#Sister Carol Keehan

[medicarevideos]

50th Anniversary - Medicare & Medicaid Event: 50 Years, Millions Of Healthier Lives

50th Anniversary – Medicare & Medicaid Event: 50 Years, Millions Of Healthier Lives

This event commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and includes a panel of experts discussing how Medicare and Medicaid have changed society and the ways in which we can work together to strengthen and improve health care for future generations. Learn more about the 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid: We accept comments in the spirit of our comment policy:…

[olgagarmash]

Medtronic’s CEO and Michael Osterholm are among the 30 experts set to speak at the April 7 virtual, all-day event.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha, and Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, will be among the headliners Wednesday at World Health Day Symposium 2021, the annual event hosted—virtually this year—by Global Minnesota. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) established World Health Day in 1950 to mark the organization’s founding and to draw attention to the importance of global health. Each year, WHO chooses a global theme—this year, it’s “Health Equity Locally and Around the World”—and organizations around the world recognize the day. Global Minnesota has held a World Health Day event nearly every year since its founding in 1953. This year, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit  has lined up 30 international, national, and local health care, government, and business leaders to speak on a range of health care, research, and policy issues related to World Health Day’s 2021 theme. The symposium will conclude with a community conversation on health equity. 

The urgency of the conversation, in light of Covid-19, is top of mind for Global Minnesota president Mark Ritchie. “When we face health challenges on a global scale, we look to each other for solutions and inspiration,” he said. “This symposium is about collaboration without borders or any other barriers.” 

Global Minnesota is a nonpartisan nonprofit that offers programs around Minnesota which address relevant and timely international issues, foreign policy, and cultural topics and provide  spaces and opportunities for Minnesotans to engage and discuss.

This year’s local participating organizations and companies include Delta Air Lines, Medtronic, GHR Foundation, Fairview Health Services, M Fairview Health, Hennepin Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Medtronic, UnitedHealthcare Global, and the University of Minnesota’s Medical School and Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. 

Nneka O. Sederstrom, chief health equity officer for Hennepin Healthcare, will speak at 2 p.m. as part of a panel on pandemic preparedness and health equity alongside Leith Greenslade, coordinator for Every Breath Counts Coalition, and Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Health Task Force Vatican Covid-19 Commission. 

“I was happy to receive the invitation to participate in the World Health Day Symposium because this year the focus is on health equity,” said Sederstrom. “Hennepin Healthcare serves communities from many rich and unique cultures, so being part of a global health conversation is definitely where we want to be. This year’s focus on health equity also mirrors our own focus, and we are eager to be part of any discussions centering on how to improve the health outcomes of our populations of color.”

Sederstrom offered a sneak preview of her talk. “I will be speaking on the realities of inequities in Minnesota and how these inequities have played out through Covid-19. I will touch on our efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19 within high-risk populations and why our strategy of directly taking the vaccines into the communities has been so successful. With the imbalance so great, we must be deliberate and intentional in our efforts.”

While Covid-19 will dominate the day’s discussions, the conversations about health equity will reach beyond the scope of the pandemic too. Ritchie said he believes that people in Minnesota and around the world are as ready as ever to address inequity in health care and beyond: “I know it’s at least true in Minnesota—and I also believe it’s true globally—that the [Derek Chauvin] trial that’s underway reminds and lifts into a higher consciousness questions of equity and inequity in general, making a more defined and more action-solution-oriented future than perhaps we’ve had access to in the past.”

Following the symposium, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Global Minnesota and Minneapolis nonprofit Marnita’s Table are hosting “Engage! Exploring Health Equity 2021.” The virtual conversation, which anyone is welcome to join, will discuss actionable solutions to address health inequities in our local communities. To RSVP to join this Zoom conversation, email sammie@marnitastable.org. 

The World Health Day Symposium is free and open to the public via livestream on Global Minnesota’s YouTube Channel. Register at globalminnesota.org. Click here to view the symposium’s schedule and here to see the full list of speakers. 

via Wealth Health

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/health/trump-defends-health-workers-right-to-object-to-abortions/

Trump defends health workers' right to object to abortions

Advancing his anti-abortion agenda, President Donald Trump moved Thursday to protect health care workers who object to procedures like abortion on moral or religious grounds.

