Thursday's Healthcare Quiz

Today's topic features questions about the health reform. How many will you get right this week?

Let's sum it up.

For over a month now this blog has talked about our healthcare in this country. Not everyone is going to be on our side and we get that. Our goal was to educate the people who were on the border or didn't know exactly what is really going on. Whether it was positive or negative, helpful or useless, interesting or snooze worthy, we covered it. So I want to take the time to sum a few things up if you are a new reader or if you want healthcare wrapped up in a nutshell. Allow me to start with some the basics.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama care, puts in place strong consumer protections, provides new coverage options and gives you the tools you need to make informed choices about your health. This act was established by president Barack Obama. His goal is to get insurance for those who are unable to get it on their own and help the people who already have it by not allowing insurance companies to charge you more if your already sick. I like many young Americans benefited from Obama care. I am 23 years old, and because of Obama care I am still able to be on my parents insurance and receive amazing coverage without having to go broke.

For the millions of Americans who benefit from Obama care we were on the edge of our seats awaiting the results of the 2012 elections to confirm that this act was going to continue helping us. Governor Mitt Romney was trying to change things for us. With the help of Paul Ryan, they developed Ryan's Plan, which would cause many seniors to have to pay more for the same insurance they are paying less for now. As we of course know Barack Obama did win the 2012 elections, so we should expect to get the help we need at least for the next 4 years.

I want to take the time to say that I support Barack Obama because I can only imagine how hard things can get being the boss of the country. He wants to help the little guys, like me. If I didn't clear up The Affordable Care Act as much as you would have liked watch this short video from President Barack Obama himself and consider all the good that will come.

Medicare from the Doctor.

In a recent article called, "Tough Hard Decision: What to do about Medicare", Dr. Ron Lambert talks about a different view concerning Medicare. By now we know what Medicare is, who uses it, and how to get it, but we never hear from the other side, the Doctors. In his article Dr. Lambert discusses the pros and cons of owing a medical practice and accepting Medicare as one of the providers. Lambert has been using the electronic medical records system in which a computerized medical record is created in an organization that delivers care, such as a hospital or physician's office. Electronic medical records tend to be a part of a local stand-alone health information system that allows storage, retrieval and modification of records. He is now considering "opting-out" from this approach and wants to start charging his patients on a month to month subscription for his services.

Why the change? Well its plain and simple, he wants more money. By having his patients pay a monthly subscription he can charge what he wants for certain procedures and not what Medicare tells him he is going to receive. Although, he does know his possible downfalls if he strays away from Medicare. One of the downfalls is that when you opt-out, Medicare doesn't let you back in for two years. So, if his plan fails he won't be able to run back to gain his patients back. He does also know his benefits of going a different route. One the benefits is direct billing. Instead of having to bill the patient, then bill the insurance and wait for their approval the send back, he is getting paid directly by the patient.

We never look at the trouble Doctor offices have to go through to make some money. Should Dr. Ron Lambert stray away from the system and do things different? Or will his venture in the the unknown world of charging patients directly prevail? He is still contemplating his decision but speaks about his life concerning Medicare is the video.

The New Health Care Rules

A recent blog written by Julie Rovner on NPR's website explains to us how with the election past us, President Obama and his administration are laying down the rules for what will be our new health care plan.  After years of disputing what will, and what will not be part of Americans health care, there are finally some ground rules that have been established.  We now know that not all, but a big chunk of President Obamas plan will be effective.  States and insurance companies have been waiting for a long time in trying to figure out what to do.  Most of the states were waiting for a final result in the presidential election to decide what to do, while others already had a plan had either Obama, or Romney won.  Now that everyone knows who will be running the country for the next four years, both states and insurance are hurrying to get the official rules that way they can move forward with their states health exchange plan.

So what do we know that is official from health care reform?  Julie Rovner, explains in detail some of the most important changes we can expect.  One of the biggest changes is that companies have to comply with the anti discriminatory changes that will be in effect in 2014.  Health insurance will be available to everyone regardless of their health status, or pre existing conditions.  People with pre existing conditions will not pay higher premiums, and also the most important part of this new changes is that people can not be cancelled from their health insurance due to illness.

