Health Care Issues

Cathy Jordan, Florida Medical Marijuana Activist, Is Suing Manatee County Sheriff

President of the Florida Cannabis Action Network Cathy Jordan is suing Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube for wrongful conduct after cops raided the her home like a SWAT team crashing into Pablo Escobar's mansion back in February. Back on February 15, cops swarmed Jordan's home after a government e ... More >>

Medicaid Expansion Bill "NegronCare" Passes in Florida Senate

House Bill 7169, the Florida Senate's alternate legislation to provide 1 million Floridians with needed health coverage, was approved by the Senate on a 38-1 vote. The measure is expected to head back the House, where it was already rejected and probably will be again.

Wheelchair-Assisted Woman for Whom Bill to Legalize Weed Is Named Wins Legal Fight

Medical Marijuana Charges Against Robert and Cathy Jordan Dropped

Back on February 25, cops raided the home of president of the Florida Cannabis Action Network Cathy Jordan, like a SWAT team crashing into Pablo Escobar's mansion. See also: - Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced in Florida - Florida Medical Marijuana Bill Author Jeff Clemens Says "It's About Compassi ... More >>

Florida Medical Marijuana Bill Might Be Dead

It's not looking good for the the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act, a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Florida. While the Florida Legislature has gone ahead and moved forward with trying to ban bongs, the Cathy Jordan bill has yet to even get a hearing in either the House or the Senat ... More >>

Florida Medicaid Expansion Pretty Much Killed By Senate Panel

On Monday afternoon, a Senate select committee rejected moving forward with an expansion of the Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act, even after Gov. Rick Scott expressed a desire to see it expanded, and even though state hospitals and business wanted to see it expanded and even th ... More >>

Florida Medical Marijuana Bill Author Jeff Clemens Says "It's About Compassion"

Florida state Sen. Jeff Clemens introduced a bill Wednesday that would allow patients with certain qualifying medical conditions to privately and legally possess medical marijuana. The bill, named after Florida Cannabis Action Network President and ALS patient Cathy Jordan, would allow patients to ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced in Florida

On Monday, cops raided the home of Cathy Jordan, president of the Florida Cannabis Action Network, and seized all her pot after a government employee who was visiting a neighbor spotted some marijuana plants on her property. Turns out, Jordan has Lou Gehrig's disease and uses the marijuana as treat ... More >>

Rick Scott Now Supports Medicaid Expansion

Rick Scott, GOPer champion of Defiance Toward All Things Obummercare was not, would not, could not, wouldn't, under any circumstances, implement Medicaid if he had anything to say about it. He said Medicaid wouldn't do anyone any good and even went so far as to give out botched math to prove his po ... More >>

E-Cigarettes: Danger or Healthy Alternative?

Ex-Smokers Organize to Keep Electronic Cigarettes on the Market, Easily Accessible

This week, New Times reported on the electronic cigarette business, which is currently booming but faces a crossroads this April, when the Food and Drug Administration is set to release proposals on how it will regulate the industry. A Wells Fargo analyst who studies the tobacco industry told us tha ... More >>

Charlie Crist, With Eye Toward Governor's Race, Embraces ObamaCare (So, For Reals, Forget What He Said Before)

Over several weeks in early 2010, then-Governor Crist unleashed a series of tweets condemning President Obama's prospective health care reform bill. To Crist -- yes, the other Crist -- enacting ObamaCare would only constitute "the beginning." He said "Americans deserve better than this." He launched ... More >>

Pot Activist Robert Platshorn: Feds Tightening Screws

Not content with locking up Palm Beach medical marijuana activist Robert Platshorn for almost 30 years, the federal government has now decided to rob him of his constitutional rights, restricting his ability to travel and enjoy free speech and assembly. They don't like him advocating drug ... More >>

Rick Scott's Decision to Opt Out of Medicaid Could Cost Hospitals Billions

Rick Scott's decision to opt out of participating in the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program in Florida could cost public hospitals billions and billions of dollars. This according to a new study by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (whom we're sure wil ... More >>

Mitt Romney's Voucher Medicare Plan Would Be Costly for Florida, According to Report

According to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a voucher plan for Medicare -- like the one Mittington Romnom RoboRomney and his young ward P90Ryan are proposing -- would cost Florida patients more than $100 million. But since the Mittbot is promising instant jobs to everyone as soon as he ... More >>

Ryan, Obama, Romney, and Biden's Moms: Too Many Matriarchs in the Race (VIDEO)

Preparing for the vice presidential debate Thursday in Kentucky, Paul Ryan was in Fort Lauderdale yesterday with his mom, Betty Douglas. Indeed, the 78-year-old made the campaign's nine millionth campaign fundraising call. Well, I am sick and tired of moms in this election. Just a few months ag ... More >>

Imagining a Florida Without Medicaid

See also: Rick Scott's stranger-than-fiction smackdown of Obamacare and his defense of that decison.In 2009, at least 2.45 million people in Florida were enrolled in Medicaid, according to data from government agencies. Another estimate pegs the number at more than 3 million. That's over a tenth of ... More >>

Connie Mack, House Republicans Continue Stupid Health-Care Posturing

It's an election year, and something good happened to the incumbent president. You know what that means: The opposition party is about to do a lot of yelling.We're dealing, of course, with the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to knock down Obamacare's individual mandate -- you know, the one that we're a ... More >>

Pot Smuggler Schools Seniors on Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana Resolution Now in Both Chambers of Florida Legislature

​​​Resolutions to let voters decide on an amendment to the Florida Constitution to legalize medical marijuana have now been proposed in both chambers of the Legislature.Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard dropped Senate Joint Resolution 1028 in the hopper on Friday, becoming the Senate side ... More >>

Rick Scott Predicts "Obamacare" Will Be a Loser in the Supreme Court -- Is He Right?

