Headline:

Gardasil certainly made headlines in 2006 when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a vaccine against four strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervical cancer.

HPV can be transmitted sexually, so many parents decided to give the vaccination to their teenaged daughters.

Now, Gardasil is making headlines again. This time, the drug’s manufacturer is under scrutiny as the vaccine’s recipients are complaining of ill side effects.

There have been more than 78,000 complaints about Gardasil, New England Cable News reported Tuesday.

Complaints have included nausea, blood clots, genital warts, paralysis and even death.

The Centers for Disease Control said the deaths are not linked to Gardasil.

Merck is standing by its product, insisting it is safe.

“I think of all the vaccines out there, this has been thoroughly tested prior to release,” said Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com. “This is a vaccine that helps protect women from a very deadly disease. Therefore the benefits fully outweigh any side effect that has been found so far.

Now, let’s read between the lines.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. It is a virus, which lives on and in the skin of infected persons. There are over 100 different forms of HPV- only 30 or 40 of these are passed around sexually. People who are infected often don’t know it because this is often a asymptomatic disease. Some people will get genital warts. The infection usually clears up within months with no side effects. Sometimes it comes back time after time though. Warts on hands and feet and around mouths are caused by HPV as well.

What about the risks for cervical cancer, the connection with HPV and other factors?

For cervical cancer, the most important risk factor is infection with HPV (human papilloma virus). HPVs are a group of more than 100 types of viruses that cause warts. Some types of HPV cause genital warts. Other types cause cancer of the cervix. These are called “high-risk” HPVs. HPV is passed from one person to another during sex. Having unprotected sex, especially at a young age, makes HPV infection more likely. Also, women who have many sexual partners (or who have sex with men who have had many partners) have a greater chance of getting HPV.

Reading further:

Even though HPV is an important risk factor for cervical cancer, most women with this infection do not get cervical cancer. Doctors believe other factors must come into play for this cancer to develop. Some of these factors are listed below.

Smoking: Women who smoke are about twice as likely as those who don’t to get cervical cancer. Tobacco smoke can produce chemicals that may damage the DNA in cells of the cervix and make cancer more likely to occur.

HIV infection (human immunodeficiency virus): HIV is the virus that causes AIDS (it is not the same as HPV). It can also be a risk factor for cancer of the cervix. Being HIV positive makes a woman’s immune system less able to fight both HPV and early cancers.

Chlamydia (cluh-mid-ee-uh) infection: This is a rather common kind of bacteria that can infect women’s sex organs. It is spread during sex. Many women do not know they have it unless samples taken at the time of their Pap test are looked at for the bacteria. Some studies suggest that women who have this infection (or have had it in the past) are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. While further studies are needed to find out if this is true, there are good reasons to avoid this infection or to have it treated. Long-term infection can cause other serious problems.

Diet can play a part as well. Diets low in fruits and vegetables are linked to an increased risk of cervical and other cancers. Also, women who are overweight are at a higher risk.

Birth control pills: Long-term use of birth control pills increases the risk of this cancer. Some studies show a higher risk after 5 or more years of use. You should talk to your doctor about the pros and cons of birth control in your own case.

Having many pregnancies: Woman who have had many full-term pregnancies have an increased risk of this cancer. No one really knows why this is, but it has been proven beyond doubt by large studies.

Low income: Poor women are at greater risk for cancer of the cervix. This may be because they cannot afford good health care, including Pap tests.

DES (diethylstilbestrol): This drug is a hormone that was used between 1940 and 1971 for some women who were in danger of miscarriages. The daughters of women who took this drug have a slightly higher risk of cancer of the vagina and cervix.

Family history: Recent studies suggest that women whose mother or sister has had cervical cancer are more likely to get the disease themselves. This could be because they are less able to fight off HPV than other women, or other factors could be involved.

So we know there are MANY risk factors associated with cervical cancer. HPV infection is one of them.
Only one- and a small risk at that.

The bottom line here is simple:

Roughly 15,000 women a year are DX with cervical cancer.
Many will catch it in it’s early stages where it can be successfully treated. Life expectancy is high for those who take care of themselves. Remember not all these cancers are caused by HPV…and the women who are DX with this have other risk factors present.