Trump chose the National Day of Prayer to announce the new regulation.

“Just today we finalized new protections of conscience rights for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, teachers, students and faith-based charities,” Trump told an interfaith audience in the White House Rose Garden. “They’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

The conscience rule was a priority for religious conservatives who are a key part of Trump’s political base, but some critics fear it will become a pretext for denying medical attention to LGBT people or women seeking abortions, a legal medical procedure.

In a strongly worded statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “these bigoted rules are immoral, deeply discriminatory and downright deadly, greenlighting open discrimination in health care against LGBTQ Americans and directly threatening the well-being of millions.

“Make no mistake,” she added, “this is an open license to discriminate against Americans who already face serious, systemic discrimination.” She said she was also addressing another pending regulation seen as undermining the rights of transgender patients. Pelosi said the Democratic-controlled House would “fight” the administration’s actions.

San Francisco immediately sued the Trump administration, saying the conscience regulation will undermine access to care.

The complex rule runs more than 400 pages and requires hospitals, universities, clinics and other institutions that receive funding from federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights.

Most of these laws and provisions address medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide. The ultimate penalty can be loss of federal funding for violations of conscience or religious rights, but most cases are settled by making changes in practices and procedures.

The rule makes no new law and doesn’t go beyond statutes passed under administrations of both political parties, said Roger Severino, head of the office that will enforce it at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Rather, the regulation will guarantee that religious and conscience protections already on the books can’t be ignored.

“We are giving these laws life with this regulation,” said Severino, saying it’s no different from civil rights statutes enforced in daily life through government regulation and oversight. “It makes sure Congress’ protections are not merely empty words on paper.”

Under the rule, clinicians and institutions would not have to provide, participate in, pay for, cover or make referrals for procedures they object to on moral or religious grounds.

This will make it “so that people do not have to shed their religious beliefs to participate in health care,” said Severino, adding that “certain medical professions such as OB-GYN should not be declared pro-life-free zones.”

The rule also addresses conscience protections involving so-called advance directives that detail a patient’s wishes for care at the end of life.

Asserting that previous administrations have not done enough to protect conscience rights in the medical field, HHS under Trump created a new division to investigate such complaints within its Office for Civil Rights, which Severino heads.

HHS said last year the office received more than 1,300 complaints alleging discrimination in a health care setting on account of religious beliefs or conscience issues. There was only a trickle of such complaints previously, officials said, about one per year for alleged conscience violations.

Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, said her group representing church-affiliated hospitals, nursing homes and other providers will stress continued service to “all persons.”

“Our mission and our ethical standards in health care are rooted in and inseparable from the Catholic Church’s teachings about the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death,” Keehan said in a statement. “These are the source of both the work we do and the limits on what we will do. Every individual seeking health care is welcome and will be treated with dignity and respect in our facilities.”

Among religious conservatives, Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins called the regulation an answer to prayer.

“Protecting the right of all health care providers to make professional judgments based on moral convictions and ethical standards … is necessary to ensure that access to health care is not diminished, which would occur if they were forced out of their jobs because of their ethical stances,” his statement added.

But Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the administration has opened the door to discrimination. “Religious liberty is a fundamental right, but it doesn’t include the right to discriminate or harm others,” she said. “Denying patients health care is not religious liberty,”

The rule takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

———

Associated Press writers David Crary in New York and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.

———

HHS press release: https://tinyurl.com/yxes698g

[d1tman-blog]

Once again the republiKKKan cockroaches are attempting to pass their mass murder of senior citizens and the poor NoHealthCare bill. I urge you to write and/or call your congressmen to voice your objection, urging them to vote against this bill which may be voted on as early as tomorrow. I did. Here is my email to each of them. Feel free to copy and paste: I urge you to vote against the upcoming disaster aka ACHA amendment or SPCMBR (Senior and Poor Citizens Murder by Republicans). Be a responsible representative of American interests and not a party hack and lackey. "Changing the current rules to undermine essential benefits requirements and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as well as allowing insurers to set annual and lifetime caps on the care they cover, would seriously undermine health security and leave many individuals with substandard protection," Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the CHA, said in a statement. And the American Association of Retired Persons, one of the nation's most powerful lobbying groups representing retired Americans, said the changes will "have a significant harmful impact on the health of millions of older Americans ages 50 to 64." "We intend to let all 38 million of our members know exactly how their representative votes on this bill in newsletters, in our publications, on social media and in other formats," the AARP said in a statement: https://mic.com/articles/175451/trumpcare-changes-spur-backlash-from-advocacy-groups-it-would-dramatically-worsen-ahca#.WLrI07l6A 

