NASA's 'Iron Man' Exoskeleton Suit Boosts Astronauts, Paraplegics [VIDEO]

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Watch out, Iron Man.

[More from Mashable: The Shiny Mars Mystery Object: 10 Things It Could Be]

While it may not have the superpowers of Tony Stark's armor, NASA has built a robot exoskeleton called "X1" that can keep astronauts healthy in space, and help paraplegics walk on earth, according to the space agency.

Humans wear the 57-pound device over their body to "assist or inhibit movement in leg joints," NASA said in a release. In the inhibit mode, X1 would be used as an exercise machine to provide resistance against leg movement in space's zero-gravity environment; while, the very same technology could be used in reverse on earth, by helping some people walk.

[More from Mashable: 15 Twitter Accounts Every Space Lover Should Follow]

"NASA is examining the potential for X1 as an exercise device to improve crew health both aboard the space station and during future long-duration missions to an asteroid or Mars," NASA said. "Without taking up valuable space or weight during missions, X1 could replicate common crew exercises, which are vital to keeping astronauts healthy in microgravity."

Along with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and engineers from Oceaneering Space Systems, NASA has jointly developed X1, which is currently in a research and development phase.

To see the device in action, check out the video above.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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NASA's 'Iron Man' Exoskeleton Suit Boosts Astronauts, Paraplegics [VIDEO]

NASA hacker McKinnon to hear extradition fate tomorrow

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Summary: After a 10-year legal battle, home secretary Theresa May will reveal whether the UK will send Gary McKinnon to the US to face court charges over hacking NASA and military computers.

NASA hacker Gary McKinnon will learn on Tuesday whether his 10-year legal fight to avoid extradition to the US has been successful.

Home secretary Theresa May will reveal her decision to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner confirmed in a post to Twitter on Sunday.

The US began its extradition efforts against the London resident in 2005, on charges that he had caused $700,000 in damage by hacking into NASA and US military systems. In 2002, McKinnon admitted breaking into the systems, but said he was looking for evidence of UFOs and that his aims were not malicious.

Janis Sharp, McKinnon's mother, welcomed the news but stressed her fears about the reaction of McKinnon, who has Asperger's syndrome, if he is sent to the US.

"My terror is that Gary would not last five minutes away from home," McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, told the BBC.

Efforts to keep McKinnon in the UK got a boost on Friday, after Home Office-commissioned medical advisers produced a new report into his health. Two experts, Declan Murphy and Tom Fahy, said the extradition carries a "significant risk of suicidal behaviour" for McKinnon, according to reports. The assessment is a change of tune for the experts, who in July described the risk as "moderate".

McKinnon's health concerns and the long-running legal battle have prompted calls from British politicians for the overhaul of the extradition treaty between the US and the UK. The 46-year-old's fight has seen him appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and be turned down for a hearing in the British Supreme Court.

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Innovative Medicine Announces Effective New Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder

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Acclaimed author and medical expert T.S. Wiley joins Innovative Medicine to discuss Chronobiology and new effective treatments for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 14, 2012

Author of two hit books: "Sex, Lies, and Menopause" and "Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival", T.S. Wiley is an anthropologist and medical theorist with a background in investigative journalism. An ever-active medical researcher, she is an established expert in environmental endocrinology and evolutionary biology, has a professional affiliation with the New York Academy of Sciences, and speaks regularly at such venues as the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), the International Hormone Society, and the World Conference on Breast Cancer.

We prove that major killers like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are caused by short nights, working long hours, and the electricity that gives us the ability to do so, notes Wiley, calling out artificial light as the ultimate endocrine disruptor that shuts down proper hormone production and ruins our health unless, we take very specific actions

As many as 60 million Americans (20%) suffer from mild to severe cases of seasonal affective disorder and resulting depression during the changes of our seasons, and few are provided with effective treatments. As Dr. Thomas K. Szulc, Medical Director of Innovative Medicine states, understanding and restoring proper bodily rhythms on a cellular level, is the key to establishing successful treatments for patients suffering with SAD. In our medical clinic [Manhattan Advanced Medicine], we have introduced new integrative treatments and sophisticated biological medicines that effectively regulate and restore proper rhythmic action without suppressing or managing the patient through pharmaceutical intervention.