Of the 15,000 women, 3700 will die.
The profile of these women is pretty much the same: She is in her 50’s, smokes, hasn’t had a pap smear in many years; and perhaps her Mother or a sister also has this form of cancer. Maybe she was sexually active in her youth with many different partners.
Gardisal is NOT going to save millions of lives.

78,000 complaints? THIS ISN’T NORMAL. Or expected. Or worth it.
It is totally unethical and disingenuous of Dr Manny of FOX news to pronounce this vaccine as safe AND, to say that the benefits outweigh the risks. Numbers tell a lot. 78,000 side effects, and that is what these complaints ARE, vs. 3700 lives a yr??? Lives caught up in a form of cancer that cannot be absolutely linked (hell, cannot even be closely linked!) to the viruses this vaccine claims to protect against? These side effects are not normal either: Passing out, blindness, seizures??? No. Sore arms, fever, rashes? Yes.

No. Be smart. Listen to your doctor but ask the questions. Print up the linked info and ask for a justification of this.

More evidence that our health care system isn’t working:

PLAINFIELD, N.J. – If the country is facing a nationwide health-care crisis, then the condition in New Jersey can be described as gravely critical.

The state has an estimated 1.3 million people without health insurance who cannot pay a doctor or a hospital bill. New Jersey law requires that hospitals treat anyone who walks through their doors, and then get reimbursed later by the state. But the state’s looming budget shortfall has forced it to cut back on the reimbursements, leaving hospitals to pick up the tab. And hospitals, in turn, are going broke: Six have closed in the past 18 months, and half of those remaining are operating in the red.

As the economy falters, the number of uninsured is likely to grow, and so will the burden on hospitals. And with more hospitals expected to shut their doors, New Jersey faces a nasty culmination of health-care crises.

This isn’t good folks. It’s been happening more and more. The bottom line is hospitals need to take in money in order to operate. Those on the left will use stories like this to promote their demand for single payer universal type coverage. Like they have over in Britain.

Speaking of the Brits, who are struggling to pay for their national health care, here’s how they keep costs down:

A woman has claimed an NHS hospital “starved” her elderly mother rather than continue her care.

Ellen Westwood, 88, was in Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital for two months being treated for dementia and C.difficile, which she had previously contracted.

Her daughter Kathleen Westwood said the hospital decided in February it was in her “best interests” to halt fluids and nutrition - a move the family opposed.

The trust said it followed national guidelines on elderly care.

An investigation is under way.

National guidelines? Oh really we might ask? Well, yes, the hospital DID follow the government rules. That do include allowing elderly and disabled people to be starved to death when doctors decide their lives aren’t worth saving; that the costs to maintain a life outweigh the costs to end the life. See, if we eliminate those pesky people from the health care chain, there would be plenty to go around for those left- those who some believe deserve life over others. This is what happens in a national system. Care rationing is becoming the norm in Europe. Now they’re not even bothering to care- they’re outright denying it in favor of death.

Medicine can’t save everyone. We learned this when Tim Russert died last week.

Mr. Russert’s fate underlines some painful truths. A doctor’s care is not a protective bubble, and cardiology is not the exact science that many people wish it to be. A person’s risk of a heart attack can only be estimated, and although drugs, diet and exercise may lower that risk, they cannot eliminate it entirely. True, the death rate from heart disease has declined, but it is still the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 650,000 people a year. About 300,000 die suddenly, and about half, like Mr. Russert, have no symptoms.

A great article explaining how cardiac medicine works, and how it doesn’t work, as well.

Professional medical groups are often given blind respect by people. The American Medical Association is an example: When the AMA endorses some treatment, theory or medication, many people often assume this is some golden stamp from all doctors. Not so. The AMA is made up of a bunch of non-practicing doctors who sit in cushy offices, writing “policy” and “advocating” for issues related to medical practice. The group touts itself as just that: A physicians advocacy association. Many doctors, more than not, are not members. The grunt doctors, those who are actually working as MD’s for their living, have little desire to join up- simply because they get nothing in return.

In recent years, most of these professional associations have turned political.

Another group of doctors gets more respect than it deserves: Doctors Without Borders. Yep…absolutely politically driven bullshit erupts out of the asshole of this group.

And here we have YET one more so called highly respected group of misfit MD’s who have declared the US did indeed torture prisoners at Gitmo. Based on their expertise assessments and evaluations.