[science-criticaltheory]

History Will Remember These 217 House Republicans for Their Inhumanity by John Nichols

Above are some of the people brain damaged Americans elected to represent their interests.  The only problem is that without medical insurance many of them will die. Perhaps they will reconsider their situation before the next election. (Reuters / Carlos Barria) 

North Carolina Congressman Ted Budd cast an indefensible vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with legislation that is so awful that Budd’s fellow Republicans were caught scheming to exempt themselves and their staffs from the measure’s draconian provisions.

But Budd got one thing right. “I’ll take around 2,000 votes this Congress. Most of them will be forgotten,” the Republican congressman said as the vote approached. “This is not one of those votes.”

Good. The vote by 217 House Republicans to gut the Affordable Care Act (while 20 of their colleagues and 193 Democrats opposed the move) must be remembered as the shameful abandonment of health and humanity that it is. This should become the permanent stain on every member of the House who supported it—the issue that does not to go away. House Speaker Paul Ryan and his caucus abandoned any pretense of deliberative or responsible legislating in order to deliver an empty “win” for the flailing administration of President Donald Trump.

To do this, Ryan’s Republicans voted for a devastating piece of legislation without knowing:

the cost of their plan

how many tens of millions of Americans who will lose insurance

how their plan will be implemented at the federal or state levels

what will remain of their plan after it is reviewed by the Senate

House Republicans simply did not care. The overwhelming majority of them cast their votes as Ryan said they should, and then they ran the gauntlet—past crowds of citizens chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!”—on their way to a White House Rose Garden “celebration” of their partisanship with Donald Trump.

Republicans claimed that they had addressed the fundamental flaws in a bill that had been widely decried for providing less health care to fewer people at greater cost. But that was a convenient lie, told for the sake of media outlets that could not keep up with the twisting and tinkering that was being done to win the votes of so-called “moderate” Republican holdouts. The truth came from the American Medical Association: 

“None of the legislative tweaks under consideration changes the serious harm to patients and the healthcare delivery system if AHCA passes. Proposed changes to the bill tinker at the edges without remedying the fundamental failing of the bill—that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result of this proposal.”

That’s only part of the problem, explained the group that represents America’s physicians. 

“Not only would the AHCA eliminate health insurance coverage for millions of Americans,” the AMA added, “the legislation would, in many cases, eliminate the ban against charging those with underlying medical conditions vastly more for their coverage.”

A Wall Street Journal review of assessments of the GOP measure from actual healthcare providers was devastating: The American Academy of Family Physicians dismissed the “highly flawed” measure’s attempt to address the crisis it will create for people with pre-existing conditions as “inadequate” and “temporary.” The CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals decried an amendment on funding for high-risk pools as the equivalent of applying “a bandage to a mortally wounded patient.”

Sister Carol Keehan, DC, the president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, was unequivocal in her opposition. 

“The recent amendments to the bill, intended to make it more palatable to those who did not support it initially, are even more disastrous for people who have just gotten health care,” explained Sister Carol. “Changing the current rules to undermine essential benefits requirements and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as well as allowing insurers to set annual and life time caps on the care they cover, would seriously undermine health security and leave many individuals with substandard protection. Even the proposed state high-risk pools would be an inadequate and underfunded solution to a problem that need not exist in the first place.”

Sister Carol counseled that: “It is critically important to look at this bill for what it is. It is not in any way a health care bill. Rather, it is legislation whose aim is to take significant funding allocated by Congress for health care for very low income people and use that money for tax cuts for some of our wealthiest citizens. This is contrary to the spirit of who we are as a nation, a giant step backward that should be resisted.”

That is precisely right. The healthcare debate will go on. What House Republicans voted for Thursday will not be the final word on this issue. But the votes those Republicans cast for this particular bill ought never be forgotten. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned Republican backers that “they have this vote tattooed on them. This is a scar that they will carry…” Her admonition should serve as a call to arms.

