A week after President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated $10 billion of its funding. The agencyâs press release explains why the speed was possible: The funding announced today is primarily formula-based, meaning that it is allocated using set program criteria that do not require […]
Yesterday, the Institute of Medicine warned that employment-based health insurance coverage is eroding, and that the safety net (clinics and emergency rooms that provide charity and uncompensated care) wonât be able to handle the demand from the uninsured. IOMâs new report, Americaâs Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health and Health Care, notes that the decline in […]
(Updated 3/2/09 below) The U.S. economy is in the tank—-the national unemployment rate for January was 7.6% and 46 States are facing serious budget shortfalls—–but these hard times are NO EXCUSE to roll-back worker safety protections.  Yet, that is exactly what some Kentucky lawmakers are proposing for workers employed at small underground coal mines.
On Sunday in Chinaâs Shanxi Province, an explosion rocked a coal mine where 436 people were working underground. Seventy-four of the workers died, and 114 were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning. The New York Timesâ Edward Wong puts this terrible death toll in context: The mining industry in China has a poor safety record. The […]
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure DemFromCT continues his public health series over at DailyKos, thus also continuing to make my early week blogging easier. This week is a brief look at this year’s flu season, already in full swing, including what is happening in pediatric deaths from flu. He follows this with another interview, […]
President Obama’s visit to Canada has several bloggers thinking about tar sands: Ian Austen at Green Inc. gives an overview of our two countries’ positions on this dirty source of oil. Kate Sheppard at Gristmill explores how Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are explaining their approach to tar sands. Several bloggers at NRDC’s Switchboard […]
by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure Nothing like a massive food contamination outbreak from a plant in your state to concentrate the minds of state legislators (more here and links therein). Especially when an important industry is involved. We’re talking Georgia peanuts, of course. Peanuts employ an estimated 50,000 workers in Georgia, accounting for some […]
Yesterday, the New York Times published an article by Cara Buckley on young adults who lack health insurance. Although theyâre often referred to as âyoung invincibles,â most of the people profiled in the article donât actually think they wonât need medical care. They donât have insurance because they canât afford it. The article highlights an […]
DC-area readers, mark your calendars: Alison Bass, an award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee, will be here at George Washington University on Wednesday, March 18th, to speak about why the system of drug research and development in the United States is seriously flawed and what reforms are needed. Wednesday, March 18, 4:30pm GWU-SPHHS Health Policy […]
Last week, Salon.com published a disturbing in-depth series, called âComing Home,â about the tragic consequences of the Armyâs inability to provide adequate care to soldiers returning from Iraq. Focusing on just one base â Fort Carson, Colorado â they found the following: Salon put together a sample of 25 suicides, prescription overdoses and murders among […]