This special medical event is open to both practitioners and the public, and can be accessed through registering at http://www.innovativemedicineblog.com/rhythm

About Innovative Medicine - Based in New York, NY, Innovative Medicine is dedicated to changing the current medical paradigm and working with practitioners across the United States to provide sophisticated solutions and advanced medical techniques based in quantum physics and unconventional biological understanding of the human body. Focusing on complex 21st century conditions, Innovative Medicine is a pioneer in a new shift of mentality on how to approach disease and dysfunction for amazing results. Further information is available at http://www.innovativemedicine.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/innomedicine and Twitter at @InnoMedicine.

Benjamin Ahrens Innovative Medicine 800-605-1798 706 Email Information

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Programs pay off medical school debt

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In Colorado, there is a serious need for primary care doctors both in rural areas and in Colorado Springs. The National Health Service Corps and the Colorado Health Service Corps are trying to address the need through loan forgiveness grants to medical school students.

The National Health Service Corps granted more than $12 million in student loan forgiveness during 2011 in Colorado and contracted with 240 primary care providers to erase medical school debt and get more doctors in rural areas. The CHSC gave more than $2.5 million to nearly 80 primary care doctors.

So far this year, NHSC granted $2.8 million in loan repayment funding to graduating doctors in the state. In exchange, the new doctors agree to work at community health centers like Peak Vista Community Health Centers, serving an underinsured and indigent population.

The Health Service Corps has been incredibly successful in helping us attract health care professionals to Community Health Centers, said Tanah Wagenseller, health center workforce manager for Colorado Community Health Network. Its helping students who want to make a difference find a job where they can do that every day.

The National Health Service Corps was created 40 years ago to provide rural areas with essential health services, and receives bipartisan support from Congress. The federal government doubled the program in 2009, after recognizing the upcoming shortage of primary care physicians.

The Colorado Health Service Corps offers providers more flexibility and is administered through the Department of Public Health and Environment with funding from the Colorado Health Foundation, the U.S. Health Resources and Services administration, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the state of Colorado, the Colorado Trust and the Comprecare Foundation.

Despite the programs success, there is still a stark need for new primary care doctors. Colorado has 3,200 licensed primary care physicians, and many are nearing retirement age, while an increasing percentage of medical students are choosing other specialties. Some 85 percent of the state is deemed a professional health shortage area.

At the same time, safety net sites that provide health care expect increased demand as aresult of health care reform. One in 10 people in Colorado depend on a community health center for primary care. That number is expected to grow dramatically when health reform is fully implemented in 2014, expanding access to care to about 540,000 residents.

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WMU Breaks Ground On Medical Building

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) -- Western Michigan University has broken ground for its new medical school and says it's received accreditation for its expected opening two years from now. The university broke held the ceremony Friday in downtown Kalamazoo. The site is being named the W.E. Upjohn Campus in honor of the founder of pharmaceutical company Upjohn. The building once was used for pharmaceutical research as part of the campuses of Upjohn, Pharmacia and Pfizer. The first class of medical students arrives in August 2014. Mlive.com says there will be 50 students in the entering class, a number that's expected to rise to 80 in the future.

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Fake student investigated by university

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The dean of Auckland University's medical school says he's extremely concerned a person managed to pretend to be a medical student for two years.

The student failed to gain entry into the medical school in 2010 but had since allegedly attended classes and was able to deceive classmates and teachers by not submitting assessments or sitting tests.

He was detected when an assignment was submitted which didn't match any name on the class list, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences dean Professor John Fraser said.

The university was taking the incident seriously, Prof Fraser said.

"This type of behaviour is extremely unusual and this is the first such instance in the 43-year history of the medical school," he said.

"As well as undertaking reviews of the processes which allow enrolled students access to medical programmes, the University will assist in any investigations by any statutory agency."

Prof Fraser said the fake student hadn't been given any confidential or restricted training material and hadn't ever examined any patients or received confidential patient information.

However, the student was alleged to have dissected bodies donated for medical research, 3 News reported.

Prof Fraser said it was inappropriate to comment further given the fake student's actions "and the likelihood of a police investigation".

