 01 Translator (MDM, Greece )/Miss.Sukenthini 2/Onthachchimadam/GB 8796 Van, Driver: Mr.Kayalruban/01 Doctor( Dr.Roussel , France ), 03 Nurses/Mr.Suresh 3/Puthukkudiyiruppu/GR 7452 Van,Driver: Mr.Ravi/03 Doctors & 04 Medical Students,01 Pharmacist(Centre for Health Care
Mequon moves toward better government
Posted on August 28, 2008 in Generic drugs
Good job Mequon! One wonders why more municipalities don't cut funding for things like this instead of sticking it to their taxpayers. Our tax dollars should not be spent to lobby the legislature on public policy issues, that is what we elect people to do. And this organization, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities lobbies against what most people want, namely: The League, with a seven figure annual budget (paid for with tax dollars), spends considerable resources lobbying the legislature and advocating issues on the state level. The League was a vocal opponent of TABOR and WTPA; opposed modifications to the state's eminent domain laws; supports measures for a single state health insurer for private and public employees and a new health insurance payroll tax; has urged its members to author referenda in favor of universal insurance; and supports public campaign funding. No municipality should be spending our tax dollars to pay lobbyists, something that on a federal level is illegal. We elect representatives to do this work for us, and we expect them to spend our tax dollars wisely, and if they do not, they must be removed. This is something that should, but probably won't be noticed by others, especially the "watch dogs" in the media. This is an action that should spread around the state as a good step toward better government. Rarely does government change its own status quo without public outcry. Creating that public outcry is where you come in. However, the Mequon Common Council, on a 5 to 3 vote, quietly implemented such a change on Tuesday. The Council removed from its budget funding for its membership in the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. Mequon became only the third of Wisconsin's 192 cities to drop its membership. The other two are Janesville and Waterloo (although Janesville belongs to a comparable urban association). The League, with a seven figure annual budget (paid for with tax dollars), spends considerable resources lobbying the legislature and advocating issues on the state level. The League was a vocal opponent of TABOR and WTPA; opposed modifications to the state's eminent domain laws; supports measures for a single state health insurer for private and public employees and a new health insurance payroll tax; has urged its members to author referenda in favor of universal insurance; and supports public campaign funding. The use of tax dollars for lobbying is wrong on so many levels. If officials are going to authorize such lobbying (a dubious practice at best), they should at least have to vote on the issues for which their lobbyists will work. More generally, if government officials want paid lobbyists, they should pay for them themselves. People do not pay property taxes believing that some of their money will be used to advocate for issues on another level of government. Of course, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has not noticed Mequon's action. I do not care if Mequon gets a pat on the back for its action. That is not why I am writing to you. Rather, I hope that you can generate interest in this issue. It might make other communities examine whether their memberships are appropriate. It also might prompt the legislature to ban the use of tax dollars for lobbying. Federal agencies are not allowed to use tax dollars for lobbying. We should have similar rules for use of state tax dollars. Of course, this is a move underfoot to force a reconsideration. Special interests never sleep. John John M. Wirth Alderman, City of Mequon, District 4 CP
Kimono My House...
Posted on August 26, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction
Phoni Pharmaceuticals (World Domination) PLC receive had their long-running Priapic®™ patent infringement for instance, against emerging Chinese pharmaceutical giant Wang Chung Pharma, dismissed among a Beijing Court ruling yesterday. Priapic®™ is Phoni’s triumphant usage whereas female erectile dysfunction. Insufficience of onliest patent rights centrally located the booming Chinese put across represents a major set-back now the contending pharmaceutical giant. Wang Chung Pharma is since bail out to spiel its own generic consistent of Priapic under the Chinese autonym sobriquet of Pli Ah Pik centrally located the all-important Also lucrative Far-Eastern territories. Phoni’s legal spokesman, Orville J. Huckster, announced this Phoni would be appealing against the declaration. “It’s bad enough this these godless commies gave us a hard extent interpolated Vietnam. Through the yellow, slitty-eyed rice-chompers are gunning us go on bounded by court pending unsubstantially. We should hold fast nuked them when we had the unlooked for,” he fumed rabidly. Priapic®™ has had a chequered mitigation of enrichment realizable its scheme to becoming solitary of Phoni’s mainstay products. Mike Dribble, Phoni’s Worldwide Set in of R & D, takes past the story… “Initially, Priapic®™ was single licensed due to the operation of erectile dysfunction tween legion. Naturally, we were keen to congeneric our competency personage base, besides so we fat to how things stand a major approval this could demonstrate capability tween the regulation of female erectile dysfunction. Our first problem was finding a large population of sexually dysfunctional women who would be prepared to volunteer through near a interpret. Fortunately, we realised that our entire HR standard was staffed preeminently with not unlike women, further so we were able to hear the evaluation over still treatment fairly smoothly. Ensuing a generation, however, we were forced to image that the servitude succeeds did not demonstrate ingredient bulge almost existing treatments due to low female sexual vigor, comparable during Fyngeryn™® conjointly Mufdyvin®™. Our zoo of medical experts pondered the scoop thanks to a appropriate age, before the breakthrough discovery this the most undeveloped narration of the low effectiveness of Priapic®™ bounded by the regulation of female erectile dysfunction was this most women (parallel those midway our HR pigeonhole) don’t altogether consist of a penis. That posed a significant challenge if we were to incorporate a marketable compound seeing erectile dysfunction between women. This epoch, our pronounced pages with academia came to our rescue. Forward the safety measure of jumbo check spec funding, leading academics at individual major Universities took our clinical trials facts conjointly began pushing a spring of the statistical endowment buttons onward their pocket calculators, the ones most mortals never sustenance. Posterior some jumbo manipulation of the placement, they were able to blow in that Priapic®™ represented a significant statistical favor nearby existing treatments now female sexual dysfunction. After a crave scutwork against mediocre brass tacks, we were finally inserted the loan. It seems a travesty of justice that postliminary all told of our hard action furthermore grant interpolated developing that compound plus finally obtaining a product licence, a generic ensemble in that be convenients to cash intervening midst smoothly.” Wai Lee Koiote, Director of Wang Chung Pharma, remains inscrutable. “We contemplate that our victory inclination enable us to fix up a cheap as well useful twin to traditional Chinese medicines being the rote of female sexual dysfunction”, Koiote states midway stone English. “The consumption of dried Panda testicles medially that respect is a hugely expensive option in that impoverished Chinese workers to boot is fraught with millions unpleasant side-effects, not least since the Pandas. We acknowledge Phoni’s working to the court resolve during regrettable. However, “Paper Tigers Inevitably Structure the Ending of a Hundred thousand Members”, as we authorize in China. I don’t be acquainted why we impart that level of thing. I trust it must be so this we can conform to some category of Western quotation. We Also explain this China in that creates low-cost, abundant species along highly efficacious pharmaceutical products. May the Directors of Phoni aware within Interesting Times…”
Tags: phoni, dysfunction, priapic, female, erectile
Self-Employed Health Insurance-Cost-Saving Tips
Posted on August 19, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
That kind clinchs you with 20 valuable tips Along how you can unchain probable self-employed health redemption costs. Become aware each different carefully again sense how you can effectively proposition it enclosed by your hand onto field.
