Yogesh Mittal

 | Author: Marie King | Edit

One thing that has come out of the healthcare debate is experiments with new ways to deliver medical services. The version of the Senate Finance that was approved mandates that Medicare develop a more comprehensive bundled payments project by 2013. 

In May,2009, Medicare started using bundled payments in five facilities that competed to be a part of testing this reimbursement system .What this means is that Medicare makes a single payment for all heart and joint care to the hospital, which doles out the money to doctors and other medical care providers. By doing this, the government gives the doctors and hospitals incentive to save money and raise the quality of care. It also redirects the payment system away from the present “fee for service” remuneration.

Doctor Yogesh Mittal of Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa says bonus payments made through Medicare have given him motivation to keep down costs. Medicare patients are likewise rewarded for choosing facilities that utilize a bundled payment system. These patients can receive $271.00-$1157.00 by opting for care at these hospitals.

Our medical system can reduce costs and still provide more efficient and effective care. However; Americans must understand that the best quality outcome will arise out of a trial and error paradigm, not one infallible solution.

An Electronic Cigarette

The central question around electronic cigarettes is, “Are you smoking or vaping (with a long ‘a’)?”  The new device is battery operated, and turns nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user. This invention claims that it is healthier than tobacco.

The jury is still out on whether electronic cigarettes are better for your health. The FDA stated that the electronic cigarettes they tested had carcinogens. However, Julie Woessner, a former smoker from Missouri, said that the electronic cigarettes were “Almost a miracle”. The new smokeless device enabled her to give up a two-pack s-a-day habit.

The entrance of electronic cigarettes into the market has been fraught with controversy. A number of states feel that the alternative to tobacco may allow smokers to circumvent the laws that restrict smoking in public places. Their fears are grounded in the fact that electronic cigarettes supposedly don’t produce second-hand smoke, and they also don’t create the telltale smell that lingers in the air and on the smoker’s clothes.

California tried to ban e-cigarettes, but it was overturned by Governor Schawarznegger. Oregon has successfully outlawed the sale of this smoking alternative, while other states are legislating bills that make e-cigarettes subject to the same restrictions as ones containing tobacco.

Despite all the opposition, over a half million American use these them, and the number is rapidly growing.

I see many changes in our world, although disruptive, as indicators that we will be living a more calm and caring existence. The fact that the United States is successfully going through the process of creating a national health plan bodes well. The thoughtfulness that President is putting into our involvement in Afghanistan gives me optimism. He is looking for a long-term solution that will allow the Afghans to create a viable society. The examination of our institutions: banks, Wall Street and the Environment, address the abuses that have plagued our nation for decades.

Even though my examples all revolve around the United States, I believe that its role in world politics will influence what happens globally. What I see is that America is on a new path that incorporates more respect for the needs of individuals in the States and those from foreign lands.

Food makers are striving to reduce the number of ingredients in their products and remove additives that are chemical rather than natural. This new trend is generated by a health-conscious public that wants to know what is in their food. This movement to simplify eatables is seen across a variety of businesses: Haagen-Dazs, Starbucks, Kraft, Campbell’s and baby and pet food companies.

Less ingredients has replaced the dazzling marketing campaigns. Even price is taking a backseat to the make-up of meal staples; this indicates a shift in consumer thinking. Customers are now feeling the best deal are the foods that are best for their bodies.

This move away from traditional attitudes towards grocery-shelf items hails a new movement, which is demanding the healthy products that manufactures of foodstuffs have been promising for more than a decade. Change seems to be arising in a number of areas. However, the insistence that our mealtime foods be made in a healthful way is one trend that’s been needed for a longtime.

Nicotine is a tiny molecule that when it is inhaled it rapidly goes into the bloodstream and crosses the blood-brain barrier. Massachusetts General Hospital is experimenting with a vaccine called NicVax. The purpose of the vaccine is to create nicotine antibodies.

The study group that was selected for clinical trials agreed to be vaccinated once a month for five months. Steve Ballou, one of the participants, found that after the first shot cigarettes no longer tasted good to him and subsequently gave them up.

