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Obama has appointed the past head of Proctor and Gamble Robert Mc Donald to be the new leader of the VA. He was a West Pointer and served for five years. It is a change from the usual military person in charge.
The VA can not get clean. They just got rid of Dr. Pierce from the VA and are now appointing another VA person in his stead. Dr. Gerald Cox, an official at the VA health care arm, is being appointed as the new director of the Office of Medical Inspection. You still have the wolf guarding the henhouse.
The HHS has given grants totaling $82 million for attempting to get more primary care physicians via the more residencies route. This may work three to four years later but even that is doubtful. They could try to re-train physicians that have retired to work in clinics. That could work now.
In the second grant to community health centers in the past month HHS has announced a new grant to new centers for as much as $650,000 each. There is available about $100 million for these grants. This comes on top of $300 million a month ago to have community centers increase hours and hire more providers as well as to help people enroll in Obamacare.
The feds have overspent by $100 BILLION of which $62 BILLION was in healthcare by HHS. This is a disgrace to the taxpayers and if this were a private company the CEO and Board would be removed. Over 10% of Medicare payments are erroneous. Can you imagine a private company doing this? Administration would be gone.
At a time when community hospitals that are questionable should be phased out of existence, New York is paying $462 million to help borderline hospitals stay in business. Sounds like New York is trying to emulate Washington.
Governor Brown of California has signed legislation that delays the Obamacare deadline for small businesses of under 50 employees for one year. They do not have to put in all the benefits of Obamacare until the end of 2015.
San Francisco has passed tentatively Laura's Law. This allows mentally ill to be forced under court order to outpatient treatment. They are deemed a risk to themselves or others or have been jailed or treated as an inpatient once in the past three years. This allows family, mental health professionals or police to petition the court to get treatment for the individual. The law requires the city of offer voluntary treatment prior to involuntary therapy and requires a three person panel which must include a forensic psychiatrist to review the case to see if a court mandate is necessary. Los Angeles is also voting on the law.
The People's Republic of Berkeley, California, now has mandated free marijuana to the poor for medical use. The city dispensaries must dole out 2% to the city people who have "very low" incomes. This is $32,000 per person or $42,00 for a family of four. Top
Oregon has a new law that went into effect July 1. This sets up a website where either patients harmed or physicians can start a dialogue regarding the harm. if no resolution is met then it goes to mediation. There is no mention in the news article whether or not the information in the dialogue is protected in the courts. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.