A new study has found an association between obesity and cancer within the people aged 24 to 49. Different types of cancer has been typically found in the elderly, but is now being found at a much younger age which are concerning doctors and scientist. Even though cancer incidences have been decreasing within males and staying steady in females cancer is rising within these adults who have obesity. Scientist believe that the cause of this could be from fatty acids which causes changes in people’s metabolism can also be a factor of cancer.
I don’t believe that obesity can be the causation of cancer, but there could definitely be an association between the two. I wouldn’t fully disregard this article for this reason because they never said it was a causation but an association however the title makes it seem like there is. Research is still being done to figure out how obesity can be an affect that causes cancer so it would be better to try to reduce the likeliness that we can get cancer by trying to keep our bodies healthy.
For the first time on record, the odds of accidentally dying from an opioid overdose in the United States are now greater than those of dying in an automobile accident.
This news article by Kevin Flower and Meera Senthilingam presented the audiences with the new drug overdose statistics. By examining a variety of federal and state data, the lifetime odds of dying of an accidental opioid overdoes were 1 in 96. Compared to motor vehicle accidents the odds were 1 in 103. Comparing 2017 to 2016, there is an increase of 11% in poisoning deaths (including opioid overdoses). The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reports that drug overdose deaths reached a new high of 70,000 in 2017. The drug overdose death rates increased in 35 of 50 states from 2013 to 2017.
An average of 130 Americans dies from opioid overdose every day. It is becoming the leading cause of death. People often do not recognize this crisis. We discussed the process of passing public policies in class. How will the government respond to this crisis.
I believe an effective way to combat the opioid epidemic is to provide healthcare providers with useful opioid overdose data. And from there they can use the data as a guide for improving opioid prescribing. The government can pass regulations on prescription drugs. Local government should address this issue through the news. Also, raise awareness of this ongoing epidemic and encourage people to make a safe choice.
With the longest government shutdown looming over us, there are a lot of questions concerning certain issues, like how will taxes work and whether trash is being collected, to name a few. With concerns of federal funding being thrown around the White House and a bewilderment sweeping the nation, many federal workers are concerned about their health insurance.
In this news article published on CNBC, Annie Nova focuses on how the government shutdown is affecting the health insurance of government employees. All government employees are guaranteed health coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB). But what about new hires and those who have changed their plans? Unfortunately, these employees may be stuck in the “bureaucratic slowdown” and may even have to pay out-of-pocket for these expenses. With some employees not receiving a paycheck, paying these expenses are getting harder and harder, and may ultimately lead to termination of their coverage. In addition to this, many contracts of federal employees are expired or will be expiring soon. As health insurance coverage for federal employees adds on to the list of things being affected by the government shutdown, the environment in D.C. doesn’t seem to be letting up.
“By continuing this shutdown, they’re endangering the lives of their employees.”
Jazz Fexton IRS EMPLOYEE
In class, it was mentioned how powers are being separated in the U.S. federalist system. Expressed power, also known as enumerated powers, are the powers held by the federal government alone. On the other side of the spectrum are reserved powers, which are held for state government. And in the middle, there are concurrent powers, which are powers that are constantly being controlled by federal and state governments. Protecting public health is one of these many concurrent powers. I feel as though health insurance should be supervised by state and required by law, or at least provided by law to better the lives of citizens across the States.
In addition to this article, I have included a picture of statistics showing the number of U.S. citizens that had health insurance in 2009 and in 2015. The data shows that there has been a decrease in those who are uninsured and an increase on those who are insured. Furthermore, these charts show that many Americans have health insurance plans based on their employers. In my opinion, the federal government should be able to provide a certain health care plan that can cover all needs, from dental to medical to vision. Employers should also continue to prove employee benefits and have health insurance plans that can potentially be more rewarding than a federal health care plan.
Although health insurance has been a hot topic in media and in Congress recently, not many people understand the workings of it. Health insurance is not mandated to be handled by any form of government in the U.S. Constitution, just simply regulated in the Elastic Clause. In addition to this, Congress has allowed for the development of federal health insurance programs, like Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, I feel as though these insurance programs are not enough to help the American citizens understand the concept of health insurance, or any insurance for that matter. In order to stop this ignorance, the government and health insurance companies should come together to provide effective workshops to the people and political parties should come together to stop the government shutdown.