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Medical schools lead decline in applications to universities

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The number of students applying to study medicine at the country's universities plunged 14.2% for the 2011-2012 academic year from a year earlier, leading a trend of falling university enrollments, according to figures from the Higher Education Council.

Statistics released Wednesday said the number of people applying for places at the universities dropped 2.5% for the current year, while there was a 1.1% drop in the number who were accepted.

The drop in medical school applicants was so large that for the first time in years, the rate of acceptance was not the lowest among all areas of study. That honor went to architecture programs, where the rate of acceptance was 25%, versus 27.5% for medical school.

The higher rate of acceptance for medicine partly reflects the opening of a new medical school in Safed, the council said. But the major factor was that only 1,600 people applied for places, compared with 1,865 last year. Of those, 440 were admitted, down from 455 last year.

But Eran Leitersdorf, dean of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine and chairman of the medical faculty deans' forums, said the council's figures didn't reflect actual interest in medical studies. Medical programs used a weighted index of matriculation (bagrut ) and psychometric exam scores to consider applicants, and fewer potential applicants meet the standard to apply, he said.

Other academic programs also suffered declining demand. For social work, the number of applicants dropped 15.5% for the current academic year from 2010-2011. About 55% of all applicants to social worker programs at the universities were accepted, the council said.

Both declines, which were the sharpest among academic programs, appear to have been linked to labor disputes occurring at the time applicants were considering programs.

According to an analysis conducted by TheMarker, the number of students in bachelor's programs at academic colleges soared from 2008 to 2011, while university enrollments held steady and even declined at the biggest institutions.

The decline in university applications was nearly across the board, the exceptions being electrical and electronics engineering (which was unchanged ), and computer science (which rose 2% ). For those programs, the acceptance rate in bachelor's programs was 53% and 54%, respectively.

Applications for humanities programs were unchanged at 1,980, with three-quarters of all applicants getting accepted, the council said. Accounting programs saw applications drop 7% and economics programs fell by 3.3%. Psychology applications were off 2% from last year. Only one out of every 1.6 applicants gets into a psychology program and only one out of every 1.7 gets into accounting or economics.

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Medical schools lead decline in applications to universities

University investigates fake medical student

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The University of Auckland is investigating how a man who was denied a place at its medical school was able to attend classes.

The man is alleged to have dissected cadavers, donated for medical research, among other assignments.

A medical school spokesman said the man participated in the second and third year of the six-year medical course.

Over the two-year period he evaded lecturers by not putting his name to anything, he said. An anonymous person reportedly emailed 3News claiming the student was to work in a hospital environment as a third-year student.

That would allow him to work with patients and confidential information, the person said.

The university is believed to have issued a trespass notice against the man.

Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Professor John Fraser said, in a statement, the university was "extremely concerned to discover that a person who applied for entry into the medical programme in 2010 and was unsuccessful has since been attending classes".

"Because of the size of the medical class, and by not submitting assessments or sitting tests, the individual was able to deceive classmates and teachers.

"Ultimately the presence of this person was detected when an assignment was submitted that did not match any name on the class list.

"This individual is not a student and is not on any class list. This person has not been given any confidential or restricted training material, and has not, to our knowledge, ever been able to examine any patients or received confidential patient information."

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Liberty University Worship Students Write, Perform Song for Movie Soundtrack

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Two Liberty University Center for Music and Worship students will have their talents featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming film "Finding Faith." Senior Katelyn Scott's song, "Safe in Your Arms," was selected by the film's producers as the winner of a special contest they held for Liberty's songwriting specialization students. Senior Stephanie Bettcher, who starred as the film's title character, Faith Garrett, will be singing the song.

Lynchburg, Va. (PRWEB) October 14, 2012

Senior Katelyn Scotts song, Safe in Your Arms, was selected by the films producers as the winner of a contest for Libertys songwriting specialization students. Senior Stephanie Bettcher, who starred as the films title character, Faith Garrett, will be singing the song.

Finding Faith is being filmed in Central Virginia, with Lynchburg as its hub. It aims to educate families on the importance of Internet safety through a powerful drama based on the real-life story of a girl who was abducted after falling prey to a skillful online predator. It is inspired by the experiences of Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, who headed one of the nations first Internet Crimes Against Children task forces.

