Health

The Face of Reform by Natalie O'Reilly

I'm writing this today, not because I see myself as a political activist, but because our daughter lives with an on-going, critical need for healthcare, and because I want everyone to be able to put a face to the idea of healthcare reform. And what better face than our goofy, gorgeous, brave baby girl's?

Health Care by Nica Davidov

All the US would have to do to get this kind of model implemented would be to regulate the insurance companies. No boogeyman of the "government running healthcare," no phobias about socialism, no new insurance companies, no new agencies, just regulation: everyone has to buy a policy, and the basic policy has to cost the same reasonable amount, and cover everyone in the same way. And the public would love it -- Gov't Protects People From Bloodsuckers! Gov't Reigns In Insurance Companies! People could have their Aetna or Blue Cross or whatever, they would just all pay something like $150/month, and never worry about co-pays or preexisting conditions or annual or lifetime spending caps or any of that bullshit.

Interview with Happy Hips founder Terri Allred by Maria Rowan

Sixteen dancers come on stage carrying gold canes and arrayed in reds, blues, purples and pinks with jingling coin hip scarfs. They are all races, shapes and sizes, but they are not all ages: the oldest is eleven and the youngest is four. This is Happy Hips Youth Oriental Dance Troupe, veteran belly dancers who have performed at benefits, museums and festivals as well as local and regional haflas, the term for belly dance parties or shows.

Happy Hips founder, Terri Allred did not set out to become Sadiya, professional belly dancer and instructor. At Vanderbilt University, she completed a theological studies masters in feminist theology with a focus on how people who experience trauma interpret it and give it meaning. Terri ran rape crisis centers and lectured internationally on the relationship between sexual violence and belief systems.

McCain Is Trying To Kill Me (perhaps literally) by Maria Rowan

When I was 19, I was in a car wreck. As a result I had a spinal fusion that was successful for two reasons. First of all, I can walk and second, the fusion is in excellent shape twenty years later due to an excellent surgeon and prudent care on my part.

However; this puts me in a category known as "pre-existing condition" to insurance providers. Once you have one, you must stay insured at all times or you will never be insured again.

To Drink or Not To Drink: Caffeine and Pregnancy by Claudia Copeland, Ph.D.

Searching through the biomedical literature, I looked at four major categories of caffeine effects on the developing fetus. The first category, major birth defects, was easy to evaluate. Very high levels of caffeine have been shown to cause birth defects in animals (Nehlig & Debry 1994), but the levels at which these effects are seen are so high that they would not practically apply to even staunchly caffeine-addicted humans. To assess whether caffeine has these kinds of effects in humans, epidemiological studies (studies of populations of humans) must be used. In a systematic review of the epidemiological literature on cardiovascular malformations and oral clefts (Browne 2006), no evidence was found that caffeine alone was teratogenic for humans. [Caffeine has, however, been found to increase the risk of birth defects by other substances, such as tobacco and alcohol (Nehlig & Debry 1994)]. In a review of several animal studies and epidemiological studies exploring birth defects in general, Christian & Brent (2001) concluded that moderate caffeine use alone should not put fetuses at risk for birth defects. The outcome of epidemiological studies and the extremely high levels of caffeine needed to cause birth defects in animals is reassuring- moderate caffeine use should not lead to birth defects in humans.

Syndicate content