UNC Chapel Hill Research: Medicaid Expansion Helps Rural Hospitals

As of the date of this posting – Monday, 19 September 2016 – there are 19 states which have NOT Expanded Medicaid, and Alabama is one of those 19.

In alphabetical order, they are:

Current Condition of Medicaid Expansion
Has YOUR state expanded Medicaid?
Orange=NO

1.) Alabama
2.) Florida
3.) Georgia
4.) Idaho
5.) Kansas
6.) Maine
7.) Mississippi
8.) Missouri
9.) Nebraska
10.) North Carolina
11.) Oklahoma
12.) South Carolina
13.) South Dakota
14.) Tennessee
15.) Texas
16.) Utah
17.) Virginia
18.) Wisconsin
19.) Wyoming

 

 

 

 

 

Lack Of Medicaid Expansion Hurts Rural Hospitals More Than Urban Facilities

By Shefali Luthra September 7, 2016

It isn’t news that in rural parts of the country, people have a harder time accessing good health care. But new evidence suggests opposition to a key part of the 2010 health overhaul could be adding to the gap.

The finding comes from a study published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, which analyzes how the states’ decisions on implementing the federal health law’s expansion of Medicaid, a federal-state insurance program for low-income people, may be influencing rural hospitals’ financial stability. Nineteen states opted not to join the expansion.

Rural hospitals have long argued they were hurt by the lack of Medicaid expansion, which leaves many of their patients without insurance coverage and strains the hospitals’ ability to better serve the public. The study suggests they have a point.

Specifically, the researchers, from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, found that

Medical, Scientific, and Economically Valid Reasons To Legalize #Marijuana In Sweet Home Alabama #ALpolitics

It’s no joke, Colorado is ROLLING (pun intended) in revenue from the taxes and licensing fees associated with legal cannabis sales.

From the Colorado Department of Revenue:
Colorado Marijuana Tax Data
“Total marijuana tax revenue includes the 2.9% retail and medical marijuana sales tax, 10% retail marijuana special sales tax, 15% marijuana excise tax, and retail/medical marijuana application and license fees.”

For the month of September 2015 (reported October 2015), Colorado had TOTAL (Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses) $11,656,736.

On an annualized basis, that’s at least $139,880,832.

The rhetorical question is:
What could Sweet Home do with even half the money like that?

Consider also this: That the legalization of cannabis also largely eliminates

Why #ALpolitics Should’ve Elected @RonSparks2010 – @GovernorBentley In His Own Words: “I had no clue.”

Having made no bones about it, I remain searingly and scathingly critical of Alabama Governor Robert Julian Bentley, a retired physician-turned-Republican legislator from Tuscaloosa, who is twice elected governor – in 2010, and in 2014.

While I wished him well after his initial victory in the governor’s race against his Democratic opponent then-Secretary of Agriculture and Industries, Ron Sparks, he has disappointed the state since Inauguration Day 2011 when he put his foot in his mouth at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, where on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 17, 2011 – mere hours after taking the oath of office and inauguration – he said in part, “There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

It was at that point that Rebekah Caldwell Mason became his Communication Director, and later, Senior Political Advisor-cum-paramour.

More to the point, however, I have maintained that among other things, as an elected official, he has been feckless, and clueless.

But, let’s let him speak for himself.

Here’s in part what Governor Bentley said in a speech to a statewide gathering of city officials in Montgomery, May 2013, “You know where I came up with that idea? Ron Sparks.

Research: Higher Wages Reduces Smoking

September 7, 2015
Raising the minimum wage could benefit health, say researchers. 

 A 10% increase in wages leads to a 5% decrease in the rate of smoking. That is especially true for male employees with a low level of education, report scientists from the UC Davis Health System in Sacramento in the “Annals of Epidemiology.” Moreover, the likelihood of quitting smoking increases from 17-20%.

For their study, researchers analyzed data from full time workers aged 21 to 69 in the years 1999 to 2009 and

Aged 81, #ALpolitics @SenShelby is the Senate’s 4th oldest member.

Senator Richard Shelby is 81 years of age, and while he has not made an official announcement, according to sources, will be seriously considering campaigning for yet another 6-year term… at which point – if he survives it – he will be aged 87.

The Social Security’s most current Actuarial Tables (statistical death probability tables), indicate he has a 6.7509% chance of dying within a year, and conceivably, could live 7.62 more years.

Alabama Senator Richard Shelby is aged 81 years, is the 4th oldest Senator, and is one of 5 senators aged 80, and over. The average age in the Senate is 61. At the end of his present term, he will have been in the Senate for 29 years.

