Tennessee Experiment's High Cost Fuels Health-Care Debate - WSJ.com

Tennessee Experiment's High Cost Fuels Health-Care Debate - WSJ.com

In 1994, Tennessee launched an ambitious public insurance program to cover its uninsured. The plan, TennCare, fulfilled that mission but nearly bankrupted the state in the process. Unlike Massachusetts's more recent universal coverage law, the TennCare plan's... runaway costs show that the public health-insurance proposal by House Democrats could bankrupt the federal government.

As originally envisioned, the Tennessee plan expanded Medicaid, the government health-care program for the poor, to cover people who couldn't afford insurance or who had been denied coverage by an insurance company.

In a letter to Congress last month, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) compared the public plan envisioned in the House bill to TennCare, warning that TennCare became so costly at its peak that it ate up one-third of Tennessee's budget.

"The promise of TennCare has gone unrealized," she wrote. "Many of the concerns we have expressed about the proposal before us today are the stark realities of a system that went terribly wrong in Tennessee."

With an initial budget of $2.6 billion, TennCare quickly extended coverage to an additional 500,000 people by making access to its plans easy and affordable. But the program became so expensive that Tennessee was forced to scale it back in 2005.

TennCare had its failings. The plan, for example, paid health providers less than private insurance plans, prompting some physicians and hospitals to increase charges to private insurers. Some of this resulted in so-called cost shifting, with insurance companies passing on the costs through higher premiums.

Rep. Blackburn says TennCare shows that a public plan would undermine the current employer-based health-care system, citing data from University of California at San Diego that showed 45% of people claiming TennCare's benefits had left employer-provided insurance.

China's 'cancer villages' heavily polluted - Washington Times

China's 'cancer villages' heavily polluted - Washington Times:

"XIADIAN, China | Located just downstream from three steel factories, a paper mill and a bone-processing plant, the citizens of Xiadian have grown used to seeing the Baoqiu River turn red, yellow and sometimes white from what they say is untreated industrial wastewater.

The town also has seen at least 50 of its 3,000 residents die of cancer in the past five years; an unknown number of others are being treated for cancer or other pollution-related diseases.

'People get cancer and die; there's not much to do about it. There's not much to hope for,' said Mrs. Zuo, a 24-year-old restaurant worker who asked that she be identified by only her last name."

Radioactive Chinese Drywall Is Stinking Up U.S. Homes

The government thinks radioactive industrial waste from China is responsible for a recent sulfur stench that has plagued hundreds of Florida homes. Demand for Chinese drywall spiked during the housing boom, but federal regulators believe the drywall contained phosphogypsum, a banned waste byproduct that features prominently in Chinese construction. When used in drywall, the probable carcinogen can corrode "air conditioners, mirrors, electrical outlets and even jewelry."

The health risk of phosphogypsum is uncertain, but industry specialists say they are troubled by its widespread use and the possibility it was exported, especially in light of recent incidents in which other Chinese imports such as pet food, toys and candy were found to be contaminated with toxic or unsafe substances.

"Considering the fact that phosphogypsum can cause corrosion, something should be done," said Ding Dawu, a geoscientist and an authority on gypsum processing in China. "Right now," he added, "there are no complaints [in China] because most people don't know much about gypsum board and there are no standards against it."

[...]

Huge phosphogypsum dump sites can be seen in all corners of China. Near the banks of the Yangtze River in central China's Wuhan area, raw phosphogypsum is spread over 20 acres and packed 65 feet deep into the ground. The smell of sulfur permeates the air. Workers at the site said the material was given away to anyone willing to pay the transportation costs, a mere $1.75 per ton.

No one knows how much phosphogypsum board from China was shipped abroad. But in 2006, Chinese exports of drywall to the U.S. totaled a record 503 million pounds valued at more than $25 million, according to Chinese customs' statistics. That's enough for 32,000 homes.

The EPA, Customs, and the Department Commerce all say they aren't required to test drywall, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission says they only ask Customs to inspect items for which there are mandatory testing requirements. So, as usual, it's up to the Chinese quality protection agency to keep us safe.

http://consumerist.com/5307422/radioactive-chinese-drywall-is-stinking-up-us-homes

Counterfeit Drugs Made In China Relabeled "Made In India"

Consumerist - Counterfeit Drugs Made In China Relabeled "Made In India" - Pharma:

"The Chinese poison train makes plenty of stops outside of the United States. When those stops are in developing countries, bad things can happen. Even worse things happen when dangerous products from China are intentionally mislabeled as being from another country. Say, India.

In this case, the dangerous products were fake antimalarial tablets destined for Nigeria. 642,000 people would have been affected had the Nigerian government not discovered the fake drugs and intercepted them. While the tablets were labeled 'Made in India,' evidence showed that they were produced in and shipped from China.

Both China and India are big players in the manufacture of generic drugs, and both export medicines to Africa. The Indian government is, understandably, concerned that the incident may hurt the reputation of India's pharmaceutical industry in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Rightly so, since India is more than capable of exporting their own fake drugs. No help from China needed."

More testing sought for Chinese-made drywall - Business - MiamiHerald.com

More testing sought for Chinese-made drywall - Business - MiamiHerald.com:

"Lawmakers concerned about the pace of the investigation into problems related to Chinese-made drywall asked for $2 million for additional testing by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as an awareness campaign about the material.

Some people who live in homes that used the imported drywall -- homes generally built from 2004 to 2008 -- have complained of respiratory problems, blackened jewelry and corrosion of copper pipes and wiring, said U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

Nelson said the federal consumer protection agency has dragged its feet in dealing with problems associated with the drywall and has complained it doesn't have the funds to do so.

''We can't wait around for this,'' Nelson said."

Mattel fined $2.3M for lead paint on toys - USATODAY.com

Mattel fined $2.3M for lead paint on toys - USATODAY.com:

"Mattel and Fisher-Price were among dozens of manufacturers that yanked millions of Chinese-made toys from store shelves in the months leading up to the 2007 holiday shopping season. The recalls made parents uneasy as they shopped for gifts for small children.

'These highly publicized toy recalls helped spur congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricter the ban on lead paint on toys,' said the commission's acting Chairman Thomas Moore. 'This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committed to the safety of children.'"

Some skeptical of China's new food safety law - USATODAY.com

Some skeptical of China's new food safety law - USATODAY.com:

"BEIJING — Following recent tainted milk and pet food scandals that damaged the 'Made in China' brand worldwide, some Chinese experts and consumers are worried that the country's first food safety law may not be enough to prevent a repeat.

The new law, which China's legislature passed Saturday, toughens penalties against makers of tainted food. It also establishes a Cabinet-level food safety commission to improve monitoring, beef up safety standards, and recall substandard products.

Wu Yongning, deputy director of China's National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, said the new law is a lost opportunity to create a single, powerful body — akin to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — to handle food safety.

Wu counts 13 Chinese government departments with a hand in food safety. He said at least five will remain heavily involved under the new law.

'There has been no fundamental reform of the system that many people in the industry hoped for,' Wu said."