WHO scandal exposed: Advisors received kickbacks from H1N1 vaccine manufacturers » Not Good News

WHO scandal exposed: Advisors received kickbacks from H1N1 vaccine manufacturers » Not Good News.

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Medical device firms critical of proposed tax

An estimated $40 billion tax on the medical device industry, proposed in the health system reform bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee Oct. 13, would result in a doubling of the tax burden already faced by these companies and would likely contribute to a growth in overall health costs. That’s according to a new analysis released by the Advanced Medical Technology Assn., a device company trade group based in Washington, D.C.

The analysis, released by AdvaMed on Sept. 30, concludes that the tax will divert economic resources away from the medical device industry and likely result in its contraction, which would have detrimental effects on the output of innovative technologies.

On Sept. 16, Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D, Mont.) introduced his version of a health system reform bill, and language proposing the 10-year tax on the medical device industry stayed in the final bill passed by the committee.

“These disturbing findings reaffirm that the $40 billion tax on medical devices over the next decade is neither sound health policy nor tax policy, will result in higher costs for patients and will cost jobs in this sector,” said Stephen J. Ubl, AdvaMed’s president and CEO. “We urge Congress to reject the $40 billion tax.”

This tax includes such frivolous luxuries as pacemakers, stents, artificial heart valves, defibrillators, automated wheelchairs, mechanized artificial limbs, replacement hips and knees, surgical gurneys, laparoscopic equipment, and the like.

Robert Reich: What An Honest President Would Say About Health Reform

You can find the complete web-cast here: web-cast

# Younger people should pay more

# Healthier people should pay more

# Older people should just die- they’re “too expensive”

# There should be “less innovation” in medical technology

# You should not expect to live longer than your parents.

People cheering and clapping at the fact that grandmas going to be denied care and die.

more about “Robert Reich: What An Honest Presiden…“, posted with vodpod

H1N1 sends healthy adults to hospital – Washington Times – Mozilla Firefox

Nearly half of adult patients hospitalized to date with this year’s novel H1N1 flu were healthy and had no known underlying condition such as asthma or a chronic illness.

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City Pushes Cooling Therapy for Cardiac Arrest

Starting on Jan. 1, New York City ambulances will take many cardiac arrest patients only to hospitals that use a delicate cooling therapy believed to reduce the chances of brain damage and increase the chances of survival, even if it means bypassing closer emergency rooms.

via full story