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Carol Shea-Porter Stands for Access to Preventive Care

by: Dean Barker

Sat Jul 17, 2010 at 08:13:39 AM EDT
Did you know that the new health care law that Carol Shea-Porter worked so hard to pass (despite it being a less progressive bill - with a public option - than she would have wanted) will allow for no cost preventive care in some instances? (email)
Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today released the following statement regarding the announcement from the Department of Health and Human Services that new health care plans must cover preventive services at no cost to the patient.

"The health care reform package enacted in March is already helping Granite Staters," said Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter.  "These newly enacted provisions will allow patients to receive free preventive care, which lowers medical costs and helps Americans lead healthier lives."

Depending on age and health risks, the types of preventive services that will be available without a deductible, co-pay or co-insurance under these new provisions include:

Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests;

Many cancer screenings;

Routine vaccines for diseases such as measles, polio, or meningitis;

Flu and pneumonia shots;

Counseling, screening and vaccines for healthy pregnancies; and

Regular well-baby and well-child visits, from birth to age 21.

This is a no-brainer.  If people can afford to go to the doctor for preventive care, they will spend far less later.  And of course the larger point: early detection is key to better health and longevity.

It's CSP Week on BH. Learn more here about it. Get involved, and give what you can.
Dean Barker :: Carol Shea-Porter Stands for Access to Preventive Care
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Carol Shea-Porter Stands for Access to Preventive Care | 7 comments
Excellent point, Dean, (0.00 / 0)
and kudos to Carol for understanding how nutrition and access to health care can help to change behaviors, improve health care outcomes, and reduce long-term costs.  The system is a mess.  Agriculture and Energy depts. have policies that work to undermine health outcomes and costs.  These shifts we are seeing in the conceptualization of these systems are great signs - if we can return the good guys to DC.

And there's the rub.  Boehner has already declared that an R majority will mean no more new regulations and an end to enforcing the existing ones.  The Chamber is amping up charges of "anti-business" Obama - look for the echo chamber to start picking this meme up.  These gains will be short lived if the likes of Guinta, Mahoney, Bass, Ayotte, or Binnie go to Washington.

Got Health Care?  Thank Democrats.

Get your bumper stickers today.

"Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." A. Einstein

Cost savings, (4.00 / 1)
a more productive population, children who learn faster and better, less crime (that one will raise some eyebrows on the right), fewer hospitalizations, and very, very, very good for the small businesses that depend on having healthy workers.  
Now let's add more local farms for healthier food, plus alternative energy for less air and  pollution (agribusiness is also a main contributor to air and water pollution), walkable communities, gardens in every school, I could go on and on.  The possibilities for this country to bloom, with a healthy population, thriving new businesses large and small that produce GDH (gross domestic happiness, and much better measure of growth that matters), are part of the vision that I know both Carol and President Obama share.  The problem is getting past the obstructions to a better world.  Piece of cake if we had more like Carol.
This is vital (4.00 / 1)
As a diabetic, I can see firsthand the impact of preventive care.  Diet, exercise, and blood glucose management are keeping me alive -- but all of these are based on preventive education and support, which a significant plurality of diabetics cannot access.  THAT'S why our country's health care costs are exploding.  It ain't "socialized medicine".

Kudos to CSP for standing up (yet again) for what's right.

For Those Of Us Who Have No Insurance... (4.00 / 1)
...those are the important health care considerations.  

Since Carol Shea-Porter wasn't rich all her life, she really "gets it" when it comes to these issues.  Republicans seem to miss that point.  We need her more than ever.  

It would be interesting to know whether the wealthy (0.00 / 0)
actually live longer healthier lives.  It's my sense that their attachment to riches has an ulterior motive -- the exercise of power while they are living and from beyond the grave.  When they talk about not leaving debts to their children, they're not dismissing that they want their off-spring to experience "family ties" both now and later.  Living longer isn't necessarily their objective.

A friend of mine is now eighty.  Her father died when she was 13.  67 years later, the bankers are still doling out the "interest and dividends" from his estate.  And collecting a fee for the service.  No doubt, the banksters feel they've "earned it."

[ Parent ]
you may be right, hannah (0.00 / 0)
William Loeb and Mel Thomson, both wealthy men, are still ruling NH from the grave.  

member of the professional left  
[ Parent ]
I was really glad to read (0.00 / 0)
that we're finally starting to focus on starting screening early.  So many of these measures: flu shots, pregnancy screening, and well-child visits from birth to 21 are desperately needed.  The big problem with screening in this country is that we start far too late in life educating people about health and treating them for their various conditions.  By then, it's too late for some to avoid the consequences of poor diet, smoking, excessive drinking, etc.

By starting early, we can keep kids away from these behaviors and educate their parents about proper diet and exercise.  This will have huge consequences and health care cost savings later in life.

But this should be just one aspect of teaching people about living healthier lives.  We should be taxing unhealthy foods and sugary drinks and supporting lawsuits to stop companies from targeting kids (these approaches have worked to curb underage smoking).  Also, we should make school food healthier and follow England's example by providing school dinners to students who need it.

Carol Shea-Porter Stands for Access to Preventive Care | 7 comments

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