the waste land

January 26, 2013 • 7,620 notes • wheeliewifee

List of free clinics in the United States

September 6, 2012 • 29 notes • curateipsum315

Look at my state, leading the way.

fuckyeahnaturalstate:

curateipsum315:

This makes my heart swell. Think what you want about the south and the state of Arkansas, but this is evidence that progress can happen anywhere.

This is phenomenal.

For those too lazy to go to the link…

(bold added by me)

“The state has a vision for changing the way Arkansans pay for health care. It is moving toward ending ‘fee-for-service’ payments, in which each procedure a patient undergoes for a single medical condition is billed separately. Instead, the costs of all the hospitalizations, office visits, tests and treatments will be rolled into one ‘episode-based’ or ‘bundled’ payment. […]

“The change will encourage doctors and hospitals to work together to provide patients with the highest quality care, while at the same time lowering costs by eliminating unnecessary tests and treatments. […]

”[…] Medicaid and private insurers will identify the doctor or hospital who is primarily responsible for the patient’s care — the ‘quarterback,’ as Andrew Allison, the state’s Medicaid director, put it. The quarterback will be reimbursed for the total cost of an episode of care — a hip or knee replacement; treatment for an upper respiratory infection or congestive heart failure; or perinatal care (the baby’s delivery, as well as some care before and after).

“The quarterbacks will also be responsible for the cost and quality of the services provided to their patients, and will receive quarterly reports on those metrics from the state (for Medicaid patients) or private insurers. If they have delivered good care based on agreed-upon standards, and if their billings come in lower than the agreed-upon level, they can keep a portion of the difference. If their billings come in above an acceptable level — usually because they have ordered too many unnecessary tests, office visits or inappropriate treatments — they will have to pay money back to the state or insurer.”

THIS IS SO GREAT. HOLY SHIT, FOUR FOR YOU, HOME STATE.

I wonder if mental illnesses will be counted on this? Because that would be really awesome. Psychiatric care is fucking expensive, as are psychiatric medications. Shrinks cost a lot of money, yo.

(Also, I am laughing forever at “quarterback”. WOOOOOO PIG SOOIE, Y’ALL.)

August 29, 2012 • 13,932 notes

I had my father get sick when I was 22. And I was poor, alright. And my father had an ulcer, and it exploded and you know all these toxins get in your blood. And basically, my father died, whatever, 50 days after his ulcer. So I had a father get sick while I was poor.

My mother got sick when I was rich. And my mother, you know… I don’t really want to get into it, but my mother was sicker than my father. And my mother’s alive. My mother’s fine, OK? I remember going to the hospital to see my mother and wondering, ‘Was I in the right place?’ Like, this was a hotel. Like it had a concierge, man.

People don’t… if the average person really knew the discrepancy in the health care system, there’d be riots in the streets, OK? They would burn this motherfucker down!”

Chris Rock [video]

Bringing this back, because some people don’t seem to understand that there is a discrepancy in the quality of care among poor, middle-class, and wealthy people, NO MATTER HOW DEBILITATING THEIR RESPECTIVE DISEASES MAY BE.

(via cgdageek)

(via gorgonetta)

July 8, 2012 • 1,991 notes • eyelovepi

rabbleprochoice:

rudimentree:

aforaffort:

nonplussedbyreligion:

I went to UniteWomen.org and clicked on the link for my state. It took me to the group’s Arizona facebook page and it was there to my horror that I found this list of bills against women created in Arizona:

Arizona

HB 2800 - No Public Funding for Family Planning: This bill outlines the priority for distribution of public funds for family planning services and specifies that the state or any political subdivision may not contract with any person or facility that performs nonfederally qualified abortions. It would disquality Planned Parenthood from providing services to AHCCCS and Title X patients, leaving those without insurance and in the minority communities without access to affordable health care/reproductive health care services.  Passed

HB 2625 - Religious Objections Bill: This bill states that a religiously affiliated employer can opt out of insurance coverage for contraceptives. An employee wishing to be reimbursed for related expenses could be required to submit a claim to the employer along with evidence that the prescription is not for the purpose covered under the employer’s objection. Republican Rep. Terri Proud wants to make a law that would force women to witness an abortion before having an abortion. Passed

SB 1359 - Wrongful Life/Brith: The Arizona state Senate passed a bill that establishes that a person is not liable for damages in any civil action on a claims that, but for an act or omission of the defendant, specified individuals would not or should not have been born. It allows health care providers to omit informationn discovered during examination if the provider thinks the information may lead to the termination of pregnancy without fear of civil action against the provider. Passed

SB 1494 - Abortion/Personhood: Defines ‘human being’ to include all ages from conception to full gestation. Expands ’informed consent’ criteria, and disclosure of possible medical riskes. It also requires physicians to provide contact information for a Crisis Pregnancy Center. Due to the expanded definition of ‘human being’, some forms of oral contraception and in vitro fertilization could no longer be prescribed/taken or performed. Tabled