The challenge is to get smokers through six smoke-free months. If they can stay nicotine free for a year, researchers predict that a relapse will be unlikely.

Researchers believe that antibodies can be devised for any addictive substance, even hardcore drugs, such as cocaine. The company that will produce NicVax estimates that it will be on the market in one year.

“When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple.”  In it, Jenny suggests all kinds of unconventional acts such as wearing a red hat with your purple outfits and picking flowers from your neighbor’s garden, to free up yourself as you grow old.

None of her suggestions resonated with me. What I decided to do is let my hair grow long because I considered doing that as truly breakout behavior.

I haven’t had long hair since I was nine.  All  of my adult life, people told me that I looked better with it short  Now that it has grown past my shoulders, I am thoroughly enjoying it. I love to put my hair up in a ponytail, anchor it to the top of my head or just let it hang loose.

Our modern mode of work started with the Industrial Revolution when our society went from being farmers to factory workers. Since then, our nine-to-five routine has morphed in many ways.

The Second World War affected it by recruiting woman into the workforce. For a long time after that, corporate America was a benefactor to its employees and provided them with benefits and long-term-work-thirty to forty years with a pension.

That all changed in the 90’s. Globalization gobbled up American jobs as companies opted for cheap labor abroad. The loss of corporations introduced us to a steady stream of layoffs, and we had to work harder and longer hours to keep our jobs.

Currently, we are in an economy that has crashed. It was based on our being a consumer market for the world’s good, and it stripped us of our capacity to manufacture products in this country.

That is changing. With the emphasis on the environment worldwide, some forms of globalization are counter productive. We need for the sake of our economy and ecology to provide our own goods. We can no longer be a consumer market. We don’t have the disposable income. We also can’t depend on foreign products because their transportation from there to here expends more of the world’s limited supply of fossil fuel.

That means we will be producing more of our goods here, and the new laws are making it less enticing for employers to move abroad. That translates into a more stable job market and eventually more opportunities.

Employers have been using telecommuting and four-day weeks with the difference being made up in longer hours. Some corporations have utilized ten-hour days. In the public sector, cities like Phoenix are starting to do four-day weeks by having their employees work two nights a week. 

These options allow you to have more control over your time and reduce the struggle between work and play.  I believe this way of doing work will be a big part of the new company cultures because these methods of management are more employee, fiscally and environmentally friendly.

I sometimes saw him when I was taking an early walk on a Sunday morning. He always arrived well ahead of the throngs of sunbathers and long before the parking lot began to fill. He had sun bleached hair and a deep tan. He never stepped a foot on the beach and definitely didn’t go in the water. Either one of those acts would have got his Corvette dirty.

I don’t remember whether he washed the car in the parking lot. All I recall is watching him wax his automobile. He would put the wax on every solitary inch of the vehicle, so its whole finish was dulled. Then he took a cloth and lovingly buffed the car until the red Corvette glistened in the sun. After that, he headed west in his beautiful machine.

In my blog, I  wrote what was on my mind. I have surprised myself with what I have written. The vignettes that Icreated come from a vast and mysterious well of ideas. I have tapped into memories that I forgot that I had. I have come up with observations that I don’t remember consciously forming. I have found source material in offbeat topics. 

 It’s like these thoughts have been invisible until they surfaced on the page. I imagine them as an army of words and sentences that have been housed in my subconscious. They have been called into action by stroking my keyboard. 

Why now? I don’t know. It could just be inspiration.

Poster showing Armenian Massacre

During World War I, the Turks under the Ottoman Empire committed genocide and slaughtered many Armenians. Although that genocide was not well known, the relations between the two groups became extremely bitter. You couldn’t mention Turkey to an Armenian without evoking a hostile response.

Lately, Azerbaijan (Armenia) and Turkey are working on repairing their relationship. They are trying to put to bed a bitter history that has been handed down through the generations.

It’s heartening to see groups that have been estranged for a very long time make an effort to heal the wounds of the past. I hope this type of peacemaking will become a trend. So much of today’s animosity among nations took root in distance eras; the issues that sparked those conflicts have incited enough bloodletting.