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oselatra · 7 years ago

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Whither the Rep

Its destiny is not in the stars, but ourselves.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre last week produced the greatest drama in the 44-year history of the stage last week when it announced its debt was so deep it had to cancel its last play of the season and bring down the curtain indefinitely.

The news got a standing "Oh, no" from actors and audiences who knew that Little Rock — and Arkansas — had something special in its professional theater. The Rep has a reputation of great performances among theatergoers and as a great place to work among the many actors who've come to Little Rock. The idea that The Rep might close brought into sharp focus what that would cost Little Rock — fortunately, before it's gone, not after.

The drama has been building for quite some time, thanks to a dive in ticket sales and a faltering capital campaign. The course of theater never does run smooth, the Bard might say, but finding itself without the means to stage its final 2017-18 season production, "God of Carnage," which was to open in June, the theater's board of directors darkened the house.

The secured and unsecured debt — including $1.6 million in bank loans, including mortgages — is in total "north of $2 million," Brian Bush, chairman of The Rep's board, said last week. The board is trying to raise $750,000 to $1 million immediately to settle vendor debt and begin paying off the Bank of the Ozarks, which Bush said has been "cooperative and intimately involved in what's going on for at least six months." The board is also forming a group, "The Next Act," to talk about what form The Rep should take to be sustainable.

The Rep does have assets: Its theater at Main and Sixth streets and two apartment buildings for its out-of-town actors have been appraised at more than $6.5 million, Bush said. That makes it "real estate rich and cash poor," he said. Selling its real estate "is on the table," though the fact that The Rep has a place for its actors to stay has been one of the great draws for them to the Arkansas theater.

The Rep had raised $1.7 million during the quiet phase of a capital campaign the past couple of years, Bush said, but had hoped to raise $2.7 million during that phase. The total goal of $5.2 million would have retired all debt and created a cushion for the future, but with declining revenues — The Rep could only fill 47 percent its seats this season, Bush said, and campaign cash had to be spent to put on the plays.

The Rep's staff will be cut from 30 to 10 as of May 8. Producing Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany is among those losing his job. The theater education program, which breaks even, will continue through the summer.

There may be some good news: Potentially waiting in the wings is a $1.8 million grant The Rep has applied for from the Windgate Charitable Trust of Siloam Springs, which has made several multimillion-dollar gifts in the past few years to the arts, including $40 million last year to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to create an art and design district and $20.3 million to UA Little Rock and $15.5 million to UA Fort Smith for their fine arts buildings. Should The Rep receive the grant, it would have to match it.

***

"What I can tell you," actor Patrick Halley said last week, "is The Rep had a sterling reputation in New York as a wonderful and warm and incredibly artist-friendly place to work. The way I got my first audition there was a friend I knew had worked there — I begged him, 'Could you put in a good word for me?' " Since then, Halley has appeared in a number of Rep productions, including "The School for Lies" last October.

"What always set The Rep apart was, some places you would go and work in a metropolis with a ton of options as far as culture goes. The audiences at The Rep always stood out as excited and engaged and grateful and you really got a sense of the impact that your work was having in the community." Not every audience is like that, he said.

The Rep's staff of designers "are at the top of their game," Halley said, "and that's not always common. Folks like Linda Parlier [assistant to the production manager] and Alan Branson [sound design and engineer] and Mike Nichols [technical director and set designer], the costume shop — they had a world-class team."

Halley called Bob Hupp, the producing artistic director from 1999-2016, "an inspiring leader" and managing director Mike McCurdy "one of the kindest and sweetest men on the face of the earth."

Halley was in Fayetteville when the news The Rep would suspend operations got out.

"The Rep has been so good to me," Halley said. "When I got the news, it felt like someone has passed away. I was so very, very sad."

On Friday, the Friends of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre announced a Rally for the Rep to be held Tuesday, May 1, in front of the theater, with music by the Greasy Greens, and special friends of the theater, including founder Cliff Baker, the director from 1976-1998 and a guest director for the past 17 years, will attend. By Monday, 1,300 people had clicked the "Interested" button and more than 200 people had donated a total of $73,000.

"In a strange way," Halley said, "the level of outcry speaks to how special it was." As Joni Mitchell sang, you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

Candyce Hinkle has been an actress for 40 years, and has appeared in plays at The Rep and other local theaters, as well as in such nationally released movies as the Coen brothers' "True Grit."

"The Rep has been my heart, honey, and this is just devastating," Hinkle said. "You can go anywhere in Central Arkansas and see talented people tell good stories, but when you go to The Rep ... . You don't realize how supported they are by technical artists. Mike Nichols' sets, the ability to create atmosphere by sound and lights. It's such a team effort to put on the shows that they do. That is what we don't get anywhere else. It's a professional jewel in our midst."

Hinkle is convinced that there is enough support for The Rep that it can reopen and stay open. "It doesn't have to come back as the grandiose giant it had become. Even if it comes back with a different flavor, but the same dedication to technical support and quality of performances: That's what we have to save."

The school must go on, as well, Hinkle said. "How many lives has that program changed? Just to give those kids that. They are treated professionally: It's not a babysitting opportunity. It's hard work: You hold a kid to a standard, and they're going to meet it. It's strictly professional, it's not just fun — it's work to get to the fun."

***

"I took a couple of days of heartache and mourning," Cliff Baker said from his home outside Mayflower, but now he's ready for action.

Baker came to Arkansas from Missouri in the 1960s to enroll in the Arkansas Arts Center's bachelor of fine arts program, which in its short time drew national accolades and a visit from The Juilliard School at its closing to recruit some of its actors. After working in theater outside Arkansas for a while, Baker returned to visit friends "and they said, 'Let's do a play,' and I rented a storefront ... and they were all kinky plays," Baker said.

The Arkansas Philharmonic was also short-lived. Support for a new theater came from old-money folks who were thrilled to see a higher level of theater established in Little Rock. The Rep sold 300 season tickets at a fundraiser in the posh Edgehill neighborhood "and we didn't have a theater and we didn't have a season," Baker said.