Republicans now must be identified for what they are: charlatans who would lie to Americans with cancer and heart conditions about the health care they cannot live without.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin) got it right as she outlined her opposition to Ryan’s plan for the mangling of health care in America by tweeting photos of people who have battled Leukemia and other diseased—constituents who had contacted her to express their fears about what the Speaker of the House proposed to do to them. 

“They’re not numbers and statistics. They’re cancer survivors and people withdisabilities. They’re sons and daughters,” explained Moore who declared that she was voting “no” for them.

The politics of health care is personal. It’s about whether human beings can get the care they require, about whether they will live or die. The choice that House Republicans made Thursday was inhumane. It should be remembered as such—and it should be continually condemned as such.

Primary and general election challengers to Paul Ryan and to every member of Congress who voted for Ryan’s “repeal and replace” scam—which Moore correctly described as “a massive tax giveaway masquerading as a health care bill”—should not be allowed to talk around what they have done. They should not be allowed to run in 2018 on whatever final reform eventually is agreed upon—if, indeed, an agreement can be reached.

They should be held to account for their willingness to tear apart a health-care system in order to reward campaign donors and political allies at the expense of ailing Americans. These wicked politicians will face opposition in 2018. Their opponents should pull no punches. What Ryan and his minions have voted for is not just wrong. It is immoral.

That is the message that must go forward from this awful day. No quarter should be given in delivering it.

[tackedtothewall]

It is critically important to look at this bill for what it is. It is not in any way a health care bill.  Rather, it is legislation whose aim is to take significant funding allocated by Congress for health care for very low income people and use that money for tax cuts for some of our wealthiest citizens.  This is contrary to the spirit of who we are as a nation, a giant step backward that should be resisted.

Statement by Sister Carol Keehan, DC, President & Chief Executive Officer Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), “Proposed House Action Threatens Health Coverage for Millions“, April 26, 2017

[osp-labs-blog]

Meet the 25 Women of Healthcare

The Healthcare world can be grueling at times but through all the pain there is something to gain and Women in Healthcare have gained not just everyone's trust, but also everyone's respect. The Women of HealthIT have shown that they're just as smart and capable of being creative and innovative as their counterparts.

Here are the 25 most Prominent Women of Healthcare that we've included in our list:

- Nancy Howell Agee - Leah Binder - Marna Borgstrom - Deborah Bowen - Mary Brainerd - Dr Julia Andreini - Ruth Brinkley - Christine Candio - Debra Cafaro - Dr. Mandy Cohen - Susan Devore - Dr. Laura Forese - Deborah Disanzo - Sally Hurt-Dietch - Judith Faulkner - Kathy Lancaster - Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright - Sue Schick - Dr. Tejal Gandhi - Dr Katherine Schneider - Laura Kaiser - Marla Silliman - Sister Carol Keehan - Dr Suzanne White - Sarah Krevans

These Women's Healthcare Professionals are not only researchers and scientists, in fact many of these Healthcare Women are Presidents and CEO's of leading Healthcare companies piloting them towards technological coalition.

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/hospitals-attack-gop-health-bill-in-1-million-new-ad-campaign/

Hospitals Attack GOP Health Bill in $1 Million New Ad Campaign

(Photo: Thinkstock)

(Bloomberg) — Powerful hospital and medical school lobbying groups are spending at least $1 million on television ads opposing Senate Republicans’ plan to change the Affordable Care Act.

The ads ask viewers to consider whether they’ll be among the millions of Americans projected to lose their health coverage under the Senate proposal, Rick Pollack, chief executive officer of the American Hospital Association, said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.

(Related: Huge U.S. Hospital Markups Dominated by For-Profit Chains)

The bill, which Republicans have put on hold until after the July 4 recess amid growing opposition within their own party, would leave an additional 22 million people in the U.S. without insurance, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated. Hospitals have a lot to lose under the current version of the bill, and the AHA, which represents about 5,000 institutions, last week told GOP senators to “go back to the drawing board.”

“This bill would take us back in time, leaving over 20 million uninsured and creating a system that is not available or accessible to everyone,” Sister Carol Keehan, CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said on the call. The hospital groups, along with the Association of American Medical Colleges, are members of the Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care, which is paying for the ad campaign.