SB 2036 - 20 Week Abortion Ban: Prohibits abortion after 20 weeks except in a medical emergency with no exception for health or fetal anomaly. Physicians will face criminal and civil penalties as well as unprofessional conduct sanctions and loss of license. Women would be forced to carry non-viablie fetuses to term unless their lives are in immediate danger. Women diagnosed with an illneess such as cancer could not receive chemotherapy/radiation allowing the disease to progress. Passed

SB 1009 - Promote Childbirth/Adoption in Schools: Prohibits school districts and charter schools from promoting elective abortion over childbirth and adoption. Requires the State Board of Education to develop a handbook to promote existing curriculum frameworks and encourage school districts to recognize the moral, civic and ethical values within educational development programs for the general purpose of instilling character and ethical prinicples in students K -12 . Schools will provide instruction that may be contrary to the values of the families of Arizona’s children. Passed

HR 3541 - Pre-Natal Nondiscrimination Act: This bill would allow a male partner or an underage woman’s parents to file an injunction that would force a woman to remain pregnant by charging her with being motivated to abort by the fetus’s race or sex, regardless of whether that’s what actually motivated the woman.  Tabled

SB1365 - Religious Expression Protectin:   Prohibits the government from suspending or revoking a person’s professional license for declining to provide a service because of a religious objection.  As approved, the proposal also precludes government from denying a person an appointment to a public office because of his or her exercise of religion. Additionally, the bill says it’s not unprofessional conduct to make business decisions — including employment decisions unless otherwise prohibited by state or federal law — that adhere to “sincerely held religious beliefs.” - Passed Senate, pending House

HB 2416 - Redefines taking the abortion pill as “surgery.” This extravagant over-regulation will result in more than half of Arizona’s current abortion providers becoming ineligible to provide care. Rural women will lose access to abortion entirely, as abortion-by-pill is the only form of care outside Phoenix and Tucson. This proposal aims to reduce  abortion early in pregnancy, since abortion-by-pill is used by women in the fifth to ninth  week of pregnancy. Passed

HB 2384 - This bill excludes Planned Parenthood from eligibility as a qualifying organization for The Working Poor Tax Credit. It excludes organizations that serve the working poor from qualifying under the “working poor donation tax credit” program for charitable organizations if they provide or refer for abortion care and prohibits public money from being spent on abortion care training which is already prohibited in Arizona.  Passed

HB 2443 – By banning race and gender selection abortion, this bill tries to create the impression that women and families are deciding to end pregnancies on those bases. Since there absolutely no evidence that this is occurring, this bill is solely designed to further damage the reputations of women who choose abortion. Passed

HB 1169 (Strike-Everything Amendment) – Prohibits the Arizona Board of Nursing from determining whether abortion care is within the scope of practice of a highly trained nurse practitioner.  Passed

SB 1030 (Strike-Everything Amendment) - Prohibits physician’s assistants from providing abortion-by-pill.  Passed

I knew most of them had passed, but there were a few I didn’t even know about. Shit.

It allows health care providers to omit informationn discovered during examination if the provider thinks the information may lead to the termination of pregnancy without fear of civil action against the provider.

Passed

  Women would be forced to carry non-viablie fetuses to term unless their lives are in immediate danger. Women diagnosed with an illneess such as cancer could not receive chemotherapy/radiation allowing the disease to progress.

Passed.

Actively harming and murdering pregnant people.

I had to stop reading after that because of reasons. I am reblogging this so I can come back to it later.

Inform yourselves.

if you become pregnant in arizona, your life is forfeit

*not just women will be affected by this stuff.

Love,

Rabble

(via thereisnosaintellen)

April 28, 2012 • 8 notes • inbarati

Rotten to the Core: Health Care in America

inbarati:

So this happened. This is the story of a woman who, forced by economic necessity to ignore a growing lump in her breast, showed up in a hospital when her breast finally fell off. Seriously, if you have breasts, or care for anyone that does, go read that shit now. I’ll wait for you to get back.

Back? Good.

This is happening, too. That’s right. Bill collectors are telling ER patients they cannot receive care until they hand over a credit card. Not the same state or anything, but perhaps they’re related anyway?

1. The logic that poor people don’t work hard enough to deserve proper care when many of them have to avoid care to avoid losing the jobs that put food on the table but do not provide health care is so beyond fucked that I want to learn to projectile vomit on command so I can vomit on anyone espousing it. (I’m looking at you, Mitt Romney, you fucking piece of walking filth. The poor don’t have any goddamn problems my ASS.)