The first extensive medical examinations of former detainees in U.S. military jails offer corroboration for prisoners’ claims of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their American captors, a Boston-based human rights group said in a report released yesterday.

Extensive? Really?

The assessments of 11 men formerly held in U.S. detention camps overseas revealed scars and other injuries consistent with their accounts of beatings, electric shocks, shackling and, in at least one case, sodomy, according to the report by Physicians for Human Rights.

You can roll your eyes right here. Another BS group with an agenda. This far-reaching report will have far reaching implications for years to come. The limp dicked liberals will use this as evidence of wide spread torture, proven beyond any shadow of doubt. Based on the words, “physical” exams and tests of….. Not 11 thousand. Not 11 hundred. Rather, 11 former detainees. Eleven.

Put it into perspective. And consider that AQ teaches members to feign torture; to make up stories and even do “things” to themselves that leave scars. I’d like to see the medical records of these people; I’d like to see the method under which this “study” was done; I want to know how many Muslim male subjects actually allowed a rectal exam; I want to see the qualifications and associations these doctors belong to, and which party they donate their not-hard-earned-money to. These doctors’ words have no meaning for me. It’s all political.

This is just one more addition to the recent increase of cries of abuse and torture at the hands of American troops. Be skeptical, not political when reading all of it. And never forget our enemies prey upon the soft bleeding hearts and soul-selling lot of people (including doctors) who are nothing more than political activists seeking to destroy America’s reputation.

Drug stores are slowly standing up for the rights of pharmacists and others who are pro life…who object to filling prescriptions for drugs that terminate pregnancies, and even birth control. This is surely going to be controversial.

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer on Route 50 in Chantilly, the shelves will be stocked with allergy remedies, pain relievers, antiseptic ointments and almost everything else sold in any drugstore. But anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.

Can we hear the Women’s Rights’ groups screaming already? Using the false idea of such pharmacies denying women their right…to…health…care….

That’s because the drugstore, located in a typical shopping plaza featuring a Ruby Tuesday, a Papa John’s and a Kmart, will be a “pro-life pharmacy” — meaning, among other things, that it will eschew all contraceptives.

The pharmacy is one of a small but growing number of drugstores around the country that have become the latest front in a conflict pitting patients’ rights against those of health-care workers who assert a “right of conscience” to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable.

Medical people have rights. Pharmacists are no exception. We don’t hear women demanding their primary care doctors perform abortions, right? So why should we demand our pharmacist provide drugs that they object to?

But critics say the stores could create dangerous obstacles for women seeking legal, safe and widely used birth control methods.

“I’m very, very troubled by this,” said Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center, a Washington advocacy group. “Contraception is essential for women’s health. A pharmacy like this is walling off an essential part of health care. That could endanger women’s health.”

Choice my dear. Women have choices. There’s always another drug store in the region, often right up the road, that will sell the drugs wanted. SO get off your bullshit claims here, that women’s health is at risk.

The free markets allow this to happen. Businesses should not be forced to sell products they do not wish to be associated with. Drug stores, pharmacies, are businesses, that sell drugs and many other items. It is all about choice. I don’t agree with these drug stores- I think birth control is a good thing. I have choices as to where I can purchase my medications though. There is no danger to women’s health.

Nanny state stuff of the day:

The American Medical Association is hulking mad at Marvel Studios.

Last week, the advocacy arm of the powerful physicians’ group unleashed a tsk-tsk campaign against “The Incredible Hulk,” a Marvel film that opened on Friday and is distributed by Universal Pictures. The complaint was of “gratuitous depictions of smoking.”

In the movie, which drew a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, Gen. Thunderbolt Ross, a bad guy played by William Hurt, is rarely seen without a smoke-spewing cigar. (Presumably, the physicians’ association worries that children who identify with the authoritarian general — who wants to annihilate the Hulk, played by Edward Norton — may be tempted to pick up the habit.)

Uh oh.
This song was heard all over my town this morning when I went to the diner. Does this mean whoever was listening to this tune should expect a whopping slap on the wrist from the AMA??

So Liberals want universal health care. To make access equal…

About Senator Kennedy’s brain cancer and treatment:

Of course, with his wealth and power, Kennedy would get good treatment anywhere. But the same care is available to every American.

