Huge layoffs due to outsourcing by medical transcription companies have left hundreds if not thousands jobless. Professional medical transcriptionists were terminated without warning. Consider the cost of unemployment and retraining of these individuals, many of whom were at the height of their careers. Not only is this a question of jobs going overseas, but more importantly it is an invasion of the privacy of the medical record. There are no regulations in place to protect patient privacy such as the HIPAA regulations under which all U.S. medical transcriptions trained and complied. Was the constitution written to protect corporate greed or the individual? I encourage each and every state (since the MTs affected by this outsourcing come from every state in the union),to ban the outsourcing of medical records and bring these jobs back to America at once!

"The United States is the only nation that lets insurance companies extract a profit from basic health coverage." (T.R. Reid) I have been paying for health care insurance for decades, and yet now that I need medical care, I am swamped with medical bills, deductibles to fulfill, co-pays and co-insurance costs, and limited in-network provider choices. I am being billed by out-of-network pathology labs for more than four times the amount that my insurance company or Medicare would have to pay, and I am being threatened with collections if I don’t pay the full amount. (Laurie S., Licensed Counselor and Filmmaker) Meanwhile, health insurance companies are making billions of dollars in profits, and their CEO’s make millions per year from OUR premiums. While Obamacare attempts to regulate some of the most heinous practices, it does not give us a health care system that is for people instead of for profit. THERE IS A SOLUTION to the health care crisis in America that costs all of us less, covers everyone, and has better health outcomes. Tax-supported health care means everyone contributes by paying taxes based on their level of income, and everyone receives medical care whenever they need it. Tax supported health care is NOT government-run health care. It is government-financed health care. The government collects the money from the people and pays the hospitals and doctors who run their own practices. It is like Medicare, only for EVERYONE. Let’s bring an end to the health care injustices, join the rest of the industrialized world, and take care of our people.

Everyone who receives or hopes to receive Medicare as we know it had better sit up a listen. Medicare Advantage Plans are subsidized private plans designed to displace standard Medicare by offering gullible seniors perks paid for by standard Medicare recipients like myself and Medicare hopefuls. More than 25% of seniors have already opted out of standard Medicare for these subsidized plans.

Since the Federal Government will pay 100% of the SC Medicaid expansion for two years with tax dollars we have paid as citizens, and 90% thereafter, it is fiscally irresponsible for SC not to expand Medicaid. The decision not to expand Medicaid is fiscally irresponsible, and leaves thousands of South Carolinians without healthcare coverage.

This is in support of keeping the Healthy Start Program within the Florida Department of Health Okaloosa County. The loss of the Program within the Florida Department of Health Okaloosa County will have an adverse effect on the community.It would be most beneficial for the clients served by the Healthy Start Programs to have access to wraparound services in a central location.

It's time to take a proactive step in medicine, in the state of Virginia, and legalize marijuana for MEDICAL use; marijuana can help manage the pain in those who suffer from many chronic conditions.

I took my 1 year old daughter (who is walking, exploring, putting everything in her mouth) to the East Asheville Playground and there were City of Asheville employees there spraying ROUND UP everywhere. I mean everywhere: all over the mulch (which she loves to play with and it often ends up in her mouth), all around the equipment, coating the entire place. I took my daughter and left -[with a headache and tightness in my lungs] - enraged that this would be allowed. Please help me to urge the city to find other [non-toxic] ways to maintain and keep up our parks and playgrounds!

I took my 1 year old daughter (who is walking, exploring, putting everything in her mouth) to the East Asheville Playground and there were City of Asheville employees there spraying ROUND UP everywhere. I mean everywhere: all over the mulch (which she loves to play with and it often ends up in her mouth), all around the equipment, coating the entire place. I took my daughter and left -[with a headache and tightness in my lungs] - enraged that this would be allowed. Please help me to urge the city to find other [non-toxic] ways to maintain and keep up our parks and playgrounds!

We must end the use of "reference man," a 150 lb. adult, white male, of western-European descent and custom, that determines allowable levels of contaminant exposure to workers and populations adjacent to nuclear facilities, many of whom are Indigenous, land-based, and people of color. Women are twice as likely to get cancer from the same dose as a man, and infants three times as likely. Contaminants can also cross placental boundaries. Environmental exposure regulations and clean-up standards need to protect those most vulnerable to the toxins released by all contaminating industries, including nuclear facilities. When we protect those most vulnerable, we protect us all.

We need a law that requires schools to teach CPR to students. Millions can be saved from cardiac arrest, if more of the public knew CPR.

As Americans, we'll all be better off for having hardworking new immigrants as contributing members of our community. This is what America is all about.

After watching the documentary called "Weed": Dr. Sanjay Gupta Medical Documentary Reports, I can think of many family members who could benefit greatly from the medicinal use of marijuana to stop seizures, pain, help with glaucoma and other health issues.