What will high court do on health law? 4 most possible scenarios

Last week, U.S. Supreme Court justices heard arguments about the constitutionality of the federal health-care reform law. At the center of the debate is whether the government can force people to buy health insurance, a provision often referred to as the individual mandate. There are four likely scenarios that will be the outcome of the justices' decisions, asserts Jennifer Haberkorn for Politico, all of which come with their own problems.

Scenario 1: The individual mandate is struck down, as well as insurance reforms: If these parts of the Affordable Care Act are scrapped, "Insurance companies will still be able to deny coverage based on customers' costly pre-existing conditions and charge more to older and sicker — or female patients," Haberkorn reports.

If that happens, the Obama administration and Democrats would likely blame Republicans for promoting a lawsuit that puts insurance companies in charge again. If reaction from the public is strong, Republicans may feel obligated to enact insurance reforms without an individual mandate. Ideas for doing this include "charging more if a person buys insurance at the last minute, tax incentives and a promise that if a person buys coverage, that person wouldn't lose it if he or she were to get sick and need it," Haberkorn reports.

Scenario 2: The mandate is struck down, but insurance reforms stay intact: Part of the reason why insurance companies agreed to stop denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions is they could offset the losses because the law would enlarge their insurance pool by 30 million people — the number of Americans who lack coverage.

If insurance companies are still required to stop denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions but the individual mandate is struck down "They could start a mini revolt over having to cover expensive patients without the mandate," Haberkorn reports.

Scenario 3: The entire law, or the majority of it, is axed: That would mean unpopular parts of the law would be trashed, but so would popular ones, including the pre-existing conditions piece as well as a provision that allows young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance until the age of 26.

In 2010, 26 provisions took effect and another 17 did last year. Nine new provisions are taking place this year. "Lawmakers designed the phase-in, in part, with the thought that the public would become more supportive of the law once certain provisions began to take hold," report Michael Doyle and David Lightman for McClatchy Newspapers.

Scrapping the law entirely could cause the most political fallout. "Republicans would try to move quickly to enact a small-scale health reform legislation aimed at restoring some of the popular pieces of the health law," Haberkorn reports. "But Democrats won't want to support something far less comprehensive than the Affordable Care Act, not with some 50 million Americans uninsured."

Scenario 4: The law stands: Though this is the hope of the Obama administration, "The mandate is considered relatively weak: The penalty for not obeying it starts at $95 in 2014 — that's nothing compared with the cost of insurance premiums," Haberkorn reports. The amount increases to $695 by 2016.

As for what the justices will do, "at least some of the court's conservatives seem prepared to kill the whole bill," report Doyle and Lightman. "My approach would be, if you take the heart out of the statue, the statute is gone," Justice Antonin Scalia said.

Justice Elena Kagan countered, "Half a loaf is better than no loaf," while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested, "It's a question between a wrecking operation and a salvage job."

Some justices said the whole bill should be sacked, "on the theory that members of Congress would not have voted for it without the mandate," Adam Liptak reports for The New York Times. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor said killing the whole law "would be too broad an assertion of judicial power," Liptak notes. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the likely swing vote, said "We would be exercising the judicial power, if one provision was stricken and the others remained, to impose a risk on insurance companies that Congress had never intended."

The justices probably decided the future of the law Friday morning, reports Mark Sherman for The Associated Press. Typically, an initial vote is "followed soon after by the assignment of a single justice to write a majority opinion, or in a case this complex, perhaps two or more justices to tackle different issues. That's where the hard work begins, with the clock ticking toward the end of the court's work in early summer," Sherman writes.

In Kentucky, health advocates and officials are watching closely to see what happens. "I think the entire health-care sector and insurance sector are watching this closely because it has significant implications on both industries," said Stephen Williams, chief executive officer of Norton Healthcare. "This is very far-reaching."

In Kentucky, the law extends coverage for 35,000 young adults, reports Laura Ungar for The Courier-Journal. (Read more)

Industry Influence Dominates Historic Hearing on Toxic Cosmetics

For Immediate Release: March 28th, 2012 Contact: Stacy Malkan, stacy@safecosmetics.org, 202-321-6963; Stephenie Hendricks, stephdh@earthlink.net,415-299-9510