Not so - if we make the health “reforms” called for by Kennedy and other liberals.

Filmmaker Michael Moore gives their standard line when he says: “There are problems in all health-care systems, but at least Europeans and Canadians have a health-care system that covers everyone.”

Problem is, governments that promise to “cover everyone” always wind up cutting corners simply to save money. People with Kennedy’s condition are dying or dead as a result.

Yes. People are dying because their governments cannot afford to save them.

Consider Jennifer Bell of Norwich, England. In 2006, the 22-year-old complained of headaches for months - but Britain’s National Health Service made her wait a year to see a neurologist.

Then she had to wait more than three months before should could get what the NHS decided was only a “relatively urgent” MRI scan. Three days before the MRI appointment, she died.

The life and death of a mere peasant…the elites never have to worry about this though.

Consider, too, the chemo drug Kennedy is receiving: Temodar, the first oral medicine for brain tumors in 25 years.

Temodar has been widely used in this country since the FDA approved it in 2000. But a British health-care rationing agency, the National Institute for Comparative Effectiveness, ruled that, while the drug helps people live longer, it wasn’t worth the money - and denied coverage for it.

Barack Obama - and other Democrats - have been pushing a Senate bill to set up a similar US “review board” for Medicare and any future government health-care plan.

This is often cited by liberals: equal access to all drugs and treatment. Costs not being a barrier.

After denying this treatment completely for seven years, the NICE (did whoever named it intend the irony?) relented - partly. Even today, only a handful of Brits with brain tumors can get Temodar.

A handful. Sure sounds equal to me.

And if you want to pay for Temodar out of your own pocket, the British system forces you to pay for all of your cancer care - about $30,000 a month.

The handful of elites can do this. They have the money and resources and clout. The peasants do not and never will under a national, universal health care plan. Cause we, collectively as a country, cannot afford it. Plain and simple.

The articles cites Canada’s wonderful health care system as well. Read it and weep. We’re going in this direction and many more will suffer and die as a result.

As many are whining about the costs of being insured, they pander to the Democrats universal health care promise.

On Fox News Wednesday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, “If we don’t get universal health care, we will continue to bleed money.” Funny. The more Washington politicians promise to control health care costs, the higher they go. As humorist P.J. O’Rourke famously said, “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama both promise to provide access to health care for all Americans by mandating that employers provide or contribute to the cost of health plans for employees.

What’s with the glory of mandated employer provided health care insurance? There really is no glory; and what’s happening now should give warning to what would be happening if EVERYONE who works gets their insurance through government mandates.

The economic slowdown has swelled the ranks of people without health insurance. But now it is also threatening millions of people who have insurance but find that the coverage is too limited or that they cannot afford their own share of medical costs.

Many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used to be — often because of some combination of higher premiums, less extensive coverage, and bigger out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments.

With medical costs soaring, the coverage many people have may not adequately protect them from the financial shock of an emergency room visit or a major surgery. For some, even routine doctor visits might now take a back seat to basic expenses like food and gasoline.

Let’s blame the economic slowdown? No. Let’s blame people who make poor financial choices. Who don’t plan and anticipate for their medical needs. Who think they are entitled to free, or very low costs health care.

Will we ask people to truly cut their budgets? Take classes in Economics 101? Or spread the burden across the tax payers’ shoulders and ask everyone to accept very high premiums, high deductables, little to no access to their own doctors and hospitals…and more.

Once again, people need to make choices: Health care costs or the cell phone; the medication co pay or the Internet access, and so on. Oh the choices they must make. Or not. Forcing businesses to provide insurance isn’t an answer. Health care is not a right. It’s not free. Even when the out of pocket costs are low, someone else is paying…and now that burden is coming down to average people. It can only get worse.

Foul, evil little creatures… icky, nasty… just ugh….

Hat-tip for 1st video from The Jawa Report.

When we read the headlines it’s often quite misleading. People on the right know this and those on the left don’t; they run with the headline without taking in the substance of the article. IOW, they don’t read the whole thing AND think about it.

An example of hype if I ever saw one, right here:
Study finds troops shy away from mental health care

Really?

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. military personnel fear that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their careers, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Three out of five members of the military worry it would have at least some impact, according to the small online survey conducted for the American Psychiatric Association. About half said they thought other people would think less of them if they sought help for mental health problems.

