Bristol Compressors Opens Medical Clinic For Its Employees

By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: August 23, 2008

BRISTOL, Va. – In a trend some say is the return of the company doctor, Bristol Compressors cut the ribbon Friday on an employee health clinic. The clinic will provide more convenient medical services to employees while saving them and the company money, said Holly Bays, manager of employee benefits for Bristol Compressors.

Bays said it will enable employees to develop a doctor-patient relationship so they won’t avoid the doctor when they need care. An added plus is that they won’t have to take vacation time to see a doctor.
“Our employees are very, very, very excited about this,” she said.

Bristol Compressors is the first company in the Tri-Cities region to open an on-site clinic like this one, said Chris Brown, chief executive officer of Integra Health Management, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company that will operate it.

But, he said, companies around the nation are doing the same.

Five years ago, fewer than 5 percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees had built or studied the idea of building a clinic, he said. Now, the figure is between 30 percent and 40 percent, he said.
“It just hasn’t taken off here in the Tri-Cities area yet, but we hope it will,” he said.

Representatives of other area employers, including large companies like Food City and Alpha Natural Resources, attended the ribbon-cutting and asked questions.

Michael Ferracci, CEO of Appalachian Cast Products, said company clinics are likely to become a trend in this area.

“It has to, because health care ... it’s out of sight” said Ferracci, whose company employs about 130 people.

Bays said the clinic at Bristol Compressors will allow employees and their covered dependents – a total of about 2,400 people – to use the clinic for a $10 co-payment and receive a month’s supply of certain generic prescriptions for a $5 co-pay.

She said the hope is that by providing easy access to routine and preventive care, the company will reduce costly emergency room and urgent care visits.

All employees have access to health insurance through the company, she said, but some do not enroll. All of the company’s 1,029 employees, who earn an average wage of about $15 an hour, will be able to use the clinic, she said.

Human Resources Director Rick Nunley said in an era of skyrocketing health care costs, businesses no longer have the luxury of paying health insurance claims alone. They must take a longer term approach by investing in employee “wellness” and preventive care, he said.

“If you can have plans in place to address the issues of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease today, then you get to reduce your costs tomorrow,” he said.

The clinic opening is an encouraging sign for company employees, who have faced a many uncertainty in recent years after a series of layoffs drastically cut the company’s work force.

The company, whose future was up in the air until it was bought by KPS Capital Partners last year, remains one of Bristol’s largest employers.

Engineering Systems Administrator Charlotte Stewart said the idea for the on-site clinic came with the company’s new management.

“I think it’s a new concept to this area that a lot of us are unfamiliar with and looking forward to making it work,” Stewart said.

Dennis Stiltner, an engineering lab employee, likes the idea, too.

“It’ll save money for them and keep us a job, and save money for us, too, so it’s good all the way around,” he said.

Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, Cinderella & Alladin arrested in Disney Worker action

32 people including workers & some of the most notoriously sanitised & perfidiously evil warped stereotypes to have been implanted in the 20th century child's imagination were arrested in California on Friday "on a misdemeanor count of failure to obey a police officer and two traffic infractions." As we know Aladdin is a thief & it is no surprise LAPD finally cuffed him. But the others?

Ostensibly they had been taking part in continuing trade union action against Disneyland for contracted work, health benefits and so on - so forth.

There is no such thing as the average family, but if we believe that 2 hetrosexual adults with perfect teeth can spawn prepubescent replicas of themselves "one little son" and "one little daughter" than they pay $256 (= £137.29 or €174.21) for one day's admission.

Meanwhile the Disney corporation which shocked readers of Naomi Klein's "No Logo" for its excessive profits continue to rake in money. 2007/2008 Winter quarter profits were declared to hit a record high of $1.18 billion ( £632,840,000 or €802,996,000).

You would think one wish one a star which might come true is the hope that such a corporation could grant a contract. But the 2,300 approximate workers who are engaged in this struggle have worked since the end of January without contract. Disney also proposes permenantly denying health benefits to employees who work fewer than 30 hours or 5 days per week. The Trade Union representing the housekeepers, bellmen, bartenders, dishwashers, and cooks employed at the Disneyland, Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier hotels, says that free health insurance is really the only sweet thing about an otherwise bitter contract. Without a raise in the average hourly wage of $11.30 the Union says the workers of Disney will priced out of health potions & clean white teeth. They mightn't even afford diapers as the Americans call nappies for their spawn.

