Tag Archives: health care

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) is likely to be chosen as Secretary of Health and Human Services – provided she doesn’t pull a Daschle. Should she be nominated, Ms. Sebelius would bring eight years of experience as her state’s insurance commissioner as well as six years as a governor running a state Medicaid program. But with President Obama about to …

A 35 year old HIV-positive female prisoner has filed a federal lawsuit because her doctor refused to perform surgery on her gall bladder. Melody Rose’s case is supported by gay equality advocates Lambda Legal and the AIDS Resource Centre of Wisconsin (ARCW). The lawsuit was filed today in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Ms Rose …

Three federal lawsuits have been filed to block Dubya’s parting shot at health care, which allows providers to withhold treatment in situations where they personally object to the care requested. In three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Tuesday and a permanent …

If you suspect that your local barrista is not giving you the decaf you ordered, test strips are now available. Whether accidentally or on purpose, for some, this unexpected addition of caffeine could be a serious health threat–at least serious enough to warrant caution. Those who have high blood pressure or a heart condition should probably be avoiding caffeine. However, …

Surprising nobody, new data reveals that health costs and other benefits are wreaking havoc on NYC’s budget. Average salaries for NYC employees went up 33% since 2000 (very comparable to the 29% inflation rate since then), but the cost of employee benefits soared 186%. Overall compensation cost has risen 66% in just eight years. The NY Post points out that …

Rite Aid Pharmacy, Grand Central Terminal There’s a woman in line ahead of me who has just handed over a huge sheaf of prescriptions. She is a middle-aged business woman wearing a navy suit. She has a Blackberry clipped to her messenger-style bag. The two clerks seem to know her and they immediately pick up their pace and begin darting …

Last week our ignoble leader issued a set of rules that would protect health care providers who refuse to provide treatment or medication based on personal objections. The Bush administration yesterday granted sweeping new protections to health workers who refuse to provide care that violates their personal beliefs, setting off an intense battle over opponents’ plans to try to repeal …

Not only does using terms of endearment when speaking to seniors piss them off, studies show it damages their health. Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does …

In a unanimous ruling, the California Supreme Court has ruled that doctors cannot withhold care from gay people because they are personally opposed to homosexuality. Justice Joyce Kennard wrote that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian have neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state’s law, which “imposes on business establishments …

President Bush has nominated an anti-gay religious whack-job to be U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. James Holsinger, the man to be put in charge of the health of all Americans, runs a little side project with his wife called Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, Kentucky, where in addition to helping those with alcohol and drug problems, he ministers to people …

Thursday, March 29th, please join me at noon for the 20th anniversary ACT-UP march on Wall Street to demand universal health care, single-payer insurance and drug price controls. Marchers will assemble at 11:30am at the Federal Building, at the corner of Broadway & Worth. Other bloggers, please spread the word. Let’s get the gay blogosphere well represented at this important …