CAREGIVERS USA NEWS

Vol. I, No. 16
February 24, 2003

GOVERNORS SEEK MEDICAID BAIL-OUT
Meeting in Washington over the weekend, governors appealed for help as falling tax revenues collide with rising healthcare, security and transportation costs back home. Governors are alarmed by rapidly ballooning deficits and, since most states are not allowed to run deficits, they face having to cut Medicaid and other big-ticket programs. Democrats in Congress are pushing for an immediate $20 billion bail-out and say they will fight the Bush Administration's proposed "reform" of Medicaid, which they say amounts to a block grant program.

COALITION SEEKS $20 BILLION FOR MEDICAID BAIL-OUT
States need immediate help to keep health care system from "imploding," according to a coalition of health-care providers, insurers, unions and consumer groups. Saying the states' fiscal condition is worse than at any time since World War II, the coalition is pressing Congress and the Bush Administration for an immediate $20 billion package of cash grants to keep Medicaid programs alive.

HHS WILL RANK HOME HEALTH AGENCIES
Meanwhile, HHS has announced a new program to publish performance quality ratings for home health care agencies. Similar to its nursing-home ratings, the program will start in eight states and later expand nationwide. "We will give consumers the information that they need to compare home health agencies based on quality and to make sound choices about their care," HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said.

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FORD SETTLES VAN ROLLOVER SUIT
After a tongue-lashing from a federal judge, Ford settled a lawsuit involving two deaths in the rollover of one of its E350 15-passenger vans. The judge last week warned that the company's conduct "almost borders on criminal" after Ford lawyers claimed the company did not have any data documenting tests on the big van's propensity to roll over. The federal highway traffic safety administration is investigating the safety of 15-passenger vans, widely used by nursing homes, adult day care centers, churches and schools.

COURT CLOSES MEDPLAN
A federal court has frozen the assets of a Canadian company that has allegedly been scamming American consumers, many of them elderly, by claiming to represent a discount drug program called MedPlan, a supposed credit card protection program called National Credit Card Security and other non-existent services and businesses. The goal was simply to get the consumers' credit card or checking account number, the Federal Trade Commission charged. No actual services were provided.

"ZOETRON" ZAPPED
The Internet is certainly making life more convenient, at least for those who sit around dreaming up ways to detach the unwary and the desperate from their money. Case in point is a Canadian-based scam that sold American cancer sufferers a supposed cure, the "Zoetron" machine, supposedly an electromagnet that zaps cancer cells. "Treatments" were administered in Tijuana, Mexico. Authorities say some victims died soon after receiving the treatments, possibly because they had used the Zoetron instead of sticking to the chemotherapy, radiation or surgery treatments recommended by their physicians.

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UNLEASH THE POWER OF LONG TERM CARE!
The unanticipated costs of long-term care can cause tremendous financial hardship for a family. In a new three-part video series from Wiland-Bell Productions, healthcare experts explain the need for every individual to plan ahead for long-term care.
http://www.atsh.org/books/ltc.html
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IN THE FORUMS ...

Caryn, a patient advocate, writes ...
I am serving as patient advocate to the same people I knew for 30 years as working people. Now we are retirees with all the problems of aging. We are both caregivers and require care ... Even when someone is ranting, we try to find the humor of our situation. It really helps empower us when we feel respected and valued.
atsh.org/phorum/read.php?f=5&i=46&t=46

Kirby, a caregiver, seeks help ...
"I've been caring for my mother (dementia) for 1.5 years and I have a troubling question. Every 4-5 days she has an extremely restless day "energy burst" followed by super grogginess/fogginess day that progressively improves until the 5th day comes. Have you ever heard of this?"
atsh.org/phorum/read.php?f=16&i=5&t=5

GLAXO DELIVERS LA DOLCE VITA
GlaxoSmithKline has taken a lot of heat from consumer groups for trying to block the sale of its Canadian drugs in the U.S. Adding to the company's headaches, Italian prosecutors have charged Glaxo with bribing Italian doctors to prescribe their medications. The loot included computers, wine and junkets to such spots as Monte Carlo.