But beneath the dungeons of Disneyland California there is a lower level of acknowledged poverty. The minimum stage wage is set at $8.00 which allows a Disney worker to buy one healthy BigMac more per hour and pray the government of Schwarzenegger thinks to copy the UK and confiscate their fattened youth soon.

One In Five Young Men Screened For Prostate Cancer

A new study has shown that one in five American men in their 40’s underwent a prostate-specific antigen test (PSA) during the last year.

Published in the Sept. 15 issue of Cancer, the research highlights the difference in screening rates between young black males versus young white males.

Senior investigator Dr. Judd W. Moul from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina said, "Our findings for black men are discouraging. We've been encouraging black men to get screened at age 40 or 45 for more than a decade, yet only one-third of these high-risk men reported being tested."

In the case of prostrate cancer the blood levels of a protein called prostrate-specific antigen (PSA) usually rises. Doctors recommend a PSA screening by the age of 50 years for men though in the case of African American men or those with a family history of the disease, the American Cancer Society recommends prostrate cancer screening by the age of 45 years. The recommended testing age by the association drops to 40 years for men with two or more first-degree relatives with prostate cancer.

The study based on a 2002 survey of U.S. men in the age group of 40 plus, suggests that young black men are 2.4 times more likely to undergo a PSA test as compared to the white male, as were younger Hispanic males.The chances of having a PSA test increased with factors such as obesity, having a higher household income of $ 35,000 or more, and higher education level as well as health insurance cover and a relationship with a physician.

The rates of PSA screening for the last year were 22.5 % of men aged 40 to 49 and 53.7 % of older men though doctors feel black men should have more screening done as they are at a greater risk for prostrate cancer. The current rate of one out of three black men being screened was not good.

The study authors wrote, "Our study is the first to specifically examine PSA screening in younger men, which provides an important assessment of quality of care, especially for high-risk groups. Further investigation will be required to understand the impact of new risk-stratification strategies, with particular focus on the policy implications of potentially large increases in health-care resource use."

Obama, McCain take to airwaves to duel over Iraq, energy crisis

Barack Obama is vacationing in Hawaii, but he and Republican rival John McCain jockeyed yesterday on the airwaves.

Obama, giving the weekly Democratic radio address for the first time as party nominee, said that the past week gave "two stark examples of exactly what's wrong with Washington," a federal budget deficit that could reach nearly $500 billion last year, and a $79 billion surplus for the Iraqi government from windfall oil profits.

Obama said that McCain would continue President Bush's unfair tax policies by extending tax cuts for the wealthy, and would continue Bush's "open-ended commitment to the war in Iraq."

"Senator McCain talks about putting our country first, but he is running for a third term of the very same policies that have set our country back . . . I believe that we need to move in a new direction," Obama said.

McCain, in his own weekly radio address, again poked fun at Obama's reputation as a sterling orator - and suggests he lacks substance.

Noting that Obama burst onto the national stage at the 2004 Democratic convention and is expected to give "another celebrated performance" in Denver later this month, McCain said, "even the most stirring speeches are easily forgotten when they're short on content. Taking in my opponent's performances is a little like watching a big summer blockbuster, and an hour in, realizing that all the best scenes were in the trailer you saw last fall. In the way of running mates, Senator Obama should consider someone with a knack for brevity and directness, to balance the ticket."

McCain then faulted Obama for wanting to "forfeit" US military gains in Iraq, increase the size of government, and to raise taxes, but to not do enough to lessen the energy crisis.

"First there was his call for Americans to check their tires - which is common-sense advice, but hardly has the makings of a national energy strategy. If we can't drill our way out of the problem, it seems even more unlikely that we can inflate our way out of it."

"A serious energy plan involves a lot more yeses than nos," McCain argued, plugging his proposals for more offshore drilling, nuclear power, clean coal, and renewable sources.

FOON RHEE


Guaranteed healthcare is key plank for Democrats
PITTSBURGH - Democrats shaped a set of principles yesterday that commits the party to guaranteed healthcare for all, heading off a potentially divisive debate and edging the party closer to the position of Barack Obama's defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama, soon to be the Democratic nominee, has stopped short of proposing to mandate health coverage for all. He aims to achieve something close to universal coverage by making insurance more affordable and helping struggling families pay for it.

