CNN/AP: Can states afford Bush's flu plan?

[DeepModem Mom]

Can states afford Bush's flu plan?
Critics say some don't have enough money for medicines
Thursday, November 3, 2005


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's response to a flu pandemic could not succeed without a strong effort by state and local governments because the battle might have to be fought on "5,000 fronts," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says.

Democrats in the House and Senate, however, question whether the states have the financial resources to engage in such a fight.

In particular, lawmakers take issue with the Bush administration's plans for the purchase of certain medicines. The plan says states would pay about $510 million for enough anti-flu drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which can reduce the severity of the illness, to treat 31 million people. (Watch if the flu plan is adequate1:38)

The federal government would give states an incentive to make those purchases by providing a 25 percent match, or $170 million.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-New York, said the proposal amounted to an unfunded mandate on the states and might mean that some states would not be able to buy enough drugs....


http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/11/03/flu.pandemic.plan.ap/index.html

[Coastie for Truth]

1. Yer Doin' A Good Job Cristina (RADM Cristina Beato, USPHS)

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Rear Admiral Cristina Beato
Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services

In June 2004, Cristina Beato admitted to her hometown newspaper that she hadn't paid much attention to the details of her resumé. That's too bad, because those silly little details seem to have stalled her confirmation for assistant secretary for health for over two years now. Beato said she earned a master's of public health in occupational medicine from the University of Wisconsin (but the university doesn't even offer that degree). She claimed to be "one of the principal leaders who revolutionized medical education in American universities by implementing the Problem Based learning curriculum" (but the curriculum was developed while Beato was still a medical student). She listed "medical attaché" to the American Embassy in Turkey as a job she held in 1986 (but that position didn't exist until 1995). She also boasted that she had "established" the University of New Mexico's occupational health clinic (but the clinic existed before she was hired, and there was even another medical director before her). For her part, Beato has offered a simple explanation: English is her third language, after French and her native Spanish, and sometimes the language barrier is just too much to handle. How does one say "pants on fire" in Spanish?