129 million people with pre existing conditions can now feel at ease because it is officially illegal for insurance companies to discriminate.  Now of course there is still time for adjustments and change, but that time is coming to a close. People can complain or ask for adjustments, but end date for any changes will come Dec. 26th.

Another stipulation rules that both states and insurance companies will have to lay out the benefits that it will offer, Individuals, and small businesses will have to choose from packaged plans that will benefit the individual.  The rule also states that each individual will have a plan that is at minimum equal to the typical insurance plan offered by a small business.  This however, can of course vary depending on the agreement between the state and the insurance companies that have been previously agreed upon.

Another interesting fact is that each individual will have a series of plans to choose from that is broken down in the simplest of ways, it will be broken down into how much each plan will cover in medical bills.  For example, bronze will cover 60 percent, silver will cover 70 percent, gold will cover 80 precent, and platinum will pay 90 percent.

This for many Americans will be great.  Not only has the complexity of choosing a health care plan been erased, but we as Americans can feel protected now, knowing that we will no longer be taken advantage of.

For more information on the new health care plan take a look at this video

State Health Exchange Plans Extended

As we discussed in last weeks blog, all states were having to report what their plan was for the new federal healthcare plan.  According to a recent blog posted on the Beyond Health Care Reform website, it has been extended.  Not all of the states are ready to submit their decision, Some have submit their plans early, while others are still undecided.  Originally, all states were to have a plan in place by November 16th, 2012, but this has been moved up to January 1st, 2014.  Revised FAQ's on the exchange blueprint issued by the HHS pushed the federal government for an extension.

This Blog has proven to be a very helpful source because it provides a link for individuals to take a look at the current status of their states exchange process.  It allows the individual to see if their state is going to have their own plan in place, or if the state is going to have a partnership exchange, or also if the state is going to default to the federal exchange.

I recently looked up a youtube video on health care reform.  This video is awesome, it explains healthcare reform in basic terms which has helped me understand the process of our new health care plan, and also how it will work and whom it will help.  Hopefully this link to the video will help you as it has helped me.

The Health Care Quiz

It has come to my attention that many people dont know what health care is right for them. What does it cover and who does it cover? Is it free? Who can receive it? Although, all these answers are as easy as reading the the paper work that go hand in hand with them, we aren't reading them.

This is a new weekly feature that is going to give you pop quiz questions and answers on your everyday health care plans. I'll be posting questions, each with its own set of mulitple choice answers and lets see how well you know insurance.

Are We Really Ready For Change?

A great article written on the Health Care Blog by Dr.Lawrence Rosen talks about if Americans are really ready for change. He talks about how the first presidential election held so much hope for Americans, and how record voting numbers were hit in hope for change. One of the things that Americans were hopeful for was change in the health care plan that we had four years ago. Now that we have a new health care system in place in Obamacare, are we really prepared for the future that it holds? Dr. Lawrence Rosen brings up some very interesting facts about American citizens and the changes we have experienced in our health over a few decades. Obesity had increased over 130 percent in a matter of 20 years, Diabetes has more than doubled since 1996, Asthma grew from 2001 to 2009 by 4.3 million, and the prevalence of autism grew by an astonishing 289.5 percent. Why is this important? It is because of the insane amount of money that is being thrown out in health care for these health care problems and more. For example obesity medical cost amounted to more than $147 billion dollars in 2008, Diabetes estimated cost in 2007 was $174 billion, Asthma in 2007 cost Americans $56 billion dollars, and Autism and ADHD is estimated to be at $137 billion dollars per year. Most people have no idea the amount of money that is being spent in health care. If you asked someone today they would probably figure it is a lot, but seeing these numbers will certainly make your stomach turn.


So are we really ready for the new health plan President Obama has in place for us?  Dr. Lawrence points out that the big players in the health industry would rather have Americans sick. Why? Dr. Lawrence says that it’s the money. Of course big hospital chains, insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and medical associations want this, because that is the source of where there money comes from. They thrive off of the sick, and instead of offering a solution for prevention, they offer a pill.

 Change is happening, and that’s great. However what America needs now is not just the medical attention we deserve, but the preventative care. President Obama and his office have worked extremely hard at providing Americans with a change in the health care system that will benefit us for years to come, but what we need to ask for is not just the health care when we are sick, but the methods that prevent us from ever having to worry about getting sick. We need a change in our personal health, that way not only we can prevent obesity, and diabetes, but our children too. We can’t always rely on the government for everything we do, but educating the population instead of just offering us pills until the next refill will make us the healthy nation we need to be.