Advisers to Obama and Clinton both told the party's platform meeting they were happy with the compromise, adopted without opposition or without explanation as to how healthcare would be guaranteed.

In return for the guarantee, activists dropped a tougher platform amendment seeking a government-run, single-payer system and another amendment explicitly holding out Clinton's plan as the one to follow.

The party now declares itself "united behind a commitment that every American man, woman, and child be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive healthcare."

Under any system in play, most people would still put out money for health insurance as they do now, but they would get help when needed.

The 51-page platform draft showed the influence of Clinton's supporters not only in the extensive section on healthcare but in its assertions about the treatment of women. Some of her backers believed sexism dogged her campaign for the nomination.

An extensive section on women's rights is included and the votes she received in the primaries are described as "18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling."

Democrats typically have a strong plank in favor of abortion rights; this year's version is stronger than usual. "The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right," it says.

Gone is the phrase from the past that abortions should be safe, legal and "rare."

The party also pledges to ensure access to adoption programs, prenatal and postnatal care, and income aid programs for expectant mothers.

The party also:

Promises "practical and humane immigration reform in the first year of the administration."

Favors restoration of the ban on assault-type weapons and other "reasonable regulation" that recognizes the constitutional right to own and use firearms.

Favors helping religious groups provide social services as long as "public funds are not used to proselytize or discriminate."

Rep. Cooper pushing ‘Healthy Americans Act’

By: Christine Buttorff, news correspondent

Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Nashville) wants to end employer-based health care insurance and replace it with a tax-credit to allow everyone to purchase their own private health insurance.

Cooper is one of the House sponsors of the ‘Healthy Americans Act,’ which was reintroduced in the House earlier this month.

Congress will not be taking any action on the proposal until at least next year under a new president, but while in Nashville on Monday, Cooper said it’s important to begin talking about the issue now. Health care spending accounts for about 16-percent of the gross domestic product, and is especially important to Nashville’s economy.

“Nashville probably has more to gain or lose than any other city in America because we’re a premier health care capital,” said Cooper. “Whether it’s HCA, or Saint Thomas, or Vanderbilt [University Medical Center] or other fine health care institutions and companies here we are much more health care oriented than most other places in the country.”

Under the bill, employers would give employees the money spent on health care premiums. Employees would then be required to buy health insurance with after-tax dollars.

Cooper said a $15,000 tax-credit for a family of four would also allow those whose employers don’t offer health insurance to buy it. Health insurance for a family of four is estimated to cost about $12,000 per year.

Under the bill, employers will still be able to offer prevention and wellness benefits, and withhold premiums from paychecks. However, many corporations have pushed back, saying that health benefits are one way they are able to recruit.

Cooper said that system has been abused meaning extra perks are added allowing some individuals, particularly high-paid executives, to deduct more money.

“There are some people who wouldn’t get their $50,000 break, but everyone would get at least $15,000,” explained Cooper. He added that if everyone is enrolled, risk would be pooled across the whole population, so insurance companies will be required to insure even those with serious, chronic conditions.

In addition to pooling risk, the bill is also estimated to save $1.48 trillion dollars in health care costs over the next eight years as insurance companies adapt to compete for individuals on the private health insurance market.

A 150-member group called the “National Coalition on Benefits,” (NCB), which includes major employers such as the BlueCross BlueShield Association and the FedEx Corporation, have expressed other concerns. In a letter this month to the bill’s Senate sponsors, the NCB said that the bill has the potential to inhibit the way employers offer standardized benefits across state lines.

The “Employee Retirement Income Security Act,” (ERISA) allows employers, according to the letter, “to offer uniform benefits to their employees, retirees and families without being subject to the confusing patchwork of mandates, restrictions and costly rules that vary from state to state.”

Cooper counters that some kind of national standard would be created to establish a basic health plan across states.

The bill would offer subsidies for those making up to 400-percent of the Federal Poverty Level ($21,200 for a family of four), and therefore get rid of Medicaid altogether.

Both of Tennessee’s Republican Senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker are co-sponsors of the Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah).

Invitations were issued to 'women leaders' for Monday’s event. About 100 women and a few men attended.