Industry Influence Dominates Historic Hearing on Toxic CosmeticsRegulatory Fight Could Turn Ugly as Congress Seeks to Overhaul Cosmetics Regulations (Washington DC) In response to public pressure from recent scandals including mercury in face cream, lead in lipstick and formaldehyde in hair products, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee yesterday convened the first Congressional hearing in 30 years on the safety of cosmetics and personal care products. The hearing was weighted in favor of industry, which represented four of the six witnesses who testified. No witnesses representing health impacted salon workers or consumers were called to testify. “It’s upsetting that manufacturers, their trade groups and lawyers got most of the seats at the table but the voices of people who have been hurt by toxic products were shut out of the process,” said Jennifer Arce, a hairstylist who is suffering respiratory ailments due to formaldehyde exposure from hair straightening treatments. Arce’s name was submitted to the Committee but she was not chosen to testify. “Despite the heavy industry influence, safe cosmetics champions Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D – IL) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) gave voice to the strong science supporting concerns about toxic chemicals in cosmetics and were staunch advocates for public health, worker safety and consumers’ right to know,” said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. Michael DiBartolomeis, PhD toxicologist and head of the Safe Cosmetics Program for the California Department of Health, testified that companies have reported to his office 17,060 personal care products that contain one or more of 96 carcinogens or reproductive toxicants. The reporting is required by the California Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005. DiBartolomeis stressed the importance that any federal cosmetics legislation must not preempt states’ rights to create stronger standards, as California has done. This could be a central issue as Congress gears up to debate cosmetics safety in the weeks ahead. “This is a critical time for the future of cosmetic safety in the United States. Industry, environmental groups and both parties seem to agree that the failed 1938 cosmetics laws need to be updated, but the million-dollar question is, will it be meaningful reform or will industry write its own rules and make a bad situation worse?” said Janet Nudelman, policy director of the Breast Cancer Fund. Three legislative proposals are circulating. The original cosmetics safety bill -- the Safe Cosmetics Act, introduced last year by Schakowsky, Markey and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) -- is being supported by more than 100 consumer, public health, medical, faith and environmental groups. Yesterday, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and John Dingle (D-MI) introduced the Cosmetics Safety Enhancement Act. That bill calls for companies to pay $500 in user fees and would grant recall authority to FDA for cosmetics. Unlike Schakowsky’s bill, it would not provide protections against carcinogens and reproductive toxins in cosmetics, would not require full disclosure of cosmetic ingredients, and does not contain as strong a safety standard. A third legislative proposal, written by the Personal Care Products Council, seeks to have FDA codify into law decisions about ingredient safety made by the industry-funded Cosmetic Ingredient Review Panel. Such a move would be “unprecedented” and possibly unconstitutional, according to Michael Landa, Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at FDA, who testified at the hearing. The Energy and Commerce Committee has said there is a placeholder for cosmetics safety language to be added by Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) to the User Fee Reauthorization Act that Congress will vote on in the coming months. “Essential public health protections could be set back another 70 years if industry gets away with writing its own laws that put industry profits over public health,” said Janet Nudelman from the Breast Cancer Fund. Nudelman stressed the need for meaningful reform that includes phasing out cosmetic ingredients linked to cancer, reproductive or developmental toxicity; a safety standard that protects workers, babies and other vulnerable populations; full disclosure of ingredients and FDA authority to recall dangerous products from the market—all of which are elements of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011. "Anything less than this will fail to protect the public from the worst toxic chemicals that are lurking in our most intimate products," Nudelman said. # # # The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of more than 150 nonprofit organizations working to protect the health of consumers and workers by eliminating dangerous chemicals from cosmetics. Core members include: the Breast Cancer Fund, Clean Water Action, Commonweal, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, and Women’s Voices for the Earth. www.safecosmetics.org

2012 county health rankings released; meant to spur local change

By Tara Kaprowy

Kentucky Health News

Meant to be a conversation starter to fuel change for better health, the third-annual County Health Rankings were released today, a health-evaluation tool that assesses the country's counties on everything from their smoking to early mortality rates. Kentucky's rankings did not change significantly from last year, with Oldham and Boone counties at the top and Owsley, Magoffin and Wolfe counties at the bottom of the list.

Kentuckians who are the least healthy live in the Appalachian swath of the state, the rankings show. Fulton County in Kentucky's southwestern tip ranks low, though is not surrounded by other low-ranked areas. Counties that hug urban centers — Louisville, Lexington and Cincinnati — have the highest rankings. The data are compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Kentucky's breakdown is not unusual, but part of a nationwide pattern in which the least healthy counties are often in rural, sparsely populated areas, said Dr. Patrick Remington, lead researcher and associate dean for public health at UW's School of Medicine and Public Health. "At the other end, you see urban centers as having similar problems and often ranking at the bottom of the list," he said. "Another pattern is some of the suburban communities, ring communities, are some of the healthiest communities."

Counties are ranked in two ways: health outcomes (such as premature death rates, low birthweight, how good or bad people feel physically and mentally) and health factors (such as smoking, obesity and binge-drinking rates). In health outcomes, graphic above, Oldham, Boone and Calloway ranked first, second and third respectively. Owsley County was ranked last, preceded by Martin and Wolfe counties.

