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Poll: Most Want Health Reform But Fear Its Side Effects
"A majority of Americans see government action as critical to controlling runaway health-care costs, but there is broad public anxiety about the potential impact of reform legislation and conflicting views about the types of fixes being proposed on Capitol Hill, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll," The Washington Post reports. "Most respondents are "very concerned" that health-care reform would lead to higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices, a bigger deficit, diminished insurance coverage and more government bureaucracy. About six in 10 are at least somewhat worried about all of these factors, underscoring the challenges for lawmakers as they attempt to restructure the nation"s $2.3 trillion health-care system." Many respondents are "nervous about future changes" because of a "fear they may lose what they currently have. "More than eight in 10 said they are satisfied with the quality of care they now receive and relatively content with their own current expenses." In his news conference Tuesday, President Barack Obama "sought to leverage that apprehension" by noting that "premiums have been doubling every nine years, going up three times faster than wages."

Majority Of U.S. Residents Support Confirming Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor, Poll Finds
Sixty-two percent of U.S. residents want Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to be confirmed, and 55% say she is "about right" on a liberal-to-conservative scale, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll, the Post reports. For the survey, pollsters randomly surveyed a national sample of 1,001 adults by telephone between June 18 and June 21. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.The poll found that about three-fourths of abortion-rights supporters want Sotomayor to be confirmed, compared with less than half of abortion-rights opponents. According to the poll, six in 10 U.S. residents would want the new Supreme Court justice to vote to uphold Roe v. Wade. Most Republican men would want the next Supreme Court justice to vote to overturn Roe, while Republican women were split about evenly on the issue, the poll found. The poll also found that support for Sotomayor"s confirmation was equal between men and women. In addition, nearly eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents said they supported Sotomayor"s confirmation, compared with 36% of Republicans. The poll found that most Republicans deemed Sotomayor a "more liberal" nominee than they would prefer. Among Republicans, those self-identifying as conservative Republicans were largely opposed to Sotomayor"s confirmation, with more than seven in 10 conservative Republicans saying she is too liberal. Sotomayor received support from Republicans self-identifying as moderate or liberal, with fewer than four in 10 saying she is too liberal. However, about one in five who opposed Sotomayor"s confirmation said that she is not liberal enough. The poll also found that among the 33% of U.S. residents who said that Sotomayor"s gender plays a role, more than twice as many said that is a positive attribute as opposed to a negative attribute (Cohen/Barnes, Washington Post, 6/28).Sessions Requests More InformationSenate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (Ala.) on Friday sent a letter to the White House requesting additional information on Sotomayor, the New York Times" "The Caucus" reports. According to Sessions, the Obama administration has yet to provide members of the committee with information about a number of cases that Sotomayor brought to trial while working as a district attorney in New York. In addition, Sessions requested information regarding a case that Sotomayor argued on appeal. He also requested information about her work with Latino Justice PRLDEF, formerly known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Sotomayor"s confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin July 13. Republicans have criticized the schedule, saying it gives them insufficient time to review Sotomayor"s record. Democrats have said that Republicans are seeking to create unnecessary delays and noted that the timeline is similar to that of past nominees (Herszenhorn, "The Caucus," New York Times, 6/26).
News of the day
Taking A Hard-Line Approach To Cardiovascular Risks In The Diabetes Patient
When treating the diabetes patient, doctors discussed how a "one size fits all" approach to testing is not enough to reveal an individual"s risk for cardiovascular disease Saturday at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 18th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress.
Mental Health

Leading Scientists And Scholars Urge Action On Climate Issues

In an open letter addressed to President Barack Obama and the United States Congress, twenty leading scientists and scholars assert that the currently stated objectives in limiting the climatic disruption are grossly inadequate and urge the nation"s leadership to take clear leadership towards meet the objectives of the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change, steps necessary to avert a "global climatic catastrophe". In part, the letter reads, "In many political circles around the world, the view has taken hold that nations should endeavor both to limit the buildup of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas and a by-product of burning coal, oil and natural gas, to 450 parts per million and to limit the rise of global temperatures to less than 2°Celsius. We and many others are of the view that these objectives are inadequate to sustain the integrity of global climate and to hold the risk of ruinous climatic change to an acceptably low level. United States policy must provide a fully satisfactory U.S. contribution to global greenhouse gas reductions that move beyond these inadequate international limits." The letter"s authors point out that there is a gross discrepancy between what scientists see as acceptable limits of threat to global climates and what politicians are willing to accept in deflecting further emissions from burning coal, oil and gas, and from deforestation. The scholars emphasize that "The Waxman-Markey bill ò€¦ must be enacted this year ò€¦ but at its best will be only a first step." Further, the signers suggest that the urgency is such that the issue should compete before the Congress with the Health Bill now being debated and that prompt national action is essential. The 1992 Framework has been ratified by more than 180 nations, including the U.S. At the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention, to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009, decisions will be made on new international objectives in deflecting further climatic disruption. Progress towards decisive action addressing this issues in the United States is generally thought to be crucial in order for the negotiations at the COP lead to a significant international treaty to follow on the Kyoto Protocol. The letter was initiated after discussion among four scholars long involved in the issues: J. G. Speth, currently retiring as Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Richard A. Houghton, Acting Director and Senior Scientist, The Woods Hole Research Center; William Schlesinger, Director of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; and George M. Woodwell, Director Emeritus and Senior Scientist, The Woods Hole Research Center. Elizabeth Braun Woods Hole Research Center


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