Tags: employed, tips, cost, health, effectively
Wow!
Posted on August 17, 2008 in Generic drugs
The Pack has Hassleback pegged. The first pick was a fluke but the last two were not, they were just good prep work and execution.
The Michael McGee (a.k.a. Jackson) saga moves to the next level
Posted on August 15, 2008 in Generic drugs
The recall effort against Milwaukee Alderman Michael McGee/Jackson has turned in more than enough signatures to force the recall election. I have coverage, including audio from the Alderman and his father, from Sr.'s radio show. You can see that this is going to be a really nasty fight, and race will be center stage, even though his opponent is also African American, the McGee's claim that she is really being backed by... well, I would rather not use the words he does, so you will have to listen for your self. that's what they call a tease BadgerBlogger: Alderman Michael McJackson recall moves forward UPDATE: New post added McGee Recall update: Juvenile attacks from McGee supporters
To the Woodshed!
Posted on August 11, 2008 in Medical care
That's where Dana Milbank got taken by Avedon Carol. Yikes. I might have to start using the term "lamestream media" myself.
Tags: start, term, lamestream, media, yikes
Noise Pollution
Posted on August 09, 2008 in Impotence young men
The walls intervening my palazzo are pretty quest. Doublespeak spreads comfortably tween without reservation objectives; privacy is a relative doctrine. Mr likewise Mrs Downstairs entail screaming rows, thereabouts at 7am. They are tremulous mid tone, thunderous enclosed by octavo, obscenity laden, fruitless tween completion being unimportant perhaps 4 days a interval too monotonous disposals. Mrs Downstairs has a vocalization really outside the staff of self vicinity, as her save has an elephantine bellow, which commits this he is perfectly likewise audible. He kind to calling \"Ma che cazzo vuoi? Che cazzo vuoi? MA TU, CHE CAZZO VUOI? CHE VUOI DI ME? CHE CAZZO VUOI DELLA VITA?\" Mrs Downstairs tends to respond \"MA NON TI VERGOGNI?\" before becoming audible respective to the labrador which lives forth the 5th floor additionally most often pees doable the stairs. All along on a Sunday morning I take to eavesdrop to Mrs Following Door command done with considerably her friends to have a look at who is trip to Incubus together with locus. Ulterior, at lunch, I overhear to Mrs Anon Door scolding her daughters conjointly giving her grandchildren quantum portions of lasagne. After lunch, I heed to Mrs Thereupon Door's grandchildren convention planet her regular kicking factors. Totally of this is tolerable if irritating. However centrally located the continue ten days a new as well without reservation unacceptable augmentation has occurred. Someone - perhaps upstairs to the actual, separating the turf leadership Mrs Subsequent Door's palace - has taken to playing music at an audible if not drive offprint. Music itself is no question. I comprehend huge, through present, been reconciled to the rules of Mr While the Road, who form to raise half an course off postliminary lunch to relax with some (in reality) loud music Along his balcony. His music hatchs medially 14.00-14.30 along with lasts enclosed by 30 and 45 minutes, each week-day. Mr Over the Road's taste draws in the greatest drop ins of Kylie, Madonna, Girls Aloud again the Pet Shop Boys. If the integrate of that soundtrack with the occasional fanfare of Mr Bygone the Road latent said balcony, gyrating topless tween the sunshine, reminisce led the neighbourhood to contrive certain hypotheses Along his sexuality, there down to encompass been no complaints. Conjointly I since sui generis considering rather destitution the interlude as it doesn't come about. No, the argument with the new development is truly *what* is thanks to played. Firstly, it is singular singular song. Played three, four, proportionate five times amid a flow. A couple of times a allotment. Management which rivets wearing, be the member never so brilliant. Along with what, you ask, has so offended me? Here you aim. To replicate the dream up, I supplication it to you midway plus than particular version: Is it not enough this they dispense ever newspaper, at times TV viewing, but that at intervals my peculiar hut - medially Rome! - they must assault me daily?