Article:Health insurance becomes collateral damage in the government shutdown as some workers face bills for medical costs Author: Annie Nova Date of publication: January 23, 2019 Source:CNBC
The Food and Drug Administration is hoping to find ways to limit the use of vaping devices for middle and high school students as in recent times, many have found that underaged youth addicted to “Juuls” and other e-cigarette devices. Data shows, teen use of e-cigarettes have rapidly increased over the years, and many are declaring it as an “epidemic.” The Juul company has already pulled many of its fruity flavors from the market in hopes to decrease the number of teens abusing these devices. Reports suggest that some teenagers find themselves hooked on nicotine and unable to stop vaping. The problem here is that doctors do not know what to do in order to combat this crisis. Treatment is usually targeted towards adults such has nicotine patches and gums. The public health community is looking for ways to get these teens to quit, but if the solutions that have already been implemented do not decrease the number of teens, then the industry may have to face a complete shutdown.
It is clear that there is a problem within the youth as many have found themselves addicted to nicotine at a young age. The many fruity flavors and easy access to Juuls make it even more enticing to the youth, as the device is easy to use and portable as well. Even though the company has already made advances to stop advertising to teens, another problem lays ahead as most have found themselves unable to stop vaping. But then that leads us to ask, “will completely getting rid of e-cigarettes be the solution to this problem?” This may completely disregard why e-cigarettes have been created in the first place, which was to help adults with nicotine addiction veer away from combustable cigarettes. The original intent was to help smokers as they could have potentially benefitted from these products, but now the product as a whole may be removed from the market.
As a class we have discussed public policy and what the government does in order to battle these issues. It is clear in this case we must find a solution to stop teens from abusing nicotine products but at the same time help adult smokers find healthier options to combustable cigarettes. E-cigarettes have their pros and cons but it is now up to the higher ups to decide what to do for the health of the public.
Painkiller marketing aimed at physicians has been linked to higher numbers of overdoses in a study investigating the causes of the opioid crisis gripping the U.S.
This news article by Kashmira Gander on 1/18/19 informed the readers about the connections between a rise in opioid marketing and a higher rate of prescription drug deaths. The authors of the study published in the journal JAMA Network Open found that between August 2013 and December 2015, pharmaceutical companies spent $39.7 million on materials aimed at more than 67,507 physicians across 2,208 U.S. counties. Today, an average of 130 people die from an opioid overdose each day. The role of advertising on doctors can be used to explain why this is happening. A past study found that Medicare doctors who had seen opioid adverts were more likely to prescribe the drugs to these patients.
Opioid Epidemic became the leading cause of death in recent years. In class, we discussed the process of passing public policy. In what way will the government combat this opioid crisis? The government have to pass policies to address the crisis.
Between 2013-2015, almost $40 million were spent on opioid marketing targeting doctors. I agree with the article that the painkiller marketing causes a higher number of overdose. I think there should be a limit on prescription drugs. Healthcare is also a factor in this opioid crisis, there should be an adjustment made on the healthcare that relates to the prescription drugs.
A new diet has been found that could help save lives and help out the planet. The diet is known as, “the planetary health diet” and is a daily meal plan to help cut down on the intake of red meat and starchy vegetables. Scientist believe that if the diet was used globally then health issues and premature deaths would decrease. The main purpose of the diet is to create a more ideal intake of all kinds of food and increase the intake on vegetables, fruits and nuts. The following image was provided in the article on how much you should eat of each kind of food.
I believe that this diet would help reduce a lot of obesity issues that currently take place in America today. However I believe that it is almost impossible to get this diet to go globally. As much as scientist would like this to go global, it is very difficult to change how the world eats. As stated in the article, ” some countries are not able to grow enough food”. I do think that maybe schools and other facilities should use this diet for ideas for lunch and meals. This way scientist could test how this diet works on a smaller scale and try to reproduce this for the masses.
In class we talked about how public policies are made and the process that they go through to make them. I believe that if this diet is implemented into small groups such as schools and other places then the diet can be tested and the results about how people’s health are being affected can be found. For example the possibility of obesity can be reduced, possibly due to this healthy eating habit. If this is found to be true, then possibly this diet can reach a broader audience of people.
American Health 