Nevada Starts Obamacare Process

A blog from NPR writer PaulineBartolone had some interesting news for her readers.  The blog takes a close look at how a Republican governor from Nevada is implementing the new Federal Health Care law.  A helpful audio news link about Nevada and its health care push was also available in the blog.  The interesting thing about this is that Nevada was one of the first states to actually join a law suit against the Affordable Care Act.  So how is it that a Republican state like Nevada is offering no resistance?  A little strange, but apparently Nevada has become one of the first states to actually start the process of a health care exchange.  Nevada does have one of the highest rates of unemployed, and uninsured in the country, so this might have been a reason for the early jump, however according to the news link, the state government wanted to avoid federal intervention.  This probably was a good idea on Nevada’s behalf because other Republican states such as Alabama who resisted the new law are now scrambling to put together a plan of their own.

Although the state government of Nevada opposed the new health care plan, a good majority of people wanted it.  As noted in HealthCare.gov many of its citizens say that they feel that they deserve this and that even though the new plan isn’t in full effect yet, differences can be seen already.  The blog provides very interesting facts and points that can be very helpful for citizens who might not know the exact details yet.  This site is a must see for the citizens of Nevada since we now know that Obamacare will be a part of its future.

What is Reasonable and Necessary care?

In an article written by Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D., and James D. Chambers, Ph.D. titled Medicare's Enduring Struggle to Define "Reasonble and Necessary" Care both Drs. Neumann and Chambers say that, Medicare has always covered medical services that are “reasonable and necessary.” As new approaches, drugs and medical technologies have been released, you would think coverage would be based on an objective analysis of outcomes and cost effectiveness. Thats not exactly the case.

Not that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or CMS haven’t tried to be reasonable about “reasonable and necessary.” According to the article, in 1989 CMS specifically proposed that the words “cost effective” could be used to assess new technology. That proved to be too controversial. It later tried “least costly alternative language” for coverage of durable medical equipment and Part B medications.  This too was dismantled by the courts when plaintiffs argued that the term “reasonable and necessary” could only be applied to medical services, not to the costs of those services.

So what does fall under "reasonable and necessary health care? Reasonable and necessary health care costs of each supported child not covered by insurance, including medical, pharmaceutical, vision, dental, orthodontic and mental health costs, shall be shared equally by the parents (unless a different allocation is set forth below), and each parent shall reimburse the other for his or her share of such expenses paid by the other.

Why Medicaid is important to you.

In my recents blogs I have talked about all the benefits of Medicare and Medicaid and why we need insurances like these, but few time has been spent on where all the money is coming from and how it is going to affect us in the future. Of course we know our tax dollars contributes to these insurance programs but what is going to happen when we start needing more and more money.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Afordable Care Act and Medicaid that followed with it. The ACA's intent is to give health care coverage to lower income American's.The problem that I feel the supreme court did was give states the option to opt out of the Medicaid expansion. With all that going on we will most likely see the republican states not continue with Medicaid. Their argument is that they wouldn't be able to afford it without having to raise taxes or make some cuts to higher education. Of course Liberal states will expand.

Regardless of what happens, here are a few reasons why Medicaid matters to every American. Always remember if you are a working American that funding for these programs comes from your paycheck. Medicaid is a growing entitlement program and is very expensive.  Like Medicare it contributes a large segment our a growing debt here in the United States.  We are facing a Fiscal Cliff because of runaway entitlement spending and leaders in Washington must act before the economy tanks.

Medicaid provides a critical safety net program to many older Americans and a significant amount of its spending goes to long term care.  Actually the bulk of the program goes to paying for long term care.  If you ever have had an older relative in a nursing home you will understand. Medicaid expansion being over-turned will have an impact on employers with low-income workers.  If these workers are not insured and now cannot receive coverage in Medicaid, this means they will qualify for a subsidy in a health insurance exchange. So, what these states need to remember is that without programs like Medicaid the businesses in their states might winde up paying more in the long run anyway.

Obamacare meant for white people?