The theater opened in what had been Hunter Memorial Methodist Church, across the street from MacArthur Park, and though the venue was humble, the theater staged ambitious productions, from the breakout gay-themed play "The Boys in the Band" (performed at the Arts Center before its Off-Broadway premiere) to musicals "Marat/Sade," "Threepenny Opera" and "Ain't Misbehavin."

The actors were young, the budget was a shoestring, and even if Baker rehearsed a play for two weeks, "If I knew it was going to be bad, we just didn't do it."

"In the nonprofit theater world, I don't think you ever feel like you are on your feet," Baker said. But in the 1980s, when the budget for The Rep reached $500,000 "and the actors weren't having to do everything," he decided it was time to look for a larger home. The Rep moved to its building on Main, with its larger theater and production space, in 1988. Its operating budget is $4 million.

"I think the idea of a professional theater made all the difference" to the Little Rock audience, Baker said. "And people felt like they may not always like a particular play, but they knew it was going to be well done and there would be elements they would remember — the performances or the design."

Baker doesn't believe people have lost interest in live theater. Little Rock and North Little Rock support The Weekend Theater, The Public Theatre, Celebrity Attraction productions at Robinson Center Performance Hall, the Argenta Community Theater, the Arkansas Arts Center's Children's Theatre and Murry's Dinner Playhouse. But those venues — primarily Celebrity Attractions shows in the renovated Robinson — also present competition.

Baker does think some of the excitement is missing. People can't expect a big "joyous hit" like "Sister Act," which Baker last directed at The Rep, every time they go to the theater. And a theater can't sustain itself by planning that the success of one big show will carry the others.

Now, with the "Second Act" strategizing, Baker is thinking about how to reopen The Rep in a model that would be sustainable. "That's where I'm focusing. I'm calling friends and colleagues and and asking what works, what doesn't work.

"It's an age-old dilemma for nonprofit theater. The Rep kind of overgrew and couldn't support it."

***

Ginger Pool, producing artistic director of Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Va., has felt The Rep's pain. So when Pool heard about The Rep's crisis, she called board member Ruth Shepherd and offered to help in any way she could.

In 2009, Mill Mountain, which had its roots in a playhouse established in 1964, found itself $860,000 in debt. Its debt wasn't related to real estate, but because for a decade it had over-produced, employed a fulltime professional staff of 23 with benefits, suffered high overhead and staged "a little bit of vanity theater, producing shows that Roanoke wasn't supporting. The quality never dropped, but when the audience is not listening to you ... ."

And so Mill Mountain ceased operations, keeping only Pool, the director of its revenue-producing education program. The fulltime staff and 16 contract employees and 12 interns were let go. It cashed in its Actors Equity Association bond.

So Pool got to work by meeting one-on-one with vendors, negotiating such things as payment plans and tax credits and "asking for forgiveness. ... It was the hardest work I've ever done, and the most rewarding." Within a year, all but $75,000 of the debt had been paid off or negotiated.

For a while, Mill Mountain's children's theater put on the only productions, on holidays. The theater realized "Roanoke hasn't given up on us yet," Pool said, when it was announced the youths would perform "Annie": The musical was a sellout before the play opened.

It took Mill Mountain four years to have a "soft reopening." A theater that once produced 14 shows on its main stage a season now produces three. The new business model, Pool said: "We have made a promise that each individual production will make money standing by itself. We are not in the frame of mind, do this giant show to pay for this riskier show. ... That's a slippery slope for theaters. ... So we look at what we're choosing, and if we have any hesitation if this show can't stand alone, we throw it out. We drill down to worst-case scenarios, really analyzing everything, before we announce [the season] to the public."

Mill Mountain still does theater that might be called art rather than entertainment, but does it in its small black box theater. It has also added Mill Mountain Music, twice-a-year concerts.

"I will say people don't donate money to pay off your debt. There are going to be angels in the community, but [their gifts are] not going to be of the magnitude that your problems are over," Pool warned.

***

Ironically, The Rep has been the anchor of development on Main Street, in what Mayor Mark Stodola calls the "Creative Corridor." Its educational program in a renovated historic building catercornered from the theater along with Ballet Arkansas's studio and a private gallery have supported the idea of a downtown arts district .

The mayor learned of The Rep's financial troubles a couple of weeks ago, he said. He said he'd approached Celebrity Attractions, which has a substantial marketing budget, about the possibility of the company's taking a Rep show on the road, and noted that the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau supports The Rep with a contribution of $50,000 a year. The city made a small contribution last fall by buying tickets for a group.

Stodola said The Rep had also broached the idea that perhaps the city could support the theater by buying the theater building and leasing it back to The Rep for a nominal sum, as is done in other cities. But Stodola said that idea was, for him, a no-go. "Other organizations that we support, they are city commissions, like the Arkansas Arts Center or the Museum of Discovery or the military museum," Stodola told the Times. If it were to become a commission, The Rep board would have had to give up its governance, Stodola said, which was something it was reluctant to do.

Board chair Bush said The Rep is open to collaborations with colleges and universities and other theaters.

***

Perhaps you are asking yourself, what sort of self-respecting city can't find the audience to keep its professional theater open? Former Producing Artistic Director Hupp, who is now artistic director at Syracuse Stage on the campus of Syracuse University in New York, said competition from the rise of local theater groups is a factor, if not the factor, for The Rep's woes.

"Celebrity Attractions has been performing [in the past], but they've never been able to bring in the tours they're bringing in now [thanks to the $70.5 million renovation of Robinson]. I mean, look at 'The Lion King,' 'Phantom of the Opera,' a tour of 'Les Mis' ['Les Miserables']."

"One of the things that's great about The Rep is the intimate relationship between the audience and the performers. So, that always played pretty well and distinguished The Rep from Celebrity Attractions. But the new model, and the amount of money the city put into the renovation of Robinson, definitely has an impact" on The Rep's ticket sales, Hupp said.

To those who are skeptical about competition's role in The Rep's trouble filling seats, Hupp insisted there is "legitimacy to the external factors."

