A Brazilian judge has ordered Rio de Janeiro state and city to start using private hospitals to help cope with a surge in cases of dengue fever.
For weeks, hospitals in Rio have been struggling to cope with the latest outbreak of dengue, a disease which is spread by one type of mosquito and which in extreme cases can be fatal. This had meant patients, including old people and children, passing through indescribable agony and embarrassment as they waited hours for treatment, as well as running the risk of losing their lives.
At least 54 people have died across Rio state since the start of the year while the number of people infected is now said to have passed 43,000. Brazil's Health Minister has acknowledged that incomplete information means the death toll and the number of cases reported are almost certainly much higher.
The judge accused the authorities of neglect and indifference to sufferers of the mosquito-borne fever. They had failed to act to prevent and contain the epidemic, she said. Judge Patricia Cogliatti de Carvalho has now ruled that the state and city have to send patients with dengue to private hospitals and clinics when demand exceeds the capacity of public hospitals.
The state would then have to pay for the treatment within 20 days.
In her ruling, the judge spoke of the "neglect and indifference" shown by the authorities in relation to dengue.
Showing posts with label private health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label private health care. Show all posts
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
18000 Americans killed by insurance companies
The United States is the only major industrialised nation without universal health insurance writes Karen Davis, President of the Commonwealth Fund. The number of uninsured people has increased from 40 million in 2000 to nearly 47 million in 2005.
Gaps in coverage lead to inequalities in access to care, poor quality care, lost economic productivity, and avoidable deaths. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 lives are lost annually as a consequence of gaps in coverage.
The problem is getting worse, not diminishing, she warns. The fragmented, uncoordinated healthcare system is plagued by high administrative costs and missed opportunities to control chronic conditions and prevent life threatening conditions.
If the US hopes to achieve a high performance health system that is value for money, it will have to tackle the perplexing problems of access, quality, and cost, and overcome considerable political and economic obstacles, as well as institutional resistance to change, she concludes.
Gaps in coverage lead to inequalities in access to care, poor quality care, lost economic productivity, and avoidable deaths. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 lives are lost annually as a consequence of gaps in coverage.
The problem is getting worse, not diminishing, she warns. The fragmented, uncoordinated healthcare system is plagued by high administrative costs and missed opportunities to control chronic conditions and prevent life threatening conditions.
If the US hopes to achieve a high performance health system that is value for money, it will have to tackle the perplexing problems of access, quality, and cost, and overcome considerable political and economic obstacles, as well as institutional resistance to change, she concludes.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Bush - no cash for kids health
"What a sad day that the president would say that rather than insuring millions of children, 'I don't want to raise the cigarette tax,' " said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
President Bush vetoed an expansion of the federally funded, state-run health insurance program for poor children for a second time Wednesday, telling Congress the bill "moves our country's health care system in the wrong direction."
The bill would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program by adding another 4 million children whose families still can't afford private insurance to the 6 million already covered by the program whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid .
The reform would have been financed by a 61 cents increase in the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes.
President Bush vetoed an expansion of the federally funded, state-run health insurance program for poor children for a second time Wednesday, telling Congress the bill "moves our country's health care system in the wrong direction."
The bill would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program by adding another 4 million children whose families still can't afford private insurance to the 6 million already covered by the program whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid .
The reform would have been financed by a 61 cents increase in the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
USA - Free health care ? Not even for kids
The Bush administration, fighting efforts by states and Congress to expand a popular U.S. health program for children in low-income families, is making it more difficult for families to sign up.
In an Aug. 17 letter to state health officials, the administration imposed new standards that White House spokesman Tony Fratto said today would prevent the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or Schip, from becoming "essentially a middle-class entitlement.''
President George W. Bush has threatened to veto bills passed by the House and Senate to expand funding for Schip, which now covers 6 million children. [SCHIP was created in 1997 to help insure children whose families earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford insurance on their own.]
The new policy sets more-restrictive standards for states that want to expand eligibility to households above 250 percent of the poverty level, which amounts to $51,625 in annual income for a family of four. Tens of thousands of children would become uninsured in at least 23 states that provide, or plan to provide, coverage exceeding these limits . Under the new rules, a state must show that a child whose family earns more than 250 percent of the poverty level has been uninsured for at least one year before being signed up for coverage. In addition, the state must demonstrate that at least 95 percent of its children from families making less than 200 percent of the poverty level have been enrolled either in Schip or Medicaid.
"This drastic change in policy sets states up to fail and jeopardizes coverage for tens of thousands of children in low- income, working families,'' said Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement.
"I can't try and guess what kind of mind-set would foster this, but it's certainly penny-wise and foolish,'' said Representative Pete Stark, a California Democrat, in a telephone interview today. The proposal "cuts down the ability of the states to provide medical care to children."
In an Aug. 17 letter to state health officials, the administration imposed new standards that White House spokesman Tony Fratto said today would prevent the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or Schip, from becoming "essentially a middle-class entitlement.''
President George W. Bush has threatened to veto bills passed by the House and Senate to expand funding for Schip, which now covers 6 million children. [SCHIP was created in 1997 to help insure children whose families earned too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford insurance on their own.]
The new policy sets more-restrictive standards for states that want to expand eligibility to households above 250 percent of the poverty level, which amounts to $51,625 in annual income for a family of four. Tens of thousands of children would become uninsured in at least 23 states that provide, or plan to provide, coverage exceeding these limits . Under the new rules, a state must show that a child whose family earns more than 250 percent of the poverty level has been uninsured for at least one year before being signed up for coverage. In addition, the state must demonstrate that at least 95 percent of its children from families making less than 200 percent of the poverty level have been enrolled either in Schip or Medicaid.
"This drastic change in policy sets states up to fail and jeopardizes coverage for tens of thousands of children in low- income, working families,'' said Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in a statement.
"I can't try and guess what kind of mind-set would foster this, but it's certainly penny-wise and foolish,'' said Representative Pete Stark, a California Democrat, in a telephone interview today. The proposal "cuts down the ability of the states to provide medical care to children."
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Money or your life
The USA , the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world , yet 41 other countries have longer life expectancy .
"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier , less than Japan or Singapore .
Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans. Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years , slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.
A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans.Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004.
Researchers said several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, while Canada and many European countries have universal health care .
More shocking though are the Afican statistics .
The shortest life expectancies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.
"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier , less than Japan or Singapore .
Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans. Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years , slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.
A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans.Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004.
Researchers said several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, while Canada and many European countries have universal health care .
More shocking though are the Afican statistics .
The shortest life expectancies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Patch up and discard
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Feliz and Methodist Hospital in Arcadia were accused of dumping two patients each in the downtown area over 14 months. The four people were sent there not by informed choice and without any plan for followup medical care so that the hospitals could rid themselves of the expense of caring for them.
Paraplegic Gabino Olvera was left at a Skid Row park as spectators protested . Olvera, 54, was found wearing a soiled hospital gown and a colostomy bag.
Last year, the city's attorney's office filed false imprisonment and dependent care endangerment charges against Kaiser Permanente — the nation's largest nonprofit health maintenance organization — after a patient from Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower hospital was seen wandering Skid Row in a hospital gown.
Paraplegic Gabino Olvera was left at a Skid Row park as spectators protested . Olvera, 54, was found wearing a soiled hospital gown and a colostomy bag.
Last year, the city's attorney's office filed false imprisonment and dependent care endangerment charges against Kaiser Permanente — the nation's largest nonprofit health maintenance organization — after a patient from Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower hospital was seen wandering Skid Row in a hospital gown.
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