Citizens' Council on Health Care
CCHC HEALTH eNEWS
Monday, July 23, 2001


=====================================================
Providing news and commentary on health care policy,
health insurance issues, and medical confidentiality.
=====================================================


* BIG NAME FUTURIST CONFERENCE IN MN WILL ADDRESS HEALTH CARE

* NEW DRIVE TO UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BEGINS

* HHS GIVES MINI-GRANTS TO DRIVE PUBLIC HEALTH AGENDA

* HEALTH PLANS AHEAD OF POLITICIANS

* DEPRESSED AND BULEMIC PATIENTS EXPOSED BY EMAIL

* HHS SAYS "NO" TO IMPORTATION OF MEDICATIONS

* DEATH SHOWS SLACK NATURE OF RESEARCH APPROVAL
COMMITTEE & VARIANT FDA REQUIREMENTS


-----------------------------------------------------
TO BE REMOVED FROM THIS LIST UNSUBSCRIBE INSTANTLY
AT: http://www.cchconline.org/enews.php3
-----------------------------------------------------


________________________________________________________
BIG NAME FUTURIST CONFERENCE IN MN ADDRESSES HEALTH CARE

The World Future Society, a group with a name that sounds
somewhat fringe-like, has a very serious 3-day event with
major speakers scheduled for the end of July in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.

Starting July 29 and ending July 31 WorldScope 2001 will
address the future of many issues including health care
and genetics. PRESENTERS INCLUDE Mike Hatch, Minnesota's
attorney general; Dee Hock, founder of VISA International;
Dianne Bartels, assistant director, Center for Bioethics,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; attorney
Linda Hopkins, Intelliware Law firm, St. Paul, MN, Douglas
Domin, special agent in charge, FBI,Minneapolis, MN; Jan
Hauser, principal architect, Sun Microsystems, Palo Alto,
California; Linda Higgins, Minnesota State Senator; Rashmi
Mayur, director, International Institute for Sustainable
Future, Bombay, India; Mark Utell, professor of
environmental medicine, University of Rochester School of
Medicine, Rochester, New York and many, many more.

Health care topics include "21st Century Health and
Medicine," "The Emergence of the Techno-Human, and
"Genetic Engineering and Life Sciences: Controlling
Evolution."

For more information: http://www.wfs.org/2001progmonam.htm

--Citizens' Council on Health Care
--7/23/01


_________________________________________
NEW DRIVE TO UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BEGINS


A forwarded message:

IT'S TIME TO ESTABLISH A POPULAR GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT FOR
UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

As the economy slows down, and more Americans are facing the potential
financial burdens of inadequate health insurance coverage or no coverage
at all, it is urgent that a common plan be formulated to initiate a
popular campaign that can finally move society to take action in support
of universal health care.

As we have seen, the road to health care reform has had many turns,
including many dead ends. Various campaigns and many initiatives have
been tried; we traveled in many different directions but have not found
the way. Although our vision and determination to make quality health
care a right of every citizen is just and unwavering, we have been
unable to formulate a plan and unleash a campaign that could move
society to take action in support of universal health care. In contrast
to past movements for social justice, our efforts to find an effective
approach have eluded us for over half a century. Let no one be in doubt
- there has been no predominant social movement for universal health
care, merely sporadic and episodic campaigns and demands for health care
justice, allowed to ignite, flame brightly, sputter, and die out.

The vital approach begins with our willingness to recognize and accept
the lessons of past movements for social justice, equality and rights
which require that those who support reform must finally agree to seek
common ground, unite, plan and act together and move in the same
direction in building a uniform popular movement for universal health
care. It is only through strategically using combined talents and
resources and a central plan that the isolated cries for health care
reform can enlist the support and mighty roar of many Americans from
coast to coast, thus initiating a true movement.

The whole answer, the whole truth, is no different from before. Our
struggle for rights in health care is a part of America's unfinished
work; it should be perpetuated in accordance with the nation's long
historic journey for justice, and demands - as with past movements -
that those whose rights are being denied must take part.

We are trying to determine if you might be interested in being involved
in this new effort to seek common ground in order to build a nationwide
grassroots movement for universal health care.

Philip Pollner, M.D.
Nancy Wooten, Ph.D.
Don McCanne, M.D.

Those who are interested please respond by email to leadcoal@aol.com or
call Dr. Pollner at 302-266-7373 evenings (EST).