It’s the second time that the coalition will run ads opposing Republicans’ attempts to change the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. The group also ran ads opposing the House’s health bill, which passed in May. The House proposal would also increase the number of uninsured by more than 20 million, according to the CBO.

Samantha Dean, a spokeswoman for the AHA, said the campaign’s ads have already begun running and will cost seven figures. She wouldn’t give a precise amount.

The advertisements will continue to run “for as long as needed,” Dean said. 

— Check out The Road to PPACA on ThinkAdvisor.

[yes-dal456]

America’s Health Is In The Hands Of GOP Frat Boys

This just in: Health care is not a game. It’s a matter life or death for millions and millions of Americans. But you sure wouldn’t know it from watching Donald Trump and House Republicans celebrate their narrow victory on Thursday.

The House managed to pass a bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), aimed at altering or eradicating provisions of Obamacare, a somewhat muted version of the “repeal and replace” battle cry screamed throughout the election campaign but one that nevertheless will still devastate all but the richest of society with exorbitant medical costs that many cannot afford. Medicaid would be slashed by hundreds of millions. Twenty-four million fewer would be left without health insurance.

But the Republicans celebrated this impending tragedy with cheers on Capitol Hill and then got on buses to the White House for some further revelry in the Rose Garden.

“Trump basked in adulation as lawmakers heaped praise on him,” Ashley Parker reported in The Washington Post:

“… Including Trump and [vice president Mike] Pence, a dozen lawmakers and officials spoke, a snaking queue ― nearly all white men ― who took turns stepping to the lectern to claim their reward: cable news coverage, orchestrated by a president who values it above almost all else.”

Trump shouted, “How am I doing? I’m president. Hey, I’m president. Can you believe it?” Not if I don’t want to. It all felt like a chintzy version of the victory party after a high school football championship, except no one dared douse Coach Trump or assistant coaches Pence and Paul Ryan with Gatorade. Which was unfortunate.

Democrats got into the act, too, singing, “Hey hey hey, goodbye!” at the Republicans in the House chamber, reminding the GOP that they had just cast a vote that may cost many of them their seats in the 2018 midterms.

The whole thing was very classy, as if the Founders high-fived, fist-bumped and burst into “We Are the Champions” after signing the Declaration of Independence.

The fact is, few Republicans have even read the bill. They did not wait for a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office before ramming it through. No hearings were held; no group was given the opportunity to raise its objections in such a public forum: no American Cancer Society, AARP, the March of Dimes, the American Hospital Association — all of which, along with many other professional and advocacy organizations, have made their opposition known. No American Medical Association, which announced, “millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result of this proposal...”

“Not only would the AHCA eliminate health insurance coverage for millions of Americans, the legislation would, in many cases, eliminate the ban against charging those with underlying medical conditions vastly more for their coverage.”

But if you’re looking for the real reasons Republicans were throwing themselves a frat party on Thursday, heed first the words of Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States:

“It is critically important to look at this bill for what it is. It is not in any way a health care bill. Rather, it is legislation whose aim is to take significant funding allocated by Congress for health care for very low-income people and use that money for tax cuts for some of our wealthiest citizens. This is contrary to the spirit of who we are as a nation, a giant step backward that should be resisted.”

Then remember, as Paul Kane noted in The Post, that the GOP “viewed the measure as a necessary step to demonstrate some sense of momentum and some ability to govern in GOP-controlled Washington... inside the White House, President Trumps advisers became increasingly concerned about how little they had to show in terms of early victories.”

And so they were willing to vote for a lousy, misbegotten piece of legislation just so they could get the first round of tax cuts for the rich and to make it look as if they had accomplished something. Not exactly the Age of Pericles..

I remembered that old poem, After Blenheim, in which Robert Southey recounts the 1704 battle in which Britain’s Duke of Marlborough (ancestor of Winston Churchill) defeated the forces of France’s Louis XIV.

The poem concludes:

“And everybody praised the Duke

Who this great fight did win.

‘But what good came of it at last?’

Quoth little Peterkin.

‘Why that I cannot tell,’ said he,

‘But ’twas a famous victory.’”

Never confuse motion for action, Republicans. And your “famous” victory may be Pyrrhic. Fortunately, this horrible health care legislation has a long way to go through the Senate before Donald Trump gets the chance to affix his EKG-like signature. As South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted yesterday, “A bill — finalized yesterday, has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and 3 hours final debate — should be viewed with caution.”