Next year, when he’ll become aged 82, as one might imagine, his chances of dying within a year increase. And with increased age, even the healthiest octogenarian will have health problems, the most common of which include heart problems, high blood pressure, circulatory problems, digestive and excretory difficulties, sleep pattern interruptions, metabolic compromises, respiratory problems, cognitive decline, and more. Of course, there are medications that treat those myriad associated symptoms, but ultimately,

UPDATED: If #ALpolitics Would #ExpandMedicaidNow, They Could CUT Medicaid Co$t$ More Than 50%

UPDATE: Tuesday, 11 August 2015
CORRECTION ADDENDUM

In my first & earlier calculations, I inadvertently overlooked multiplying the Annual Medicaid Spending in Alabama figure (which is a TOTAL of $5,241,269,869) by 70%, which would represent the portion paid for by the Federal government. Alabama’s 30% share of that figure (the share paid for by the state) would be $1,572,380,960.70. It would also be reasonable to expect that Expanding Medicaid in Alabama to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level would increase total economic activity (through Medicaid spending) in the state at least 38%. So to Expand Medicaid, the baseline figure for TOTAL Medicaid spending (combined Federal and State funds) would approximate $7,232,952,419. According to the provisions of the law, Alabama’s sharing portion (if Governor Bentley chose to Expand Medicaid) would still be 2016-100%; 2017-5%; 2018-6%; 2019-7%; 2020 and beyond-10%. The corrections to the figures herein are dollar amounts only (based on the $7,232,952,419 total expanded figure), not the %ages. Data & figures are now also shown in table format.

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Folks, it may (or may not) surprise you to know a sampling of the collective thoughts of our wrong-wing friends, and relatives on matters political in Alabama, especially as they pertain to Medicaid.

Here’s a verbatim excerpted sampling of what I came across today.

• No one want increased entitlements. Too much waste and abuse. get a job folks. no to medicaid
• Medicaid is a lifestyle
• scare tactic. nursing homes overcharge. working people of Alabama are tired of taking care of lazy people
• ask any hospital administrator or physician in private practice. Medicaid devalues services. Reject medicaid

I dare say, MOST are clueless about the genuinely tangible economic and public health benefits Medicaid provides to this state, and the revenue and jobs it creates. All they hear are the wails and moans of representatives and/or senators – mostly of whom, if not exclusively, are Republican.

Where does Alabama’s Medicaid money come from?
Where does it go?
Source: Alabama Medicaid Agency Annual Report – FY 2012

Medicaid is a Federal/State matching/sharing program which provides (pays for) healthcare services for the impoverished wherein states pay a minority matching portion, while the Federal Government through CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) pays the majority portion. Within reasonable guidelines, the states have broad discretion and liberty to operate Medicaid according to the way they see fit, and the needs of the residents they serve. There are, however, certain minimums standards to which every state must adhere.

Under the provisions of the OLD law, the states that do NOT Expand Medicaid pay a higher %age rate for their services than they would if they were to Expand Medicaid to provide services to those whom are at 138% of the Federal Poverty guidelines – which is what the PPACA provides. The PPACA is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act- though it’s more often called the ACA “Affordable Care Act,” and colloquially referred to as “ObamaCare.”

Under the provisions of the PPACA, states that choose to Expand Medicaid will have 100% of those costs paid-for by the CMS beginning 2014, until 2016. The incentive for expansion is based upon

Research: #Exercise Significantly Improves Anti-#Depression Therapy

For those whom are searching for adjunct, supplemental, or alternative therepeutic milieus, scientists and researchers have made some wonderful discoveries, and share the findings before the release of their research paper!

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Randomized controlled trial of physical exercise as augmentation to antidepressant therapy for late-life major depression in primary care

August 4, 2015

Summary
Progressive physical exercise plus sertraline anti-depressant therapy achieves higher rates of depression remission than non-progressive therapy plus sertraline, or sertraline alone in primary care patients with late-life major depression.

Study Design
121 primary care patients were randomized to

There’s Much More Than Meets The Eye With Pro-Life Pro-Choice Stances

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control, abortions are performed at a significantly higher rate in racial/ethnic minority communities (Negro & Hispanic) than in the White/Anglo majority community.

Having read an item on the website Black Community News about legislation sponsored by Ohio State Representative Bill Patmon (D, 10th House District, Cleveland) that would “block state funding” to Planned Parenthood, I thought it important to share some notes, observations and thoughts on the topic presented therein.

The legislation of which he is author and principle sponsor, HB 294, is “To enact section 3701.034 of the Revised Code to require the Department of Health to ensure that state funds and certain federal funds are not used either to perform or promote elective abortions, or to contract or affiliate with any entity that performs or promotes elective abortions.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported Wednesday July 29, 2015 5:33 AM on a pro-life event at the Ohio state capitol and wrote that

Alabama State Senator Larry Stutts sued for malpractice… again

Alabama State Senator Larry Stutts has once again been named in another malpractice lawsuit in which a patient of his retained placental tissue, and suffered excessive bleeding following delivery of her baby.