I find it interesting that many people have comments and rude remarks to say about President Obama and his health care interests. I have a friend on Facebook who, like many people, wrote constant comments on Facebook about why Obama should not be re elected and how all he is doing is bad and how all the black and Mexican people only want to vote for him so they can continue getting their free handouts. I am particularly close with this girl and found it odd that she would be saying things like that because her sister is using the free insurance that Romney is trying to get rid of.

My friend who we will call Rose, is a white women in her early 20's who just goes with the flow of what is being said and not with the facts. The comments she brings up are not only racist but incorrect. In a survey by The US Census Bureau 46 percent of white people are uninsured. That is a pretty big chunk of white people. Why is it that when we think of Medicare and health insurance peoples first thought is to blame the blacks and the minorities?

In a recent article by The Associated Press there has been an increase in racial attitudes. The jump has since increased since 2008, which is also the year Obama was elected president. Maybe people just don't like the fact that we have a black president even if his ideas are their ideas and all he wants to do is help. When the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, 12.3 million more white people will have health insurance than have it today. I think he is helping everyone no matter their color. If Romney would have been elected 24 million white people would have been without health insurance.

These are the issues that people like my friend aren't looking close enough at. The rash idea that our tax money is going to waste on blacks and minorities needs to change. If you mad about where our money is going to look at your families and close friends and ask yourself how are they getting their health insurance? How would they survive if they weren't getting some help? How can you support someone who is trying to take something away from you rather than supporting someone who is only trying to help? Of course now white people don't have to worry about losing their insurance, at least for another four years.

Is That Kid Healthy?

I couldn't help but read this blog today about kids and there health problems in todays world.  I was just expecting another boring blog on how kids are becoming obese and we need to stop feeding them fast food, but I was wrong. A Doctor who writes occasionally for the Health Care Blog, had some very intriguing things to say.  Im sure almost everyone had heard a parent complain about childhood obesity, and to be quite honest it can get a little boring after a while.  However Dr. Lawrence Rosen changes that by taking us through a little day in the life of her pediatric practice.  He gives us some interesting insight on how the health of children has dramatically changed over the past few years.  To the surprise of Dr. Rosen, he helped a child who come to his annual check up, and found that he was actually a perfectly healthy little boy.  Dr. Rosen was a little surprised by this because it had been the only child he had seen all week that was actually healthy.  Dr. Rosen is so used to helping children who are sick that this threw him off guard.  There are a few things that I found alarming in this blog that Dr. Rosen wrote. First that of all the kids he saw during the week only one was healthy, so what does that say about the current health situation with them.  Second, was that Dr. Rosen actually gets paid more by coding in to the insurance companies that the child was sick, and providing them certain care for what ever they were sick for.  Why are these insurance companies paying more to doctors for sick kids than healthy kids?

It's true, sick kids seem like they are popping up more frequently.  Pediatricians like Dr. Rosen are seeing this pattern of sick children more and more often.  So why is this?  It could be for many reason.  Children seem to have no immune system any more.  There bodies cant fight off the simple cold or flu that it used to.  We as a society have grown to listen to the media, and are so aware of all the germs and viruses there are out in the world that we need a defense system for everything.  We have pills that fight colds, pills that prevent colds, pills that prevent for everything.  We use hand sanitizer for every little thing, and we push this onto our kids.  So naturally when they go into an environment such as a school playground, they are bound to get sick from something.  Im not saying that the generation before didnt get sick, but I believe that because society was not aware of all the germs and viruses around us our immune system was more prone to fighting them back and was not caught by surprise like the immune systems of todays children.

So how is it that Doctors like Dr. Rosen gets paid more for a patient visit regardless if the child is healthy?  A doctors visit to a pediatrician isnt like seeing a specialist.  The doctor should get paid evenly across the board, regardless if the child was in for a check up, or if the child had a cold. Dr. Rosen said he wasn't complaining that he would get paid more because more children were sick, nor would most people who were in his shoes, but he did find it strange that insurance companies paid him more by entering a certain code basically stating that the child was sick.  This certainly does not say much about our insurance companies, but it makes one wonder that if all doctors are reporting that if in fact a child was truly ill, or if he was adding the sick code for the insurance companies just to get paid more.