Perhaps the most relevant — if unintentional — comment came from Trump himself Thursday night when he told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, “You have better health care than we do.” The Land Down Under has universal health care with a private insurance option. They call it Medicare.

If the Democrats don’t immediately start playing Trump’s statement on a constant video loop between now and November 2018, they’ve lost the will to live. The White House said Trump didn’t mean anything by it (although he then doubled down on his words with a tweet) but if you’re in the mood to have a celebration of your own, lift a glass to what he told the Australian PM and make a toast to blowing up this bogus health care reform bill and giving us what Americans truly need — Medicare for all.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2pRdq62 from Blogger http://ift.tt/2pRkjnP

[imreviewblog]

America’s Health Is In The Hands Of GOP Frat Boys

This just in: Health care is not a game. It’s a matter life or death for millions and millions of Americans. But you sure wouldn’t know it from watching Donald Trump and House Republicans celebrate their narrow victory on Thursday.

The House managed to pass a bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), aimed at altering or eradicating provisions of Obamacare, a somewhat muted version of the “repeal and replace” battle cry screamed throughout the election campaign but one that nevertheless will still devastate all but the richest of society with exorbitant medical costs that many cannot afford. Medicaid would be slashed by hundreds of millions. Twenty-four million fewer would be left without health insurance.

But the Republicans celebrated this impending tragedy with cheers on Capitol Hill and then got on buses to the White House for some further revelry in the Rose Garden.

“Trump basked in adulation as lawmakers heaped praise on him,” Ashley Parker reported in The Washington Post:

“… Including Trump and [vice president Mike] Pence, a dozen lawmakers and officials spoke, a snaking queue ― nearly all white men ― who took turns stepping to the lectern to claim their reward: cable news coverage, orchestrated by a president who values it above almost all else.”

Trump shouted, “How am I doing? I’m president. Hey, I’m president. Can you believe it?” Not if I don’t want to. It all felt like a chintzy version of the victory party after a high school football championship, except no one dared douse Coach Trump or assistant coaches Pence and Paul Ryan with Gatorade. Which was unfortunate.

Democrats got into the act, too, singing, “Hey hey hey, goodbye!” at the Republicans in the House chamber, reminding the GOP that they had just cast a vote that may cost many of them their seats in the 2018 midterms.

The whole thing was very classy, as if the Founders high-fived, fist-bumped and burst into “We Are the Champions” after signing the Declaration of Independence.

The fact is, few Republicans have even read the bill. They did not wait for a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office before ramming it through. No hearings were held; no group was given the opportunity to raise its objections in such a public forum: no American Cancer Society, AARP, the March of Dimes, the American Hospital Association — all of which, along with many other professional and advocacy organizations, have made their opposition known. No American Medical Association, which announced, “millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result of this proposal...”

“Not only would the AHCA eliminate health insurance coverage for millions of Americans, the legislation would, in many cases, eliminate the ban against charging those with underlying medical conditions vastly more for their coverage.”

But if you’re looking for the real reasons Republicans were throwing themselves a frat party on Thursday, heed first the words of Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association of the United States:

“It is critically important to look at this bill for what it is. It is not in any way a health care bill. Rather, it is legislation whose aim is to take significant funding allocated by Congress for health care for very low-income people and use that money for tax cuts for some of our wealthiest citizens. This is contrary to the spirit of who we are as a nation, a giant step backward that should be resisted.”

Then remember, as Paul Kane noted in The Post, that the GOP “viewed the measure as a necessary step to demonstrate some sense of momentum and some ability to govern in GOP-controlled Washington... inside the White House, President Trumps advisers became increasingly concerned about how little they had to show in terms of early victories.”

And so they were willing to vote for a lousy, misbegotten piece of legislation just so they could get the first round of tax cuts for the rich and to make it look as if they had accomplished something. Not exactly the Age of Pericles..

I remembered that old poem, After Blenheim, in which Robert Southey recounts the 1704 battle in which Britain’s Duke of Marlborough (ancestor of Winston Churchill) defeated the forces of France’s Louis XIV.

The poem concludes:

“And everybody praised the Duke

Who this great fight did win.

‘But what good came of it at last?’