In health factors, left, Woodford County ranked first, followed by Oldham and Boone. Clay County (labeled CY) was in last place, preceded by Magoffin and Wolfe counties (MG and WO).

Though Kentucky's counties are ranked from 1 to 120, because of the small sample sizes in many of them, the rankings do not "represent statistically significant differences from county to county," the rankings website reads. Sources for the data also change, so direct comparisons from year to year are also inexact, Remington said. This year, researchers tracked the number of fast-food restaurants in a county and levels of physical inactivity. They also used premature death rate trends over 10 years, a hard number that alone can indicate progress, Remington said.

Though Remington said he would "be naive to say the competitive element doesn't pique interest in the rankings," they are "not really intended to be a race to the top." Instead, rankings should be used as a "Polaroid snapshot of community health," Remington said. The data should be used by officials to pinpoint problem areas, drill down and make policy changes in turn, he said.

That's what Chip Johnson, mayor of Hernando, Miss., did. Participating in a teleconference about the rankings, Johnson talked about how policies aimed at improving health have changed his city. Officials have required sidewalks in all new and re-developments, he said. All new streets should be biking and pedestrian accessible. The city has partnered with schools so people can use their gyms to work out. And Johnson encouraged a local bank to donate land for a 37-acre park. "Banks are sitting on land they've repossessed and don't know what to do with it," he said. "We're naming the park after the bank."

The goal is to create infrastructure that will make it easier for people to make healthy decisions, he said, pointing out, "You can't exercise your personal responsible for good health if your city or county does not give you that atmosphere or opportunity." Johnson said he responded to this reality by strategically placing the city's only farmers' market, community garden and community center in its lowest-income area.

As indicated by the data assessed and Johnson's efforts, "Much of what influences our health happens outside of the doctor's office," foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey said, and factors like education rates, income levels and access to healthy food all play a part, researchers found. Data also show where someone lives can influence health. Excessive drinking, for example, is highest in Northern states. Rates of teen births, sexually transmitted infections and children living in poverty are highest in Southern states.

The rankings are based on several sources of data, from vital statistics to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the world's largest, on-going telephone health survey. "We found even though the data are available nationally, it requires a lot of time and effort," Remington said. "This is one-stop shopping, not just for death and disease rates but for all of the factors that lead to a healthy community. Combining them allows people to start the conversation pretty easily."

Susan Zepeda, CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, applauded the effort. "Local health data can spur communities to action to create better health outcomes for all Kentuckians," she said.

This week is National Public Health Week; this year's focus is on prevention and wellness

With a focus on prevention and wellness this year, the Kentucky Department of Public Health is promoting national Public Health Week, which kicked off yesterday and will be observed until Sunday. The prevention theme was chosen to underscore the impact of chronic disease on the American population.

Americans miss 2.5 billion days of work because of diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, which costs the country $1 trillion. Unintentional injuries, such as those stemming from motor vehicle accidents, poisonings and burns, rank within the top 10 causes of death for people 44 and younger, according to a DPH press release.

"Often, these horrible diseases and injuries could have been prevented with more attention to lifestyle choices like physical activity and nutrition or preventive safety measures," said Dr. Steve Davis, acting DPH commissioner. "The health care community — as well as the individual — must work to understand the risk for developing chronic disease and avoiding injury so that we can prevent complications. This is key to improving the health of our state."

Public health is also crucial in emergency response, as witnessed with recent tornadoes that struck the state. "The contribution of public health is tremendous — both on a day-to-day basis and in times of crisis," Davis said. "I encourage everyone to go online to read more about our public health programs; talk to your health care provider about chronic disease and injury prevention; or, better yet, visit your local health department to learn more about how public health can — and does — improve your life." (Read more)

'One Text or Call Could Wreck It All' traffic safety campaign being promoted this month

A new traffic campaign with the slogan of "One Text or Call Could Wreck It All" is being sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this month.

April has been designated Distract Driving Awareness Month, with Kentucky law-enforcement agencies committed to spreading the word. In 2009, nearly 5,500 people were killed and another half a million people were hurt in accidents caused by distracted driving, according to national safety administration figures.

The national effort "focuses on ways to change the behavior of drivers through legislation, enforcement, public awareness and education — the same activities that have curbed drunken driving and increased seat belt use," The Courier-Journal reports.

Officials said they want to reach teen drivers especially with the effort, since that group has the highest proportion of distracted drivers who were involved in fatal crashes. (Read more)

Scientists Rediscover Dandelion for Cancer Therapy

(Imzaia.com) The beautiful and abundantly growing dandelion (taraxacum officinale) has stolen this one's heart a long time ago. Without having any knowledge of this plant's health properties, I couldn't wait for spring to arrive to be able to pluck the new dandelion leaves out of the lawn, not because I considered them weeds but because they make such a delicious salad. My body just craved dandelions and fortunately there was never any lack of it! I also use the tiny buds and the open flowers in salads or as a snack. They are not only very decorative but also deliciously sweet with a very delicate, slightly citrusy flavour. A dandelion salad is a feast for the eye and the taste buds. I also use dandelion as a herb, chopping it finely to add to salads or stir-fries. 

