Grumpy Editor

White House munches fare frowned on restaurant menus

The White House munched on a Super Bowl party menu that featured frowned-on goodies, including some publicly nixed by Michelle Obama, notes Grumpy Editor.

While that was going on, the New York Times on Sunday revealed the First Lady has been in private talks with the National Restaurant Association seeking healthier items to be placed on menus.

Word crept out that Super Bowl fare in the White House featured such tummy delights as cheeseburgers, bratwurst, kielbasa, deep dish pizza, Buffalo wings, German potato salad, baked potatoes, potato chips and pretzels, other chips and dips, salad, ice cream plus beverages that included an assortment of beers and ales.

Most of those items are not found in low-fat diets.

Popular at tailgate and Super Bowl parties, bratwurst, for example, comes in pork, veal or beef forms.  One ounce of the pork version contains 74 calories and 14 percent saturated fat.  Kielbasa, an Eastern European sausage, contains 87 calories and 13 percent saturated fat per ounce.

The Times reported the First Lady is seeking to have the nation’s restaurants change their menus and adopt her goals of smaller portions and healthier children’s meals.

The food fare changes would “give parents the confidence to know that they can go into any restaurant in the country and choose a genuinely healthy meal for their kids,” she said.

Research, she added, has shown children consume more saturated fat and less fiber and calcium when dining out.

Now, about healthy eating in the White House…

 

AMA, AARP cite risk to seniors with Medicare pay cuts

Receiving scant attention in print and broadcast media this week, the American Medical Association and AARP are concerned now about the looming Medicare reimbursement cuts to physicians, notes Grumpy Editor.

The AMA and AARP (formerly known as American Association of Retired Persons) last year were not publicly worried about President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan negatively affecting their members.

Grumpy Editor (July 22, 2009) pointed out:  “For the AMA, the plan will cut income of doctors, especially specialists.”  For AARP members, “it will mean less, or no, vital medical procedures for the elderly.”

AARP members in July last year were informed by A. Barry Rand, the organization’s CEO, that “health care reform is AARP’s top priority” and “we simply can’t fix the economy without restructuring the delivery of health care, expanding access and cutting costs.”

Then last November at a press conference, Rand proclaimed:  “AARP is proud to endorse the Affordable Health Care for America Act" (better known as ObamaCare).

What a difference a year makes.

Stemming from an AMA meeting in San Diego on Monday, the AMA now is calling on the lame-duck Congress to avert a “catastrophic” 23 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement to doctors slated for Dec. 1, followed by an additional 1.9 percent reduction scheduled for Jan. 1.

“Physicians want to care for seniors, but it is nearly impossible for many physicians to keep their practices open to Medicare patients when they face a 25 percent payment cut,” warned AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, M.D.

Without physicians, he declared, “there is no care in Medicare.”

An AMA news release on Monday quoted Mara Mayor, an AARP board member, also expressing concern.  “Americans 65 and over have earned their Medicare and the right to keep seeing the doctors they count on,” she said.

“Congress has a responsibility to keep doctors in the Medicare program,” she continued.  “It’s time for politicians to come together to stop these cuts so seniors can have the peace of mind they’ve earned.”

Hygiene, style are factors in top 10 U.S. restrooms

“Best of” items are all over the place, ranging from “best bingo” in Las Vegas to today’s recognition of “best restrooms” in the U.S.  “Best” may be overused but lists using that word attract attention and readers, observes Grumpy Editor.

With “best restrooms in America,” sure, it’s a plug for contest conductor Cincinnati-based Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ:CTAS) which provides restroom hygiene products and services.

But in tallying votes in the 2010 contest, the company gives recognition to extraordinary restrooms, selected from a national cross-section of businesses, including restaurants and hotels.

And let's face it, people appreciate knowing about locations that provide an appealing and pleasant atmosphere when there is an urge to "take a break."

Based on exceptional hygiene, style and open access to the public, the top 10 are selected by “tens of thousands of votes,” says Cintas.

Leading the list is the Fountain on Locust which Cintas says is known as the most photographed restaurant in St. Louis with restroom facilities featuring hand-painted murals, ornate fixtures and designer mirrors.

Others in the top five:

Second place: Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City.
Third: Bryant Park, New York City.
Fourth: Embassy Theatre, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Fifth: The Muse Hotel, New York City.

