Great summary of the Health Reform Act

The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a very readable Summary of the Health Reform Act in plain English, except for pesky abbreviations such as FPL (=federal poverty level). Some, possibly critical, details have been left out. For example, if you are going to be eligible for Medicaid, due to low income on your IRS tax form, will the State be able to place you in their managed care program, or will you have to go fee-for-service Medicaid? This is important, because at present most doctors don't accept Medicaid and you'll have trouble finding a provider. Little unimportant details like that.
Otherwise, it's a great place to start.

Embarrassing quotes by those in the public eye

ProPublica, my favorite investigative journalism website, has started a new site where people (like us) can upload from their smart phones (not like us, cause we don't have one) snippets of speeches or public statements by politicians, business leaders, lobbyists, etc., that are worthy of at least a raised eyebrow.
It's called "Officials say the darndest things!" Check it out, and maybe you, too, can catch a pol in a stupid remark. On the other hand, I say stupid things every three minutes, but I'm genuine. Maybe there's an inverse relationship between stupid statements and genuineness.

Checking up on Charities

Here are 2 great websites for checking into how your charitable dollars are spent. One of my accounting gurus, who knows about these things, says that these are not perfect, as charities have ways of manipulating these numbers that can't be audited, but it's a start.

Charity Navigator - I like this one best. Has great info.

Better Business Bureau - worth a look.

New Evidence on Vitamin D's role in autoimmune diseases

This news article in Science Daily about a genomic study done at Oxford University and just published in Genome Research, suggests that Vitamin D deficiency is causal, not just a co-traveller with autoimmune diseases. All the more reason for those of us with autoimmune diseases to take it seriously.

Jane Brody (NY Times) weighs in on Vitamin D

Jane Brody's article on Vitamin D in the NY Times seems to come a bit late to the table, and it does not seem to reflect the NCI's latest take on the literature linking low Vitamin D to cancer. But, she does have a way of summarizing issues, so it's worth reading. Bottom line: what we knew already. Vitamin D is good for you. You should take at least 1000 to 2000 IU, depending on your stage in life. Most important: get tested.

How to compare hospitals on quality measures

Here is a great site, from the Commonwealth Fund, Why Not the Best? that allows you to compare hospital scores on a range of quality measures. I just did it for Georgetown University Hospital, a bit late for my surgery that took place earlier this year, but I was gratified to learn that GU has a high quality rating. (Whew!)

Areas of agreement & disagreement on how to reduce federal deficit

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget just published the results of its on-line budget simulation project, where people could vote on which actions they would prefer to see the Federal government take. I'm amazed at how much agreement there is across parties on some things. Seems that it's likely the Social Security retirement age will be raised to 68, if lawmakers follow the will of the pople.