Tea Party’s Push To Tie Health Care Reform to Federal Budget (Part 2 of 2) – Video


Tea Party #39;s Push To Tie Health Care Reform to Federal Budget (Part 2 of 2)
The Richard French Live panel discusses continues its discussion on House Republican #39;s push to defund President Obama #39;s health care law as a government shutd...

By: Richard French

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Tea Party's Push To Tie Health Care Reform to Federal Budget (Part 2 of 2) - Video

Jugde Jeanine Pirro Countdown To Obamacare Americans Still In The Dark About Health Care Dr Carson – Video


Jugde Jeanine Pirro Countdown To Obamacare Americans Still In The Dark About Health Care Dr Carson
Jugde Jeanine Pirro - Countdown To Obamacare Americans Still In The Dark About Health Care Dr Carson.

By: Mass Tea Party

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Jugde Jeanine Pirro Countdown To Obamacare Americans Still In The Dark About Health Care Dr Carson - Video

Health care law dispute sends government to brink of shutdown

The morning sun illuminates the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday as the government teeters on the brink of a partial shutdown at midnight unless Congress can reach an agreement on funding. Congressional Republicans and Democrats spent Sunday trading the blame for failure to reach agreement on the stopgap funding bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON Compromise elusive, Republicans and Democrats engaged in finger-pointing Monday just hours before the first government shutdown in 17 years, driven by an intractable budget dispute over President Barack Obamas signature health care law.

House Republicans blamed Senate Democrats for taking the weekend off and resisting a House measure that would avert a shutdown but only by delaying further implementation of the health care law for a year and eliminating a tax on medical devices.

The Senate decided not to work yesterday, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said shortly after the House began its session and just hours before a threatened shutdown at midnight. Well my goodness, if theres such an emergency, where are they?

The Senate returns shortly after 2 p.m. EDT just 10 hours before a threatened shutdown and Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his Democrats have made it clear that they want the House to vote on their straightforward bill to keep the government open. Reid plans votes to reject GOP-crafted amendments to delay the 3-year-old health care law and eliminate a tax on medical devices, and he has the numbers to prevail.

If no compromise can be reached by midnight, Americans would soon see the impact: National parks would close. Many low-to-moderate incomes borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays. Passport applications would be delayed.

One program that will begin on Tuesday even with a shutdown is enrollment in new health care exchanges for millions of Americans a crucial part of Obamas health care law. Thats because most of the program is paid from monies not subject to congressional appropriations.

But about 800,000 federal workers, many already reeling from the effect of the automatic budget cuts, would be forced off the job without pay. Some critical services such as patrolling the borders, inspecting meat and controlling air traffic would continue. Social Security benefits would be sent, and the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and poor would continue to pay doctors and hospitals.

Tea party and conservative Republicans have forced Boehner and the House GOP leadership to couple the spending bill with efforts to dismantle the health care law. Democrats reject putting conditions on the temporary spending bill, saying thats akin to political ransom.

I could sit here and say, Well, Im not going to vote for a budget unless you agree to pass gun safety legislation. Thats not the way this place is supposed to operate, said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

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Health care law dispute sends government to brink of shutdown

Exploring Disaster Recovery Planning for Health Care Organizations

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Health care organizations that have a critical need for comprehensive Disaster Recovery (DR) plans are invited to attend a webinar hosted by national IT infrastructure and cloud solutions provider Peak 10. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013 from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. EDT, and will be hosted by Peak 10 Director of Service Delivery, Derek Johnson.

Executives and IT decision-makers in the health care industry will have the opportunity to ask questions and hear answers regarding the challenges and potential solutions to DR planning.

Topics will include:

-- Changes in the health care industry that are making DR planning increasingly important -- Consequences of not having an up-to-date, well thought out DR plan in place -- How a sound DR strategy can help meet the "Meaningful Use" directive under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs -- Key steps in DR planning, including how to conduct a business impact analysis -- An overview of third-party DR solutions, including cloud-based solutions from Peak 10

To register, please visit http://www.peak10.com/DRHealthcare.

