kilamila

শনিবার, ২৮ জুলাই, ২০১২

Lifestyles to blame for health care costs | Health and Fitness

One of the principal arguments for health-care reform used by proponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that Americans spend far more for care than people in other developed countries, but get poorer results.

The evidence that we get poorer results was primarily based on a slightly lower life expectancy for Americans than for people in the other developed countries. But as we examined last week, there are many reasons why life expectancies vary from country to country.

The fact that the U.S. is spending far more on its health care system than other developed economies cannot be denied. By virtually any measure, the U.S. is an outlier.

U.S. health care spending currently stands at around 17% of gross domestic product, or about $8,000 per capita. That is almost double the average spent by other developed countries. This outsized spending is one of the biggest drivers of the federal government?s deficit in Medicare and Medicaid.

The conclusion drawn by many, and especially supporters of the ACA, is that this higher cost is evidence of an inefficient delivery system. That may be, but there are other, and I would argue more cogent, reasons why our health care tab is so much higher.

First and foremost is that we generally have an unhealthier lifestyle than most other countries. As I noted last week, the U.S. ranks near the top of the world?s list of the most obese countries. All of the developed countries that spend considerably less than we do are far below us on the fat list.

The U.S. also ranks high among the world?s countries in the incidence of adult- onset diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that is greatly affected by diet and exercise and can lead to a number of very serious and very costly complications. Most other developed countries have about 30% to 40% fewer diabetics per capita than the U.S.

Another reason our health care cost is so much higher is simply that we consume a great deal more care than other developed countries, especially in procedures that are elective or for conditions that are not life-threatening.

Knee replacements are a good example. In recent years, on average, about a million knee replacements a year are performed worldwide. And although the U.S. only makes up about 5% of the world population, more than 50% of the knee replacements were performed here. In the U.S. the number of knee replacements is about 200 per 100,000 persons. The average for the European Union and Canada is a little more than 100 per 100,000 persons.

And I will give you one guess which country has more breast augmentations, liposuctions and nose jobs than the rest of the world combined.

Another challenge for the U.S. with respect to overall health care costs is our cultural approach to end of life care.

Medicare now estimates that 27% of its budget goes for care provided in the last year of life, and a big chunk of that is spent in the last few weeks of a person?s life. The Lien Foundation did a study on end of life care in 40 developed countries. While the U.S. ranked high on the availability and quality of end-of-life care, its cost of care was one of the highest.

Many of us as families have faced the question of when to let go of a sick, elderly family member. No one wants to think about whether the cost of providing care should be considered in making these decisions. But the disproportionate cost of providing end-of-life care is a reality, and most of us are unprepared to deal with it.

To the credit of the ACA?s proponents, the bill originally contained a provision that would pay doctors to have end-of-life counseling sessions with their patients.

However, that provision was dropped when Sarah Palin and some other Republicans shamefully and outrageously demagogued the issue by alleging it set up ?death panels.? Fortunately since then, the Obama administration has begun paying for these sessions under other regulatory authority, but such limited counseling seems unlikely to make much of a dent in this problem.

There is no doubt that our health care costs are on an unsustainable trajectory. The effect the ACA will have on that trajectory is anyone?s guess.

But I seriously doubt it is going to have much effect on Americans? dietary habits, the incidence of diabetes, our penchant for cosmetic surgery or our cultural choices around end-of-life decisions.

Bill King writes a column for the Houston Chronicle. Email him at weking(at)weking.net and follow him on twitter.com/weking.

Article source: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/lifestyles-to-blame-for-health-care-costs-48699ps-164073696.html

Source: http://medicaltips.org/2012/07/28/lifestyles-to-blame-for-health-care-costs/

wake forest old dominion insync the duchess the duchess spice mike starr

House Ways and Means chairman fighting cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the House's tax-writing committee says he's been diagnosed with a "very early, highly treatable and curable type" of cancer.

