Politics

In this article on Michelle Obama it mentions that her father had MS. I did not know that.

Perhaps, if she become first lady, she'll be more active with regard to MS than the Romneys were in the Governer's seat in MA...

No country has figured out a healthcare system that works for everyone (or even most people). The US system is seriously broken and detractors are usually proponents of some form of national health system.

Here's a story from the UK about the poor treatment you get from NHS when you have MS and the failure of a five year effort to fix that.

Here's a health plan that works: get really rich and be able to afford the best doctors and hospitals. Now we just need a plan to get really rich.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration revised its consumer advice on mercury amalgam fillings in the wake of a settlement in a lawsuit by Moms Against Mercury and other nonprofits against the federal agency.

The FDA Web site now says mercury amalgams "may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses." The agency also reopened the comment period until July 28 on a rule designating mercury amalgam as a Class II device with special controls on its use.

Special bonus: the link points to the story being reported in the *Mercury* News :-)

We reported back in 2006 on the a suit against the U.S. Treasury Department to change money so that the visually impaired can distinguish between different denominations. The U.S. Court of Appeals has just ruled that changes must be made to dollar bills. These changes might include raised markings or differing sizes, but it will be the Treasury Department that decides how to comply with the ruling. It may also appeal the ruling, again.

I have only recently been introduced to drugs such as Copaxone and their seriously high costs ($1900/month) through my fiancee's MS. Luckily enough she only has a co-pay of $40 (while working hourly for $10), however I came across a scary article on the New York Times website today that gives a glimpse into the direction of medication costs in the US. Does society not have an obligation to help those in such great need? Those that are rallying against the higher overall premium because it only benefits a few will get new perspective if they are ever diagnosed with a disease as horrible as MS or Cancer.

Hopefully this sort of thing will be blocked.

In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law with strong bi-partisan support. This act was to be the “emancipation proclamation” for people with disabilities preventing unfair treatment toward people with current, past and perceived disabilities. However, 17 years after the passage of this historic civil rights legislation, the courts have significantly weakened the original provisions of the ADA by narrowing the definition of “disability.”

Sign the petition here.

Your tax dollars at work. Yea! As this article, states:

President Bush has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (H.R. 2764), which includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide the public with open online access to findings from its funded research. This is the first time the U.S. government has mandated public access to research funded by a major agency.

The provision directs the NIH to change its existing Public Access Policy, implemented as a voluntary measure in 2005, so that participation is required for agency-funded investigators. Researchers will now be required to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed manuscripts into the National Library of Medicine’s online archive, PubMed Central. Full texts of the articles will be publicly available and searchable online in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication in a journal.

The actual text can be found in the PDF version of the bill, on Page 815, Section 218.

After spending 3 1/2 years in prison for possession of too many painkillers (see previous story), MS sufferer Richard Paey is being set free. He had previously lost an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court and had been denied parole, but the clemency board recommended his release and he was granted a pardon by Governor Charlie Crist.

The Food and Drug Administration does very little to ensure the safety of the millions of people who participate in clinical trials, a federal investigator has found.

In a report [released last] Friday, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, Daniel R. Levinson, said federal health officials did not know how many clinical trials were being conducted, audited fewer than 1 percent of the testing sites and, on the rare occasions when inspectors did appear, generally showed up long after the tests had been completed.

Bob Guidara's petition to get SSDI legislation changed to make it easier for people with a relapsing illness like MS get on and off and back on Social Security disability is gaining steam. Up from 2000 signatures the last time we talked about it, he has 4000 of the 10000 needed to advance to the next stages.

Please, if you haven't signed please do. And get as many of your friends and family to sign it as you can. With the 10,000 signatures, legistlators will listen and we can get some legislation sponsored to fix the current broken system.

You can read a more detailed description of his effort here.