There’s an old expression used to convey the idea that what appears obvious is frequently the truth. The expression goes, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck”. Well, this bit of folk wisdom is not to be trusted. Especially when it comes to the claims of, well,
quacks! That is, purveyors of bogus medical items. From phony H1N1 “swine flu” cures online, to aisles upon aisles of homeopathic “remedies”, unregulated by the FDA on shelves in pharmacies across the country, people are frequently taken in by sales pitches that seem completely plausible.
Continue reading…
A while back I posted several pieces here and here about how an observer could gauge the relative chances of significant healthcare being passed by Congress, simply by looking at the share prices of publicly traded health insurance companies like Cigna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana, United Healthcare and others. Well, if anyone doubted that Wall Street was actually in a position to influence these things, follow me over the fold for iron clad proof that Wall Street wants reform to fail. Continue reading… 
This past Saturday night, the US House of Representatives worked all day and into the evening (it felt good to watch these people work on a weekend for once) and narrowly passed a bill aimed at reforming the broken healthcare system. In the process though, they were forced to insert an amendment (the Stupak amendment) which disallows women who would be enrolled in the public option plan from getting abortions. I am fed up with people inserting their religious preferences into legislation that effects all Americans, religious or otherwise. 
Forbes Magazine published a list of the most and least toxic cities in the US to live in. As a New Yorker and something of an environmentalist, I was surprised to learn we are not on the “Most” list. Even more surprised to find us on the “Least” list. Anyway, for those considering a move after graduation or a new city to launch your new career, keep this in mind when weighing quality of life against availablity of employment. List after the jump… 
Guest Blogger Zipporah Dvash – Assistant Vice President of Public Affairs and Development, Long Island College Hospital
I don’t know about you, but I have never been a proponent of the annual flu vaccine. I have always felt that it was really only necessary for the very young and the very old/infirm. But I also know that influenza became pandemic on a faily predictable schedule about once every 30 years or so. And since it has been nearly 40 years since the last pandemic of “Hong Kong” Flu killed 1 million people in 1968-69, I am thinking this year, I ought to at least get my 4 year old innoculated. So I called my pediatrician and they said, “No we don’t have any H1N1 vaccine and no we don’t have any info on when any will be available”. Shocking! 
I have always been amazed by how far medical science and technology has advanced in the space of the last decades and wrote 
Back in July, before the screaming town hall silliness of Congress’s August recess and before the slow as molasses delivery of Max Baucus’s Senate Finance Committee health care bill, I wrote 
OK so I am DEFINITELY not the next Warren Buffett. However, I feel pretty smart for having liquidated some poorly performing mutual funds in my 401k account about 5 months ago and using the money ($400) to invest in some 25 shares of General Electric (when it was at $3.56 a share) as well as 100 shares of AIG (when it was 44 cents a share). I also bought 10 shares of a stem cell research company as I figured that was a sector sure to grow in the future. Today, my $400 investment into these stocks is worth almost $2000, five short months later. I bought these things at the bottom of the market when everyone had been selling furiously. And it got me thinking about where the next “big” investment sector would be found. I think green energy is it.