Rounding out the top 10:  China Grill at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas; Lawrence Dumont Stadium, Wichita, Kan.; Rivue Restaurant and Lounge, Louisville, Ky.; Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, Calif., and Joe's Farm Grill, Gilbert, Ariz.

View images and further details of the winners' facilities here.

As swine flu fades worldwide, new ‘superbug’ appears

On the same day the World Health Organization declared the (much publicized for months) swine flu pandemic is over, up pops a new “superbug” from India that authorities claim could spread worldwide, notes Grumpy Editor.

Look for broadcast and print media, always looking for health/medical items that can shake up listeners/readers, to keep the new health problem in the news, especially during the summer doldrums when most of Washington is on vacation and air time and print space have to be filled.

Word of the new superbug comes from a study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.  The journal reports the presence of a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase or NDM-1.

It makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems.

The study says the superbugs were found in 180 patient samples from the United Kingdom, Pakistan and India.  All patients had surgery in India.

It reached the U.S. in this year’s first half with three patients --- who had medical care in India --- linked to NDM-1.

"Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread around the world very, very quickly,” warns Timothy Walsh, from Britain's Cardiff University, who led the study.

“There is nothing in the (drug development) pipeline to tackle it,” he adds.

Meanwhile, after much media coverage of the swine flu and constant reminders from last fall to spring to get vaccinated, worldwide deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus since April 2009 reached 18,449.

Added taxes, lost jobs cited in Obama-backed actions

No doubt about it, wallets will be squeezed more starting next year, based on new rules in the mammoth 2,300-page financial reform legislation, spurred by Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), and other money-siphoning measures in the Washington hopper.

While the actions affect all Americans, few print or broadcast outlets have spelled out the various dollar-draining details, leaving it to a non-journalist, businessman Wayne Allyn Root, to explain the nitty-gritty in an easy-to-understand commentary that made print Sunday, observes Grumpy Editor.

Root, a former vice presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party, offers 14 highlights from what he calls, “Obama’s reign of destruction.”

First on his list, Root cites “the biggest income tax increase in the history of America will take effect on Jan. 1.”

Then he gets into increases in the capital gains tax and a hike in taxes on dividends, along with new taxes on income, investments and even tanning bed users.

“Worse,” he adds, “18,000 new IRS agents will be hired to enforce these taxes.”

New rules and regulations, especially for small businesses, are mentioned plus the threat of “a gigantic new national sales tax.”

Root points out a new IRS law (with passage of ObamaCare) “requires business owners to file thousands of new forms each year documenting virtually every expenditure made by their business.”

“And you wonder why there are no jobs?” poses Root.  “You wonder why there is no recovery?  This is the ‘Teleprompter Depression.’ Every time Obama steps in front of a Teleprompter another thousand businesses die.”

Read the full commentary here.

AARP faces ‘quality of life’ vs. ‘health rationing’ decision

AARP, the nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over --- “dedicated to enhancing quality of life for all as we age” --- may have to rework that self-description, following President Barack Obama’s recess appointment (avoiding Senate action) of Dr. Donald Berwick as head of  the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, suggests Grumpy Editor.

The membership organization for people age 50 and over may find itself losing additional members as health care for the elderly gets another whack.

(A year ago in just a 45-day period, AARP, formerly known as American Association of Retired Persons,  admitted it saw about 60,000 members quit the organization when its decision makers supported Obama’s health care overhaul.)

While some key newspapers and broadcast networks --- including the morning TV shows that often feature medical experts --- so far have neglected to explain what’s ahead in health care, a Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial yesterday pointed out:

“Dr. Berwick, who has just been put in charge of rationing Medicare and Medicaid services for about 100 million Americans, was in London in 2008, at a conference celebrating 60 years of socialized medicine in England --- a system where sick people now die waiting for treatment, where cancer and diabetes and heart disease survival rates are far below ours --- when he said we must realize that, ‘Sick people tend to be poorer and that poor people tend to be sicker and that any health care funding plan that is just, equitable, civilized and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate.’

“What Dr. Berwick wants to do --- on the model of the collapsing British system he so admires --- is to have government ration by perceived ‘need.’  If the ‘system’ can afford only a certain number of expensive operations per month, those who can thus be given more years of productive life will go to the front of the line.  Others die waiting.”

Gulp!

That looks bad for grandma and grandpa if they run into health problems.

Yet, rather than get into the medical rationing outlook that will affect millions of Americans, most major media devoted ample print space and airtime over the past week to report, rehash, repeat and rerun details on actress Lindsay Lohan’s jail sentence and phone recordings of actor Mel Gibson.

