One-third of Americans — even those with health insurance — say high costs force them to skip needed medical care, a new survey shows. And one-quarter of the respondents said they had serious problems paying for the care they needed, while 79 percent said health care will be a top issue in this year’s presidential election, according to the survey, sponsored by the AFL-CIO. ‘The survey results paint a devastating picture of a health-care system that costs too much, covers too little, leaves too many behind, and is getting worse,’ AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said during a Tuesday teleconference. Conventional wisdom holds that only the uninsured care about health-care reform, Sweeney said. ‘Our survey results turn that conventional wisdom on its head. Of the more than 26,000 people who took the survey, most are insured and employed, most are college graduates, and most are union members. These are the people you would think are the lucky ones, but they’re not,’ Sweeney said. Sweeney said the survey respondents are the very people struggling to pay medical bills and skipping doctors’ visits and prescription medications because of cost. The solution to the health-care crisis is a […]
WASHINGTON — A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday. Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years. This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan. Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video. ‘It’s an event we don’t get to see very often,’ said Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. ‘The cracks fill with water and slice off and topple… That gets to be a runaway situation.’ While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said. The rest of the Wilkins ice […]
The recent run of optimistic headlines enjoyed by financial markets was interrupted, at least for a day, by two economic reports released Mar. 25. The releases featured a plunge in a closely watched gauge of the mood of the U.S. consumer in March-to a five-year low-and another slide in a key home-price index for January. Here’s Action Economics’ rundown of the Mar. 25 reports: Consumer Confidence The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence index plunged to 64.5 in March, from 76.4 in February (revised from 75), a five-year low. The index is down from 87.3 in January and well below the 90.6 in December. The March plunge in the headline figure brings the index to its lowest level since March, 2003, though above the 47.3 low point in the prior cycle in February, 1992, and 50.1 prior-cycle low for the series in May, 1980. And, with a dramatic swing that was characteristic of the current mix of figures weaker for confidence than sales, the ‘expectations’ index plummeted to 47.9. This is a hefty 41 points below the 89.2 present situations measure, and is the weakest figure for this index since December, 1973, when the public was […]
Researchers at Oxford University have teamed up with their US counterparts at the Texas Christian University (TCU) to study the ecological and socio-economic impacts of wind power. A five-year research initiative, funded by US wind power giant FPL Energy, will attempt to better understand the impact that wind turbines have on birds and bats, as well as their ecological and socio-economic implications. The research will be coordinated by TCU’s Institute for Environmental Studies (IES) and Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI). All the field research for the project will be conducted at FPL Energy’s wind farm locations across the US. ‘As the need for power increases across the US and the climate change debate intensifies, we believe now is the right time for a comprehensive research program to study the real environmental impacts and benefits of wind power. Although wind power cannot meet all of the energy needs of this country, we believe it can and should play a greater role than it does today,’ said Mitch Davidson, president of FPL Energy. The research partners hope the information generated from the research effort will be used to shape responsible future development of wind generation […]
WASHINGTON — Concern over sex education is alive and well in the nation’s capital. The political and ethical debate over what to teach teenagers about sex is being reinvigorated after a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. Now some say the study, the first of its kind, reveals why it’s so important to teach teens not to have sex at all; others argue that the study proves that federally funded abstinence-only education isn’t working. Stoking the fire, a study published in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received abstinence-only education. The study also found that those who received comprehensive sex education were 60 percent less likely to become pregnant than those who received no sex education at all. ‘I do think that there’s strong evidence that comprehensive sex education is more effective at preventing teen pregnancies,’ said Pamela Kohler, lead author of the study and program manager at the University of Washington’s Center for AIDS and STD. ‘I […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
