The benefits include assistance for rural facilities and health providers to recruit and retain skilled practitioners, provide quality outpatient care and mental health services and respond to emergency health events.
“Every person deserves access to high quality health care regardless of if they live in a big city, small town, or rural community,” said Thompson. “Congress must act to extend these benefits, like it has done many times before, to help ensure that the people living in rural areas can continue to receive the same level of health care services.”
“Access to quality health care is a rapidly-growing challenge in Eastern Washington’s rural communities,” said McMorris Rodgers. “To deal with that challenge, Congress has on previous occasions wisely enacted a number of programs to help rural health facilities and those they serve. It’s critical that those programs be protected to ensure the health and well-being of the 1 in 4 Americans who live in our country’s rural communities.”
Approximately one fourth of all Americans live in rural areas that rely on local community hospitals, clinics and independent practices for their health care. Many of these facilities face significant challenges that these benefits help them overcome such as remote geographic location, small size, workforce scarcity, physician shortages and constrained financial resources.
In addition to the health benefits provided by these facilities, they also provide jobs to hard hit rural communities.
The average Critical Access Hospital directly employs more than 100 people and provides more than $4 million in direct salary, wages and benefits.
An independent physician in a rural area supports more than 20 jobs and provides $1 million in economic benefit to their communities.
“These Medicare “extenders” are vital to ensuring rural health care facilities remain open. We commend Representatives McMorris Rodgers and Thompson for recognizing these challenges and working to extend these vital programs,” said Maggie Elehwany, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Rural Health Association.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) imposed the quarantine in response to notification from the California Department of Public Health connecting E.coli O157:H7 food-borne illness to the dairy.
The facility was required to meet all sanitation requirements and comply with food safety regulations under state law before the quarantine could be lifted.
During the quarantine, the facility was prohibited from producing raw milk products for the retail market.
The order affected milk as well as raw butter, raw cream, raw colostrum, and a raw product labeled “Qephor.”
At this time, the quarantine hold on raw colostrum remains because it is the subject of continuing investigation by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The Department of Public Health identified a cluster of five children who were infected, from August through October, with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7. These children are residents of Contra Costa, Kings, Sacramento and San Diego counties.
Interviews with the families indicate that the only common reported food exposure is unpasteurized (raw) milk from Organic Pastures dairy.
Three of the five children were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious condition that may lead to kidney failure. There have been no deaths.
The findings that all of the children drank Organic Pastures raw milk and that this was the only common exposure among them established the dairy as the likely source of the illnesses.
The great majority of milk consumed in California is pasteurized. Raw milk is not pasteurized. Pasteurization is a process that kills harmful bacteria.
In California, state law requires that raw milk and raw milk products shall bear the following warning on the label: "Warning – raw (unpasteurized) milk and raw milk dairy products may contain disease-causing micro-organisms. Persons at highest risk of disease from these organisms include newborns and infants; the elderly; pregnant women; those taking corticosteroids, antibiotics or antacids; and those having chronic illnesses or other conditions that weaken their immunity."
Symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection may include abdominal cramps and diarrhea which is often bloody. Most infected people recover within a week; however, some may develop complications that require hospitalization.
Young children and the elderly are at highest risk for a potentially life-threatening complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which includes kidney failure. People who develop symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection after consuming unpasteurized milk or milk products should consult their health care provider.
Physicians who have patients suspected of having HUS or E. coli O157:H7 infections should report them to the local health department.
There are no eligibility requirements for this vaccine.
Anyone 6 months of age or older who would like to be protected from the seasonal flu can receive a vaccine. All are welcome.
The cost of this year’s vaccine is $2.
Please call 800-794-9291 or 263-1090 for dates and times.
Because of the health care law, young adults can stay on their parents' insurance plans through age 26. This policy took effect in September 2010.
Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) shows that since September 2010, the percentage of adults aged 19-25 covered by a private health insurance plan increased significantly, with approximately 2.5 million more young adults with insurance coverage compared to the number of young adults who would have been insured without the law.
“Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million more young adults don’t have to live with the fear and uncertainty of going without health insurance,” said Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Moms and dads around the country can breathe a little easier knowing their children are covered.”
Families around the country are benefiting from this part of the law, including families like the Houghs, whose daughter Natalie was diagnosed with a rare heart condition after suffering a cardiac arrest at school. Her condition requires a lifetime of medication and care.
There was a day when this diagnosis would mean insurance companies would either not cover Natalie or would offer her unaffordable plans. It would mean that Natalie and her family would have to keep paying, or face the unimaginable alternative.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Natalie can stay on her family’s plan and has started college, and thanks to the law, by the time she turns 26, it will be illegal for a plan to deny coverage to anyone, regardless of their health and Natalie will have access to quality, affordable care.
Data from the first three months of 2011 showed that one million more young adults had insurance coverage compared to a year ago. The numbers announced today show a continuation of the coverage gains due to the health care law as students graduate from high school and college in May and June and otherwise would have lost coverage.
The data released today are consistent with estimates from surveys released earlier in the year. Those surveys have shown an increase in the number and percentage of young adults 19 to 25 with health insurance coverage.
Specifically, the Census Bureau and the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index Survey, as well as the NHIS release of data through March 2011, reported similar trends through early 2011.
This week's results, highlighted in an HHS issue brief, show that the initial gains from the health care law have continued to grow.
“The Affordable Care Act has helped literally millions of young adults get the health insurance they need so they can begin their careers with the peace of mind that they’re covered,” said Sherry Glied, Ph.D., HHS assistant secretary for planning and evaluation.