2. It’s socialist to want to treat your breast cancer before your breast falls off, but if you can’t afford health care for yourself, much less a child, the government will fund sticking a probe up your twat, or for an ultrasound, so you feel guilty about making responsible health decisions. WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING SMOKING? PUT THE FUCKING METH AWAY IT’S MAKING YOU CRAZY.

3. If you succumb to that guilt and have a child you cannot afford, god forbid you should need maternity leave. You will probably lose your job. If that happens, and you should have to go on welfare, well, then you are lazy and certainly don’t deserve proper health care. Did that make you too sick to jump through whatever hoops to keep your benefits? Then you are gaming the system, and they were right to take your benefits away. Can’t feed your child because you can’t afford day care, are sick and have lost your benefits? Well you’re a bad parent, put that child in foster care.

4. GOTO 1 (lather, rinse and fucking repeat ad infinitum, ad nauseum)

Is single payer (socialist) healthcare really worse than this? Isn’t it time to admit that we need to try something new?

(via evillordzog)

March 15, 2012 • 151 notes • prolongedeyecontact

Report: Plan B Access Limited in Native Communities

prolongedeyecontact:

Compared to the rest of the United States, the rates of sexual violence among Native American women are nearly twice as high; one in three Native women will be raped in her lifetime, according to the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center. But in many Native communities, women have little to no access to emergency contraception, the group reports in a new paper advocating for greater access.

On many reservations, the only medical facilities are the Indian Health Service centers, which are a federally administered division of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center’s research found that only 10 percent of the pharmacies in the IHS offered Plan B, or “the morning after pill”—the leading form of emergency contraception—over the counter. Forty percent only provide Plan B with a prescription, and the other half don’t provide the pill at all. The federal government approved over-the-counter sales for women over the age of 18 in 2006, and for 17-year-olds in 2009, but access has lagged in the IHS.

Reservation communities are often rural and geographically isolated, and lack any private pharmacies that carry EC, said Charon Asetoyer, chief executive officer of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center in the introduction to the report. Often, the IHS service centers are closed on the weekends, and the women must wait hours or even days to see a doctor in order to obtain a prescription. This can mean the woman misses the 72-hour window during which EC is effective in preventing pregnancy. The alternative requires driving long distances to a nearby city, which can pile additional costs on top of a pill that already costs $50.

The report includes accounts of women from all over the country detailing their own experiences with the IHS health centers. They also spoke to pharmacists, who noted that there are many reasons that they don’t carry EC: the committees that decide what to stock have neglected to put the drug on approved lists; medical staff have decided that Plan B isn’t necessary; decision-makers think the drug is too expensive; doctors haven’t requested the drug. The IHS did not respond to a request for comment on the report before press time. Women in these communities should not be held to the religious, cultural, or personal beliefs of decision-makers, the report argues.

Asetoyer argues this not carrying and providing EC violates the sexual assault protocols recommended by the Department of Justice for women seeking medical attention following a rape, which include pregnancy risk evaluation and prevention measures. It also violates the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, said Asetoyer, which was put in place to ensure that federal laws are enforced on reservations, and the rights to self-determination protected by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Access to emergency contraception prevents Native women from having to deal with additional trauma of needing an abortion should she have a pregnancy resulting from rape, said Asetoyer. “Who wouldn’t want to help a woman reduce that trauma?”

_________________________________________

*All people who can get pregnant, not just cis women.

This is shameful. I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn’t in the least. This is just one more example of how race, class, gender, and geographic location intersect to suppress reproductive rights. And it’s truly a tragedy because Plan B is safe, easy to use, and would be so beneficial for reducing unwanted pregnancies, yet it is being kept out of vulnerable people’s hands because of politics and bureaucracy. It just goes to show that we can’t claim victory when we maintain the legality of things like Plan B or abortion, victory will only happen when everyone has access to them.

(via lastrealindians)

March 10, 2012 • 91 notes • feminist-blackboard

Obama Administration Announces Health Grants To Help Transgender Population

feministblackboard:

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced two new grant competitions focusing on connecting HIV-positive transgender women of color with health care services, including primary care and HIV-related care.

(via newwavefeminism)

September 17, 2011 • 550 notes

bebinn:

ocarinaofthyme:

most of the presidential candidates terrify me.

Texas is also:

50th (that’s dead last, by the way) for the percentage of people who get prenatal care

1st for the number of uninsured children (20% of them)

4th in child poverty (32% of them)

3rd in teen pregnancy

49th in per capita spending on Medicaid

47th in monthly benefit payments under the Women, Infants & Children program (WIC), which provides nutrition assistance.

If that’s “pro-life,” I don’t want to know what they think the alternative is.

(via thenewwomensmovement)

September 14, 2011 • 11 notes • ontd-political.livejournal.com

September 12, 2011 • 599 notes • guerrillagirlsontour

guerrillagirlsontour:

It’s Not Just About CHOICE anymore

(via stfuconservatives)