The film is presented by the Safe Surfin Foundation, and stars Erik Estrada, a Hollywood legend and activist best known for his role on the 1970s and 80s television series CHiPS.

Liberty and Thomas Road Baptist Church have been at the heart of this project since the beginning, offering support and personnel for every stage of production.

Dean Haskins, Finding Faith co-executive producer, music director, and composer, said the production team decided to hold the contest because of the deep talent pool Libertys worship center had within its songwriting specialization.

Songs that are used in conjunction with the movie need to fit the feel, the message of either of the entire movie or a specific scene, Haskins said. When we zeroed in on Katelyn Scotts song, Safe in Your Arms, we all realized right away, this message, this song, truly fits the heart of this movie.

Scott said she began writing the song to encourage a friend who was going through a difficult time before she knew about the contest. As the song developed, she heard about the opportunity and instantly knew it would work for the part.

I just took that song and kept going with it, and prayed through it, she said.

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Libertarian candidate for governor Howe running for party

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By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. By literally running while running for office, Barbara Howe may have the race for best hook of North Carolina's political season sewn up.

The Libertarian candidate for governor has jogged in 5-kilometer increments through more than 90 of North Carolina's 100 counties as part of her campaign since kicking it off in May. The 59-year-old Oxford resident often contacts local media or stops by a diner or visitors' center to connect with voters. There, she shares her party's philosophy of a limited government that stays out of people's business.

"You can learn a lot by just listening," Howe said. "Almost all people want the same thing. They want to live their lives, they want to be able to provide for their families, they want to be able to educate their children, they want to enjoy their free time, and they don't want a lot of meddlesome rules and regulations telling them what to do."

She's run around the political block a few times, too. In her fourth bid for statewide office, Howe understands her lack of funds compared to Democratic nominee Walter Dalton and Republican Pat McCrory. She's irritated by being left out of live television debates, so the public doesn't have as much familiarity with her and her party.

It means Howe and other Libertarians are focused upon her getting at least 2 percent of the vote. The threshold is critical: Without it or a strong showing by Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, state election officials will have to decertify the party. That means having to collect 100,000 signatures of registered voters by 2016 to return to the ballot an expensive endeavor.

Howe knows there's pressure on her.

"There are several measures of victory. First is to be the next governor, but secondly would be to ensure that the Libertarian Party (officially) continues to exist," Howe said in an interview.

Howe is a Libertarian Party veteran and former chairwoman who has survived the challenges of meeting some of the strictest ballot access laws in the country. Things improved for third parties when the Legislature approved a 2006 law lowering the election threshold from 10 percent of the vote to 2 percent to remain an official party.

Duke University professor Mike Munger ran in 2008 and tallied almost 3 percent of the vote, giving the Libertarians some breathing room to raise their voter registration to a record of more than 17,000. Munger didn't run in 2012 because of health issues. That opened the door again to Howe, who was Munger's campaign manager four years ago and ran for governor herself in 2000 and 2004.

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Storm Rafael drenches Virgin Islands

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Image courtesy of Weather Underground.

Published: Oct. 14, 2012 at 6:32 PM

MIAMI, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Rafael menaced the Caribbean Sunday evening while Tropical Storm Paul swirled far from land out in the Pacific, U.S. forecasters said.

Both were forecast to become hurricanes sometime Monday.

Rafael was producing sustained winds near 60 mph with higher gusts and was expected to become a hurricane by Monday night, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 5 p.m. EDT advisory.

Rafael, heading to the north-northwest at 10 mph, was centered about 185 miles north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico and about 800 miles south of Bermuda, where a tropical storm watch was in effect.

The storm was generating tropical storm-force winds up to 175 miles from its center.

It was expected to stay on its current track through Sunday night, then turn to the north Monday, staying well to the east of the Bahamas, the forecasters said. It could approach Bermuda late Tuesday.

Rafael was expected to drop 4-8 inches of rain on the Leeward Islands, with isolated pockets getting 12 inches. Forecasters said the heavy rains could produced life-threatening flash floods and mud slides in mountainous areas.

The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Natural Resources were battling the conditions to search for three people who were aboard a small aircraft that crashed Saturday about 7 miles south of St. Thomas, CNN said.