Too, The Rep's real estate burden, which includes both debt and ongoing maintenance, is unusual, Hupp said. "The expense of owning those properties has always been a challenge for The Rep," he said.

The former director said he was saddened, but not surprised, by the news of The Rep's suspension. But he said The Rep can return.

"If there were some combination of grassroots support and either city leadership or private leadership that comes in and helps stabilize the theater, there is a path forward. There are people who feel very passionate about The Rep. You've seen the social media posts that have come out. That initial reaction of surprise and shock — if that can move beyond that initial emotional reaction to real activism, real organization, then The Rep has a great shot of sustaining itself in a reimagined form."

Here's how Hupp puts the question of what it says about a city that lets its professional theater fail this way: "I think the question people who live in Little Rock have to ask is, 'Is the situation with The Rep a canary in the coal mine?' Is this indicative of other, more challenging issues with the city?

"A thriving city should have thriving arts. And the arts organization has to be responsive and also provide leadership and vision for what the arts mean to the community. ... A healthy organization, wherever you are in the country, has to generate earned income and the city has to show its partnership in that equation through philanthropic dollars. And that's public support from the city itself and private support from those who have means and can help."

Whither the Rep

#Whither the Rep

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6amceo-blog · 5 years ago

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How to Select a Gym to Match Your Goals

So you need to join another exercise center. By what means would it be a good idea for you to pick among the numerous and fluctuated rec centers out there? It tends to befuddle organize all the various contemplation, and simple to be influenced by a decent sales rep when you visit a rec center. Arm yourself with this agenda so you settle on the best choice for you. Also, consistently visit various rec centers before settling on your official conclusion.

Area

You need an exercise center that is helpful to get to. In the event that it takes too long to even think about getting to, you're more averse to utilize it as regularly as you should (preferably 3 times each week). So think about one inside strolling separation (removes the issues of open vehicle postponements or car influxes), or in case you're driving there, check simplicity (and cost) of leaving. One close home or work would be perfect, contingent upon the days and times you wish to prepare.

Be careful, on the grounds that an exercise center is topographically very close you, doesn't really mean it's helpful. I live in London, and one exercise center I joined was 2 miles not far off, however the open vehicle to that rec center was so moderate, it took me longer to reach than the following rec center I joined, 3 miles away, however all around associated with an entryway to entryway train ride. So ensure you do the adventure at the time you intend to utilize the rec center, go get a precise thought of voyage times.

Hardware

The key inquiry you have to pose to yourself is, "what are my objectives?". At that point pick a rec center whose hardware coordinates your objectives. So in case you're after muscle development, pick a rec center with plentiful free loads (hand weights and free weights, link hybrids, seats with both level and grade alternatives, squat racks). Furthermore, if yoga and extending is your thing, you need a rec center with a yoga studio and a lot of room for extending.

Look at the design of the rec center. Does it feel stimulating to you? Is there space to move around? Is the equalization of hardware directly for you? Actually I don't care for tremendous columns of treadmills to the extent the eye can see, with minimal option cardio gear (cross coaches, bicycles, paddling machines). Also, I abhor little cramped free-loads zones, I like my free-loads regions to be open and a decent separation between loads seats to abstain from chancing upon the individual by you. I've been in certain exercise centers in Australia where the free loads zones were wonderful. Less so in the UK.

Something else to consider is the music in the rec center. Do you need boisterous music, or do you like to work out in a calm air? One exercise center I utilized had 2 stories with an open mezzanine, with uproarious shake music from the upper level conflicting with the noisy popular music ground floor, which was hugely bothering to the ears.

Staff

The main individuals you'll presumably observe are the gathering staff. It is safe to say that they are inviting, well disposed, proficient? Every one of these things mean a great deal in case you will communicate with them each opportunity you go to the rec center.

At that point think about the accessibility of rec center educators and fitness coaches. It is safe to say that they are accessible, mindful, and congenial? Converse with them and you'll see.

One thing that put me appropriate off one rec center I visited was gathering staff eating doughnuts, painting their nails (and that was only the folks), and when I left, I saw one of the exercise center educators remaining outside smoking a cigarette. Ugh.

Interestingly, my present exercise center has cordial, exuberant, effusive and educated staff. It has such a tremendous effect to your rec center involvement. All the fitness coaches and rec center teachers have their photographs on the divider, with a brief biog about them. I talk to them about the most recent exercise patterns, nourishment tips, and they're all extremely learned. So when you visit an exercise center with the end goal of joining, take a stab at talking to a portion of the staff and you'll get a thought of how cordial and educated they are.

Showers and Changing Rooms

This is the place most exercise centers let themselves down seriously. The changing rooms are regularly confined, with little/restricted storage spaces which are a battle to get all your stuff into. When I took a games pack to another exercise center just to find that storage was unreasonably little for the sack to fit into.

Continuously request to see the evolving region (and showers as well, don't be bashful), and pay special mind to broken storage spaces, tidiness. One rec center in East London I looked at (and didn't join!) had a changing zone covered with staying mortars, cotton buds, void beverages containers, chocolate wrappers.

Conversely, when I went through a year in Australia, I united a rec center with the cleanest and most spaceous changing region possible. The storage spaces were twofold width to fit the biggest of games packs, and a light even went ahead inside the storage when you opened it.

Furthermore, consistently request a free preliminary session, so you really experience the changing zone and showers instead of only a speedy look around. Attempt before you purchase, this gives you a vastly improved possibility of spotting issues. One free preliminary I had was extraordinary, until I utilized the showers toward the end. One desk area had just solidifying water, another had just burning water, and the third had no shower gel in the allocator.

Different Individuals

How occupied is the rec center? Continuously visit on multi day and at once you're wanting to utilize it consistently. In the event that it's excessively packed, you're not going to get a respectable exercise, you'll be keeping an eye out for gear to wind up accessible. City exercise centers in a business region can become so busy at noon, you'll even be remaining in a long line to get a shower. Not this time.