GOP Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan says in a statement that doctors found non-Hodgkin lymphoma during a recent physical. Camp says he'll continue in Congress and retain his committee chairmanship during chemotherapy.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the cells of the immune system. The 59-year-old Camp says he has large B-cell lymphoma. B-cells are a type of white blood cell that helps fight infections.

Camp, who's served since 1991, has said he wants to combine a push to head off pending tax increases with ways to force Congress to revamp the tax code next year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-ways-means-chairman-fighting-cancer-190130973--finance.html

john carter trans siberian orchestra trans siberian orchestra little big town little big town bennett bennett

Olympic viewing: NBC sets opening ceremony record

U.S. supporters cheer during the group G women's soccer match between the United States and Colombia at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, at Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. (AP Photo/Chris Clark)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A look at media coverage of the London Olympics:

An opening ceremony from the mother country with a Beatle, a queen and Mr. Bean proved irresistible for viewers in the United States, with a record-setting 40.7 million people watching NBC's first night of summer Olympics coverage.

The Nielsen company said Saturday that London's opener was the most-watched opening ceremony of any summer or winter Olympics. It topped the previous mark of 39.8 million people who watched the 1996 Atlanta Olympics begin, and the 34.9 million who watched the colorful first night from Beijing four years ago.

The London ceremony featured an unusual made-for-TV stunt featuring actor Daniel Craig portraying James Bond escorting the real-life Queen Elizabeth II to the ceremony and ended with Paul McCartney's anthemic "Hey Jude." But according to Twitter, the biggest spike in tweets came when actor Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean") appeared in a "Chariots of Fire" homage.

An estimated 5 million comments about the opening ceremony were made on social media, according to the research company Bluefin Labs. It was more interesting to women, apparently, as 58 percent of the comments were from women and 42 percent from men, Bluefin said.

It was the most-watched television event in the U.S. since the winter, when 39.9 million people watched the Grammy Awards and 39.3 million saw the Oscars.

The results were a good sign for NBC and broadcast TV in general, which is increasingly finding that big events draw people to the screen more than regular entertainment programming ? most likely encouraged by multi-screen experiences, or people conversing through social media while watching television.

NBC Universal also earned a measure of redemption from critics. The company, which began streaming all of the Olympics competition online live Saturday, was blistered on Twitter on Friday by people who wondered why the opening ceremony wasn't shown live (it was aired on NBC on tape delay, because London's time zone is five hours ahead of the eastern United States). But four years ago in Beijing, NBC learned such complaints only increased buzz and made people more interested in watching it on TV in prime time.

"The audience number for the London opening ceremony is a great early sign that our strategy of driving people to watch NBC in prime time is working," said Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group.

Twitter was alight again Saturday with complaints against NBC for not broadcasting live the men's 400-meter swimming race that American Ryan Lochte won, with Michael Phelps finishing fourth. The network said the race was shown live on its website. NBC has been adamant about saving the highest-profile television events for prime time, when it has its largest audience. Because of the time zone, there are no live events for NBC to show during prime time.

Regionally, the top ratings Friday night were recorded in San Diego, Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach, Fla., Nielsen said.

Despite selling more than $1 billion worth of advertising for the London Olympics, NBC Universal has said it expects to lose money on the games. Higher ratings, however, could help NBC earn more money by selling additional advertising at a higher cost as the games go on.

RERUN: NBC aired a rerun of Olympics competition at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday. But it was justified: the network showed Michael Phelps' initial qualifying race, which had been aired live shortly after 5 a.m.

CLOSE GAME: The tighter-than-expected women's basketball game between the U.S. and Croatia challenged NBC announcers Bob Fitzgerald and Lisa Leslie. They were in an awkward position, following the "home team" for U.S. viewers in what was turning into a Cinderella situation for the other side. Before pulling away at the end, the U.S. led 53-49 after three quarters against a team that it had beaten by 54 points a week ago, a team that barely made the Olympics. The announcers could have done a better job exploring the deficiencies of the U.S. play and whether it put an anticipated gold medal run in jeopardy.

