Health Care

By Arturo Mora, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009

With the first big Senate vote set for Saturday on Senator Harry Reid’s version of healthcare reform, America inches closer to joining the rest of the developed world with a responsible healthcare system. It’s been a hard slog, but it was never going to be easy given the religious fervor in some circles about the sacred free market system. Once the task is done, however, it’s time for President Obama to laser beam on jobs, jobs, jobs. And furthermore, jobs.

By Juanell Garrett, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices Panelist, 2008

Sen. Tom Coburn is threatening to make the Senate read the Senate healthcare bill aloud on the floor. There's nothing wrong with that.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

In my view, it's hard to argue against health care reform.

Health care costs are debilitating, they're killing entrepreneurial spirit, putting too many people at risk of financial ruin. The current health care system costs more than anyplace else and delivers far less than is received in other countries.

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

The aim of a great deal of medical research is to get approval from the FDA for some drug or medical procedure. Other considerations such as determining the drug's or procedure's appropriateness for individuals are often ignored or "left for future research" and never done. Many lives could be spared, not to mention vast sums of money saved, if the research were done correctly and completely.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Well, the annual fatso survey results are out, and they don't look pretty for Missouri. They don't look good for Kansas, either, but, you know, the best way to hide your own belly roll is to stand next to a real fat friend.

By Danette Gamble, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

A government task force, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, is saying women don’t need to start getting mammograms until they’re in their 50s!

(AP story: “New mammogram advice raises questions, concerns”)

My breast cancer was found in a routine mammogram when I was 48!

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt makes an interesting point in a press release today;

"You can drive up to any gas station in the country, and they can immediately figure more out about your car than a doctor knows about a patient."

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt has joined the GOP chorus chiding President Barack Obama about sending Swine Flu vaccine to Guantanamo detainees, when the vaccine is in such short supply.

Blunt has a point. But it's a public relations point, not a substanitive one.

By Dean Hubbard, Kansas City Star Editorial Advisory Board Columnist

What’s with Joe Lieberman? Surely he’s not being duplicitous when he threatens to filibuster and kill a public option after promising Harry Reid that he would not block up-or-down votes.

By: Danette Gamble, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes,” Macbeth, William Shakespear.

This line still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. However, our President has said some things lately that literally scare me to death.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

It's pretty hard to put much stock in a report when the author starts backing away from it almost before the ink is dry.

Bob DoleBy Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Bob Dole supports health care reform.

"This is one of the most important measures members of Congress will vote on in their lifetimes," the former Republican Senate majority leader and presidential candidate told an audience in Kansas City today. "If we don't do it this year I don't know when we're gonna do it.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

It was wrong when Sarah Palin and some other conservatives were running around talking about "death panels" this summer, and it's wrong and tiresome now when a Democratic congressman, Alan Grayson of Florida, asserts that "Republicans want you to die quickly."

From Politico.com:

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Should Congress pass a law requiring everyone to see a doctor at least once a year? Would such a law decrease or increase disease and preventable deaths? The answer may be more complicated than you think.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

The digits we see on our bank statements related to health care are hard enough to take. The digits referred to here are those entries made into a computer system to capture your healthcare history; your medical records. It’s too late for debates about privacy, so just hand them over.

By Larry Jackson, Kansas City Star
Reader Advisory Panel Columnist

The Star's Monday editorial

With the nation’s health care system under intense scrutiny, this is as good a time as any to examine the way we handle claims of medical malpractice.

Certainly, there is room for improvement.

By Tom Nelson, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

“Never before in American History”

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

The recent mistrial concerning claims that Merck's anti-osteoporosis drug Fosamax allegedly weakens jaw bone tissue reminds us of the rather complicated issues many older people face in dealing with bone density problems. By some estimates half of all women and one third of all men over 65 will develop bone density problems.

The Star's Wednesday Editorial

Kansas and Missouri must pass statewide smoking bans, and the sooner the better.

Bans have immediate positive effects on heart attack rates, with heart attacks falling by at least 17 percent one year after passage and by more than a third after three years.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

It was probably more like six years ago, about the time the flu spread quickly. That’s when FBC started buying the blogs, websites, and domains. People sold them freely to pay for treatment or just to get a place in the “comfort spas” as they were advertised.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

The much-maligned Canadian health care system serves patients as well or better than the U.S. model, at nearly half the cost per person.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

It sounds strange, but why not remove the guesswork out of “ticketing” your next visit to Dr. Fuzzyrates? This is not a call to standardize rates; just make the rates less fuzzy. Maybe the health care bill needs to be software...

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Why isn't a tax on soft drinks getting more attention as a way to pay for health care reform?

Soda pop in the U.S. is spiked with corn syrup, and corn production benefits greatly from farm subsides.

By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Board Columnist

Conversations at a diversity discussion group Tuesday night in Olathe showed that the sleeping giant in the health care reform debate could be people with disabilities.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Sorry to see Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus embrace the co-op cop out.

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Various studies have suggested that calorie restriction may work to extend life. If you eat less, can you avoid cancer and live longer?

By Arturo Mora, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009Rep. Joe Wilson

As deranged as he was, South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson had a point—up to a point. The concern about illegal immigrants getting publicly funded health insurance is, as usual, over the top silly, but it’s just not worth fighting. Let’s not sweat the small stuff, throw Ol’ Yeller a bone. If we’re going to say they should not be allowed to buy it, then enforce it by requiring them to show a valid Social Security number.

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

This is not another column about the chap who yelled out something to the President at a big gathering where everyone should have been behaved, although the frequent ovations seemed strange at times.

By Tom Nelson, Kansas City Star Editorial Advisory Panel

I haven’t had hiccups in years. But when I was younger, I did have hiccups now and then and I discovered a completely reliable remedy. It involved swallowing air. Swallowing air results in a mini-belch, and the hiccup cure required swallowing two gulps of air before allowing that little belch to be released. No kidding.