What's more, how are the individuals? You need to be around the sort of individuals you like, or if nothing else not feel awkward among, correct? So in case you're female and into delicate cardio, you might not have any desire to be among gigantic sweat-soaked boisterous jocks smashing loads about and looking at you up. In like manner in case you're a person into substantial weight preparing, you may need comparative individuals to prepare around for the inspiration and vitality, instead of whithered stray like individuals on exercise bicycles.

Once more, you can just gague what different individuals resemble by having a free preliminary session, so I emphatically suggest you do this before leaving all necessary signatures.

Cost and Contract

Realize what you're pursuing, what's incorporated and what costs extra (towels, sauna and so on). What's the undoing approach, would you be able to solidify your enrollment in case you're sick, what's the term of the agreement (some are as much as 2 years), does your participation enable you to utilize different exercise centers in the chain, and what days/times would you be able to utilize the rec center?this page fitness

Extra Offices

Think about what else is essential to you. Okay worth a café which offered solid tidbits, smoothies, protein shakes after your exercise? Do you need a dip after your exercise? What's more, then again, on the off chance that you would prefer not to swim, it may be a misuse of cash uniting an exercise center with a pool, as this knocks up the expense of enrollment significantly. Or on the other hand you may find that the offices you do esteem are great to such an extent that it merits paying the extra for things you probably won't utilize. You have to weigh up your needs and choose likewise.

One exercise center I joined had a pool, and I didn't understand until somebody disclosed to me later, that a pool fundamentally climbs up enrollment charges.

So as should be obvious, there are numerous interesting points. The best beginning stage is to ask what your top fitness objectives are, and afterward pick an exercise center that will best assistance you achieve your objectives, in a spotless and benevolent and empowering air, and advantageous to get to. To put it plainly, pick a rec center that is directly for you.

#fit #Weight Loss #bodybuilding #workout #health

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nellygwyn · 6 years ago

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The Demi-Rep’s Companion

for October, 1776

Mrs Wap-a-Pace’s Tittle Tattle

‘Tis expected that a publication such as this should inevitably be enjoyed by all manner of wagtails and mabs, determined to glean from its pages knowledge of the arts and affectations so perfected by their vestal sisters who daily have the Ton wrapped up at their Tête-à-Tête columns over breakfast. Indeed, I venture to fancy that even you, fair Reader, have ever sighed and imagined yourself finally glimpsing inside Pope’s temple of fickle, glorious Fame!

‘Look here, by gad!’ says His Lordship to his Lady, over the morning chatter broth and chronicle, ‘Mrs A-m---ead hath danced a royal jig with Whales not an hour before buttering her buns with the E--l of D--by. Now, what say you to that, missus?’

‘Tis nothing!’ cries she, her dainty Lady’s Magazine flying thither and whither, ‘nothing to the apes and japes of Mrs E--ot. She’ll take her tup in an air balloon!’

Wish you for that? The true tasty piece a gentleman dines on? No sweetmeat compares to a beautiful woman, least of all a beautiful woman who sits lovingly with her head in the lap of Aphrodite and lives by Mirth and Fortune’s doctrine.

Just this week, we hear that Mrs. B---del--y, ever the darling of Drury Lane and now the reigning toast of Almack’s, Boodles and White’s, has fallen like a fair maid into the arms and the bed of a Gentleman of the First Rate. No more of the Hoi Palloi for she, nay; ‘tis men whose titles aptly rhyme with Well-Born or none at all. She glides alongside him like a vision at Ranelagh, never dimming under the envious glare of her enemies. At the Pantheon, the ladies sigh and say amongst themselves that their hairdressers dare not make their coiffure thus, but on Mrs B, it is faultless. She herself is faultless. The gentlemen perspire into their perukes, for the thought of her drives them to the very gates of Bethlem and for want of funds to appease her, they think on what jewels their wives can do without. For, it is said, the following morning, that Mrs B’s door-knocker goes like laborious she. she is beloved, admired and sought after like crav’d Cleopatra.

‘What can be her secret?’ you hastily declare. Reader, she is sitting on it! Nature has filled your arsenal with all the turns and tricks a swell cove could ask for. Virtue is merely a facade these days. There is nothing so out of fashion than the trappings of propriety and nothing so truly vulgar as the grim-faced malkin who says ‘Nay, I shan’t!’ to a glass of French wine and thinks herself the very cut of the jib for doing so. The world does not turn to see the outcome of Lady Such-and-Such’s bi-weekly Whist party.

Ladies, make haste to your dressers and apply your powder, your rouge and Madame de Lenclos’s tears. Sharpen your repartee, be determined to dazzle and thrust forward your bosom, like the victorious frigate on her splendid maiden voyage.

I imagined what it would be like if there had been a periodical publication in Georgian England (in the same vein as The Gentleman’s Magazine or Town & Country) written by and published for courtesans and other women of pleasure. This would be the monthly gossip column, full of wit and flair. Of course, realistically, it would never happen, other than to mock or titillate men. It was fun to dream though! The women mentioned here are Sophia Baddeley, Elizabeth Armistead and Grace Dalrymple Elliott.

#my writing #idk what this is lol but

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asrarblog · 3 years ago

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Whither Training? – Blog Post #489 by Asrar Qureshi

Dear Colleagues! This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #489. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi onWordPress, the top blog site. Please email to [email protected] for publishing your contributions here. Training of Medical reps in Pharma industry was no less than an…

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#Asrar Qureshi #Medical Reps #Pharma Industry #Pharma Sales #Pharma Veterans

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kristablogs · 5 years ago

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How to keep your bones strong—and even make them stronger

Bones are alive—and they require maintenance work. (Deposit Ph/)

For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.

Our 206 bones do more than just keep us standing, walking, and singing through life. They also protect our organs, harbor bone marrow, and store minerals such as phosphorus and calcium. But just like your muscles, bones require maintenance work. Here’s how to keep them healthy for the long run.

Human bones don’t come ready at full strength. Instead, our bone density starts increasing shortly after birth and continues until we are about 30 years old. After that it plateaus until our 40s, when our skeleton begins to whither. For men, this process is a gradual one. For women, however, this occurs rapidly after menopause. If too much bone is lost, osteoporosis—a chronic disease that causes the body’s framework to become soft and brittle—can occur, and increase a person’s risk of bone fractures.