Obamacare After the Election

So what can we expect now that we know the results of the presidential election when it comes to Obamacare?  We now know that President Obama has won a second term,  but many of us wonder what lies ahead?  A blog named Beyond Healthcare Reform had some very interesting facts on what to expect in regards to the next four years, and also after.  We know that with Romney losing, there will be no major overhaul in health care.  The Republicans left in power of course will still try to place a barrier, but they just might be fighting a loosing battle.  According to what the Beyond HealthCare Reform blog is stating, a backlog of proposed regulations implementing health reform by the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to be released.  Also states are required if they have not already to announce if they will implement health insurance exchange.  So needles to say that with the future of the presidency locked in for another guaranteed four years, the Department of Health, and many other departments, and local state governments are now scurrying to adjust for major health care changes. 


Another interesting blog provides some great information on how the states will proceed with the new Obamacare plan.  PharmExecBlog is stating that all states must report to the federal government what there state health exchanges will be.  This is a vital to the federal government because the states they are responsible for handing over services to 30 million new medicaid individuals.  This is not going to be an easy task, as there has already been outrage from some of the states, some even have vowed to refuse Obamacare at all cost.  Needless to say these upcoming weeks will be very interesting.

Whos going to take over the Senate?

The Afordable Care Act could depend on the number of senates in each state. In the article, "The Future of Health Reform May Turn on Senate Races", written by Maggie Mahar she expresses her concern following the presidential election. Mitt Romney alone could not overturn Obamacare.It would take the republican senate to overturn it and as of right now they are still in control of the senate. 51 republicans to the 47 democrats.

Maggie states that if the republicans take the senate, " the two chambers could pass legislation that would eliminate the premium subsidies designed to make health insurance affordable for middle-income and low-income families, bring an end to Medicaid expansion, and rescind the individual mandate that everyone buy insurance or pay a tax." This is not a good thing.

Maggie goes on to say that if Obama wins this election then the democrats will only need to pick up four more seats in the senate to take over control and Obama will be able to veto most attemps from the republicans to get rid of the health care reform anyway. Of course, if Romney wins then this could mean the end of Obamacare and a whole new type of health care programs. Although, Maggie does suggest a third option that could happen and that is if Romney wins but the democrats still find a way to take over the senate. This is an unlikely to happen, but is still an option. So now its up to you to decide which healthcare you want.

Funding for cancer research?

An interesting article caught my attention today, and it made me question the some of the current methods the healthcare industry is using today.  Dr. James Salwitz of the health care blog wrote how it might be beneficial to stop funding cancer research.  The amount of money we have spent funding cancer research is tremendous, and yet with all the effort that we have put in over the years, the actual gain is extremely minimal.  An interesting fact from the article states that between the years 2000 to 2010 drugs that were produced to help cancer patients actually did very little.  As a matter of fact the drugs did little to extend the life of terminally ill patients, they did however increase the risk of death and or increase side effects.  At the beginning of the 20^th century cancer was not nearly an issue as what it is today.  The reason being is that the average life span lasted till only 47 years of age.  So the main concern during that time was to cure different types of serious infection, medical researchers sought out to make birth safer, and to treat different types of injuries.  Thus by doing this, researches inadvertently almost doubled the life span of the average human being.  After this came a whole new set of issues due to the extended life a person could expect.  Dementia was now prevalent, diabetes and cancer too.  This was now a major issues for medical professionals because with the population living longer these diseases were now popping up more frequently.

            The research that has been funded for cancer the past few decades focused mainly on treatment, and prevention.  That is where the bulk of funding has gone, not that it is a bad thing, but I believe that in this time that we live in now we desperately need a cure, not preventative care, we have many different forms of treatment already.  And while this may extend the life of a person 5,6, maybe 7 years, they are miserable years in which families spend ghastly amounts of money, and the patient is exposed to many different toxins.  Many of us know the destructive nature of cancer and what it can do to not only an individual, but their family as well, so without question I believe that since we already have found the needed treatments, we need to find a cure.  The billions of dollars spent on cancer research needs to be heavily focused on cures, not prevention.  There needs to be a major over hall on cancer research, priorities need to be set and the top priority needs to be to end the suffering of the cruel doings of cancer.  I offer a few suggestions at this point.  Simple and straightforward ideas that can offer better results.  First is getting priorities in order, the money that is being given to cancer research needs to be given to focused more on a cure, than whatever money would be left over can be used for further preventative care, and medicine.  Giving up funding for cancer would be ridiculous, and is in no way an option, however fixing our priorities and focusing on our priorities is how we can and will find a cure.

