Obamacare so bitterly resisted and resented by Republicans, who are still talking about eliminating it, has been a wonderful success. It doesn't solve the fundamental problem with American healthcare, that is all based on greed and profit not fostering wellbeing, but at least it has done what Obama and the Democrats sought, and that was to get more people covered. So I think this is very good news.
Credit: U.S. Office of Health Policy
At a time when it can feel like America’s most pressing problems aren’t being addressed, there’s some very good news on the healthcare front that everyone should know. The percentage of Americans who are uninsured has hit the lowest point in American history.
A report from the Office of Health Policy earlier this year announced that the uninsured rate hit an all-time low of 8% in the first quarter of 2022. To give some perspective, in 2010, before the Affordable Care Act (ACAalso known as Obamacare) had been fully implemented, the uninsured rate was twice as high at 16%.
To add to the drop in the number of uninsured, more Americans have purchased health insurance during the recent Open Enrollment Period through HealthCare.gov and state-based marketplaces than ever before.
“The historic 13.6 million people who have enrolled in a health insurance plan so far this period shows that the demand and need for affordable health care remains high,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra
Here is some more very good healthcare news, this about progress in treating cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., and we still have a long way to go in dealing with it. But, at least, this is good progress to be celebrated.
HPV vaccines have dramatically reduced rates of cervical cancers. Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty
Let’s take a moment to celebrate some good news: Although we still don’t have a cure for cancer, we’re getting better and better at preventing and treating it.
The US has made substantial progress in in the battle against cancer, cutting the number of deaths from the disease by 33% since 1991. According to a new analysis from the American Cancer Society, that’s 3.8 million cancer deaths averted. People are living longer with cancer, too. The 5-year survival rate across all kinds of cancers has increased from 49% in the mid-1970s to 68% for someone diagnosed between 2012 and 2018.
The report affirms the old maxim about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. Over the last few decades, many cancers have been caught early enough or prevented altogether thanks to a combination of screening, lifestyle changes (most prominently, the downward trend in smoking) and vaccination.
The most stunning statistic in the report is a testament to the power of […]
A reader sent me this today because it is potentially a very big deal. Type II diabetes is a huge problem in the United States and around the world. And now, for the first time, in a very long time, there has been a major breakthrough in what causes it and how this disease works. If you are a Type II diabetic or know someone who is read this. I will follow this line of research and post anything new I can discover.
To read the research paper upon which this report is based: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34095-x
A study has found it isn’t glucose damaging the body’s ability to produce insulin but products of glucose metabolism that lead to type 2 diabetes Credit: Depositphotos
A team of researchers from the University of Oxford has shed light on the mystery of exactly how high blood glucose leads to type 2 diabetes. The discovery reveals glucose metabolites can damage pancreatic beta cells leading to the progression of type 2 diabetes, and disrupting this process could offer a new way to treat the disease.
The International Diabetes Federation estimates over half a billion people around the world are currently living with diabetes, and the vast majority of them suffer from type 2 diabetes. The disease is characterized by hyperglycemia, where high levels of glucose circulate in the bloodstream.
Researchers have long known that type 2 diabetes is largely a result of poor diet and a lack of exercise. Chronically high sugar consumption leads to type 2 diabetes by damaging the body’s ability to release insulin, the hormone known to lower blood glucose levels.
Michelle Boorstein and Scott Clement , Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan:
This is very sad news, particularly that the gap between older and younger Americans is disappearing, and the young increasingly hold the same anti-semitic fascist views as their parents and grandparents generations. I also see that this anti-semitism is a deliberate tactic of Republicans and is supported by evangelical Protestant church communities.
At points in the past half-century, many U.S. antisemitism experts thought this country could be aging out of it, that hostility and prejudice against Jews were fading in part because younger Americans held more accepting views than did older ones.
But a survey released Thursday shows how widely held such beliefs are in the United States today, including among younger Americans. The research by the Anti-Defamation League includes rare detail about the particular nature of antisemitism, how it centers on tropes of Jews as clannish, conspiratorial and holders of power.
The survey shows “antisemitism in its classical fascist form is emerging again in American society, where Jews are too secretive and powerful, working against interests of others, not sharing values, exploiting — the classic conspiratorial tropes,” Matt Williams, vice president of the ADL’s year-old Center for Antisemitism Research, told The Washington Post.
The study uses a new version of surveys the ADL has been doing in America since the 1960s in order to get at the specific nature of antisemitism, and what makes […]
This really makes me mad. America's public lands, parks, and forests to me are sacred spaces that each generation passes on to the one that follows. Some of my best memories occurred during backpacks, hikes, and canoe trips in those parks, lands, and forests, and the idea that the Republicans are setting it up so that those public spaces can be turned over to corporations and uber-rich individuals for them to exploit I think is disgusting.
Newly-elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy celebrates his election as speaker. Credit: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post / Getty
Republicans approved new House rules on Monday making it easier for lawmakers to cede federal public lands to state and local governments without accounting for the costs to taxpayers. Conservationists warn that cash-strapped cities and states could then sell off natural areas that were previously protected to private developers and extractive industries.
Passing a rules package for House business was the next step toward legislation for the Republican majority after a difficult week of wrangling to elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The 55-page rules package is the result of weeks of negotiation between McCarthy and a faction of ultra-conservatives who used the GOP’s slim majority to squeeze out a number of concessions and create a painful spectacle on the House floor last week, when McCarthy was finally elected after 15 rounds of voting.
Some of the rule changes were expected, including new rules curbing McCarthy’s power and making it easier for lawmakers to demand spending cuts […]