In the United States, osteoporosis is responsible for more hospitalizations than heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer combined. Invasive operations related to fractures, such as hip surgery, cause medical complications in older people. Nearly twenty percent of those on Medicare hospitalized a week after their fracture dies within a year.

“Osteoporosis is concerning because it’s chronic fracturing. Each break could drastically change your quality of life,” said Kyle Jeray, the chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at Prisma Health, a not-for-profit clinic in Greenville, South Carolina. “You may never be able to live on your own. You may become dependent on [a] walker. It’s a loss of independence.”

Because bone health declines later in life, the American Orthopedic Association recommends women 65 and older as well as men older than 70 should ask their primary care doctors for an osteoporosis evaluation. Those with a risk factor or a history of a fracture after the age of 50, regardless of the cause, should also be evaluated. Risk factors include severely low body weight, steroid use, rheumatoid arthritis, and other chronic diseases. For those concerned about osteoporosis, online risk assessment tests can be a helpful resource.

“It is a silent disease until it’s not. People don’t realize they have osteoporosis until they break something,” said Paul Anderson, the Vice Chair for Own the Bone, an American Orthopedic Association committee that encourages surgeons to take more ownership in the care of osteoporosis patients. “That is why we stress asking for evaluations.”

Half our bodies total calcium stores in women and two thirds in men are made during puberty. This makes bone density difficult to rebuild past our 20s especially in women. But following a healthy, well-rounded diet can help maintain our skeleton’s strength. You’ve probably been told to drink milk for strong, healthy bones since you were little, and Anderson agrees. Foods like milk, cheese, kale, and sardines are rich in calcium—the building block of bones. Without adequate calcium, your body begins leaching it from the bone for other essential uses like heart and muscle functioning. That’s why the FDA recommends consuming between 1000 to 1200 milligrams of this vital mineral daily. Post-menopausal women and those with dairy allergies or dietary restrictions like veganism should be even more conscious of their calcium intake.

Proper Vitamin D intake is also crucial to a calcium-rich diet. The vitamin helps the gut absorb calcium and helps the kidneys break down and reabsorb calcium that would otherwise be excreted through our urinary tracts. Without it, this bone-building mineral would pass right through our bodies. Vitamin D is rarely found naturally in food, so most people soak it up through sunlight. Those living in northern latitudes where sunlight is scarce such as Chicago, the Dakotas, or Canada, can turn to vitamin D fortified foods like cereal and milk. Whether it’s obtained by basking in the sun’s rays or enjoying an ice cold glass of milk, the FDA recommends about 800 to 1,000 international units of vitamin D daily.

However, quantity is just as important as quality when it comes to our diet. Without proper caloric intake—especially in our adolescent years—our body is unable to build bone mass.

“You can eat the right amount of calcium and vitamin D and take supplements, but if you are not taking in the proper amount of fuel you can still potentially lose bone mass,” says Jennifer Maynard, a family physician and sports medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville, Florida campus.

This can put people, such as those with a history of eating disorders, at an increased risk of osteoporosis. Think of it like a savings account. Each year of our youth, we invest a bit in our bone bank so that as we age and begin to lose bone, we have a hefty reserve to tap into.

Here’s the other key component to good bone health: exercise, in any form. Bones, like muscles, respond to stress. As the saying goes, if you don’t use it, you lose it. When we don’t actively load our skeletons, calcium begins to leak from bones. Thankfully, just 20 minutes of weight-bearing exercises a day like walking or lifting weights, can help maintain or even increase bone mass (though increases are likely minimal) according to Anderson.

Other than a healthy diet and exercise regimen, avoiding harmful toxins is essential for overall bone health. Anderson claims smoking tobacco causes calcium to escape via our urinary tract. It also causes an increase in cortisol, a hormone that’s known to breakdown bone. Tobacco isn’t the only toxin that can influence bone health; excess alcohol intake—defined as more than three standard drinks a day—is associated with chronic liver disease, a precursor to osteoporosis.

Even if you have osteoporosis, there are measures you can follow to avoid fractures. The National Osteoporosis Foundation, found that 50 percent of repeat fractures could have been avoided.

Most fractures associated with mortality occur when older people, who have less stable muscles and bones, experience a bad fall. That is why Anderson recommends enrolling in a community-based fall prevention program. These programs focus on balancing exercises and advise participants on how to rearrange household furniture to prevent trips. For those a bit more adventurous, the CDC recommends Tai Chi as a great way to improve balance.

For serious cases of osteoporosis, medications, such as bisphosphonates and anabolic agents, can be prescribed. Bisphosphonates reduce the risk of fractures between 50 and 70 percent by stopping cells called osteoclasts from breaking down bone mass. Meanwhile, anabolic agents actually energize osteoblasts, the cells responsible for the construction of our skeletal framework.

Doctors and researchers are also trying to better understand the role genetics plays in our chances of developing osteoporosis, says Laura Bruce, a physician at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who works with orthopedic patients. “[That knowledge] will only help us provide patients with more information.”

For now, getting in those extra steps or reps and getting regular checkups will help keep your bones strong as you age.

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scootoaster · 5 years ago

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How to keep your bones strong—and even make them stronger

Bones are alive—and they require maintenance work. (Deposit Ph/)

However, quantity is just as important as quality when it comes to our diet. Without proper caloric intake—especially in our adolescent years—our body is unable to build bone mass.

Even if you have osteoporosis, there are measures you can follow to avoid fractures. The National Osteoporosis Foundation, found that 50 percent of repeat fractures could have been avoided.

For now, getting in those extra steps or reps and getting regular checkups will help keep your bones strong as you age.

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israr-blog · 5 years ago

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Announcement Updates due to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Saudi Arabia

Under the directive of Saudi Arabia's Authorities, the following measures have been applied:

Suspending entry to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporarily.

Suspending the entry of GCC countries’ citizens to the two cities of Makkah and Madinah temporarily except of GCC countries citizens who have a permit for that which can be obtained through the website of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.