QUOTE: "They'll be partying on the streets of Kazakhstan tonight." ? cycling analyst Paul Sherwen after Alexandr Vinokurov's unexpected win in the men's road race.

UPCOMING: The U.S. women's gymnastics team springs into action on NBC on Sunday night. In daytime viewing, the U.S. men's basketball team opens against France.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-07-28-Armchair%20Olympics/id-89729b217e454eb296cdcca908f035a4

komen chrome for android hatchet leah messer freedom riders 9th circuit court of appeals gisele bundchen tom brady

শুক্রবার, ২৭ জুলাই, ২০১২

You?ve Got (New) Mail! AOL Finally Rolls Out Its New-Look Web Mail To Its 24M Users

During AOL's Q2 earnings conference call yesterday, CEO Tim Armstrong emphasized several times how the company was moving to a more technology-focused approach in its lines of business. His emphasis was on advertising, but the change in climate is happening in other places, too, it seems: today the company is rolling out an update to AOL Mail, the first overhaul the webmail service has had in five years. The new version will see a new user interface, better integration with other services like messaging -- and a new format for ads on the site. David Temkin, the SVP of mobile and mail at AOL, tells me the rollout has been a long time in coming, and that since December selected groups of users have actually already been getting the new interface. From today, however, it will go out to all 24 million people using AOL Mail -- with no option to switch back if you happened to prefer the older version.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/S9S3PLaC8j0/

mario manningham williams syndrome hoya casa de mi padre corned beef and cabbage diners drive ins and dives jeff who lives at home

Google Talk down for 'majority of users'

Google (and several users) are reporting widespread outage on its Talk service. Although there's no time set for when the service might return, Google says that it's "continuing to investigate this issue," aiming to give a status update later today, at 1:50PM ET. The service has been reportedly down for two hours.

[Thx Mrigesh]

Filed under: Internet

Google Talk down for 'majority of users' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

Google | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/26/google-talk-down-for-majority-of-users/

madmen james cameron liam hemsworth hunger games miss canada justin bieber boyfriend marianas trench

Download The Watch movie | articlereference.net

Download The Watch movie

The Watch Movie Synopsis: ? A young girl (Baby Doll) is locked away in a mental asylum by her wicked stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in 5 days time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her companions battle various creatures and enemies to retrieve the 5 items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it?s too la An action fantasy set in the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what?s real and what is imaginary. She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls ? the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) ? to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm). Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey ? if they succeed ? will set them free

Celebrates American figure skating while commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team that perished in a plane crash on its way to the World Championships in Prague. Produced and directed by 16-time Emmy Award winners Lookalike Productions, The Watch documents the sports? growth in popularity over the years and features various luminaries of American figure skating. Proceeds from The Watch will be used to further the mission of U.S. Figure Skating?s Memorial Fund, which was established on Feb. 23, 1961, as a living legacy of those who lost their lives. The film?s Feb. 17, 2011, premiere coincides with the 50th anniversary of the tragedy

Among the several types of memberships, life time membership and limited membership are what most of the movie fans go with. Limited membership gives an access to your favorite TV shows during that time period only. Whereas, lifetime membership allows you to download unlimited TV shows throughout your lifetime, just by paying single time charges only. All your interests would be acceded here, whether you want to download movies or watch free full movies online.

Forget about the DVDs and all as the quality of downloaded stuff is always better than DVDs and CDs etc. Don?t need to worry about the quality because this is what we do concentrate on. With a good internet speed, downloading takes only a few minutes!