Red Flag alert: SMALL ONLINE SURVEY.

Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, president of the APA, called those figures “alarming” and urged Congress to devote more money to treating mental health problems arising from service in combat zones.

One in four of the troops surveyed said he or she knew “nothing at all about effective mental health treatments for issues that may arise from their service in a war zone,” Robinowitz said.

As if pouring money into this will help. There’s an old saying: You can’t force a horse to drink water it doesn’t want to drink. Troops do not need government telling them what effective treatments options are; their doctors are quite capable of this. People, including military service members, usually KNOW when they are having real and true problems. Often, through their human spirit they resolve these on their own. Without anyone’s help. And we don’t need to assume that admitting a mental health problem equates some weakness in a man. That’s an excuse that is bogus. And it’s the excuse some are grasping at here in an effort to push this agenda.

“The military has done a good job of having a lot of educational materials around,” she said, but she is not sure the information “filtered down” to the people who need it.

An Army psychiatrist admitted it is a challenge to get people to seek help.

It’s not a challenge to get the pamphlets and brochures into the grunt barracks. I’ve seen them in these places. The guys simply ignore them and would prefer to play a video game or watch American Idol. They are fine. I’ve heard many say they are sick and tired of the government trying to tell them they have should have mental problems they just don’t have.

So how big is this so called problem?

A clear majority of troops rated their own mental health as good or excellent, but many reported regularly experiencing common symptoms of mental illness, including difficulty sleeping at least twice a week and a lack of interest in daily activities at least twice a week.

So here we have a government, looking to convince soldiers and Marines they have mental health issues and even going so far as to tell them they might, just might, have brain injuries, and very few are taking up offers of help. Why? Cause the vast, not clear, majority are okay. Sure, they have nightmares now and again. They miss friends who have been killed in action. They have seen things most of us never nightmare about. But, the human spirit can rise above these demons and compensate for the feelings and emotions that sometimes come with it all. Men in particular, are able to section off certain memories and thoughts and keep them in check. We don’t need to mess with this.

Liberal whine bags and other limpdicks often decry President Bush and the Republicans for a lack of true caring for the troops. I call bullshit. It’s not something anyone can force upon a person who isn’t showing true clinical symptoms- treatment, therapies- AKA medications- can ruin a person’s life much more than the will to call oneself a survivor. These bleed hearts don’t trust people to take care of themselves.

via Ace.

Frequent masturbation may help men cut their risk of contracting prostate cancer, Australian researchers have found. It is believed that carcinogens may build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly, BBC News reported on Wednesday. The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer, and 1,250 men who had not. They found that men who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to get cancer. Men who ejaculated more than five times each week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Sexual intercourse, according to the study, isn’t as healthy because of the increased chance of contracting an STD that might lead to cancer. I wave the flag on that because if you are in a monogamous relationship, also known as marriage, than it should be virtually impossible to contract an STD. But, being a married man, I also understand that if I were to get laid five times a week, I’d be a lucky, lucky dude. Kids, housework, dinner, blah blah blah. So now, in order to be healthy, I plan on… er… supplementing…. and giving the prostate a good work out…

About the flu, and vaccines to protect us from it:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have pinpointed the cradle-to-grave path that flu takes as it sweeps the globe every year — starting with the birth of new strains in Asia and ending when the virus burns out in South America.

In between, influenza catches a ride to North America and Europe about six to nine months after a new strain emerges in Asia, a pattern that promises to help health authorities better prepare each winter’s flu vaccine.

Already, monitoring is being beefed up in parts of East and Southeast Asia “as fast as we can” in hopes of more accurately spotting strains poised to jump continents, said Dr. Michael Shaw, a flu specialist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now, “we know the part of the world to look in, and the probable time of the year to look,” he said.

I always knew Asia was good for something: Providing the world with endless, nasty, disgusting germs that mutate into bugs and flus and other illnesses. Do they wash their hands over there? I don’t think so.

This is just LOW. And wrong. And so dangerous.

Unknown miscreants had a good time two weekends ago when they posted hundreds of flashing animated images onto discussion boards hosted by the Landover, Md.-based Epilepsy Foundation.

Flashing lights or bold moving patterns can trigger often violent seizures among 3 percent of the estimated 50 million epileptics worldwide.

