In the recent CNN article “Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps” author LZ Granderson discusses what for some might be an uncomfortable topic. Some of the main points in his article are:

• Some parents dress their young girls in provocative outfits
• Retailers have encouraged this behavior by marketing inappropriate clothing
• It’s OK to blame retailers, but it’s parents who are ultimately responsible
• Children need parents who will set rules, not be their friends

 Loading ...

In a September 30th USA Today article the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden talked about the CDC’s six priorities or “winnable battles” as he calls them.

 Loading ...

Last Friday the Food and Drug Adminstration approved ella, a new drug that is supposed to block pregnancy up to five days after sex. This is two days longer than the currently available emergency contraceptive Plan B. Some anti-abortion groups are arguing that this is not a means to prevent pregnancy, but rather end it.

 Loading ...

Ever since Viagra hit the stores (and bedrooms) drug companies have been searching for a comparable little pink pill. Viagra didn’t seem to do much for girls (we tried it once, we felt nothing). Now there’s a new pink pill that came really close to getting FDA approval, but failed.

 Loading ...

NOTE:  Disruptive Woman Sharon Terry is quoted in TheWashington Post article linked below. If you haven’t already done so, take a look at Disruptive Woman Dr. Archelle Georgiou’s post entitled Stop the Drama and Spit in which she shares her personal experience with genetic testing.

“Beginning Friday, shoppers in search of toothpaste, deodorant and laxatives at more than 6,000 drugstores across the nation will be able to pick up something new: a test to scan their genes for a propensity for Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer, diabetes and other ailments. ” Click here to read the rest of The Washington Post article.

 Loading ...

The big day is almost here… The House is voting on the health care reform bill. President Obama has been calling undecideds like Rep. Jason Altmire — and about 57,000 (of the 59,000) nuns in the country defied the bishops — stood up to the man — and sent a letter supporting the bill — calling it “the real pro-life choice” because it lets pregnant moms get prenatal care. (Talk about Disruptive Women!)

 Loading ...

On Tuesday, Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s old U.S. Senate seat — which means the Democrats lost their majority vote in Washington.

There has been a lot of doom and gloom news reports saying that this one election could destroy the health care reform bill. As Fox News reported Democrat Martha Coackley said in her concession speech, “There will be plenty of Wednesday-morning quarterbacking.”

 Loading ...

Health care reform legislation isn’t just being talked about — movement is being made, and the House passed its version of health reform legislation over the weekend. There’s just one glitch — despite voting for it, House Democrats are now vowing to stop this bill from becoming a law because of the anti-abortion amendment that would prevent women from paying out of pocket for abortions. “We’re not going to let this into law,” Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) told the Washington Post.

 Loading ...

No one wants to get the swine flu. That’s why so many people have panicked and are walking around wearing Michael Jackson masks. But should the new H1N1 vaccine be mandatory? A lot of people get a flu shot, a lot of people don’t. It’s your choice.But a new controversial regulation in New York requires all health care workers to get both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine. The New York Civil Liberties Union is arguing that it’s unconstitutional for the state to require the shots — especially since both the WorldHealth Organization and the CDC haven’t called for mandatory vaccinations.

 Loading ...

As Congress prepares to return to Washington DC, health reform continues to dominate the domestic agenda.

I have gathered up a number of resources that might help cut through the rancor, fear mongering, and distractions that have become the hallmark of one of the fiestiest recesses on record.

These are only 3, but there is an incredible amount of information here and they are among the best resources, in my opinion.  If you know of others, please feel free to pass those along.

Here then are a few of my “go to” sites:

KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION

A short paper released by the Kaiser Family Foundation explains how government subsidies—an integral part of most major health reform plans under consideration in Congress—work.

The paper is only one of  a number of resources available on the Foundation’s health reform gateway page, which serves as “a clearinghouse of key information, news and analysis about national health reform efforts. The gateway includes an interactive online tool allowing users to compare major health reform bills, the Foundation’s research and analysis on key issues in health reform, as well as Kaiser’s polling data.”

HEALTH AFFAIRS & ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

“The latest Health Policy Brief (PDF) from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers basic facts about the status quo and about how major pieces of reform legislation might affect the picture. In each of the areas described above, the Brief describes what’s true now, and what could change under health reform.

The briefs are geared to policymakers, congressional staffers, and others who need short, jargon-free explanations of health policy basics. The briefs include competing arguments from various sides of policy proposals and the relevant research supporting each perspective.”

NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY FORUM

I am particularly partial to The Forum as I used to work there…Here’s what you will find on their website, www.nhpf.org:

“The Forum has convened a series of small-group discussions to help senior federal staff navigate the ins and outs of the individual insurance market, as well as options for reform. To date, topics have included underwriting, rating, and regulation; insurance exchanges; risk adjustment; and actuarial equivalence. Future meetings will add to these fundamental building blocks.

As speaker slides and related materials become available, we’re posting them to a special Health Reform section of our Health Policy Essentials page. They’re also available under the entry for each meeting.”

As the New York Times reported, House Democrats proposed a hotly debated bill where families who make $500,000 would have to pay an extra $1,500 to help subsidize health insurance for the poor. (And if a family makes more than $1 million, they would have to pay $9,000.)

 Loading ...

The AP and iVillage conducted a survey that concluded that more than half of the women they asked didn’t like their weight. And almost half aren’t thinking happy thoughts when they look in the mirror.

 Loading ...

Swine flu is sweeping the country — it’s on every news channel. Every five minutes it feels like there’s a new confirmed case. And once a school has a confirmed case, the CDC suggests it be shut down for two weeks.

 Loading ...

When a woman is born, she has all the eggs she’ll ever have. The older >she gets, the fewer eggs she has — and they go down in quality. As some docs explain, you don’t want to bake brownies with old eggs. But, last week, a report came out that Chinese scientists have been able to grow new eggs in mice.

If women could produce new eggs, then they wouldn’t have to hire egg donors, and they wouldn’t have to feel pressure from friends, family and gynos to have babies before they’re 35. The Washington Post reported that this is a step toward stopping the biological clock.

 Loading ...