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 2009
Rep. 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.
By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel
It’s time for our governors of Missouri and Kansas to leverage this time of debate and vulnerability to develop state-level healthcare plans that fit the needs of our populations.
By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board
President Barack Obama’s address to Congress and the nation was clear, simple and direct. He succeeded Wednesday night in promoting a strong package of needed health care reforms in America.
It’s time for Congress to follow the president’s lead. Stop the partisan bickering. Start the constructive debate.
By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist
Many months ago when this whole health care debate began, President Obama promised to reward doctors for better outcomes and not on the basis of how many procedures they carried out. He promised that patients would benefit from changing the incentive system.
By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel
President Obama’s Plan…now that there is one after tonight’s address, will be analyzed heavily tomorrow. Break out the legal pads, and resulting Excel spreadsheets. Prepare for the flurry tomorrow, or just wait a few days for the dust to settle.
By Arturo Mora, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009
The message last week from the House Progressive Caucus was only slightly less confrontational than it was a few weeks ago. It’s gone from “we won’t vote for a bill without a public option” to “we can’t…” Still there’s talk of a “line in the sand” and the possibility that Democrats, like the foolish lemmings they often are, will lead themselves off the cliff of defeating healthcare reform yet again.
By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist
Elderly on Medicare and Social Security are not the only ones living with socialism in this country. In most urban communities if there is a fire in your home, you call the socialist fire department. If someone tries to break in, you call the socialist police department.
Why are there few, if any, book rental companies in America? That would be because of all those socialist libraries. Most people got their education in socialist elementary and secondary schools. Then there’s that socialist worker who drops off the mail at your home six times a week. Is it time to stop the spread of all this socialism?
