By the end of next month, thousands of senior citizens in Oregon will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage and will have to pay more out-of-pocket costs.Seniors who do not pick a new plan by December 31 will be locked out of Medicare Advantage plans until 2012. Democrats are pushing for a $250 payment for social security recipients to make up for the lack of a cost of living increase. CNN LinkMany senior citizens depend on medicare coverage to pay for their prescriptions, doctor visits, and general health care bills.
"The costs of doctors and things like that nowadays is pretty expensive. I've seen some of the bills I've gotten, and if I had to pay those total myself, I wouldn't be able to," said John Couch, senior citizen. KEZI Link
And.......Supplemental Medicare Drug Plans will see increases in premiums.Regence BlueCross BlueShield has dropped its child-only coverage just in time for a new federal law to take effect.
The new federal law forbids health insurance companies from denying coverage to kids because they are sick.
So more and more big insurance companies like Regence BlueCross BlueShield are getting rid of child-only plans.
Local health care centers say Regence BlueCross BlueShield isn't the only company to drop child-only coverage.
Several others like Cigna and Anthem Blue Cross have as well. KEZI News Link
Millions of seniors face double-digit hikes in their Medicare prescription premiums next year unless they shop for cheaper coverage, a new analysis of government data finds.Premiums will go up an average of 10 percent among the top 10 drug plans that have signed up about 70 percent of seniors, according to an analysis of Medicare data by Avalere Health, a private research firm. Yahoo News Link
Sherman, 57, believed she had bought some time when she qualified for Social Security disability income. But that only brought on the worst wait of all.
"How do people survive this?" she said. "The ripple effect of this is tsunami-huge."
She joined nearly 2 million disabled Americans -- at least 15,000 in Oregon -- who fall into a twilight with the first monthly Social Security disability payment, for they then must wait two years to become eligible for Medicare.
Many of them, like Sherman, have spent their savings on the care necessary to reach a diagnosis and now cannot get private insurance. Sherman spent the early months of her wait hoping that the debate over health care legislation would fix the problem. Oregon Live Link
The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that workers can be fired for using medical marijuana even if they have a card from the state program authorizing its use.Will pot become legal in Oregon soon?The case involves a worker in Eugene who was fired after telling his boss before taking a drug test that he was using medical marijuana approved by his doctor.
In a 5-2 opinion, the court said state law is trumped by federal law that classifies marijuana as a drug with no proven medical value. Yahoo News Link
Marijuana advocates are gearing up to legalize the drug for recreational use in Oregon with a new measure poised to go on the November ballot.
According to their website, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would "legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana." It would also set aside two percent of profits from cannabis sales for commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil. KGW Link
It adds physician assistants, naturopaths, advanced registered nurse practitioners and others to the list of those who can officially recommend marijuana for patients under the state's medical marijuana law.In Oregon only MD's and osteopaths can prescribe medical marijuana.Under previous law, only physicians were allowed to write the recommendation. KGW Link
Can Samaritan Advantage Health Plan (HMO) end my membership and make me leave the plan?
Generally, we cannot ask you to leave the plan because of your health.
Unless you are a member of a Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan (SNP) for chronic conditions, you cannot be asked to leave your health plan for any health-related reasons...
[...]
If you are a Samaritan Advantage Special Needs Plan (HMO) member and your Medicaid eligibility or benefits change. You will be disenrolled from the Samaritan Advantage Special Needs Plan (HMO) on the first day of the month after a 60-day grace period, which begins on the day your Medicaid eligibility changes. Samaritan Advantage Health Plan (HMO) will notify you in writing about your options.
As members of the Obama administration and Congress met on Thursday to try to find common ground on health care, a new report warned that without comprehensive legislation, more than 275,000 adults nationwide will die over the next decade because of a lack of health insurance. Nearly 14,000 of those deaths would occur in New York State. NYT LinkThe article goes on to say that 68 people die every day for lack of health care. I want to stay rationale about this but our legislature is literally killing off people while they enjoy the full benefits of generous health care benefits. The injustice of this just crushes me.
Monday's a dog.
Advocates and professionals have long recognized the benefits of assistive animals for people with physical disabilities, including seeing eye dogs or hearing dogs who are trained to perform simple tasks such as carrying notes and alerting their owners to oncoming traffic or other environmental hazards. Recent research suggests that people with psychiatric disabilities can benefit significantly from assistive animals, too. Emotional support animals have been proven extremely effective at ameliorating the symptoms of these disabilities, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, by providing therapeutic nurture and support.