Birth Control

Julie Rovner from NPR news had an interesting piece on what Governor Mitt Romney's take on birth control was following the debate on October 16th. According to President Obama, Romney wants to get rids of the planned parenthood program. She goes on to say that Obama's claim, that Romney wants to get rid of the program is false and misinterpreted. Romney fires back saying, "the presidents statement of my policy is completely and totally wrong."

In Julie's article she states that Obama's plan for the past few months has been to win the female vote by making Romney seem like he doesn't care about women. "He has been using the birth control issues and abortion issues to sway female votes," says Julie. Obama has actually been succeeding according to this recent poll from swing states. As a counter in her argument she goes to a different source that says Romney is in fact in favor of the abortion issue and thinks its alright only during certain situations, such as rape or incest. So the truth is Romney doesn't hate females as his opponent President Obama would like people to think.

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Ryan's Plan

Representative Paul Ryan is now Mitt Romney's running mate, which many seniors may have a problem with. Although he has since softened his stance, Ryan's original 2011 Medicare reform plan has remained a powerful Democratic attack target and a policy deeply unpopular among the nation's seniors.Both Romney and Ryan now support a kinder, gentler version of Ryan’s original, polarizing plan, which would have eliminated the government run insurance program in favor of a fixed-value voucher plan for seniors. Is this the right choice for our families?

The proposal would preserve traditional Medicare as a choice, but encourage seniors to shift to private plans that offer lower premiums by forcing traditional Medicare to compete on price. The most detailed proposal came last month from Ryan himself, who agreed to soften his original plan, and Senator Ron Wyden, who said that a voucher system with Medicare as a choice could be an important first step toward managing Medicare’s projected cost growth without taking benefits for seniors. Will this plan work now becomes the question? Will competition for health care do anything or will it leave us worse than where we are?

In a post from the National Journal, Judy Foster had this to say, “The case that competition works is just not there,” she also said that it would be impossible to reap major savings from a premium-support plan without shifting costs to seniors or significantly reducing benefits. “The case for market share does work.” If this plan takes effect it will mean more costs for us.

This plan will have different plans in which seniors will have an option to choose from.According to Kate Pickert from Time.com if the Ryan plan takes effect 59% percent of seniors will have to pay higher premiums in order to have the same medicare plans they currently have now. So what is going on? Well they are making different packages that seniors wont have to pay more for, but those packages are worse than what they already have. There’s no way for the government to spend less on the existing Medicare program without asking seniors to pay more than they already are. President Obama knows this and that why the Affordable Care Act includes a trigger for a board to suggest cuts to providers if Medicare spending exceeds certain targets.

What does this mean for seniors if the Ryan plan takes effect? Well you will either have to pay more for the same plans you already have or you will have to drop to a cheaper and worse plan to stay at what you already pay. I believe the Ryan plan is not going to do much helping at all.

For more on this topic and other news about our health care check out the related sites and blogs on the right.

Confusion with Obamacare?

A Washington Post blogger made some interesting points regarding the popular topic of Obamacare and what Mitt Romney thinks about it.  Interestingly enough Romney stated over and over again that the uninsured in this country can always get care in emergency rooms.  Of course most of us have already heard that if elected one of the first things he would do is repeal Obamacare.  Greg Sarget the blogger for this particular article points out that the very thing Romney wants to do for uninsured and preexisting conditioned people is the same exact thing Obamacare is made to do, yet Romney is going full throttle on promoting his ideas on a repeal.  Greg Sarget is providing some great information here, especially with the election closing in.  Details like this about are necessary for the public to really make an educated decision.  It really makes a person think why Romney is pushing for this when in all reality his proposal is nearly identical.

 A company blog who is against Obamacare came out with some interesting facts. True or not, for a person who does not read both sides to a story this might seem very convincing.  The claim made by The Foundry blog group states that poor and middle class Americans are going to front the bill for the new tax that Obamacare requires.  The blog makes a claim that the very people who have to pay this tax are supposedly the people that Obamacare was intended to help.  Interestingly enough, the charts and numbers that are provided here have been created by the very investment group that is sponsoring this conservative blog.   Obviously there is major biased here, and it can be extremely convincing especially since it looks professionally done.