The new case is oddly reminiscent of an older case in which Stutts was named defendant, in which his patient retained placental tissue and suffered excessive bleeding, and later died. The new case’s Plaintiff, Greta C. Cooper, did not die.

Read the PDF file of the 2015 Lawsuit against state Sen Larry Stutts

The suit alleges, among other things, that Stutts failed to order powerful antibiotics to be administered EXCLUSIVELY by Licensed Professional Nurses, and that two RNs with Gentiva Home Health Services in Russellville, Alabama, then taught the Plaintiff’s husband how to administer the medication, and that as a result of his failure to properly order, blood levels of the medication were also not taken which resulted in overdose toxicity.

Dr. Larry Stutts, DVM, MD (R), who was first a veterinarian, then became an Obstetrician/Gynecologist (OBGYN), upset 32-year veteran Alabama Senate District 6 State Senator Roger Bedford (D) by 67 votes in the 2014 November General Election. Stutts is also president of Colbert Obstetrics and Gynecology, PC (his private medical practice), located at 1120 S Jackson Hwy #104, Sheffield, AL 35660, (256) 386-0855.

Alabama District 6 State Senator Dr. Larry Stutts, DVM, MD

Alabama State Senate District 6 encompasses all of Franklin County, and portions of Colbert, Marion, Lauderdale and Lawrence Counties in NW Alabama.

Interestingly, Sutts wasn’t the GOP’s original candidate for the Senate District 6 race. Jerry Mays was the original GOP candidate, but dropped out of the primary. In response to Mays’ decision, on March 20, 2014, State Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead announced that the Alabama Republican Party Candidate Committee had met and named Larry Stutts, who resides in Tuscumbia, to replace Mays candidacy. Stutts had never been in any elected political office.

Stutts is the same physician who was years earlier named in another lawsuit in which his patient Rose Church – a newlywed, and healthy 36-year-old Registered Nurse – died, which in turn,

If Alabama Was A Loaf Of Bread

If Alabama was a loaf of bread, candy canes and root beer floats.

Pineapple ice cream cotton candy, pecan pies, Festhalle chicken, eggs ample, cinco de mother may I?

Johnny Monkeyshines, Goat Hill Hamburger Helper, largely poor, uneducated and easy to barbecue.

W.C. Keller, Bellingrath Handyman, Werner von

Medical News You Can Use: “I hate you; you’re stupid” Edition – Brain Stimulation Reduces Racial Prejudice

Brain Stimulation Reduces Racial Prejudice

Racial discrimination remains to be a pressing issue across the globe. In a study published in “Brain Stimulation“, Dutch researchers have now demonstrated that racial prejudice can be reduced with brain stimulation.

Scientists at the University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands, conducted an experiment in 60 healthy volunteers. Half of the group received transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with a low intensity current administered by electrodes placed on the frontal part of the scalp. The other half received sham treatment.

During the treatment, the participants were

Medical News You Can Use: Reset Button Edition – Circadian Rhythm Synchronizer Found

“Reset Button” For Internal Body Clock Discovered

Canadian scientists have discovered a type of molecular “reset button” for the body’s “internal clock.” In a study published in “Nature Neuroscience” they describe processes and proteins in the brain which play a role in synchronizing the circadian rhythm. They hope that their findings may contribute to treating disorders associated with a disruption of the body’s internal clock.

A team of researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal discovered that

Health News You Can Use: Fresh Air & Sunshine Edition – Pancreatic Cancer Linked To Low Amount Of Sunlight

Pancreatic Cancer Linked To Low Amount Of Sunlight

Researchers and scientists in the United States have found an association between sunlight deficiency and the occurrence of pancreatic cancer. The rates of pancreatic cancer are highest in countries with the least amount of sunshine (due to high altitude and heavy cloud coverage). Their findings were reported in a study published in “The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.”

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, analyzed data from

Alabama Politics: Just Another Day In Paradise

Opining upon the notion of Alabama State Senator Del Marsh’s casino gambling plan to fund Medicaid, someone wrote, “[It’s] The only voluntary tax I know of. If you don’t want to play don’t pay.”

The retort was, “I’m finding myself more open to this lately however; once someone loses their house, job, family etc., don’t come crying for taxpayers to take care of you.”

To which came this reply, “Those people are already finding ways to gamble their lives away. They don’t need a lottery.”

My response follows.

“Those people,” are the Legislators.

In this one thing, I share the Governor’s sentiment – which he ineffectually (no surprise there) communicates:

Lottery will NEVER remedy poor fiscal policy, with which Alabama is replete.