About Peak 10 Inc. Peak 10 provides reliable, tailored cloud computing, data center and other information technology (IT) infrastructure solutions, primarily for mid-market businesses. Customer-centric, responsive and cost-effective, Peak 10 solutions are designed to scale and adapt to customers' changing business needs, enabling them to increase agility, lower costs, improve performance and focus internal resources on their core competencies. Peak 10 holds the Cisco(R) Cloud Provider Certification with a Cisco Powered Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) designation. Peak 10 is SSAE 16 audited and helps companies meet the requirements of various regulatory compliance acts such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), HIPAA/HITECH, PCI DSS and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLBA). For more information, visit http://www.peak10.com.

Media Contact: Amanda Brown (980) 318-5199 amanda.brown@peak10.com

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Exploring Disaster Recovery Planning for Health Care Organizations

Health care dispute sends gov't to brink of shutdown

by ANDREW TAYLOR / Associated Press

KING5.com

Posted on September 30, 2013 at 5:48 AM

WASHINGTON -- Hours before a threatened government shutdown, the Senate has the next move Monday on must-do budget legislation that has fueled a bitter congressional dispute over President Barack Obama's signature health care law.

But the Senate won't be riding to the rescue, at least not immediately. When it convenes at midday, the Democratic-led chamber is expected to reject the latest effort from House Republicans to use a normally routine measure to attack "Obamacare."

If no compromise can be reached by midnight, Americans would soon see the impact of a government shutdown. National parks would close. Many low-to-moderate incomes borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays.

About 800,000 federal workers would be forced off the job without pay. Some critical services such as patrolling the borders, inspecting meat and controlling air traffic would continue. Social Security benefits would be sent, and the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and poor would continue to pay doctors and hospitals.

Senate rejection would send the measure back to the House, where conservative Republicans want to delay by a year key parts of the new health care law and repeal a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a shutdown. A House GOP leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, said the House would rebuff the Senate's efforts to advance the short-term funding bill as a simple, "clean" measure shorn of anti-heath care reform provisions.

Since the last government shutdown 17 years ago, temporary funding bills known as continuing resolutions have been noncontroversial, with neither party willing to chance a shutdown to achieve legislative goals it couldn't otherwise win. But with health insurance exchanges set to open Tuesday, tea party Republicans are willing to take the risk in their drive to kill the law, so-called "Obamacare."

"You're going to shut down the government if you can't prevent millions of Americans from getting affordable care," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

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Health care dispute sends gov't to brink of shutdown

Obamacare and biotech boost health care stocks

Health care stocks have outperformed the broader market since the passage of Obamacare, rising 55% compared to a 40% increase in the S&P 500. Click the chart to track the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Insurance companies UnitedHealth (UNH, Fortune 500), Cigna (CI, Fortune 500) and Aetna (AET, Fortune 500) have all climbed about 100% since Obamacare was signed into law. They initially got a boost as investors anticipated that the law, which requires Americans to have health insurance beginning in 2014 or pay a penalty, would result in millions of new customers.

New state-based exchanges open for enrollment this week, but analysts note that many major insurers are not going to take part on them yet. So investors should not expect another Obamacare bump for these stocks in the short-term.

But insurers that specialize in Medcaid, such as Molina (MOH, Fortune 500) and Centene (CNC, Fortune 500), could benefit sooner, said ClearBridge Investments health care analyst Marshall Gordon. Though only a little over half of the nation's states are opting to expand coverage for their low-income residents, Gordon expects more will eventually sign on.

Related: Obamacare cheat sheet

Major hospital operators Tenet Healthcare, (THC, Fortune 500) Community Health System (CYH, Fortune 500) and HCA Holding (HCA, Fortune 500) have also gained considerable ground thanks to the legislation.