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Tropical Storm Rafael heads north of Virgin Islands, dumping heavy rain over eastern Caribbean

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MIAMI - Tropical Storm Rafael lashed the Leeward Islands with heavy rains Sunday, threatening to strengthen into a hurricane within a day, U.S.-based forecasters said.

The storm was centred at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday about 100 miles (165 kilometres) north-northwest of St. Martin and was gradually moving away from the Virgin Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Rafael had top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph).

Forecasters said Rafael could become a hurricane by Monday, adding interests in Bermuda should monitor Rafael's progress. The centre's advisory said a tropical storm or hurricane watch may be required for Bermuda sometime Sunday.

A tropical storm warning has been discontinued for Anguilla. Earlier Sunday, a tropical storm watch was discontinued for Puerto Rico.

Rafael could dump rainfall totalling between 3 and 5 inches on some islands and possibly up to 10 inches in isolated spots over the lesser Antilles and the Virgin Islands, raising the threat of flooding, forecasters said. Potentially heavy rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, particularly in mountainous terrain, the hurricane centre said.

Forecasters also warned of possibly dangerous surf churned up by Rafael.

Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles (280 kms) from the centre of Rafael, mainly to the northeast and east of the system, forecasters said.

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Tropical Storm Rafael heads north of Virgin Islands, dumping heavy rain over eastern Caribbean

Tropical Storm Rafael pummels Virgin Islands, heads toward Bermuda

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By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 9:42 PM EDT, Sun October 14, 2012

On Bay Road in Basseterre, St. Kitts, two taxis were washed down to the shoreline when they tried to cross the flooded road.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Tropical Storm Rafael unleashed heavy rain and powerful gusts on the Leeward Islands on Sunday and could turn into a hurricane by Monday, forecasters said.

With sustained winds of 60 mph, Rafael could get even stronger as it bears down on several islands popular with tourists.

As of 5 p.m. ET, Rafael was centered about 185 miles (298 kilometers) northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm was moving north-northwest at 10 mph (16 kph) and was expected to turn northward by Monday.

A projection map shows Rafael headed toward Bermuda later this week.

Officials there issued a tropical storm watch Sunday and told residents that they expected the storm to affect the British territory on Tuesday.

While the National Hurricane Center predicted Rafael will stay well to the east of the Bahamas through Monday, it did warn of life-threatening surf conditions and rip currents on the eastward-facing beaches of the Bahamas over the next few days.

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Tropical Storm Rafael pummels Virgin Islands, heads toward Bermuda

Janssen Sustainability Report; Cabot School Program; ACS Helps 50% of Breast Ca- Health Min 10/12/12 – Video

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12-10-2012 07:22 A study by the American Cancer Society concludes that one out of two women diagnosed with breast cancer contacts the Society for help and support. In 2011, the Society provided information and services to 115270 of the estimated 230480 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the US The organization is currently funding more than 240 breast cancer grants totaling $88 million. The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson have released a report that examines the growing demand for sustainability in health care. Results from Janssen's report, The Growing Important of Sustainable Productions in the Global Health Care Industry, were presented recently at the CleanMed Europe conference, the world's leading conference focused on sustainable health care and the environmental impact of the health care sector on local, regional, and global levels. Cabot Creamery has teamed up with the Green Education Foundation for a Holiday Cheese Party raffle to promote health behaviors in elementary and middle schools. Classrooms around the country are eligible to win a nutritious party with $100 from GEF and Cabot's cheeses by completing a lesson on health and sustainability. For more information on these and other stories, go to http://www.csrminute.com. The Health Minute is produced for 3BL Media by Video4Good

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Janssen Sustainability Report; Cabot School Program; ACS Helps 50% of Breast Ca- Health Min 10/12/12 - Video

Health care: Will Americans go ahead with Obama or change direction with Romney?

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By Jack Torry

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday October 14, 2012 7:15 AM

Thomas West gets a checkup at the University of Chicago Medicine Primary Care Clinic. The number of Medicare beneficiaries is projected to grow to more than 64 million by 2020.

WASHINGTON The signature achievement of President Barack Obamas term could be out the door if Republican challenger Mitt Romney wins in November, but the debate over the future of health care in America will continue and possibly dominate the next term no matter who gets elected.

