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At the same time that a new study out of Massachusetts
reveals that tobacco companies are steadily increasing nicotine levels
in cigarettes, the fight to limit the health impacts of tobacco is
gaining new steam. Ballot measures will be considered in eight states this fall regarding tobacco. And in...
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In the state with the largest number of undocumented immigrants in the
countries, state legislators in California are bucking the trend of
enacting punitive measures against immigrants and instead voted for two
proposals that actually seek positive solutions in integrating new
immigrants into the...
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In the groundbreaking film An Inconvenient Truth, Vice President Al Gore makes an impressive case that it is now essential that the world act to prevent the potentially catastrophic implications of global warming. The film could not come at a more critical time. While the planet warms, Washington...
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For public employees in four states, this may have been a rough week.
As if balancing typical duties of work and family is not enough, a
front group for anonymous business interests this week began running
ads in Michigan, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon accusing
public employees of being lazy and...
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You sign up with a credit card promising you a fixed interest rate. You
pay all your credit card bills on time and in full, but slip up paying
a bill to a totally different company, say the power company, a bit
late. Your credit card company suddenly changes the rules and raises
your credit card...
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As we detailed a few weeks ago, rightwing developers are using the cover of "fixing" eminent domain to push radical anti-environment initiatives on ballots across the country. Opponents ranging from outdoor sports organizations to labor unions have been mobilizing in response.
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When people hear about drug companies buying up data on which doctors are prescribing prescription drugs, as we discussed in Thursday's Dispatch,
they worry about their medical privacy. But when drug companies use
that data to market unneeded drugs, consumers should be even more
worried about how...
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The last few years have seen a cascade of books and reports detailing the waste and obscene profits of the prescription drug industry. Even as they rake in large profits, most of their spending goes
to marketing, advertising, and administration-- rather than research
and development of new drugs...
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States are also stepping up to root out fraud and self-dealing by
doctors and hospitals:
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In a system where profits, not patient health, is the top priority of
many health care providers, states are beginning to develop "pay for
performance" incentives and promoting other innovations to hold
providers more broadly accountable.
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That fragmentation of the health care system lies at the root of much
of the waste and fraud in our health care system. Each player tries
to pump up profits and often waste through excessive billing of third
parties. Each party avoids taking responsibility by shifting
the increased costs onto...
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Target management apparently didn't get the memo. Faced with stagnating
wages and increasing inequality, American workers and taxpayers are
waking up to the big box gambit where irresponsible employers subsidize
their low wages through favorable tax packages. When Target threatened
to stop opening...
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