It’s becoming a more familiar accusation in the increasingly politically-charged world of health care: the GOP, and other health care reform critics, want to know how the government can be trusted to run a “public option” insurance program when it can’t guarantee vaccinations for every American against H1N1 flu. The charge seems purely political at first glance, but there are questions about the flawed management, organization and distribution of the H1N1 vaccine. There’s not enough swine flu vaccine to go around and many Americans don’t trust the process. Did the government mess this up—and what does this mean for future, bigger pandemics?
When faced with a choice, many Americans are turning to alternative medicines instead of surgery or pharmaceuticals, in a movement that has created a multi-billion dollar per year business and accounts for 11.2% of the public's total out-of-pocket health expenditures. But what about those homeopathic, complementary, natural, herb-based products moving into the mainstream? Do they work (they're regulated as food, not drugs, by the FDA), and even more important, are they safe?
How many jobs - really? In her position as first-in-the-nation Recovery Act Inspector General, Laura Chick is watching for waste, fraud and abuse in the spending of the estimated $50 billion in federal stimulus funds that California will receive through fiscal year 2010. Among the issues she is investigating is a job creation claim by California State University officials… she says the numbers should not have been reported because "they don't make sense."
Even with the news of high-profile lawsuits against the city and county of Los Angeles, it might shocking to know how much money the governments actually pay out in settlements and legal fees: for the past two years L.A. City has paid $137 million for legal costs while L.A. County has spent $190 million on lawsuit verdicts, settlements and outside counsel. In these times of tight budgets, how can the city and county control these seemingly exorbitant legal expenses?
Last week’s shooting at Fort Hood highlighted the anxiety many Americans still feel towards Arab and Muslim Americans; President Obama made it clear to the world in his July Cairo address that engaging the people of the Middle East and Muslim culture is one of the biggest issues facing our country today. Syrian-American Civil rights attorney Alia Malek’s new book demonstrates the extent to which, even as they play football, work assembly lines and hold public office, many Arab and Muslim Americans remain shut out of the national narrative. She joins Patt with her look at Arab-American identity in a post 9/11 world.
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