All video games come with a warning about potential seizure activity when playing the games: People with known seizure disorders as well as those who haven’t had seizures but who have a lot of electrical activity in their brain, are at a very high risk. Many otherwise healthy people discover a seizure disorder when playing video games. While most people with epilepsy are on medications to control their seizures, they do have what’s known as break through seizure activity. This occurs when those affected are exposed to known triggers for prolonged periods of time; a change in their physical condition that render the medications less effective (substantial weight gains/losses; illnesses, stress…) Driving in the dark and seeing many headlights of other cars are a trigger, as is watching pulsating flashing lights such as those seen on police vehicles and plow trucks in the dark.

People who have a seizure and who seek medical assistance when it happens and after, are subjected to a few losses- including their drivers license for a year. This effects ones ability to maintain employment among many other things. It’s not at all funny, what happened at those message boards.

“I was on the phone when it happened, and I couldn’t move and couldn’t speak,” RyAnne Fultz, who has epilepsy, told Wired News about her reaction to viewing one of the images on March 23.

Fultz’s 11-year-old son walked over and closed the browser window after about 10 seconds. Fortunately, she suffered nothing more than a bad headache.

Freezing up is the first part of a seizure. And it’s scary because you know what’s coming and you know there isn’t much you can do to stop it– although it can be stopped if the person can force their eyes to move, and stop viewing the trigger. But a high risk stays in place for days after such an event. This is rare though- once the pre-seizure symptoms (the aura) start, its almost impossible to stop it.

Gimme two minutes with the fucktards who do this. I’ll give them a seizure the likes they have never heard of. Uneffingbelievable how low some people will go to these days. I’m fairly sure this had to be the work of stupid kids too. I hope grown ups wouldn’t do such things.

Down in The People’s Republic of Massachusetts we’re seeing more evidence of how universal health care is NOT WORKING. This is a serious issue and the nation should pay close attention. This will repeat itself on a national level if this sort of plan is chosen.

Cambridge Health Alliance, a key part of the Boston area’s healthcare network, is facing a potentially “catastrophic” loss this year and is looking to eliminate up to 300 jobs, or about 9 percent of its workforce, in an effort to stabilize finances.
more stories like this

The alliance, which includes Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital, and Whidden Hospital in Everett, says it is being hit hard by the state’s new healthcare reform law, which has left it responsible for providing free care for those without insurance while reducing the hospitals’ compensation for such services.

WHERE ELSE DO HEALTH CARE WORKERS GET LAID OFF?? Fercryingoutfuckingloud???

Before healthcare reform took effect last year, Keefe said, Cambridge Health Alliance was reimbursed by the state for the full cost of providing services to the uninsured. Under the new system, “we only get 60 to 70 percent,” he said. The reduction is particularly significant for the alliance because its hospitals serve a high percentage of uninsured patients. Despite the state’s efforts to enroll all low-income residents in free or subsidized insurance programs, many still do not have coverage.

Yep…and these hospitals will shut down, adding more burden to OTHER hospitals that are further away (translated: Patients will have to travel distances to get their health care)…

Keefe said the hospital was especially bruised in its second fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31, when the new payment system for uninsured patients took effect. Government payments for free care to the uninsured fell by nearly $14 million compared with the previous quarter, he said.

At the same time, the number of patients admitted to the alliance’s hospitals dropped by about 3 percent, while patients kept overnight for observation - a category for which insurance companies do not pay as well - grew by 48 percent. Additionally, the number of walk-in patients, which do not generate as much revenue as inpatients, also grew substantially in the six months that ended Dec. 31, Keefe said.

WHY didn’t the idiOts who planned this Universal system think of all these things?? I am quite sure the possibilities of this article were mentioned as potential problems…but as always those who make promises of a Utopian comprehensive health care system refuse to see the roadblocks…they deny money will ever be an issue. They claim the savings from covering ALL will take care of the revenue shortages. BULL SHIT.

It’s not working, the MA Mandated Health Care. Every step of the way has been met with a lack of funds…and the peasants of the state will end up being taxed more and more..to the point where it will one day be cheaper for them to just buy their own damn insurance that it is to get it forced upon them by the Kingdom. Stupid people. They get what they deserve, shabby care in far off hospitals and clinics- and hopefully there will be enough doctors and nurses left to provide the care.