Passengers arriving from or through any airports of the following countries (United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Bahrain, and Kuwait) are only allowed to enter the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through one of the following airports: (King Khalid International Airport, King Abdulaziz International Airport, and King Fahad International Airport).

Suspending Tourism Visa into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for only Passengers those coming from Peoples’ Republic of China which includes (Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao) as well as Iran, Italy, Korea (Rep.), Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Philippines, Singapore, India, Lebanon, Syria, Yamen, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Somalia and Vietnam.

Suspending the arrival of all passengers and for all visa types who are arriving from one of the following countries: (Republic of Italy, Republic of Korea, Japan, Republic of Azerbaijan) whether direct or transit through other countries except for passengers who have spent more than (14) days outside of those countries.

All carriers must make sure that any passenger who is arriving from or through any of the airports of the Republic of Egypt has a complete medical examination (PCR) confirming that he/she is free of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) and it must be issued within (24) hours before boarding of that passenger to the aircraft by one of the specified and approved laboratories by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Cairo.

Suspending the arrival of all passengers who are having a tourism visa to prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz airport at (medina) whither from the outside of the kingdom or through one of the demotic airports.

Suspending the usage of National ID to travel to or from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that applies on the Saudi citizens and the GCC citizens as well except Saudi citizens who are out of the Kingdom and are wishing to return providing that they have used the national ID during exiting from the Kingdom, and GCC citizens who are in the Kingdom and they are wishing to return to their countries providing that they have used the national ID when they entered the Kingdom.

Passengers who have been in People’s Republic of China which includes (Chinese Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao) as well as Iran are not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia until 14 days later from their exit from these two countries.

Aircraft crew of national or international carriers will be allowed to enter the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and they will be subjected for medical examination if it is required.

Any transit passenger who had been in one of the two countries mentioned in item (9) of this circular are not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia until 14 days later from their exit from these two countries.

Any transfer passenger who had been in one of the two countries mentioned in item (9) of this circular are not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia until 14 days later from their exit from these two countries.

All carriers are responsible of returning their Umrah passengers which were carried by them before the suspension of Umrah at the specified time of departure.

All passengers must fill the Health Declaration Form with the required information and hand over to the immigration officer at the arrival airport. For more information, please visit the Saudi Center for Disease and Control (Weqaya) website.

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dududara · 5 years ago

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SENATE PRESIDENT, REPS SPEAKER, OTHERS SET TO GRACE 2019 LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE

By Raphael Ekpang

The President of the Nigeria senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan and his counter in the House of Representatives, Rt, Hon, Femi Gbajabiamila among other dignitaries have confirmed their presence at the 2019 Legislative conference slated for the 25th day of November. 2019 at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.

President of the Nigeria Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan

In a…

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biofunmy · 6 years ago

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Washington to offer first ‘public option’ insurance in US

Washington is set to become the first state to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option.

A set of tiered public plans will cover standard services and are expected to be up to 10% cheaper than comparable private insurance, thanks in part to savings from a cap on rates paid to providers. But unlike existing government-managed plans, Washington’s public plans are set to be available to all residents regardless of income by 2021.

The Legislature approved the plan last month, and Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to sign it into law Monday.

The move thrusts Washington into the national debate over the government’s role in health care, with a hybrid model that puts the state to the left of market-only approaches but stops short of a completely public system.

Instead, the state will dictate the terms of the public option plans but hire private insurance companies to administer them, saving the state from having to create a new bureaucracy — and guaranteeing a role for the insurance industry in managing the new public option.

Lawmakers in at least eight other states including Colorado and New Mexico have proposed their own public option measures. But so far none have passed legislation implementing a public option.

Backers acknowledge the rate caps at the heart of the plan risk creating coverage gaps in rural areas. But they hope to persuade doctors to accept lower rates by bringing the state’s purchasing power to bear. The savings would be used to sell the plans at a competitive price.

Inslee, who is also running for president, embraced the idea based on early work by a state legislator and later officially requested the public option bill.

Its sponsor, Seattle Sen. David Frockt, a Democrat, said the hybrid system was a compromise.

“What’s important about this plan is that the government is coming in and taking a more aggressive role in regulating the cost drivers of health care,” Frockt said.

The core proposition of Washington’s plan, dubbed Cascade Care, is that it will save consumers money by capping payments to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.

The cost cap is central to the program’s long-term survival: Set it too high, and there will be no savings to pass along. Set it too low, and the state runs the risk of providers declining the plan, leaving it to whither as consumers seek alternatives that provide more choice, said Jennifer Tolbert, director of the Kaiser Foundation’s state health care analysis program.

The question is especially critical in Washington’s rural counties, many of which were already hit hardest by health care cost increases.

To attract providers, Washington lawmakers chose a relatively high figure to start: The plan caps payouts at 160 percent of federal Medicare rates.

That’s more than other states have proposed. In New Mexico, lawmakers considered using Medicaid rates, among the lowest paid to doctors and hospitals by any insurance plan. Lobbying firm Manatt estimated that could have translated into cost savings for consumers of more than 20% compared with similar private plans on the individual market.

By comparison, Washington’s higher pay rate for doctors is estimated to save participants only 5 to 10%, according to Jason McGill, Inslee’s senior policy adviser on health.

But even at the higher rate, the plan risks leaving coverage gaps in the least-populated counties, said Democratic Rep. Eileen Cody, an early architect of the plan who chairs the House Health Care and Wellness committee.

The state has already had problems guaranteeing private coverage in those areas. Two counties were recently at risk of having no insurers offering individual plans, and others have only a single hospital or hospital network, allowing providers to drive up costs.

The result has been rural areas bucking the state’s broader trend of moderate cost increases: A quarter of Washington counties, mostly rural, have seen triple-digit increases in the cost of premiums for a benchmark bronze-level plan in the last year alone, with some rising by as much as three times the increase seen in King County, home of Seattle, according to data from the Kaiser Foundation.

Another unique aspect of Washington’s plan is its hybrid management model.