Traditionally, dandelion has been used for culinary purposes since recorded history. Its taproot can be roasted and used as a caffeinefree coffee. Leaves and flowers are used for tea, in salads or as vegetable - raw, stir-fried or boiled. Eating it raw, you can really taste and feel its life force. The earthy and slightly bitter taste of the leaves might be an acquired taste for some, but for the rabbits amongst us it truly is a delicacy.

Furthermore, dandelion is a major source for nectar collecting bees in the northern hemisphere. Its taproot brings nutrients to shallow-rooting plants, as well as adding minerals and nitrogen to the soil. It helps fruit to ripen by releasing ethylene gas into the air. 

Taraxacum officinale is also known for its many medicinal properties. Amongst others, it is a great source of vitamin A, C and K, beta carotene, iron, calcium, potassium and manganese. The anti-carcinogenic properties of the dandelion are now being rediscovered by scientists, as explained in the article below. Interesting facts that not many people might be aware of.

Jasmine, for Imzaia team

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Dandelion gets scientific acceptance as an antioxidant and "novel" cancer therapy

Dandelion is the bane of immaculate lawn enthusiasts, but holds healing secrets that few people realize. Dandelion is a delicious super-food to add to salads and soups. It contains substantial vitamins and a host of plant-based minerals, especially potassium. The herb stimulates the flow of bile from the liver into the gall bladder, making dandelion a key ingredient in liver cleanse formulas. It helps to break down liver fats and is an effective diuretic. The scientific community has been frenetically studying dandelion recently, due to encouraging evidence that dandelion suppresses the growth and invasive behavior in several types of cancer.

Scientists "approve" dandelion extract as an effective oxidative stress inhibitor

Scientists at the University of Annunzio Chieti-Pasaca in Italy compared extracts of tumeric, dandelion, rosemary, and artichoke in a study released in 2010. The researchers acknowledged the positive effect that these herbs have on the liver and gallbladder, and wanted to compare their anti-proliferation (spreading), antioxidant (combating free radical activity), and protective effects. While tumeric had the greatest antioxidant effects, dandelion also had these qualities. The scientists confirmed that these herbs are useful healing aids in modern phytomedicine.

The oxidative stress-reducing effects of dandelion extract was tested on rats with liver damage from carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), a chemical used in fire extinguishers and refrigerants which is highly toxic to the liver. Water-based dandelion extract, or dandelion tea, was observed to significantly reduce the amount of oxidative stress and inflammation present in the livers of rats.

Medical researchers are enthusiastic about the effects of dandelion on various cancers

Medical science is finally beginning to accept the positive results from natural dietary supplements in healing cancer. Just in the past few years, clinical research has been published stating the benefits of herbal supplements such as dandelion for cancer. Here are a few studies:

The International Journal of Oncology published a 2008 clinical study showing the positive effects of dandelion leaf tea. Dandelion leaf tea decreased breast cancer cells, but dandelion root tea did not. Researchers went on to test prostate cancer cells and found similar results. The scientists concluded that dandelion extract may be considered a "novel" anti-cancer agent.

The Journal of Ethnopharmacology published a study in January 2011 which tested the effects of dandelion root tea on leukemia cells. The study showed that dandelion root tea killed leukemia cells through a process called apoptosis. It is believed that dandelion root tea signals a "kill switch" on leukemia cell receptors. Researchers found it "interesting" that dandelion root tea did not transmit the same "kill switch" signal to healthy cells. These scientists also believed that dandelion should be considered a "novel" non-toxic anti-cancer agent.

The International Journal of Oncology published a 2011 report that a dietary supplement containing dandelion as one ingredient suppresses the growth of prostate cancer cells.

In yet another 2011 study performed with dandelion, dandelion root extract was clinically proven to induce apoptosis in human drug-resistant melanoma cells without poisoning or damaging healthy cells. Once again, tests proved that dandelion root extract should be considered a "novel" and non-toxic therapy for even drug-resistant forms of cancer.

(Source: naturalnews.com)

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(Imzaia.com) I always marvel at the fact that the most 'common' plants are the ones that keep our physical husk in the best shape and good health. Traditional herbalists have known this all along and I think it is extremely positive that scientists are now finally going back to nature and rediscover what a powerful healer Gaia truly is. That we should consider any plant a 'weed' and therefore a nuisance just shows how much we have forgotten about our connection with Earth.

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature. ~ Gerard de Nerval