Quoth little Peterkin.

‘Why that I cannot tell,’ said he,

‘But ’twas a famous victory.’”

Never confuse motion for action, Republicans. And your “famous” victory may be Pyrrhic. Fortunately, this horrible health care legislation has a long way to go through the Senate before Donald Trump gets the chance to affix his EKG-like signature. As South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted yesterday, “A bill — finalized yesterday, has not been scored, amendments not allowed, and 3 hours final debate — should be viewed with caution.”

Perhaps the most relevant — if unintentional — comment came from Trump himself Thursday night when he told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, “You have better health care than we do.” The Land Down Under has universal health care with a private insurance option. They call it Medicare.

If the Democrats don’t immediately start playing Trump’s statement on a constant video loop between now and November 2018, they’ve lost the will to live. The White House said Trump didn’t mean anything by it (although he then doubled down on his words with a tweet) but if you’re in the mood to have a celebration of your own, lift a glass to what he told the Australian PM and make a toast to blowing up this bogus health care reform bill and giving us what Americans truly need — Medicare for all.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2pRBCTF

[olgagarmash]

Health Equity Takes Center Stage at Global Minnesota’s World Health Day – Twin Cities Business Magazine

Medtronic’s CEO and Michael Osterholm are among the 30 experts set to speak at the April 7 virtual, all-day event.

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha, and Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, will be among the headliners Wednesday at World Health Day Symposium 2021, the annual event hosted—virtually this year—by Global Minnesota. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) established World Health Day in 1950 to mark the organization’s founding and to draw attention to the importance of global health. Each year, WHO chooses a global theme—this year, it’s “Health Equity Locally and Around the World”—and organizations around the world recognize the day. Global Minnesota has held a World Health Day event nearly every year since its founding in 1953. This year, the Minneapolis-based nonprofit  has lined up 30 international, national, and local health care, government, and business leaders to speak on a range of health care, research, and policy issues related to World Health Day’s 2021 theme. The symposium will conclude with a community conversation on health equity. 

The urgency of the conversation, in light of Covid-19, is top of mind for Global Minnesota president Mark Ritchie. “When we face health challenges on a global scale, we look to each other for solutions and inspiration,” he said. “This symposium is about collaboration without borders or any other barriers.” 

Global Minnesota is a nonpartisan nonprofit that offers programs around Minnesota which address relevant and timely international issues, foreign policy, and cultural topics and provide  spaces and opportunities for Minnesotans to engage and discuss.

This year’s local participating organizations and companies include Delta Air Lines, Medtronic, GHR Foundation, Fairview Health Services, M Fairview Health, Hennepin Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Medtronic, UnitedHealthcare Global, and the University of Minnesota’s Medical School and Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. 

Nneka O. Sederstrom, chief health equity officer for Hennepin Healthcare, will speak at 2 p.m. as part of a panel on pandemic preparedness and health equity alongside Leith Greenslade, coordinator for Every Breath Counts Coalition, and Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Health Task Force Vatican Covid-19 Commission. 

“I was happy to receive the invitation to participate in the World Health Day Symposium because this year the focus is on health equity,” said Sederstrom. “Hennepin Healthcare serves communities from many rich and unique cultures, so being part of a global health conversation is definitely where we want to be. This year’s focus on health equity also mirrors our own focus, and we are eager to be part of any discussions centering on how to improve the health outcomes of our populations of color.”

Sederstrom offered a sneak preview of her talk. “I will be speaking on the realities of inequities in Minnesota and how these inequities have played out through Covid-19. I will touch on our efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19 within high-risk populations and why our strategy of directly taking the vaccines into the communities has been so successful. With the imbalance so great, we must be deliberate and intentional in our efforts.”

While Covid-19 will dominate the day’s discussions, the conversations about health equity will reach beyond the scope of the pandemic too. Ritchie said he believes that people in Minnesota and around the world are as ready as ever to address inequity in health care and beyond: “I know it’s at least true in Minnesota—and I also believe it’s true globally—that the [Derek Chauvin] trial that’s underway reminds and lifts into a higher consciousness questions of equity and inequity in general, making a more defined and more action-solution-oriented future than perhaps we’ve had access to in the past.”