Despite its name, the public option won’t be provided by the state itself, and state employees won’t deal directly with patients.

Instead, the measure directs state health care authorities to hire one or more private insurance companies: The state will determine the broad outlines of the public plans, but private companies will handle day-to-day administration, including enrolling patients and paying out claims.

“It’s an attempt to keep the insurance companies in the game,” said Aaron Katz, a University of Washington professor who teaches health policy and has studied U.S. health care markets.

Like earlier decisions to have private companies administer parts of the Medicare and Medicaid systems in some states, Washington’s hybrid model tries to preserve some competition while fixing problems like stability and coverage gaps, Kaatz said.

But it also has the effect of weaving insurance companies further into the fabric of public health care — potentially creating a barrier for later efforts to move to a completely public system.

“The size of the business that we are giving to private insurers makes it ever more difficult to ever extract ourselves from those dependencies,” Katz said.

It’s also a departure from public option proposals that have cropped up in other states, where lawmakers have mostly tried to broaden eligibility for programs like Medicaid, said Emily Blanford of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Still, a hybrid model theoretically has some advantages, Blanford said, including allowing the state to start from scratch designing rates and provider networks without needing a new program and staff.

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johnwalshonline · 6 years ago

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Date: 2018-06-16 13:00:00

From Beavers the Size of Arctos … to Super rats Dining Ready-mixed … Here’s a Look at 12 of the world’s scariest Subscribe to Talltanic http://3d-printing.space Watch our "Evidence Visited Earth " video here:- http://3d-printing.space Watch our "CRAZY Ideas Actually Worked!" video here- http://3d-printing.space Watch our UnbelievABLE Items Found After Tsumani !" video here- http://3d-printing.space #9 Mighty Mouse We think of rats as the scariest … but here a case Whither mice seem to MDCs a Sourness for blood. (goff) Islands is an Isolabilities Volcanoes island in the South Ocean. Aside From a operated by six people, the place is basically uninhabited. is, Unless you Kreivi a Populationally of Invasive Hosue mice Estimation at two million. The small come in infest the region, and ’ve MDCs a Sourness for the Chicks of the Petrels … a Sea-bird is There. In 2016, Expert Estimation the WERE-AM Expropriationally out Some 600,000 Petrels Chicks each year. Serves to thr the Extinction of several MorphoMorphospecies of Sea-birds Breeds Exclusively on Islands. Isolation regions aren’t the Only Placing Whither mice are Knowladge to FLEX muscles, either. THAN 30 miles From San Francisco, Eurasia HOUSE Mouse Overrun the (fare-uh-LAHN) Islandss to the the has Named the world’s most non-, -dense island. #8 eness Rats ’re not the biggest on the list, but Salopets Might a rep for the scariest. These are the rats Synonymy WITH the Buboe Plauge (or eness Death) devastated Evrope and Asia during the Middle Ages. And There WERE-AM Pandemics preceded and Followed the one occurred 1340 and 1400. The rats carried Parsitism Siphonoptera in carried the Eubacter Causes Buboe Plauge. Expert say a big ReasonABLE why these rats can Serves to Transmit Illness is due to Ability to Tolerate so Bacterias in system. Spreads by rats can occur Today ...did you know There was an Outbreaks of Buboe and Pnuemonic Plauge in Madigascar in 2017 MORE THAN 170 people? #7 Caped Porcupines This Old Worldhood Ilspile is to Central and AFRICA … it Claims the Title of largest Ilspile. With larger MORE THAN 60 pounds, it also Ranks as AFRICA’s largest … as well as the largest in the world … Only the Hydrochaeris and two MorphoMorphospecies of Beavers rank higher. Theirs Knowladge Physical Traits (and Defenses mechanism) is of Spine (or ) provide a prickly armor predators. Growing up to 20 Inch long, the are Actually Tricho- Carry a Thick Plating of keratin. also Containing backward-facing Barb make it Difficulty and Rhitzopathy to Remove once it has Pocketing the skin of an . also Make Ilspile Ideals for use as Hypodermic needles. The barb Servess to CQR the quill in place, making it Difficulty to dislodge. Intresting to Notes the fierces Appearances of the Caped Porcupine, it generally has a laid-back disposition, Much of time Forages for fruits, roots and bark. But Should be cornered, the Critter will LOSE its chill and turn vicious, Charging the to it WITH . Did you know these Critters are Monogamy and will mate for life? #6 Capybara Coming up, you’ll Some From back in the day Should REACH the Size of Arctos … but Today, the largest is the Capybara. to South America, Adults can attain a of Nearly 200 pounds, and Measures Allmost 5 Foot long … ’s a essentially the Size of a Sainted Bernard. And are Saeid to make great pets, ABLE to get WITH dogs, cats, and Even horses. But can be aggressive, and large can inflict a Serious wound. Did you know Hydrochaeris Meatatarian is Traditionality for in Venezuela, and is considered a Delicacids There.

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wionews · 7 years ago

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Salman Khurshid 'ousted' from Islam for worshipping Lord Ram

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid was on Sunday ousted from Islam for worshipping Lord Ram.

Earlier the video and photographs of the Congress leader performing Aarti of Lord Ram during Kalki Festival in Sambhal went viral on the social media.

Taking suo motu notice of the video and photographs on social media, Darul Iftaa, debarred the senior Congress leader from Islam with immediate effect.

“His act is against the basic tenets of Islam which does not allow any devout Muslim to worship anyone other than Allah. Moreover, idol worship is strictly banned in Islam” said a statement in Urdu from Deoband’s Ulema Mufti Tariq Kashmi.

My response to Deoband rep (?): My iman not frail like yours to whither by respecting practices of my friend’s faith. May Allah forgive you

— Salman Khurshid (@salman7khurshid) October 30, 2017

“His (Salman Khurship) act violates Islamic laws and, therefore, he is being ousted from the Islam with immediate effect. He is no longer a Muslim and should repent (Tauba) before Allah for his un-Islamic act and read Kalma only then he will be allowed to embrace Islam again as per Islamic laws,” DNA quoted Ulema as saying.

