Doctors Among Public Option’s Biggest Fans
Among all the players in the health care debate, doctors may be the least understood about where they stand on some of the key issues around changing the health care system. Now, a new survey finds some surprising results: A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option.
When polled, “nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options,” says Dr. Salomeh Keyhani. She and Dr. Alex Federman, both internists and researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.
Most doctors — 63 percent — say they favor giving patients a choice that would include both public and private insurance. That’s the position of President Obama and of many congressional Democrats. In addition, another 10 percent of doctors say they favor a public option only; they’d like to see a single-payer health care system. Together, the two groups add up to 73 percent.
When the American public is polled, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent favor a public option. So that means that when compared to their patients, doctors are bigger supporters of a public option.
Your shower may be blasting you with germs: study
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Your shower may not be getting you as clean as you think with a U.S. study finding many showerheads are dirty and may be covering you in a daily dose of bacteria that could make you sick.
An analysis of 50 showerheads from nine U.S. cities found that about 30 percent harbored high levels of Mycobacterium avium — a group of bacteria that can cause lung infections when inhaled or swallowed. Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder found the levels of Mycobacterium avium were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water.
Prepare for Disruptions from Swine Flu
The Department of Homeland Security urged small businesses Monday to devise contingency plans allowing them to operate in the event a number of their employees become infected with the H1N1 virus.
With half of the nation’s private-sector employees working at small businesses, federal officials said they want the enterprises to take precautions to prevent a disruption to the economy as the virus, also known as swine flu, wends its way across the United States.
