tingilinde

interesting vaping clues

Troubling and plausible... and why THC may be more dangerous than nicotine with this delivery.  There have been deaths.. one wonders how much damage under that threshold is being done to come back and bite users down the road?

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

how icelanders dealt with teen substance abuse

They've had dramatic success, but other countries won't go there.

snip

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At Metropolitan State College of Denver, Milkman was instrumental in developing the idea that people were getting addicted to changes in brain chemistry. Kids who were “active confronters” were after a rush – they’d get it by stealing hubcaps and radios and later cars, or through stimulant drugs. Alcohol also alters brain chemistry, of course. It’s a sedative but it sedates the brain’s control first, which can remove inhibitions and, in limited doses, reduce anxiety.

“People can get addicted to drink, cars, money, sex, calories, cocaine – whatever,” says Milkman. “The idea of behavioural addiction became our trademark.”

This idea spawned another: “Why not orchestrate a social movement around natural highs: around people getting high on their own brain chemistry – because it seems obvious to me that people want to change their consciousness – without the deleterious effects of drugs?”

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at the cost of enforced common sense.

 

a church school won't allow students to use medicaid

Oh yeah - and the church owns a company that provides an insurance package that's acceptable to them. (via The New York Times)

snip

...

Ms. Langston, 20, enrolled in the free government insurance program last year after becoming pregnant with the couple’s daughter, who is now 4 months old. Mr. Langston, 22, was planning to sign up for Medicaid in January, when it is set to expand in the state.

To remain in school, they would have to buy private coverage. The cheapest option available is the university’s student health plan, which does not comply with the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections and would require the Langstons to pay a $3,125 annual premium.

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the cost of free flu shot

Illustrating one of many problems with the American healthcare system.

 

 

dealing with "vaccine hesitancy"

Where herd immunity is threatened by anti-vaxxers. (via Scientific American)

 

 

emergency care in rural america

Telemedicine (via The Washington Post)

 

 

another serious threat to health in long term spaceflight

Blood pooling and even flow reversal ..  as in life threatening.  We appear to need a serious downward force to be healthy.  An interesting questions is how much? 

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

 

hot weather is a risk for mothers and infants

Greg points to a piece on a disturbing study showing yet another risk from a warming planet.  And of course the poor have less access to air conditioning.

 

open insulin

On the history of insulin and a project to take on the cost of closed insulin.

 

 

why americans got used to employer-sponsored health insurance

A solution for the 50s that we still hang onto.  From the NY Times a few years ago, but worth re-reading. 

snip

...

In 1942, with so many eligible workers diverted to military service, the nation was facing a severe labor shortage. Economists feared that businesses would keep raising salaries to compete for workers, and that inflation would spiral out of control as the country came out of the Depression. To prevent this, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9250, establishing the Office of Economic Stabilization.

This froze wages. Businesses were not allowed to raise pay to attract workers.

Businesses were smart, though, and instead they began to use benefits to compete. Specifically, to offer more, and more generous, health care insurance.

Then, in 1943, the Internal Revenue Service decided that employer-based health insurance should be exempt from taxation. This made it cheaper to get health insurance through a job than by other means.

After World War II, Europe was devastated. As countries began to regroup and decide how they might provide health care to their citizens, often government was the only entity capable of doing so, with businesses and economies in ruin. The United States was in a completely different situation. Its economy was booming, and industry was more than happy to provide health care.

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