Friday!!!

And who doesn't love Fridays?!!!  Let's see what's going on in the world. 

Will states opt out of the Medicaid expansion?  The Supreme Court opened that door and now we anxiously wait to hear if anybody walks through it.  Really?  Leave the poorest of the poor without health care?  Even when it's 100% federally funded?  Why?  Really, give me one good reason.  According to the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality says Texas has the worst health care system in the country.  And yet Texas would turn down billions in federal dollars to improve health care for the poor in Texas?  Really? 

Meanwhile, the House is moving forward towards a vote to repeal the law.  Of course, this is symbolic political theater.  The Senate won't pass it and the President would veto it if they did. 

The Presidential campaigns are all about health care.  President Obama is running on his great accomplishment and the fact that it was the right thing to do, even if not politically popular.  Mitt Romney is trying to decide whether the mandate is a tax or not -- and having trouble distinguishing it from his Massachusetts mandate. Here's one voter who is grateful to the President for passing health reform.  He says the law is here to stay, and I hope he's right.

Aetna and thousands of doctors in California are suing each other.

Is patient-driven care too much health care?  Patients demand tests, treatments -- are they getting more care than they need?  Some say yes.  I tend to want as little health care as I can possibly get away with.  I really don't understand wanting any more interaction with the medical community than is absolutely necessary.  And I think most patients who have been really sick are very glad to take breaks when they can.

The ever-wonderful Dr. Pauline Chen writes about nursing -- a hard job, physical labor, injuries -- and when nurses suffer, patients suffer.  As someone who has spent too much time in hospital beds, I can say that nurses make all the difference, one way or another. 

What a wonderful thing -- a program called No One Dies Alone.  That pretty much says it all.

I can't really imagine being without AC in over 100 degree heat.  The health risk alone is huge, not to mention comfort.  So it's no surprise that the elderly are turning up in droves at emergency rooms.  I have to say, the 9 days we went without power last October? I'd far prefer having it happen then than in this kind of heat.

That's it for this morning.  Have a great day and a great week-end!  Jennifer