A BUG IN THE SYSTEM

by Janet A. Ginsburg

“Pricing health care? It’s not that easy” – that’s the headline in today's Chicago Tribune. The story outlines one of the more glaring Catch-22s of modern American health care, while deftly puncturing the myth of consumer choice.

It begins with the sad tale of Margaret Zilm, a Kansas City woman with a $5,000 deductible policy and a cataract in need of removal. Poor Margaret was spun in circles as she tried to shop around for a good deal. Doctors didn’t know how much her insurance company would pay. Her insurer refused to tell her. And the Missouri Department of Insurance hid behind a curtain of confidentiality, citing policy against revealing the details of doctor / insurer contracts.

As reporter Judith Graham notes:

“This wasn’t a problem until recently. Insurance used to cover most expenses, shielding people from the true cost of medical care. But new products – “consumer-driven health plans” – shift more financial responsibility to individuals and families, giving them a reason to pay more attention to what they’re spending.”

“Consumer-driven health plans”? If anybody's being driven, it's consumers -- six million, so far -- who are forced by spiraling insurance premiums to accept these less-for-more, high-deductible plans. Rather than create a health care system designed to promote health – both individual and public health – we now have a tangle of secret deals wrapped in a free-market bow of consumer choice....
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To read the full article, including info on using wildlife and pets for disease surveillance and in-store pharmacy clinics, go to the archives page at germtales.com

germtales is now a website. In addition to posts on subjects ranging from The Mystery of the Ancient Horses to Mind Germs, there are book reviews, interviews, news headline links and an extensive, eclectic sources page.

Thanks for your interest!

best,

Janet

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WHEN A FROG IS A FISH

by Janet A. Ginsburg

So much for Linnaeus. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), frogs (amphibians), alligators (reptiles) and turtles (also reptiles) are actually fish.* At least they are if you intend to eat them.

I stumbled onto this reclassification-by-decree a couple of years ago while working on a story about frogs in live animal markets.

Kermit wasn't kidding -- it really isn’t easy being green. Global warming has wrecked frog habitat. Pollution clogs their pores. A parasite makes them grow too many legs, or not enough legs, or legs in places where you least expect them. And now a fungus called chytrid is killing them off by the millions.

Frog populations are crashing all over the world, with a few notable exceptions, such as North American bullfrogs.** These big beefy fellows, typically weighing in at about a pound, are farmed for food on an industrial scale in Asia and South America to meet a surging global demand....
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To read the full article, including how federal agencies pass the buck on disease surveillance and the FDA rule that legally gives frogs fish status, go to the archives page at germtales.com

germtales is now a website. In addition to posts on subjects ranging from The Mystery of the Ancient Horses to Mind Germs, there are book reviews, interviews, news headline links and an extensive, eclectic sources page.

Thanks for your interest!

best,

Janet

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FELLOW TRAVELERS: Snakes and More on a Plane...

by Janet A. Ginsburg

Icarus would be gobsmacked. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), two billion people took to the skies last year. Even rounding down for frequent-flyer repeaters, that’s a crowd. On any given day, more than five million of us are up in the air, mindlessly defying gravity, sailing through the clouds. And we are not alone…

UPSTAIRS

A few weeks ago, a Kansas City television station aired video of a mouse infestation aboard an American Airlines jet. Mice had nibbled their way through a wire and insulation feast, nested in air vents, scampered under seats, partied in overhead storage bins, and left a dusting of fecal confetti pretty much everywhere. Dead mice were reportedly discovered in oxygen masks -- just the sort of “drop down” surprise guaranteed to make any emergency that much more memorable.

Worse still, the Boeing 767 had logged tens of thousands of miles flying between New York and Los Angeles from the time the problem was first reported in April to when the mess was cleaned up in May. Chances are you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who was on that plane.

According to the maintenance employee who supplied the footage, exterminators estimated that there could have been as many as 1,000 mice on board, although the airline reported finding just 17 alive (no word on how many dead). AA insisted there was never any danger -- and the Federal Aviation Administration agreed. Reports of rodent infestations are required only if there's a mechanical problem, not merely the threat of one. So no big deal.

Well, maybe. But if that 767 had been a restaurant, the Health Department would surely have shut it down.

News of the Mouse Plane scurried across the net, prompting an outpouring of “You won’t believe what happened to me!” stories. More mice on planes. A few rats on planes. The occasional escaped pet guinea pig. Swarms of mosquitos. Bed bugs. And yes, snakes on planes, too....
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To read the full article, including a behind-the-scenes look at LAX at some of the exotic animals coming in legally, go to the archives page at germtales.com

germtales is now a website. In addition to posts on subjects ranging from The Mystery of the Ancient Horses to Mind Germs, there are book reviews, interviews, news headline links and an extensive, eclectic sources page.

Thanks for your interest!

best,

Janet

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