"Hospitals currently get stuck paying for a lot of uninsured patients when they come to the emergency room," said Charles Sizemore, chief investment officer at Sizemore Capital Management. He expects the increase in the number of insured Americans to help increase revenue and limit the debt burden at hospitals, but he added that this is mostly factored into their stock prices already.

Still, Obamacare is not the only reason why the health care sector has done so well for the past three years.

The real stars of health care have been biotechnology companies. In fact, the S&P 500 biotechnology index is up a whopping 60% just this year -- more than any other part of the health care sector.

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Obamacare and biotech boost health care stocks

Health Care Exchanges Set To Begin Tuesday: What Does It Mean?

OKLAHOMA CITY -

A lot of people have questions about the looming government shutdown. One thing we do know is that a shutdown will not put the brakes on Obamacare. The state-run exchanges for those without health insurance will open as scheduled on Tuesday.

News 9 has been looking into what Oklahomans need to do to sign up for coverage.

There will be 53 health care plans to choose from five different companies. Oklahoma is one of 36 states where the federal government will run the insurance marketplace. Like shopping in a grocery store, the government wants people to pick out a health care plan to fit their needs.

The US Department of Health and Human Services made a video to illustrate the "Health Insurance Marketplace."

"I haven't heard enough about it to know exactly where to go, what to do, what steps to take," said Sherelle Johnson.

Johnson is one of the 600,000 Oklahomans without health insurance.

"My job does not offer it, and I really need it because I have different medical problems and right now, I'm going through a free clinic," Johnson said.

On Tuesday, many will be able to sign-up for health coverage in a couple of ways, such as online at http://www.Healthcare.gov or by calling the Department of Health and Human Services toll free number at: 1 (800) 318-2596.

The sign-up form asks for basic information, such as family size, age and income. There are 4 levels of coverage to choose from: The Bronze plan will cost the least while the Platinum plan will cost the most, but will have little out-of-pocket medical costs.

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Health Care Exchanges Set To Begin Tuesday: What Does It Mean?

When Will Gene Therapy Come to the U.S.?

Several gene therapies are or will soon be in late-stage human trials. One of them could be the first to get FDA approval for sale in the U.S.

Though many gene therapies have been tested in patients around the world in hopes of curing hereditary diseases, few governments have approved their sale, and none has been approved in the United States. That could change in coming years as several therapies enter advanced trials.

A big step forward already came in November 2012, when the European Medicines Agency gave the Dutch biotech startup UniQure permission to sell its treatment. That approval came as a relief to many in the field, who had been waiting for a break in the clouds hanging over the technology since failed and fatal trials in the 1990s. You see a resurgence in terms of investors, and in truth, a number of problems have been solved, says Katherine High, a medical researcher at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, who is overseeing a late-stage clinical trial for a different gene therapy.

Still, experts say it is likely to be a few years before a treatment is approved in the U.S. With its European approval in hand, UniQure may have good chance of also getting the first U.S. approval, but the company says it has not yet submitted an application to the FDA.

Like most gene therapies, UniQures treatment uses a modified virus to deliver a working copy of a gene to patients who lack a healthy version. In this case, the gene is needed for the body to break down fats; without it, patients can develop painful and even fatal inflammation of the pancreas. UniQure uses a modified version of a virus that most of us already carry. The choice of virus used to deliver a gene therapy depends in part on where the treatment needs to go in the body and whether the viruses are intended to replicate themselves. Some viruses, for instance, are designed to spread throughout the body to kill cancer cells.

There are several groups that could be the first to develop a U.S.-approved gene therapy (see table). Highs team is one; they are enrolling patients in a late-stage trial of a treatment for a disorder that causes blindness at an early age. The patients in this trial have previously been given the gene therapy in one eye, and now the other will be tested.

In the experimental treatment, doctors inject a virus-borne gene just behind a patients retina. The treatment improved some patients vision to the point that they were no longer legally blind. Some patients have been stable for nearly six years. The trial is scheduled to end in April 2015.