In almost every lottery situation, law demands that the proceeds from lottery are to be used to supplement – not supplant – existing revenue. And in this single instance authored by Senator Del Marsh (R, Anniston) it is being used to supplant – to replace – existing sources of revenue. And that is

Is God an Abortionist?

The Bible never mentions abortion.

It doesn’t suggest it, nor does it even hint at it.

The Bible doesn’t forbid prostitution.

In fact, there are many things the Bible doesn’t even mention.

But it does forbid eating pork, shrimp, oysters, mussels, clams, cheeseburgers, wearing clothing made with cotton/polyester blended  fabric, that a man should marry his brother’s wife if the brother dies before impregnating her, and several hundred other nonsensical rules, regulations and laws – almost all of which were religiously based upon ignorance.

At the time the Bible was written (approximately 4000 BC/BCE), there was no understanding of Germ Theory (1864). No one understood Bernoulli’s Principle (1783). In fact Bernoulli wasn’t even born then. No one understood the physics and principles of lift, low pressure, high pressure, or how weather systems occurred. Even the beer and wine that was made then was thought to have been made magically – as if it were some kind of mystical gift from the gods, a god, or the God. They had no idea – were literally clueless – that it was through fermentation, because

Medical News You Can Use: “Dr. Atkins Was Right” Edition – Carbs Make You Fat, Not Just Inactivity

Researchers: Diet To Blame For Obesity, Not Lack Of Physical Activity

Lack of physical activity is not to blame for the prevalence of obesity, but rather the wrong diet, report physicians from the United States, United Kingdom, and South Africa who published their findings in the “British Journal of Sports Medicine.” However, they emphasized that even regular exercise cannot compensate for poor dietary habits.

Excess consumption of sugar and carbohydrates is mainly responsible for obesity, say the experts. Even 40% of people with a normal BMI will consequently have metabolic abnormalities normally associated with obesity.

But it is problematic that the public firmly believes that development is exclusively due to lack of physical activity. That misconception is due almost exclusively to

Medical News You Can Use: Sleep Apnea Can Harm Children’s Learning

Disruption Of Sleep In Children Could Hamper Memory Processes

Sleep disordered breathing can hamper memory processes in children, according to a new study presented at the Sleep and Breathing Conference held in April in Barcelona, Spain. The research found that disrupted sleep had a negative effect upon different memory processes and how children learn.

Sleep apnea can also negatively affect growing children.

A team of researchers from the University of Szeged and Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary analyzed 17 children with sleep disordered breathing aged between 6 and 12 years. They looked at different memory processes compared to a control group of 17 children of similar age without any sleep disorders.

A story recall task was used to measure memories that can

Medical News You Can Use: “Can I Please Get Some SLEEP!?!” Edition – Children’s Hospitals Lack Standards

As anyone who has been in a hospital – either as patient, or visitor – can attest, hospitals are NOT a place where rest occurs. And THAT! is a crying shame! For healing restoration can ONLY occur with proper rest, and that means SLEEP!

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Study Reveals An Absence Of Consistent Standards In Children’s Hospital Environments

The sound, light and temperature levels in European pediatric hospital wards often vary, highlighting the lack of consistent environmental standards, according to a new study presented at the Sleep and Breathing Conference held in April in Barcelona, Spain.

Quietude aids healing and restoration

Children and parents often suffer sleep deprivation when the environment on a ward is disruptive, which can affect disease recovery and quality of life in hospitalized children. There are no general consistent recommendations covering sound, light, and temperature levels to help guide hospitals across Europe.

Researchers measured these three factors in five pediatric wards in

Medical News You Can Use: “Musician’s Friend” Edition – Wind Instruments Lower Sleep Apnea

Playing A Wind Instrument Could Help Lower The Risk Of Sleep Apnea

A study performed in India suggests wind instrument musicians are at lower risk for Sleep Apnea. Seen here, a B-flat trumpet.

A new study has found that wind instrument players have a reduced risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea. The findings, presented at the Sleep and Breathing Conference held in April in Barcelona, Spain suggest that this could be considered beneficial to those individuals who are at high risk of developing sleep apnea.

Researchers in India conducted lung function testing in

Medical News You Can Use: “Bouncing Off The Walls” Edition – Movement Helps ADHD Kids Learn

Hyperactivity Helps Children With ADHD To Learn

When children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are supposed to learn, adults usually ask them to sit still. However, a study published in the “Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology” now suggests that physical hyperactivity is essential for the cognitive learning processes.

Researchers from the University of Central Florida in Orlando conducted trials in 52 boys aged from 8 to 12. Of the group, 29 boys had ADHD, while the others showed normal development. The study subjects were asked to