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals, even when a landlord's policy explicitly prohibits pets. Because emotional support and service animals are not "pets," but rather are considered to be more like assistive aids such as wheelchairs, the law will generally require the landlord to make an exception to its "no pet" policy so that a tenant with a disability can fully use and enjoy his or her dwelling. In most housing complexes, so long as the tenant has a letter or prescription from an appropriate professional, such as a therapist or physician, and meets the definition of a person with a disability, he or she is entitled to a reasonable accommodation that would allow an emotional support animal in the apartment.
Monday's a dog. [via]The significant cardiovascular risks linked to Vioxx could have been identified nearly four years before the anti-inflammatory medication was taken off the market, a new study has concluded, but consumers and physicians didn't have access to such information at the time. LA Times Link
Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome are infected with a virus derived from mice, suggesting the germ may cause the mysterious and exhausting disease.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, which affects a million or more U.S. residents, causes chronic exhaustion, sleep and memory problems and general aches and pains. It is the second disease linked to xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMLV. Earlier studies have found evidence of infection by the same virus in a subset of cancerous prostate tumors. While finding the germ doesn't mean it causes those diseases, it suggests that possibility - and makes scientists wonder what other ailments might be linked to the newly recognized virus.
Researchers found evidence of XMRV infection in 68 of 101 tissue samples from chronic fatigue patients, or 67 percent of samples tested. In comparison, the germ was found in less than 4 percent of healthy people tested. While doctors had previously suspected some infection might cause chronic fatigue syndrome, this is the strongest link ever seen to a specific germ, said Judy Mikovits, who led the study, published online by Science magazine. Oregonian Link
A St. Helens landlord must let tenants with mental disabilities keep assistance dogs to help them cope with their conditions, according to the terms of a settlement reached Friday in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
The government sued Ronald A. Lucas and R.A. Lucas Developments LLC last year to ensure compliance with the federal Fair Housing Act after Lucas denied tenant Marilyn Dirks' request to own a dog to improve symptoms of her mental disabilities.
Friday's agreement requires Lucas to create and follow a policy that shows he adheres to the Fair Housing Act. The federal law requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations to people not only for physical disabilities, such as blindness, but for mental problems. Oregonian Link
Why I Have A Dog.“The human-animal bond bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the heart and emotions and nurtures us in ways that nothing else can,” said Karin Winegar, whose book “Saved: Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform” (Da Capo, 2008) chronicles human-animal interactions. “We’ve seen this from coast to coast, whether it’s disabled children at a riding center in California or a nursing home in Minnesota, where a woman with Alzheimer’s could not recognize her husband but she could recognize their beloved dog.” NYT LinkHaving a dog has alleviated my depression immensely. How? I don't know or can't find words to explain it. It just makes a difference. By the way, I am also working on making a park in Corvallis an official off leash dog area (Porter Park). The interaction between dog lovers and pets has given me a strong connection with others in my community that wasn't there before.
Mondays a dog. The legislation before us currently does not offer enough real competition to keep Americans from continuing to be abused by health insurers and held captive by large employers. Without the ability to hold insurers accountable for their costs and quality of service, without the ability to get a better deal and stop the ongoing erosion of wages, most working families will be no better off after this bill passes than they are today. While I have some concerns about using Medicare reimbursement rates for the public option, I have far deeper concerns about the current shortage of real choice and real reform in this health bill. I cast my vote for public option as a vote for choice and reform.On Democracy Now today, Paul Hochfeld, an emergency room doctor from Corvallis, Oregon was featured. Dr. Hochfeld and a group of Oregon doctors are on a "Mad as Hell Tour" promoting single payer health insuance. Why is he mad as hell?
Well, a group of Oregon doctors are really dismayed and disgusted by the healthcare reform debate that’s not happening in Washington. And what we’re mad about is that our legislators are partnering, really partnering, with the industry to manipulate public policy so it’s more about profits than health.
We have a completely dysfunctional healthcare system, that to the—non-system. To the extent that it’s designed, it’s designed to service the insurance industry and the drug industry. And we waste 20 percent of all of our healthcare dollars on insurance activity, manipulating money, and fighting over money, and it doesn’t add anything to the product. The insurance companies don’t add anything to health. They complicate the lives of providers. They waste 20 percent of all of the money. DemocracyNow Link
Unless you are a member of a Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan (SNP) for chronic conditions, we cannot ask you to leave your health plan for any health-related reasons. LinkUmmm, so i join up but you can ask me to leave because I have chronic conditions. Like WTF? I am sure glad I read this web page, damn insurance companies. And some people say we have the best health care in the world. Bullshit.
Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975. Yahoo News Link
Monday's a dog. 