The candidates competing visions could scarcely be more dissimilar, even though Obamas Affordable Care Act was closely modeled after the health-care plan that Romney signed into law while governor of Massachusetts.If Obama wins re-election, he can be expected to fully phase in the health-care law, which is designed to extend coverage to millions of Americans without insurance.

And he likely will retain the basic structures of Medicare and Medicaid, the Great Society programs that provide health coverage to the elderly and the poor, respectively.

Should Romney win the presidency, count on him to try to repeal the 2010 law which has earned the nickname Obamacare while launching a sweeping transformation of Medicare and Medicaid.

The competing ways to deal with the millions of Americans without health insurance while simultaneously trying to restrain the growth of federal health programs that eventually will devour much of the annual federal budget has been a dominant dispute in the testy presidential race.

During the first presidential debate in Denver, Obama complained that Romney wants to replace the health law but he hasnt described what exactly wed replace it with other than saying were going to leave it to the states.

By contrast, Romney says that the law has discouraged small companies from hiring. During the same debate, he assailed Obama for spending his energy and passion during his first two years in office fighting for Obamacare instead of fighting for jobs for the American people. It has killed jobs.

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What We Still Don't Know About Romney and Health Care

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Its hard to tell what Mitt Romney would do to solve the problem of sick uninsured Americans. Right now, these people often cant find insurers willing to sell them policies or, if they can, the costs are prohibitive. Under Obamas Affordable Care Act, insurance companies will be required, beginning in 2014, to sell policies to anyone who wants one and to ignore customers health status when setting prices. This is possible because the ACA also requires nearly everyone to buy health insurance, flooding the market with millions of new customers, including healthy people, whose premiums will subsidize the cost of covering the sick.

Covering people with pre-existing conditions is one of the most popular pieces of Obamacare, and Mitt Romney is doing his best to imply that his health care plan would accomplish this lofty goal as well. But there are a few problems. Romney wants to repeal Obamacare and he doesnt really have a comprehensive plan to replace it, at least not one that hes made publicly available. In the absence of this, voters can look at his runningmate Paul Ryans budget proposals that include health care policy or they can look at Massachusetts, which essentially has a state version of Obamacare championed by Romney when he was governor.

Hes at the top of the ticket, so its not fair to judge him by Ryans past proposals, he says. And the Massachusetts health care reform was right for Massachusetts, but not the nation, he says, so its not fair to judge his presidential plans based on that. Thats fine. But surely it must be fair to judge what Romney said about the problem of the uninsured last time he was running for president, right?

Heres what Romney said in January 2008, explaining why, prior to reform in Massachusetts, uninsured people who could afford insurance nonetheless didnt buy it:

They said why should we buy it? If we get sick, we can go to the hospital and get care for freeThey shouldnt be allowed just to show up at the hospital and say somebody else should pay for me, so we said no more free ridersWe said if you can afford insurance, then either have the insurance or get a health savings account, pay your own way, but no more free rideI think its the conservative approach to make sure that people who can afford insurance are getting it at their expense, not at the expense of the taxpayers or the government. That I consider a step towards socialism.

Four years later, Romney talks about emergency room hospital care for the uninusured as a safety net, not as proof of irresponsibility. Heres how the Columbus Post Dispatch reported what Romney told its editorial board on Wednesday:

We dont have a setting across this country where if you dont have insurance, we just say to you, Tough luck, youre going to die when you have your heart attack, he said as he offered more hints as to what he would put in place of Obamacare, which he has pledged to repeal.

No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and its paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We dont have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they dont have insurance.

He pointed out that federal law requires hospitals to treat those without health insurance although hospital officials frequently say that drives up health-care costs.

Romney made similar comments to 60 Minutes back in September, explaining that people without insurance have an option to get carein the hospital.

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What We Still Don't Know About Romney and Health Care

U.S. Senate candidates disagree on health care law

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The candidates for New Mexicos open U.S. Senate seat would approach the countrys Affordable Care Act in different ways if elected in November.

Democrat U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich says he supports and would stick with the plan, while Wilson said she would repeal it.

Heinrich called the law a step in the right direction to help make health care more affordable and keep insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers including denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and canceling coverage when someone gets sick.

Wilson, a Republican and former House member, called the Supreme Courts vote on health care a mistake and said it should be undone.

