I realize this will bore most anybody who reads this, but if we all don't stick up for children, we are in deep trouble. The Senate passed a Budget proposal which at least didn't make deep cuts in programs that affect children. But the House, that bastion of "Compassionate" Conservatives is a different story. They want to (from an AAP eMail):
1. Charge premiums to participate in Medicaid, and require co-pays for doctor’s visits, hospital stays, lab work and other non-preventive care services. Premiums and co-payments could be applied to children under age six with income above 133 % of the poverty line and children age six to 18 with income just above the poverty line. This is a significant change from current law, which exempts children from co-payments and bars premiums for nearly all categories of Medicaid beneficiaries, including children.Why, when we have so much money to kill people in the Middle East don't we have enough money to provide basic services to children?
2. Impose new co-payments for children’s prescription drugs. States would be allowed to charge all children, including those with incomes below the poverty level, for drugs not on a state’s “preferred” drug list. Also, children with incomes just above the poverty line could face co-payments even for preferred drugs.
3. Restrict health care services available to children with incomes just above the poverty line. These children would no longer have protections under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) provisions of the current Medicaid rules, which guarantee that children receive the medical services that they need
Why, Mr. Bush?
2 comments:
http://www.fluwikie.com/
I found this good English language site perhaps doc you would like to publicise it?
" About Flu Wiki
Just a Bump in the Beltway, The Next Hurrah and Effect Measure blogs announce the launch of a new experiment in collaborative problem solving in public health, The Flu Wiki.
The purpose of the Flu Wiki is to help local communities prepare for and perhaps cope with a possible influenza pandemic. This is a task previously ceded to local, state and national governmental public health agencies. Our goal is to be:
* a reliable source of information, as neutral as possible, about important facts useful for a public health approach to pandemic influenza
* a venue for anticipating the vast range of problems that may arise if a pandemic does occur
* a venue for thinking about implementable solutions to foreseeable problems
No one, in any health department or government agency, knows all the things needed to cope with an influenza pandemic. But it is likely someone knows something about some aspect of each of them and if we can pool and share our knowledge we can advance preparation for and the ability to cope with events. This is not meant to be a substitute for planning, preparation and implementation by civil authorities, but a parallel effort that complements, supports and extends those efforts.
While we will continue to administer and maintain the Wiki, we are turning the wheel over to the community, to take it where the road leads us. There is a bit of a learning curve to driving this rig. We hope you will find the instructions sufficient to get started. You’ll soon be learning on your own. "
Maybe as well you could ask people you know if they know a spanish langauge site . I don't know any Spanish so I don't even know where to start googling.
Thanks, I'll post it and put it on my blogroll too. You know, I'm getting a little scared. This thing could be on us before we say boo.
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