Please forward this message to friends, colleagues and to the leadership
of organizations that might share our vision.

Source: Distributed via several email groups. July 2001.


___________________________________________________
HHS GIVES MINI-GRANTS TO DRIVE PUBLIC HEALTH AGENDA

To support the ten goals of Healthy People 2010, the
national public health agenda for 2001 - 2010, HHS plans
to award grants worth $2010. The grants are to support
access to care, quality care and health education. The
HP2010 agenda includes reducing health disparities,
reducing obesity, discouraging smoking, and promoting
exercise.

The Department has committed $500,000 to $700,000 this
year in the first year of a 2-year limited pilot project. If
successful, the initiative will be initiated on a national
basis. Continuation grants will be made "on the basis of
satisfactory progress."

Funds will be granted to non-profit organizations and coalitions
of these organizations to enlist their support in the HP2010
initiative. "One or more organizations" will receive the total
amount of funds available to manage the Health People 2010
Community Implementation Program, and distribute the dollars.

[CCHC NOTE: HP2010 is not a mandate, but offering money to
implement it is one method to make it happen. A total of 248 -
348 individual grants could be made for the total budget listed]

Source: "HHS ANNOUNCES NEW "MICRO-GRANT" APPROACH TO ENLIST
COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR HEALTH GOALS," U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, July 16, 2001.

--Citizens' Council on Health Care
--7/23/01

_________________________________
HEALTH PLANS AHEAD OF POLITICIANS

Leading health insurers have already adopted the protections
mandated in the Patients' Bill of Rights being debated in
Congress, according to a report in the Washington Post.

Furthermore, the tight cost controls adopted by Health
Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) -- such as requiring advance
approval for access to specialists or for hospitalizations --
have been largely abandoned in favor of plans that give consumers
more choices and control.

For example,

o Four years ago, Healthcare Inc. began paying for emergency
room visits whenever patients believed they needed to go.

o In 1999, United HealthCare told its doctors they no longer
needed the company's permission to perform most medical
procedures.

o Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in many states allow
dissatisfied patients to file grievances with outside
appeals boards.

Analysts say that as the economy boomed over the past several
years, companies eager to offer good benefits to attract scarce
workers heeded employee complaints about the frustrations of
dealing with managed care and began to buy the kind of coverage
that gave workers more medical freedom.

Confronted with rampant consumer resentment, the private
marketplace has reacted more rapidly than the government. Thus
Congress is arguing over problems with managed care that the
industry has started to resolve.

Consumer advocates and industry analysts say the most contentious
remaining issue -- the right to sue health plans -- is far less
important to most patients than their ability to see the kind of
doctor they want.

Source: Amy Goldstein, "Senate's Health Care Bill Lags Behind
Some HMOs," Washington Post, July 1, 2001.

For text
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4629-2001Jun30.html

Source: Directly taken from the Daily News Digest, National Center
for Policy Analysis, 7/3/01, http://www.ncpa.org


_______________________________________________
DEPRESSED AND BULEMIC PATIENTS DIVULGED IN EMAIL

Due to a programming error, a June 27 e-mail message from
Eli Lilly drug company divulged the email addresses of all
600 people who had signed up on the company's Internet site
for routine reminders to take Prozac or deal with other matters.

The email was sent to the 600 people informing them that the
reminder program had been discontinued because the marketing
division found it was not as successful as had been hoped.
The messaging service was available for subscription at www.
prozac.com, a Lilly marketing site.

While the ACLU sent out letters to the Federal Trade Commission
asking for an investigation, e-mail services were temporarily
halted to fix the problem. Lilly's spokesperson said "We take
[privacy] very seriously."

Source: "Prozac Maker Reveals Patient E-Mail Addresses,"
Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post Staff Writer, July
4, 2001, Page E01.

--Citizens' Council on Health Care
--7/23/01

___________________________________________
THOMPSON SAYS NO IMPORTATION ON MEDICATIONS

Claiming public safety concerns, HHS Secretary Tommy G.
Thompson wrote in a letter to Congress, via Sen. James
Jeffords of Vermont, that the law enacted last year by
Congress cannot be implemented. This reaffirms the decision
of former Secretary Donna Shalala. The law allowed the
Secretary to stop the law if safety and cost-savings were
not be assured.

Thompson said that public safety could not be jeopardized
for "uncertain and speculative cost savings."

