The rich as social disease

From John Carey's review (The Sunday Times, March 8, 2009) of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett:

"What they find is that, in states and countries where there is a big gap between the incomes of rich and poor, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity and teenage pregnancy are more common, the homicide rate is higher, life expectancy is shorter, and children’s educational performance and literacy scores are worse. The Scandinavian countries and Japan consistently come at the positive end of this spectrum. They have the smallest differences between higher and lower incomes, and the best record of psycho-social health. The countries with the widest gulf between rich and poor, and the highest incidence of most health and social problems, are Britain, America and Portugal ...

One illusion that, cheeringly, they hope to dispel is that the super-rich are some kind of asset we should all cherish, rather than, from the viewpoint of social health, the equivalent of the seven plagues of Egypt."

New Nalgenes = Nasty

For years I've carried water bottles virtually everywhere I go, snazzy ones in bright colors, from the company known as Nalgene, an old standby for hikers and campers.

No more. Various studies have shown that the transparent, colored bottles from Nalgene, made from Lexan® polycarbonate plastic, have potentially terrible health effects. Check out the article "On the Trail of Water Bottle Toxins" for the evidence. Then throw away your transparent Nalgene bottle (plastic type no. 7) and get yourself one of the old school ones, made of opaque white plastic (no. 2), which are much safer.

Public Health: Pay now, not later

From a recent Seattle-Post Intelligencer editorial:

Washington ranks 44th in the country on public health spending, and one source told us that as of right now, some local public health offices can "barely afford to keep the lights on and the doors open."

[ click the headline for the full text ]

PUBLIC HEALTH CLINICS FUNDED THROUGH 2007

County Council decides to fund more sergeants, keep clinics open
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times, 11/18/06

Two King County public-health clinics threatened with closure are safe, at least until the end of 2007.

The Metropolitan King County Council, responding to what some members called a crisis in public-health funding, decided Friday to keep the Northgate and Bothell clinics open, but to fund only part of a proposal to help families obtain government-funded health insurance for their children...

Health Care: Pieces of sky

[An Oct. 4 editorial from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

The state's perennial initiative pusher sneered back in 1999 at concerns over the effects of his "$30 tabs" proposal. Politicians, he said, were claiming that the "sky would fall" if everyone paid hundreds less in Motor Vehicle Excise Taxes...

Thanks to the loss of the MVET and rising health care costs, the curtain was about to fall on patients at three north King County health clinics that had been recommended for closure.

County Executive Ron Sims' budget gives the clinics a budget reprieve -- but only until June.

"Patients are very scared. Half have no health insurance," says Dr. Michael Lippman at North Clinic. "They're a sick population and there's nowhere else to go. They're going to be staying home and getting sicker or flooding the ERs."

Once facing closure, two public health clinics get a booster shot

Click the headline above for the Sep. 29 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, or to watch a video on the Physicians for a National Health Program, see http://www.pnhpwesternwashington.org/PAGES/North%20Clinic%20Rally%20.html.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Rushing to try to save 2 county health clinics"

By Susan Phinney
Photo by Gilbert W. Arias

The proposed closure of two county health clinics in Northgate and Bothell has doctors, nurses and patients organizing and agonizing over the possible loss of health care for people who have few other options.

Jill Hoffman, a public health nurse who said she was speaking as a citizen, not a representative of Public Health -- Seattle & King County, said the sites targeted for closure accounted for 80,000 visits in 2005, and other clinics that handle underinsured and uninsured clients couldn't handle the overflow if they closed.

"People will be taking themselves and their children to emergency rooms for treatment. That will cost everyone money," Hoffman said ... [click headline for link to full article]

Real Change News: Bad Medicine - Rise in uninsured patients spurs plan for health clinics’ closure

Keep our Public Health clinics OPEN.

Public Health of Seattle and King County provides affordable health care across the county—even when people don’t have health insurance. Public Health provides immunizations for children, care for pregnant mothers, family planning, general family medicine, nutrition counseling, mental health services, disaster preparedness and many other critical services.

But in its latest budget proposal, Public Health proposed to close North and NorthShore Public Health Centers, and the North Seattle Dental Clinic, because of a lack of funds. If this happens:

• The entire North King County region will lose access to Public Health care
• Clients will have to travel farther for health care services; many will simply not be able to go
• Every Public Health clinic around the county will be under greater strain
• More than 150 employees will lose their jobs, hurting the local economy

If Public Health Centers close, everyone loses. You can help.

“Health Care Access for All” Rally
Saturday, September 30th
10AM to Noon, Rain or shine
North Seattle Public Health Clinic
10501 Meridian Ave N., north parking lot
(On bus route 16)

Sponsored by Communities for Public Health, endorsed by IFPTE Local 17, OPEIU Local 8, WA State Jobs with Justice, Coalition of Labor Union Women, WA Citizen Action & many others. For more information, contact: milibu@u.washington.edu

IN ADDITION, TAKE ACTION TODAY:

Call King County Executive Ron Sims and your County Council member, and say:
"Keep ALL our Public Health clinics open, running at 100%."
Ron Sims: 206-296-4040
King County Council: 206-296-1000 (Tell the receptionist your zip code and ask to speak to your council member.)

"Significant deficit" may force closure of two county health clinics

Public Health of Seattle & King County, where I work, provides essential health care services to county residents, many of whom have no insurance and nowhere else to turn. This year King County insisted that the Public Health department submit a balanced budget for 2007, despite increasing health care costs, decreasing returns as fewer people have health insurance, and an acute need for subsidies to be able to stay in business. Dorothy Teeter, interim director of Public Health of Seattle & King County, obliged the bean counters' request, and proposed closing two of the county's ten Public Health centers in order to break even.

Now it is up to Public Health clients, workers and the community at large to convince King County Executive Ron Sims and the King County Council to go beyond the budget Teeter submitted and fully fund Public Health, without any cuts or closures. Between now and late November, when the council votes on the budget, there's a lot of work to do.