Don?t think more and join us now. I think we should not think before making a beneficial deal?.. if yeah, then click here and watch online The Watch Movie. Don?t want to download, don?t worry this lick would also let you watch recent movies online for free.The Watch Movie Synopsis: ? A young girl (Baby Doll) is locked away in a mental asylum by her wicked stepfather where she will undergo a lobotomy in 5 days time. Faced with unimaginable odds, she retreats to fantastical world in her imagination where she and four other female inmates at the asylum plot to escape the facility. The lines between reality and fantasy blur as Baby Doll and her companions battle various creatures and enemies to retrieve the 5 items they need that will allow them to break free from their captors before it?s too la An action fantasy set in the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what?s real and what is imaginary. She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls ? the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish) ? to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm). Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey ? if they succeed ? will set them free

Source: http://articlereference.net/arts-entertainment/download-the-watch-movie.html

romney michigan derrick williams railgun jk rowling new book between two ferns ihop statins

Yoga may help stroke survivors improve balance

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) ? Group yoga can improve balance in stroke survivors who no longer receive rehabilitative care, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

In a small pilot study, researchers tested the potential benefits of yoga among chronic stroke survivors -- those whose stroke occurred more than six months earlier.

"For people with chronic stroke, something like yoga in a group environment is cost effective and appears to improve motor function and balance," said Arlene Schmid, Ph.D., O.T.R., lead researcher and a rehabilitation research scientist at Roudebush Veterans Administration-Medical Center and Indiana University, Department of Occupational Therapy in Indianapolis, Ind.

The study's 47 participants, about three-quarters of them male veterans, were divided into three groups: twice-weekly group yoga for eight weeks; a "yoga-plus" group, which met twice weekly and had a relaxation recording to use at least three times a week; and a usual medical care group that did no rehabilitation.

The yoga classes, taught by a registered yoga therapist, included modified yoga postures, relaxation, and meditation. Classes grew more challenging each week.

Compared with patients in the usual-care group, those who completed yoga or yoga-plus significantly improved their balance.

Balance problems frequently last long after a person suffers a stroke, and are related to greater disability and a higher risk of falls, researchers said.

Furthermore, survivors in the yoga groups had improved scores for independence and quality of life and were less afraid of falling.

"For chronic stroke patients, even if they remain disabled, natural recovery and acute rehabilitation therapy typically ends after six months, or maybe a year," said Schmid, who is also an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis and an investigator at the Regenstrief Institute.

Improvements after the six-month window can take longer to occur, she said, "but we know for a fact that the brain still can change. The problem is the healthcare system is not necessarily willing to pay for that change. The study demonstrated that with some assistance, even chronic stroke patients with significant paralysis on one side can manage to do modified yoga poses."

The oldest patient in the study was in his 90s. All participants had to be able to stand on their own at the study's outset.

Yoga may be more therapeutic than traditional exercise because the combination of postures, breathing and meditation may produce different effects than simple exercise, researchers said.

"However, stroke patients looking for such help might have a hard time finding qualified yoga therapists to work with," Schmid said. "Some occupational and physical therapists are integrating yoga into their practice, even though there's scant evidence at this point to support its effectiveness."

Researchers can draw only limited conclusions from the study because of its small number of participants and lack of diversity. The study also didn't have enough participants to uncover differences between the yoga and control groups. The scientists hope to conduct a larger study soon.

Researchers also noticed improvements in the mindset of patients about their disability. The participants talked about walking through a grocery store instead of using an assistive scooter, being able to take a shower and feeling inspired to visit friends.

"It has to do with the confidence of being more mobile," Schmid said. Although they took time to unfold, "these were very meaningful changes in life for people."

Co-authors are Marieke Van Puymbroeck, Ph.D., C.T.R.S.; Peter A. Altenburger, Ph.D., P.T.; Nancy L. Schalk, R.Y.T.; Tracy A. Dierks, Ph.D; Kristine K. Miller, P.T.; Teresa M. Damush, Ph.D.; Dawn M. Bravata, M.D.; and Linda S. Williams, M.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Heart Association.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/MiFkm0zFtoQ/120726180301.htm

pasadena famu famu martina mcbride terry jones andy reid elf on the shelf