MNA NewsScan, May 2, 2012 – Rally for Jobs!, “Permanent Patients,” Increased Retirement Age

ALERT:  Rally for Jobs

The clock is ticking on the 2012 Legislative session. Despite being in session for months, the Legislature has failed to act on real job creation projects like a large infrastructure bill and a Vikings stadium.  These projects would create thousands of family sustaining, union jobs to help Minnesota’s economy recover.  Let’s tell Legislators to act now and create jobs!      RSVP Here

WHERE: State Capitol Steps (75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, St. Paul)
WHEN: Thursday, May 3, 11:00 AM

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Health Care

“The System Really is Not Failing – Failure IS the System”   At a recent Association of Health Care Journalists meeting, Dr. Otis Brawley, Executive Vice President of the American Cancer Society, slammed everyone in the health care system for overuse of under-proven treatments.

Hospitals Sue Patients For Nominal Amounts   Mount Carmel Health System in Ohio referred Lori Duff to a collections agency for an $1,800 bill related to prenatal services, even though her $25,000 annual income from managing an auto parts store likely made her eligible for charity care.

Labor

Retirement Slipping Farther and Farther Away  Over the last decade and a half, Americans’ expected retirement age has slowly risen to 67 from 60, according to a new Gallup survey.

It’s The Inequality, Stupid   A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

Nursing

Health Care Laws Leave Hospitals Overwhelmed by “Permanent Patients”  When asked about Latasiewicz’s more than two year stay at the hospital he oversees, Carroll said, “That’s really a function of how our health care system is working right now, which is it’s not working very well at all, particularly in cases like this.”