Articles filed under Health

Local organization provides medical supplies to China for coronavirus

Feb 25, 2020 6:50 PM - The Chicago region of Project C.U.R.E., located in Woodridge, is providing a direct response to the rapidly changing situation around the novel coronavirus.

Obamacare A Disgrace? Biden Highlights Bloomberg's Negative Remarks About The ACA

Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News and Victoria Knight

Feb 20, 2020 10:45 AM - [khn_slabs slabs="1054248" view="inline" /] UPDATED at 9:17 a.m. ET on Feb. 20:This story was updated to include comments from the Bloomberg campaign we received after the story was posted. The comments do not change the rating.Sparring over health care during the Nevada Democratic presidential primary debate, former Vice President Joe Biden took issue with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's record on the Affordable Care Act. [partner-box] 'œFrom the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace,' Biden said, a claim he repeated another time during the debate.Bloomberg sought to refute that charge, arguing that he defended the law and believed it should be expanded.It was a heated moment. Both candidates are trying to tie themselves to former President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the 2010 legislation. So we decided to dig in.We reached out to both campaigns for comment. The Biden campaign sent a CNN article, which cited a speech Bloomberg gave at the Dartmouth Presidential Lecture in July 2010 - just a few months after the health care legislation was passed in March. In the speech, Bloomberg called the Affordable Care Act 'œa disgrace.' Bloomberg's campaign directed us to statements he put out in the lead-up to the law's passage, calling for the inclusion of a public health insurance option people could buy into. [khn_slabs slabs="799584" view="inline" /] The RemarksWe found a video of the speech on YouTube. In the video, Bloomberg was unsparing.'œWe passed a health care bill that does absolutely nothing to fix the big health care problems in this country. It is just a disgrace,' he said. 'œThe president, in all fairness, started out by pointing out what the big problems were, but then turned it over to Congress, which didn't pay any attention to any of those big problems and just created another program that's going to cost a lot of money.'Those aren't standalone remarks. As recently as 2014, Bloomberg called the law 'œreally dysfunctional' during a talk he gave at the annual meeting of SIFMA, one of the financial industry's trade groups.Both times, Bloomberg was still a registered independent - he didn't become a Democrat until 2018.It's also worth noting that Bloomberg wasn't espousing a minority view. The ACA's approval rating was underwater until 2017, according to polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)Bloomberg's ResponseOn the debate stage, Bloomberg sought distance from those remarks, saying he is a 'œfan of Obamacare.''œI wrote something supporting it either in the New York Post or the Daily News,' he said.Bloomberg's campaign pointed us to a 2009 New York Daily News op-ed that called for a public option, along with other statements. But those weren't his only writings on the law.AÂ March 27, 2017,Â New York Post piece, for instance, also talks about the ACA. But it came years after Bloomberg's mayorship ended. And while words like 'œdisgrace' don't appear, calling the piece a 'œdefense' of the law isn't entirely fair.In it, Bloomberg noted some key shortcomings - for instance, the health law left 30 million people uninsured. He also argued in support of some ideas more popular with Republicans, such as high-risk insurance pools, as a way to bring down costs.'œIt's regrettable that none of these ideas was seriously considered in the rush to repeal ObamaCare,' Bloomberg wrote at the time.It is worth noting that Bloomberg's current health care plan would build on the ACA, largely by increasing subsidies for people buying private insurance on the exchanges, and by installing a Medicare-like public option. (That plan is quite similar to what's been touted by Biden himself, as well as by candidates like former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.)Our RulingBiden said that Bloomberg called the ACA 'œa disgrace.'Evidence supports that. And it's not the only time Bloomberg took issue with the law - even if it is a core component of his current proposal for health reform.We rate this claim True.

Constable: After cochlear implant, student aims to help others with hearing loss

By Burt Constable

Feb 20, 2020 8:30 AM - Deaf since birth, Caroline Yuk of Crystal Lake can't remember a time when she couldn't hear, thanks to the cochlear implants she got at age 2. Always fascinated by how they work, Yuk, a neuroscience major at the University of Alabama just won a prestigious scholarship from Cochlear Americas.

VASA Fitness to open three suburban locations this year

Feb 20, 2020 1:00 AM - VASA Fitness plans to open new health clubs in Arlington Heights, Villa Park and Joliet this year as part of a 13 club exansion throughout the U.S.

All in the family: Amita Health foundations unite for gala

By Eileen O. Daday

Feb 20, 2020 6:00 AM - "Leaping Forward Together" is the theme of Amita Health's first gala fundraiser, which will be held Feb. 29 in Chicago.

Baxter completes Seprafilm acquisition

Feb 18, 2020 9:22 AM - Baxter International has completed its acquisition of Seprafilm Adhesion Barrier and related assets from Sanofi for $350 million.

Local coronavirus patients released from isolation

Daily Herald report

Feb 15, 2020 3:06 PM - Two local patients diagnosed in January with the coronavirus (COVID-19) were released Friday from home isolation.

DuPage Health Department to host 'Understanding Children's Environmental Health' Feb. 19

Submitted by Don Bolger

Feb 14, 2020 4:43 PM - The DuPage County Health Department is offering a free learning opportunity to physicians of all specialties, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses, and nurses to learn about the unique vulnerability of children to environmental toxicants associated with adverse childhood health outcomes.

New senior living community coming to Elgin

Feb 14, 2020 10:00 AM - New Perspective is building a new senior living community in Elgin as part of the company's expansion.

Medline testing equipment that could allow Waukegan factory to use ethylene oxide again

By Mick Zawislak

Feb 12, 2020 7:38 PM - Medline Industries in Waukegan will begin testing equipment designed to meet new, stricter state standards to capture ethylene oxide, a potential cancer-causing gas.