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Survey Shows Majority Of Respondents Openly Discuss Use Of BOTOX(R) Cosmetic And Hyaluronic Acid Dermal Fillers
Despite what some may think, people aren"t hiding their use of BOTOX® Cosmetic and hyaluronic acid dermal fillers. In fact, according to survey statistics released today by The Aesthetic Surgery Education & Research Foundation (ASERF), the research arm of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), nearly nine out of 10 respondents (87 percent) openly discuss their BOTOX® Cosmetic and hyaluronic acid dermal filler treatments with others, with seven out of ten (70 percent) receiving support from the people they told.

Sotomayor Nomination Raises Questions About How Female Judges View Cases Differently
Following President Obama"s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, the differences between how male and female judges see and rule on cases has come into question, the New York Times reports. Although retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O"Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, often said that a female judge would come to the same decision as a male judge, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said that her perspective on certain cases is different because of her gender.The Times cites two examples, one involving the strip search of a 13-year-old girl -- to which Ginsburg said that her male colleagues could not understand how the girl felt. The second example involves the issue of certain abortion procedures. When deciding about the constitutionality of a federal ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions, Ginsburg took issue with Justice Anthony Kennedy"s majority opinion that women who undergo the procedure likely would experience attacks of conscience. She responded that Kennedy"s views reflected "ancient notions of women"s place in the family and under the Constitution -- ideas that have long since been discredited."The issue has come up again with Sotomayor"s nomination, specifically regarding her 2001 statement that she "would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn"t lived that life." The perception that female judges inherently might view cases differently than male judges has raised some concerns even among some female judges who believe it might be true, according to the Times. Judge Judith Kaye, former chief judge of New York state, said that she avoided discussing the issue with others but then accepted the idea that female judges see things differently at times. "To defend the idea that women come out different on some cases, I just feel it," Kaye said, adding, "I feel it to the depths of my soul" because women"s experiences are "just different." Attorney Lawrence Robbins, however, said, "Any person in the real world should be highly reluctant to make these broad generalizations."The most recent study comparing male and female judges found that female judges were more likely to rule in favor of plaintiffs who claim sex discrimination at workplaces. The study also found no differences in cases involving disability law, environmental issues and capital punishment (Lewis, New York Times, 6/3).
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Drug Crimes In Canada Cause Continuing Problems For Small Communities
The Narconon drug rehab program has noticed a trend of many drug addicts being involved with drug related charges due to their addiction. "You can have the everyday functioning addict who is battling a drug addiction, and just one day gets caught by police for possession of a small amount," comments Nick Hayes, a representative of Narconon Trois-Rivieres. "This is an all too common situation for many people who are involved in a drug addiction." More people are using illicit drugs in Canada, in fact Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada, where the Narconon drug rehab program is located, is one of the leading cities in Canada for drug crimes. "There are so many youth in Trois-Rivieres who are addicted to different drugs like speed, ecstasy, marijuana, and even cocaine. These teens get caught up with the law and start heading down the wrong path at a very young age," says Nick.
Diagnostics

Need For Reform Is Urgent, Health Care Leaders Say

By a wide margin, health care leaders believe that individuals should have a choice of public and private health plans, and strongly support other central components of health reform such as innovative provider payment reform and a national insurance health exchange with strong standard-setting authority. In addition, two-thirds (68%) of opinion leaders feel it is urgent to enact comprehensive health care reform this year, according to the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey. "These results show that leaders from all the key stakeholder groups agree: comprehensive health care reform is urgently needed, to rein in costs and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable quality care," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. "Leaders also agree that offering a range of insurance options, and changing the way we pay for health care are critical steps for controlling the growth in health care spending over the next decade." Seven of 10 respondents to the survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, support the creation of a national health insurance exchange with the authority to enforce standards of participation by carriers, standardize benefits, set rating rules, and review or negotiate premiums. Two-thirds (65%) say that the exchange should offer a public plan that incorporates innovative payment methods, moving away from traditional fee-for-service and toward bundled payments. Half of opinion leaders (51%) support setting provider payment rates in a public insurance plan either at Medicare levels or between Medicare and commercial plan levels. Other findings from the survey include: * Fifty-six percent of respondents believe that, in designing an individual mandate, the required benefit package should be similar to the standard BlueCross/BlueShield option offered in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program. * In considering strategies to reduce health costs, opinion leaders express substantial support for new insurance reporting requirements (78%), joint negotiation of pharmaceutical prices (72%) and provider payment rates (61%), and limits to high cost providers and overvalued services (71%). * Forty-five percent of respondents believe provider participation in the public plan should be linked to Medicare, while 43 percent believe it should not, with the strongest opposition among those working in health care delivery. * Nearly three quarters of opinion leaders (72%) support ending the two-year Medicare waiting period for the disabled. * When asked to indicate their support for a variety of approaches to financing coverage expansion, more than three-fourths of survey respondents (79%) support increasing the federal excise tax on alcohol, cigarettes, and sugar-sweetened drinks, and 77% support requiring employers to offer coverage or pay a percentage of payroll to finance coverage (pay or play). The survey is the 19th in a series from The Commonwealth Fund, and the eleventh conducted in partnership with the publication Modern Healthcare. Commentaries on the survey results by Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Michael C. Burgess (R-TX) appear in the July 27 issue of Modern Healthcare. The commentaries are also posted on the Fund"s Web site, http://www.commonwealthfund.org, along with a Commission data brief discussing the survey findings. Methodology: The Commonwealth Fund/Modern HealthCare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of The Commonwealth Fund between June 8, 2009 and July 8, 2009 among 585 opinion leaders in health policy and innovators in health care delivery and finance. The final sample included 208 respondents from various industries, for a response rate of 35.6 percent. Data from this survey were not weighted. A full methodology is available in Appendix A. The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent research on health policy reform and a high performance health system. Mary Mahon Commonwealth Fund


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