Another possibility comes from Massachusetts-based Bluebird Bio, which has published results from patients who have seemingly been cured of a genetic blood disease (see Gene Therapy Combats Hereditary Blood Disease). The company is about to start testing its approach in a hereditary neurological disorder that is often fatal in young boys.

In a different form, gene therapy could also become an option for cancer treatment. At a meeting this summer, Amgen announced that it had met its goals for an advanced test of a gene therapy for melanoma that has spread from the skin to other parts of the body. The Amgen treatment, which was engineered from a virus that normally causes cold sores, takes a two-pronged approach to fighting cancer. The virus selectively infects cancer cells, where it replicates until the cell bursts. While growing inside the cell, the virus also produces a protein that rouses the immune system. When the cell explodes, immune cells are attracted to the tumor site to fight the disease.

In a test in patients with late-stage melanoma, 26 percent of patients whose cancer had spread saw a partial or complete tumor response for at least six months. In 11 percent of patients, the cancer completely disappeared, which suggests that the therapy spreads throughout the body, targeting tumors that werent initially injected. Overall survival rates for cancer patients in the trials are expected to be reported in the first half of 2014.

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When Will Gene Therapy Come to the U.S.?

When Will Gene Therapy Come to the United States?

Susan Young for MIT Technology Review 2013-09-30 14:11:37 UTC

Though many gene therapies have been tested in patients around the world in hopes of curing hereditary diseases, few governments have approved their sale, and none has been approved in the United States. That could change in coming years as several therapies enter advanced trials.

A big step forward already came in November 2012, when the European Medicines Agency gave the Dutch biotech startup UniQure permission to sell its treatment. That approval came as a relief to many in the field, who had been waiting for a break in the clouds hanging over the technology since failed and fatal trials in the 1990s. You see a resurgence in terms of investors, and in truth, a number of problems have been solved, says Katherine High, a medical researcher at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, who is overseeing a late-stage clinical trial for a different gene therapy.

Still, experts say it is likely to be a few years before a treatment is approved in the U.S. With its European approval in hand, UniQure may have a good chance of also getting the first U.S. approval, but the company says it has not yet submitted an application to the FDA.

Like most gene therapies, UniQures treatment uses a modified virus to deliver a working copy of a gene to patients who lack a healthy version. In this case, the gene is needed for the body to break down fats; without it, patients can develop painful and even fatal inflammation of the pancreas. UniQure uses a modified version of a virus that most of us already carry. The choice of virus used to deliver a gene therapy depends in part on where the treatment needs to go in the body and whether the viruses are intended to replicate themselves. Some viruses, for instance, are designed to spread throughout the body to kill cancer cells.

There are several groups that could be the first to develop a U.S.-approved gene therapy (see table). Highs team is one; they are enrolling patients in a late-stage trial of a treatment for a disorder that causes blindness at an early age. The patients in this trial have previously been given the gene therapy in one eye, and now the other will be tested.

In the experimental treatment, doctors inject a virus-based particle just behind a patients retina. The treatment improved some patients vision to the point that they were no longer legally blind. Some patients have been stable for nearly six years. The trial is scheduled to end in April 2015.

Another possibility comes from Massachusetts-based Bluebird Bio, which has published results from patients who have seemingly been cured of a genetic blood disease. The company is about to start testing its approach in a hereditary neurological disorder that is often fatal in young boys.

SEE ALSO: Gene Therapy Combats Hereditary Blood Disease

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When Will Gene Therapy Come to the United States?

Mark Howitt – Metal Master Kingdom: March of Freedom Interview (08-06-2013) – Video


Mark Howitt - Metal Master Kingdom: March of Freedom Interview (08-06-2013)
Interview with Mark Howitt by Ingrid Newton from Metal Master Kingdom about the March of Freedom. This exclusive Interview took place in Toronto on August 6,...

By: Mark Howitt

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Mark Howitt - Metal Master Kingdom: March of Freedom Interview (08-06-2013) - Video