Posts Tagged ‘obama’

Hi Everyone,

We are excited to let you know about a new feature of RightHealth’s DailyDose blog.  Starting today, every Monday will be “Ask the Doctor” day.  In every Monday’s DailyDose post, I will respond to one of the questions posed by our readers.  If you have a question about a personal health issue or want to learn more about health topic that you find interesting, please email it to dailydose@righthealth.com.  Don’t worry, your identity will be kept confidential.

Please understand that we can’t answer all of your questions each week!  But we’ll do our best to select the questions which have the broadest interest among you.

So let’s get started!  This week’s question is from Mark V…

The cardiologist who recently examined President Obama, an admitted occasional smoker, told the Commander in Chief that although he received a clean bill of health, he’s still at risk for heart disease because he is a smoker in a high-stress job. Does smoking less frequently or just occasionally reduce the health risks for smokers?

Smoking accounts for over 400 thousand deaths annually in the United States, mostly in the form of lung cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease. In fact, smoking increases every kind of cancer risk with 80% of lung cancers linked to smoking. It doesn’t matter if you smoke only one cigarette a day or one pack a day. The act of smoking will increase your risk of these diseases. We also know there is a clear link between second hand smoke and cardiovascular disease. Approximately 23 to 70 thousand premature deaths occur each year in the U.S. because of second hand smoke.

Does smoking less reduce health risks? The answer is yes. If you smoke three packs a day as opposed to one pack a day, you do have more of a risk for heart disease.  But it’s not until you quit smoking do you see some amazing results. Here’s what we know:

• At 20 minutes after quitting your blood pressure decreases and the body temperature of your hands and feet increase, due to improved circulation.
• At 24 hours you begin to see a decrease in heart attack risk.
• At 48 hours your senses of smell and taste improve and nerve endings actually begin to regrow!
• After 1 year your risk of coronary heart disease drops by 50%.
• After 5-15 years your stroke risk drops by 50%.
• After 10 years your risk of lung cancer drops by 50%.
• After 15 years your risk of coronary heart disease and death rate returns to the same level as those who never smoked.

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. surprised US companies this week by backing President Obama’s health care plan which, in part, requires all but small employers to provide insurance coverage for workers. ”As a company, we believe the present health-care system is unsustainable and making the country’s businesses less competitive in the global economy,” said Wal-Mart. However, some believe this is simply Wal-Mart’s strategy to circumvent a measure that is being considered by the Senate Finance Committee which will result in more burdensome health insurance requirements for companies that employ lower-wage workers. Whatever the case may be, it is the rising cost of health care in this country that is hurting both businesses and workers – by restricting wages and growth of businesses. Good health is not a commodity, an economic product that can only be purchased by those with wealth. Companies should not be making money off of our health care needs.

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Lawmakers in the state of Rhode Island today overrode a veto by their governor making it legal for up to three nonprofit stores to sell medical marijuana. The stores will sell medical marijuana only to chronically ill patients who are registered with the state Department of Health. Under federal law medical marijuana is still considered illegal, but President Obama’s administration has stated they will not target stores which comply with local state law. California and New Mexico are the only other states in the US that allow medical marijuana sales.

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President Barack Obama addressed physicians this week at the 158th annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago.  His goal was to gain the support of the nation’s doctors for his healthcare plan which he said for the first time will cost an estimated $1 trillion dollars, perhaps even more. To help fund the costs obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years, in addition to a new $635 billion in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system. The goal is to formulate a streamlined health care system that costs less, yet delivers more. Whatever the cost – or the plan – reforming our broken health care system will not be cheap. With more than 50 million uninsured Americans something needs to be done.

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Researchers across the US are awaiting an imminent lift on the current embryonic stem cell research ban. The Obama administration is expected to overturn the policy set forth by former President George W. Bush later this week. Unlike adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells are derived from eggs that have been artificially fertilized in an in vitro fertilization clinic, and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. Embryonic stem cells can become any of the 220 types of cells in the body, whereas adult stem cells are more limited. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have already developed a therapy based on embryonic stem cells which made paralyzed rats walk again. Earlier this month they were given federal approval to be the first embryonic stem cell treatment to be tested in humans.

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US president elect Barack Obama stated that his administration will invest money to make sure that the health records of all Americans are computerized in the next five years. Estimates have put the cost of such an endeavor in the billions. However, the move is intended to eventually save Americans billions in health care costs. More importantly, electronic health records have been shown to improve patient care by reducing medical errors. Obama’s plan is to eventually have one standard electronic system that all health care facilities will use. This certainly will not be an easy task given the commercialization of health care in the US today. On a related note, beginning this month Medicare will begin to offer incentives to physicians who prescribe electronically.

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