"Opening our borders as required under this program would
increase the likelihood that the shelves of pharmacies in
towns and communities across the nation would include
counterfeit drugs, cheap foreign copies of FDA-approved
drugs, expired drugs, contaminated drugs, and drugs stored
under inappropriate and unsafe conditions," he said in the
letter.

"Our drug approval and monitoring system, overseen by the FDA,
is what ensures that the American consumer has the safest and
most effective pharmaceutical products in the world. It would
be short-sighted to compromise that system," Secretary Thompson
said.

Today's finding's included:

· Moving from the current "closed" distribution system with
relatively few importers to an "open-border" distribution system
would significantly increase the risk that counterfeit,
misbranded, and adulterated drugs would show up on U.S. drug
store shelves and in American homes.
· It would not be possible to maintain the same level of drug
supply protections in place today even with the MEDS Act
requirements for chain-of-sales documentation, drug product
sampling, and product testing.
· A likely outcome would be a lowering of consumer confidence
in the safety of the drug supply.
· Costs of documenting previous sales, sampling and testing,
and product relabeling are likely to offset much, if not all,
of the potential savings.
These costs are difficult to estimate and adequate information
does not exist for the Secretary to predict that net savings
will result to the American consumer.

Source: "SECRETARY THOMPSON DETERMINES THAT SAFETY PROBLEMS
MAKE DRUG REIMPORTATION UNFEASIBLE," HHS press release, July
10, 2001.

--Citizens' Council on Health Care
--7/23/01

_____________________________________________
DEATH SHOWS SLACK NATURE OF RESEARCH APPROVAL
COMMITTEE & VARIANT FDA REQUIREMENTS

On June 2nd, Ellen Roche, a research volunteer at Johns
Hopkins University died after inhaling a medication that
researchers hoped would help them to understand how the
body fights asthma. The medication Hexamethonium had been
used in pill to treat hypertension in the mid-1900's, but
had not been approved by the FDA for inhalation.

The University's Institutional Review Board (IRB) made
several mistakes according to a report filed with the
Office of Human Research Protection by the Hopkins
investigating committee:

* The consent form should not have been approved. It was inadequate, giving the research subject less information
than she needed to be fully informed of the risks of the medication

* Should have required more evidence of safety for the
use of the drug.

* Should have inquired as to whether FDA approval was
needed for the study

* Should have required that research be done first on
animals before people.

The Federal Drug Administration requires drug companies to get
FDA approval, costing $1 million to $5 million before doing such
a study. However, the FDA has exempted most academic research
from the approval process because of funding concerns.

As a result of the death, all federally-funded research on
human subjects at Johns Hopkins University, which receives
$301 million in federal research dollars, has been suspended.

Sources: "Johns Hopkins Admits Fault in Fatal Experiment,"
Gina Kolata, New York Times, July 17, 2001.
"Human Research halted in wake of volunteer's death," Sheila
Hotchkin, Associated Press, reported in St. Paul Pioneer
Press, July 20, 2001.

--Citizens' Council on Health Care
--7/23/01

================================================
* Link quickly to starred (*) articles - online
newspapers may remove them soon after published
================================================
NOTE: These news items have been taken directly
from email received by CCHC or from Internet
newspaper publications. Titles in ALL CAPS are
CCHC creations except for those heading articles
from the National Center for Policy Analysis,
the Health Law Pulse, PrivacySecurityNetwork,
and LIST.HEALTHPLAN. Credit to the sending
organization or news service is listed at the
end of each article.
================================================
CITIZENS' COUNCIL ON HEALTH CARE
1954 UNIVERSITY AVE. W., SUITE 8
ST. PAUL, MN 55104, 651-646-8935
HTTP://WWW.CCHCONLINE.ORG

-----------------------------------------------------
TO BE REMOVED FROM THIS LIST UNSUBSCRIBE INSTANTLY
AT: http://www.cchconline.org/enews.php3
-----------------------------------------------------



*************************************************************
A citizens resource for designing the future of health care
*************************************************************

Citizens' Council on Health Care
1954 University Ave.W., Suite 8
St. Paul, MN 55104
651-646-8935 phone
651-646-0100 fax
http://www.cchconline.org
**************************

NOTE: If you do not wish to receive this email,
contact CCHC to remove your name from the list.
Thank you.

 

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.