The Deoband Mufti advised and warned Muslims in general to stay away from such ‘un-Islamic’ acts or be ready to face the consequences. “Any Muslim worshipping anyone other than Allah will have no place in Islam,” warned the Ulema.

Respect for a compatriots religion is no denial of one’s own. Wakum din a kum, yakum din in most positive form

— Salman Khurshid (@salman7khurshid) October 29, 2017

Reacting to the 'ouster', Salman Khurshid tweeted that respect for a compatriot's religion wasn't denial of one's own.

Earlier, Darul Uloom deoband had ousted about a dozen Muslim women in Varanasi when they worshipped and performed Aarti on Lord Ram on Diwali. Following the ouster, the Chairperson of the Muslim Women Foundation, Varanasi Nazneen had demanded to ban Darul Uloom Deoband for spreading communal hatred in the society and issuing anti-Islamic fatwas.

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pleasantnightmarebeliever-blog · 7 years ago

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Dwyane wading & Carmelo Anthony TO join battle forebode In OKC!?

Date: 2017-09-25 16:03:40

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Canst we Really see and Force in OKC or do think LB23 in Cleveland? Whither do you think he’s going? 🔥🔥 REP SMITH MERCH: 🔥🔥

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johnbriswell · 7 years ago

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Date: 2017-09-25 16:03:40

Canst we Really see and Force in OKC or do think LB23 in Cleveland? Whither do you think he's going? 🔥🔥 REP SMITH MERCH: 🔥🔥 If You ...

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omcik-blog · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/trumps-health-secretary-price-resigns-amid-private-jet-scandal/

Trump’s Health Secretary Price Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal

Tom Price (Photo: Diego Radzinschi/ALM)

Tom Price, President Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services, has resigned after taking private and military jets at taxpayer expense while heading one of the U.S.’s largest government agencies.

Trump intends to designate Don J. Wright of Virginia to serve as acting secretary, effective at 11:59 p.m. on Friday.

Price, 62, quit after it was revealed by Politico that he took more than two dozen private flights at taxpayer expense as well as trips to Europe, Africa and Asia on military aircraft. The HHS department’s Office of Inspector General launched an investigation, as did Congress. Price is the first cabinet secretary to leave the administration, though Trump’s volatile White House has already seen the departure of several top staffers.

(Related: HealthCare.gov Managers See Signs of Sham Plan Sales)

Price’s seven-month round trip in and out of the health agency was bracketed by questions about his conduct, starting with trading of stock in health care companies and ending with the jet trips. Price said he would write a check for the chartered jet trips to the U.S. government for $51,887.31 to cover his seat.

Bad Timing

Price is leaving as an HHS agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is preparing to start the annual enrollment period for Medicare plans, on Oct. 15, and as the agency is preparing to start the annual open enrollment period for individual major medical coverage, on Nov. 1.

Price’s exit could also distract from administration legislative priorities, like tax reform. It may also raise further questions about other agency heads who have taken taxpayer-funded trips on private aircraft, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, as reported by CBS; and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, according to the Washington Post.

During the administration’s months-long attempt to get Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Price was never an obvious force. He did, however, let the law whither under his administrative tenure. His agency slashed advertising funding meant to get people to sign up for insurance plans sold under the law, and cut budgets for local groups of “navigators” who helped people find the right plan for them. HHS also shortened the time when people could sign up for coverage, and took other steps that critics decried as “sabotage.”

Seema Verma (Photo: Senate Finance)

Price’s successor will have to decide whether to try and make the Affordable Care Act succeed, attempt to modify it by rewriting its rules and regulations, or allow it to slide into neglect.

One obvious candidate to succeed Price is Seema Verma, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and is directly responsible for running much of the Affordable Care Act. Another is Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner who has implemented several programs on drug prices and modernizing the agency.

Verma is seen as close to the White House. She worked with Vice President Mike Pence to implement the then-governor’s Healthy Indiana Plan, and has regularly visited Capitol Hill to help push Obamacare repeal efforts.

Tom Price

Price, a doctor, joined Congress in 2005 as a representative from Georgia and was one of the original members of the Tea Party, which promotes small government. In the House, he introduced several bills to replace the Affordable Care Act. While his nomination to head HHS was backed by the American Medical Association, the U.S.’s largest doctors lobby, that group and almost every other health care trade organization issued strong statements opposing the administration’s Affordable Care Act-repeal attempts.

Price was sworn in in February as he was being asked about whether, as a congressman, he improperly traded stocks of medical companies while at the same time dealing with health care legislation that could have affected them.

In one instance, he received a discount on shares of Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotechhnology company. He also invested in a medical-supply distributor before introducing legislation that could have benefited the company.

Price defended the trades at the time, saying a broker directed the trades independently, except for his purchase of Innate shares. He said he learned Innate and the special stock offering through Innate board member and fellow Rep. Chris Collins of New York.

Then, this month, Politico reported that he had taken more than two dozen private flights at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of dollars, including trips to Nashville, Tennessee, where his son lives and where Price owns a condominium. His office defended the travel decisions, calling the trips more convenient than cheaper commercial travel. Cabinet members typically fly on commercial airlines unless there is a specific reason to take a private plane.

In 2009, Price told CNBC that Congress should cut spending on government planes that supporters said were needed to carry military officials leading soldiers into combat. Price criticized an original effort to spend $550 million on eight passenger jets, and also objected to a reduced $220 million request for four jets.

“Now we need to cut it from four jets to zero jets,” he said at the time. “This is just another example of fiscal irresponsibility run amok in Congress right now.”

Price was confirmed in February by a party-line vote in the Senate. Democrats opposed his free-market views on health care and his promises to help repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Don Wright

Don Wright, a medical doctor, has been an acting assistant secretary for health at HHS since February.

Wright has a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University and a medical degree from the University of Texas at Galveston, according to his LinkedIn entry.

He worked in occupational health positions at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2003 through 2007. Since then, he’s worked for HHS. He has worked mainly in health care quality, disease prevention and research integrity programs at HHS, rather than in the department’s Medicaid or Medicare programs.

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