Forum
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A word on health care from front lines: Fix reimbursement
I am not a health care expert, just a single soldier living in the trenches of that American battlefield known as the emergency room. I can't list endless statistics about one system vs. the other, only my perspectives on what I think needs to be done.
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Keep the standard high for Medal of Honor recipients
On Sept. 17, President Obama will present the Medal of Honor to the parents of Army Staff Sgt. Jared C. Monti for "conspicuous gallantry." Monti, 30, was serving with the 10th Mountain Division when he was killed in a battle at Gowardesh, Afghanistan.
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Costa: Modify health care bill and maybe I'll support it
Over the past three months, Congress has been working on legislation to overhaul our nation's health care system. Regardless of political party or where one may fall on the political spectrum, I believe we can all agree that the health care system is broken and needs repairs.
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Dissent within the right
George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator for The Washington Post, is calling for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan in his latest column.
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Emergency uncertainty under Obamacare
Emergency physicians who staff the last line of defense for health care are feeling quite a bit of angst regarding the current health care crisis and the feeling our voices aren't being heard.
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Idea: Cash for Clunkers for the Air Force
When the White House and Congress wanted to take old cars off the road and replace them with newer models, they passed "Cash for Clunkers."
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Our 'angry mob' warning
We encountered an amusing juxtaposition of reports during our now-daily survey of all things health-care related Wednesday morning.
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A retiree's case for change
My wife and I are well past 75 years of age, but we've been blessed with excellent health care coverage through a combination of retiree health insurance and Medicare. We have assigned both of those "payer sources" to Kaiser Permanente as our principal health care provider. I know that the annual premiums we pay to Boeing, my former employer, and to Medicare fund only fractions of the real costs of those programs, but I don't know the precise percentages.
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Cancer comparison statistics do indeed exist
In an Aug. 16 op-ed article, Dr. William Bezdek questions the statistics quoted by Congressman Kevin McCarthy comparing cancer survival rates between the U.S. and U.K. Bezdek wondered whether McCarthy's claims might even approach "outright unthinking propaganda" given the fact that "the numbers (for U.K. and U.S. cancer rates) are not totally comparable."
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State must improve water storage system in two ways
The old saying goes "when it rains it pours." But in California, our water supply is threatened in wet years, as well as dry years. With this precarious situation, California's water crisis could pale the energy crisis in comparison.
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Obama's deal with Big Pharma
Administration's agreement with drug companies might help accomplish health care reform, but it still smells
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McCarthy needs to provide some straight answers
The opening sentence in Rep. Kevin McCarthy's July 25 Community Voices article was indisputably true: "The future of America's health care stands at a crossroads." However, I found everything else in his article unsettlingly strange, if not outright unthinking propaganda.
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A hard reality: Advance of Alzheimer's demands we discard denial
Face Alzheimer's disease with preparation, knowledge
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Universal health care is not the answer
Washington-imposed plan would fail in many wide-ranging respects
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Absurdities that distract us from truth
Even in this age of outpatient breast enhancement and dueling in-house public polling teams, it's been a challenging week for the unembellished truth.
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Taxing quandary: Legalize marijuana to increase state revenue and scale back violence, or maintain America's difficult war on drugs?
In cannabis counties, they're mostly for it, but not for reasons you might've thought
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Valley farmers should grow (legal) bud
There is a simple solution to these economic problems.
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War on drugs failed, but what are options?
Making drugs legal hasn't reduced abuse, but fighting addiction could take other tracks
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Taxing quandary: Legalize marijuana to increase state revenue and scale back violence, or maintain America's difficult war on drugs?
In cannabis counties, they're mostly for it, but not for reasons you might've thought
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Oil severance tax will hurt Kern County
As the state budget discussions continue to grind on, it appears that Democrats in the Legislature are once again looking to impose a significant and economically hazardous oil severance tax that could have massive consequences for Bakersfield and Kern County. In Kern County, its bipartisan --both Republican and Democrat -- elected officials know what the devastating impact an oil severance tax would have on the people of the city and county.
