By Lorene Parshall, Staff Writer NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Identity thieves, forever on the lookout for ways to scam citizens, are taking advantage of people’s natural deference toward the Census Bureau and the court system to con personal information out of them. Although caution is warranted, the importance of counting every Michigan resident in the 2010 Census can not be overstated. It is essential to the economic recovery of the state. Read More…

Obama Takes on Big Banks, Health Care Opponents in Town Hall in Ohio By HUMA KHAN and JAKE TAPPER Invoking some of the populist fervor that propelled him to the presidency, President Obama today defended his economic agenda and vowed to continue fighting for “meaningful health insurance reforms” and his banking reform proposals. Speaking at a town hall in Elyria, Ohio, Obama addressed some of the steps his administration has taken, many of which have drawn heat, including the $787 stimulus package and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Read More…

Dermatologists were able to remove the so-called Botax from the Senate’s health-care overhaul bill and replace it with a 10 percent tax on tanning services. The American Medical Association had also opposed the proposed 5 percent tax on cosmetic procedures, dubbed the Botax after the anti-wrinkle product Botox. There are an estimated 20,000 tanning salons in the U.S., mostly stand-alone shops, and it’s impossible to know what total revenue figures are for the industry. Read More…

Three-metre-wide property in Greenwich village counts Cary Grant and poet Edna St Vincent Millais among former residents Maev Kennedy Evidently neither the poet Edna St Vincent Millay, the actor Cary Grant nor the author and anthropologist Margaret Mead ever needed to swing a cat. All were former residents of reputedly the narrowest house in New York, which has just sold for $2.1m (£1.3m). Read More…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Prices for hundreds of brand-name drugs have soared since the beginning of the decade, especially those that treat depression, infections and heart disease, according to a U.S. government report on Monday. The nonpartisan General Accountability Office said it found “extraordinary price increases” for 321 brand-name drugs, with prices jumping by 100 percent to 499 percent – and in a few cases by more than 1,000 percent. The number of drug price increases more than doubled from 2000 to 2008 with most drugs maintaining their higher prices over time, the...

4. Nurse Practitioner Top 50 rank: 4 Sector: Healthcare What they do: In addition to performing routine caretaking tasks, nurse practitioners have the advanced medical training to diagnose and treat a wide range of ailments. They can also prescribe medication without consulting an MD. Read More…

Happy New Year from Medcare Provider

Feeling Stressed Out, Feeling Tired — Wanna Feel Fresh – and it does not cost anything !! Medical studies have determined that laughing is both contagious and healthy. Please tweet this link to other twitters for their better health. See More Funny Stuff… For a Laugh We request reader to leave their comments and advice. We hope you like it and we will be updating web site with more funny stuff soon. See More Funny Stuff…

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to eliminate monthly premium increases for millions of Medicare patients next year. It voted 406 to 18 to send the bill to the Senate, which is expected to act soon. Lawmakers said older Americans shouldn’t have to pay higher Medicare Part B premiums because they are not expected to get a cost of living increase from Social Security. The vast majority of Medicare recipients already are exempt from Part B premium increases because of a hold-harmless provision that kicks in when there...

When a colonoscopy ranges from $450 to $10,000, there’s room for plenty of savings By Bernadine Healy, M.D. As President Obama said again in his recent address to Congress, an imperative for health reform is containing runaway health costs. But the elephant in the room that is a real driver of costs is something few people are talking about: the variable and hush-hush pricing of medical goods and services, set by the government or negotiated by insurers and largely kept secret from the patients ultimately responsible for their bills. Look at a colonoscopy: When paid by Medicare, the fee...