Following the symposium, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Global Minnesota and Minneapolis nonprofit Marnita’s Table are hosting “Engage! Exploring Health Equity 2021.” The virtual conversation, which anyone is welcome to join, will discuss actionable solutions to address health inequities in our local communities. To RSVP to join this Zoom conversation, email sammie@marnitastable.org. 

The World Health Day Symposium is free and open to the public via livestream on Global Minnesota’s YouTube Channel. Register at globalminnesota.org. Click here to view the symposium’s schedule and here to see the full list of speakers. 

source https://wealthch.com/health-equity-takes-center-stage-at-global-minnesotas-world-health-day-twin-cities-business-magazine/

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/health/trump-defends-clinicians-right-to-refuse-to-do-abortions/

Trump defends clinicians' right to refuse to do abortions

Advancing his anti-abortion agenda, President Donald Trump moved Thursday to protect health care workers who object to procedures like abortion on moral or religious grounds.

Trump chose the National Day of Prayer to announce the new regulation.

“Just today we finalized new protections of conscience rights for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, teachers, students and faith-based charities,” Trump told an interfaith audience in the White House Rose Garden. “They’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

The conscience rule was a priority for religious conservatives who are a key part of Trump’s political base, but some critics fear it will become a pretext for denying medical attention to LGBT people or women seeking abortions, a legal medical procedure.

In a strongly worded statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “these bigoted rules are immoral, deeply discriminatory and downright deadly, greenlighting open discrimination in health care against LGTBQ Americans and directly threatening the well-being of millions.

“Make no mistake,” she added, “this is an open license to discriminate against Americans who already face serious, systemic discrimination.” Without specifying, Pelosi said the Democratic-controlled House would “fight” the administration’s action.

San Francisco immediately sued the Trump administration, saying the regulation will undermine access to care.

The complex rule runs more than 400 pages and requires hospitals, universities, clinics and other institutions that receive funding from federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid to certify that they comply with some 25 federal laws protecting conscience and religious rights.

Most of these laws and provisions address medical procedures such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide. The ultimate penalty can be loss of federal funding for violations of conscience or religious rights, but most cases are settled by making changes in practices and procedures.

The rule makes no new law and doesn’t go beyond statutes passed under administrations of both political parties, said Roger Severino, head of the office that will enforce it at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Rather, the regulation will guarantee that religious and conscience protections already on the books can’t be ignored.

“We are giving these laws life with this regulation,” said Severino, saying it’s no different from civil rights statutes enforced in daily life through government regulation and oversight. “It makes sure Congress’ protections are not merely empty words on paper.”

Under the rule, clinicians and institutions would not have to provide, participate in, pay for, cover or make referrals for procedures they object to on moral or religious grounds.

This will make it “so that people do not have to shed their religious beliefs to participate in health care,” said Severino, adding that “certain medical professions such as OB-GYN should not be declared pro-life-free zones.”

The rule also addresses conscience protections involving so-called advance directives that detail a patient’s wishes for care at the end of life.

Asserting that previous administrations have not done enough to protect conscience rights in the medical field, HHS under Trump created a new division to investigate such complaints within its Office for Civil Rights, which Severino heads.

HHS said last year the office received more than 1,300 complaints alleging discrimination in a health care setting on account of religious beliefs or conscience issues. There was only a trickle of such complaints previously, officials said, about one per year for alleged conscience violations.

Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, said her group representing church-affiliated hospitals, nursing homes and other providers will stress continued service to “all persons.”

“Our mission and our ethical standards in health care are rooted in and inseparable from the Catholic Church’s teachings about the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death,” Keehan said in a statement. “These are the source of both the work we do and the limits on what we will do. Every individual seeking health care is welcome and will be treated with dignity and respect in our facilities.”

Among religious conservatives, Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins called the regulation an answer to prayer.

“Protecting the right of all health care providers to make professional judgments based on moral convictions and ethical standards … is necessary to ensure that access to health care is not diminished, which would occur if they were forced out of their jobs because of their ethical stances,” his statement added.

But Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the administration has opened the door to discrimination. “Religious liberty is a fundamental right, but it doesn’t include the right to discriminate or harm others,” she said. “Denying patients health care is not religious liberty,”

The rule takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

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Associated Press writers David Crary in New York and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.

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HHS press release: https://tinyurl.com/yxes698g