ERs seen getting more crowded with longer waits

Fifteen weeks after President Barack Obama signed health insurance reform into law, the lead in an Associated Press story in yesterday’s newspapers warned that emergency rooms “may grow even more crowded with longer wait times” under the overhaul, notes Grumpy Editor.

It didn’t require a rocket scientist with a supercomputer to realize that future problem would crop up in ERs.

Somehow, news media didn’t foresee that upcoming development while the “Obamacare” measure worked its way through Congress along with promotion at numerous town halls around the nation.

AP writer Carla K. Johnson pointed out the ER crowded/wait times outlook “might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding” because those people would now be able to get routine health care in doctors offices.

But a major factor contributing to busier ERs will stem from “a shortage of front-line family physicians in some places and experts think that will get worse,” as the AP story mentioned.

Even before Obamacare, emergency room visits were on the upswing.

Along with that, an American Hospital Association survey found 10 percent of ERs were shuttered between 1991 and 2008.

California spends $529 million on prisoners’ special care

Getting limited media coverage is a California report, released this week, that a whopping $529 million was spent on prisoners’ acute or surgical care by outside medical providers in the 2007-08 fiscal year, finds Grumpy Editor.

Imagine, go to jail and, with a medical problem, no worries with deductibles, copayments and hassles about coverage with insurance companies.

The cash-strapped Golden State tallied about one third of its 170,000 inmates received specialty care during that last reporting period.

Of those, 1,175 prisoners accounted for nearly 40 percent of specialty care spending, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Final year of health care for one of those inmates cost the state $1 million.

Health care ranked as a significant part of overall cost to house inmates in prisons, the report said.

Health care to inmates was classified in two versions:

•  Primary health care provided by medical staffs within the state’s institutions.

•  Contracted specialty health care through outside medical providers.

Boston area water shut-off gets scant national coverage

Overlooked by national media in the news-heavy past few days is the subject of water, usually a favorite topic with editors, with warnings about it being undrinkable for about two million people in and around Boston, notes Grumpy Editor.

A 10-foot-diameter underground pipe ruptured Saturday, sending about eight million gallons of water an hour into the Charles River until shut off hours later.

Until repairs were completed yesterday, water was ruled unsuitable for drinking.

Residents were cautioned not to use water from backup systems for brushing teeth or washing produce. Those actions with untreated water could lead to symptoms such as diarrhea, cramping, nausea or vomiting.

Operations, ranging from restaurants to hospitals to coffee bars, were having problems from lack of drinkable water.

Water users were asked to boil water for at least one minute before use.

All this led Gov. Deval Patrick to declare a state of emergency.

The boil order was lifted today by Gov. Patrick.

Despite all this, the major water problem affecting so many people and businesses in Massachusetts received scant attention in newspapers outside the affected area.

 

Endgame usage gets heavy play with health care bill

Add to the list of most overused words of the year transmitted by media in connection with the health care bill:  endgame, sometimes split in two as end game, observes Grumpy Editor.

The Drudge Report yesterday tallied some of the recent usage both on and off the Web under the headline:  'END' OF THE 'END GAME' OR 'THE END'?

The Drudge scorecard, with headlines used over the texts:

Yesterday:  Obama pushing on health care end game (Associated Press)

Nov. 23: The Health Care Endgame (National Public Radio)

Oct. 30: Health reform inches closer to endgame (Washington Post)

Oct. 27: End Game: So When Will Health Care Really Happen? (Talking Points Memo)

Oct. 25: Senators say health care bill endgame is in sight (Politico)

Oct. 14: Senate, administration begin healthcare endgame as Dem leaders express unity (Hill)

Aug. 21: Analysis: Health care endgame near but uncertain (A.P.)

July 28: Healthcare endgame on Capitol Hill (Reuters)

Endgame, indeed, is all over the place.

Reuters, for example, on Sunday came up with:  Votes uncertain as U.S. healthcare endgame looms

And A.P. along with Reuters print and broadcast subscribers multiply endgame usage.

That word making the rounds in 2010 isn’t new.  Its origin goes back to 1884 when chess players started referring to when most of the pieces have been cleared from the board.

This evolved into meaning the final stage of an extended process or course of events.

Closing in on the endgame at her Tuesday press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (clearly?) explained the importance of passing the health care measure:

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

And, aye or nay, hopefully end use of endgame.