A Few Good Thoughts

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/01/162089697/medicare-rolls-out-carrots-and-sticks-for-hospital-quality
- This blog is written and reported by NPR's science desk.
- This Blog talks about different medical aspects. In the blog I read they are talking about medicare and its efforts to reward hospitals.
- The producers interest in this blog is deliver news, information, and music programming to various listeners.
- The topics they are blogging about relate closely to my topic because they have a lot to do with health care in this country.
- Some of the comments on the blog stray a bit off topic, but they always say something about health care.
- There are various links to Twitter and Facebook.


http://blogs.wsj.com/health/
- This blog is written by the the Wall Street Journal.e
- This blog expresses many different concerns about health care. They include different surveys to get the reader involved in the discussion.
- I believe the producers interest in creating this blog is to inform and stir up debates and conversations about health care.
- These topics are very similar to my topic because not only do they relate, but they get people involved.
- I enjoyed reading some of the topics because like I said the topics are getting the reader involved, so the comments are pretty much answering the questions from the blog.
- There is a ton of links on this site from Google + to Four Square.


http://pharmagossip.blogspot.com/
- This blog was created by a man named Jack Friday.
- The blog talk about the pharmaceutical companies. They are expressing the pros and cons about various drugs and the companies who represent them.
- The producers interest in this blog is to educate people on the pharmaceutical industry.
- They have been publishing posts daily, but really too much about the health care issue in this country.
- As shocking as this might sound I scrolled through two pages of posts and didn't see any comments. Must not be that interesting.
- There are various links to Twitter and Facebook.


http://healthcare.nationaljournal.com/
- The blog is written by health care experts.
- The Blog is discussing health care reform as well as different health care issues, such as aids.
- The producers interest in this blog is to educate on policies and politics.
- They publish posts what seems to be every few weeks, but they are dead on with the health issue i am relating to.
- The comments are actually very informative as well.
- There are various links to many social networks.

Ideas and Thoughts on Health Care

Alan Katz Health Care Blog

-An individual created this blog website

-The content is specific to our social issue as it does have commentary on health care reform.  It has personal opinions on the issue as well as serving as a news source.  The individual does provide news however there is a certain bias when it comes to commentary.

-Alan Katz has a long standing history in health care and health care insurance, it is for personal interest, but serves as a public good as well.

-Last commentary was done in June 2012, but prior to that he would leave commentary about 3 times a month on our specific social issue.

-There is commentary left by visitors to his blog.  Mainly people are providing positive feedback to what Alan is saying.

-There are no other social media links to this blog.

The Health Care Blog

-An organization created the blog.

-The content is specific to our social issue, however it does cover other topics in health.  It does have blogs on health care reform, but issues like health insurance and taking care of certain health issues are also prevalent.  The blog does seem to be a little biased, but it does have many many different people contributing.

-The website has many people in different areas of health care contributing to the blog. It serves as a public service.

-Last blog was created in July, People are posting blogs about once every 3 weeks.

-There is commentary on the blogs, mainly people who want to contribute to the discussion. 

-There are other social links to this blog such as a face book, and a twitter.

Beyond Health Care Reform

-A company law firm created the blog.

-The content is more news related, it does not serve biased opinions.  It has many different blogs on what is going on in the world of health care.  It does cover issues on what our social issue is, but not as prevalent as some of the other sites.

-Each blog has room for commentary, however each one that I glanced at did not have commentary.  I believe that this is mainly due to the fact that this blog serves more as a news source.

-Last blog was created September, Blogs are appearing about a few times a week.

-There is no commentary left on these blogs.

-There are no other social links to this blog.

Health Reform Government

-The United States Government created this blog.

-This blog does act as a news source, however there is personal opinion in  some of the blogs.  It is closely related to the social issue we have chosen.

-Each blog has that I checked does not have room for commentary, my guess is that it is because it is a government funded web page.

-The blogs are very prevalent, because they provide news feeds almost on a weekly basis.

-There is no commentary.

-There are many different social links such as Facebook, and twitter, and Google