Motley Moose – Archive

From the White House, “Our Endangered Climate”:

On Monday, President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring this week, April 6-12, 2015, as National Public Health Week.

As part of the effort to support public health with a sense of purpose and determination, the Obama administration has focused on how climate change affects our environment. Our public health is deeply tied to the health of our environment. As the planet warms, we face new threats to our health and well-being, and the President is taking steps to counteract those threats.

Tuesday, President Obama spoke at Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C., joined by the Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murphy, and Gina McCarthy, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, at a roundtable. The President explained what the Administration has already done to reduce the dangerous levels of carbon dioxide that are contributing to climate change, and discussed ways to prepare our communities for the impacts that cannot be avoided.

President Barack Obama gives remarks to the press during a roundtable discussion on climate change and public health at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., April 7, 2015

In keeping with the President’s directive to make government as open as possible, as well as his commitment to combating climate change, the Administration also announced this morning that it’s expanding its Climate Data Initiative to include more than 150 health-relevant datasets on climate.data.gov.

Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

I just got a message from the Heart Center. I was asleep and couldn’t get to the phone in time but according to the message the results today were normal. I am so relieved. Thank you all for your good wishes. They helped.

Kids care more about being healthy than some might give them credit for. A lot of kids might beg mom for sugary cereals, but it turns out that they aren’t necessarily after the sugar itself. According to a new study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, given a choice between cereals in plain boxes labeled “healthy” and “sugary,” most kids will pick the healthy cereal. This indicates that some of the messages kids are being sent about the importance of a balanced diet and leading a healthy life are making an impact. Unfortunately, when a colorful cartoon character is placed on a cereal box, kids tend to choose it no matter what it tastes like.

Thirty Democratic senators sent a letter in support of the public option to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. If you support the public option, please read the letter ane the list of senators who have signed it then email your senator if you don’t find his or her name on the list.

I didn’t see Carl Levin’s name on the list so I sent him the following email.

Senator Levin,

Thirty senators signed a letter to Senate Majority leader Harry Reid today in support of the public option in the current health care reform efforts. You name was not one of those who signed the letter. Could you explain why you don’t support this effort?

Respectively,

John R. Allen

Letter and list of senators after the jump.

It’s 3:30 in the morning and I should be asleep. Instead, I’m reading about health insurance reform on the web. My late night reading may have been worth it. These are some of the best words I’ve read about health insurance reform. The whole speech is worth reading or watching, but I found the ending to be especially good.

From Barack Obama’s Weekly Radio Address:

…That’s why, under these reforms, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a previous illness or injury. And insurance companies will no longer be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who has become seriously ill. Your health insurance ought to be there for you when it counts – and reform will make sure it is.

With reform, insurance companies will also have to limit how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses.  And we will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime because no one in America should go broke because of illness.

In the end, the debate about health insurance reform boils down to a choice between two approaches. The first is almost guaranteed to double health costs over the next decade, make millions more Americans uninsured, leave those with insurance vulnerable to arbitrary denials of coverage, and bankrupt state and federal governments. That’s the status quo. That’s the health care system we have right now. 

So, we can either continue this approach, or we can choose another one – one that will protect people against unfair insurance practices; provide quality, affordable insurance to every American; and bring down rising costs that are swamping families, businesses, and our budgets. That’s the health care system we can bring about with reform.

Thank you.

‘

Full transcript

Read, listen, discuss.