But its not just enough to simply repeal the health care act, she said in a statement. The health care status quo is not acceptable either. We need to allow doctors and patients to make decisions about care, make health care more affordable, pass medical liability reform and continue to lead the world in health care research.

While the Affordable Care Act affects nearly every American, the candidates, who responded to questions from The New Mexican, havent focused much on the topic, said Gabriel Sanchez, a University of New Mexico political science professor. The health care law didnt come up in the candidates first televised debate earlier this week, and it hasnt been the most popular TV ad topic either, although one anti-Heinrich ad blasts him for supporting it.

I see it kind of couched more in the presidential discussion of the issue. But I think its important that the voters have a clear idea of where the candidates stand on this, said Sanchez, who also teaches a summer class in racial and ethnic health disparities at The University of Michigan.

With the Supreme Courts approval of the law, health care has moved up on voters radars, Sanchez said, but the issue still is behind the economy and immigration, at least for Latino voters.

One specific part of the Affordable Care Act that Wilson and Heinrich have addressed somewhat is whether New Mexico should expand its Medicaid program under the federal law.

Gov. Susana Martinez has yet to announce a decision on what the state will do.

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Health care’s big picture: Fix the systems to support individuals

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A message to all physicians from Steven J. Stack, MD, chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.

Health information technology, sustainable health care financing and quality health care delivery all rely on complex systems involving a variety of processes and people. All of them require a systems-based, not individual-focused approach to achieve success. Yet what makes obvious sense at a system level may be untenable at the individual level, and often physicians at the bedside feel alone in their recognition of this reality.

To demonstrate the point, lets consider a few clinical examples:

Notwithstanding the above, physicians use ankle x-rays, CT scans and antibiotics at times in a manner contrary to established treatment guidelines.

Sometimes this may be a knowledge deficiency or even a professional shortfall. For these instances, educational efforts such as those undertaken by the American Medical Association and the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement play a useful role. More commonly, though, the true culprit is our fragmented and inequitable health system.

Sixteen percent of all Americans and 34% of the patients in my suburban emergency department are uninsured. For these patients, there is no ready access to appropriate outpatient follow-up care. Watchful waiting may mean more time off the job or a costly repeat visit to an ED. See your primary care doctor or Follow up with the orthopedist can be a cruel joke, not useful advice. For the uninsured and patients on Medicaid, problems with transportation, employer inflexibility, no or low insurance coverage, and educational limitations add additional challenges.

Against this backdrop, many physicians have ordered an ankle x-ray or prescribed an antibiotic to a patient whose personal circumstances make outpatient follow-up particularly burdensome or unlikely. For a patient with unrelenting abdominal pain, even if nonemergent, a CT scan may be the only available option to exclude a whole host of worrisome diagnoses within the short time of an ED visit. Technology and/or pills, even with their own costs and undesirable consequences, become surrogates for unattainable access to affordable and reliable outpatient medical care.

Please note that I am not relying on the fear of trial lawyers or the pressures faced by busy clinicians to justify suboptimal care. Defensive medicine and work force shortages (real or artificial) are challenges in their own right, but those arent the topic of this column. Nor am I proposing that we physicians dont have an obligation to optimize the care we provide to be cost-effective and consistent with scientific evidence.

Instead, I assert that medical treatment for 50 million uninsured and 60 million Medicaid patients, fully a third of our population, adheres to rules of pragmatism not captured by evidence-based medicine. Rather than being a failure of physician professionalism, quite a few seemingly inappropriate tests and treatments are the result of a physicians imperfect but sincere attempt to help a patient in a nation replete with First-World technology but financed and administered in a Third World manner. Until our nation moves past the delusion that individual professionals are at fault for societal choices and systems-based problems, we will not succeed as we could and should.

The solution to this problem of allegedly unnecessary tests and antibiotic use goes well beyond physician education and professionalism. If, as a nation, we want to seriously and successfully address these challenges, we must reform our current fragmented, costly and inequitable health system to support access to quality care that facilitates adherence to scientific evidence. Until then, it is misplaced and unfair for policymakers and standard-setters to impugn the physicians professionalism for treating the patient immediately before him in a manner considerate to the patients personal circumstances.

Excerpt from:

Health care’s big picture: Fix the systems to support individuals