Illustration by Miche RattoWho needs Husseinobamacare?​Yesterday, Gov. Rick Scott made a visit to the Palm Beach Post editorial board and predicted that the challenge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act raised by Florida and 25 other states would win in the U.S. Supreme Court.Argumen ... More >>

Florida Medical Marijuana Referendum Petition a Bit Low on Signatures: 646,889 More Needed

sodahead.com​If you want to see a medical marijuana referendum on the 2012 ballot, you'll have to say a prayer that House Joint Resolution 353 passes through the Legislature -- it's currently in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee -- or you're going to have to be one of 646,889 more Floridians to si ... More >>

Obama's War on Weed Represents a Strange About-Face on Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana Resolution Filed in Florida House to Let Voters Decide the Need for Weed

sodahead.comNot quite yet.​An amendment to the Florida Constitution to legalize medical marijuana may be proposed on 2012 voter ballots, if one House Democrat gets his way.Rep. Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth has submitted House Joint Resolution 353, which would put a medical-marijuana amendment up to ... More >>

Have Smoking Bans Help Convert Us into a Nation of Foodniks?

​"Do you have a light?" Don Draper asks the waiter in the opening scene of the Mad Men pilot when he's interrupted from writing ideas on a cocktail napkin. The waiter pulls out his lighter marked with his cigarette brand. "Old Gold, huh?" Draper says as he takes a drag. "Lucky Strike here."Wh ... More >>

Florida Ranks Very High in Economic Study; Unfortunately, It's About People Being Poor

​A study from the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy says Florida ranks third, fourth, and fifth out of the 50 states in three different economic indicators.Unfortunately, those indicators are the highest rates of residents without health insurance, the largest percentage of children un ... More >>

South Florida Tea Party Back to Fax-Bombs, Now Asking John McCain Not to "Piss" on Them

Hey there, Tea Party -- 50 percent chance of rain!​In its second fax-bomb attempt in a matter of weeks, the South Florida Tea Party is asking its supporters to send a prewritten fax to Sen. John McCain of Arizona, requesting that the Maverick not urinate on them.They're apparently not too happy wi ... More >>

Palm Beach County Tea Party Director Quits After Chairman Rags on Rep. Paul Ryan

​Standing up for what you believe in apparently isn't in the South Florida Tea Party manifest.Pam Wohlschlegel -- the director of the Palm Beach County chapter of the South Florida Tea Party -- called it quits after Chairman Everett Wilkinson declared House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare ... More >>

Charged With Growing Pot, Man Claims Medicinal Marijuana Defense -- and Wins

Jeffrey Kennedy, with his wife, Sharon, says they've gone through "18 months of hell" since his arrest.​Prosecutors dropped criminal charges today against a Palm Beach County man who had claimed a medicinal marijuana defense in a case that could have sent him to prison for five years for growing p ... More >>

High Support For Medical Marijauna Doesn't Matter to an Anti-Weed Columnist

​Let's clear a few things up just in case anyone was misled by a column from the Sun Sentinel's Nicole Brochu earlier this week. Despite a recent survey that found 57 percent of Floridians support legalization of medical marijuana, Brochu doesn't think that it's likely to happen. "Florida isn ... More >>

Republican Pollster: 57 Percent of Floridians Support Legalizing Medicinal Pot

A survey conducted by GOP pollster Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates -- the same firm that conducted polls for Florida Gov. Rick Scott's campaign -- found that 57 percent of Floridians support legalization of medicinal marijuana. Daily BruinSoon coming to a strip mall near you? ​This news ... More >>

Sunday Politics: Q&A With Tea Partier on Health Care

The Tea Party has demonized health-care reform -- or Obamacare, as it calls it -- to the point that the group seems to believe that it alone is going to destroy America. Tea Party signs​They've disrupted Congressional town hall meetings, screamed about sociali ... More >>

Attorney General Candidate Jim Lewis: Legalize Weed to Save Florida's Economy

Photo from jimlewisforflorida.comLewis: "Faint heart never won fair maiden."​Jim Lewis won't be your next attorney general. But if there were some miraculous come-from-behind victory for the perennial losing candidate, Lewis would bring about a radical change. He'd legalize pot. Not just medicinal ... More >>

Reefer Revolution

Here's ground zero in the battle to decriminalize pot.

Former Executive Blew Whistle on E-Cigarette Maker From Weston Now Being Investigated by AG

FlickrE-cigarettes are in the strange position of suing to prove they're a tobacco product.​A Weston-based company called Smoking Everywhere wanted an executive who could go to battle against the FDA and U.S. Customs, which had teamed up to ban the import of e-cigarettes. But by hiring Ray Story i ... More >>

Just What the Doctor Ordered

George LeMieux Talking Points Get Mangled on Cable News Show

Is there anyone out there besides George LeMieux and his fellow Republicans in Congress who think that this health care issue hasn't been debated to death? To someone who was appointed to the U.S. Senate this past fall, it may seem like health care reform has sneaked up on Congress, but it's been p ... More >>

Get Up, Stand Up

Crist Walks Into Democrat-Laid Health-Care Trap

​Everybody's still talking about Crist gaffe-ing (lying?) over the Obama appearance, but this quotable moment is, I think, much more precious. Let's pull out a portion of that Sarasota Herald-Tribune article, which asked for Crist's opinion of a Senate Democrat health care reform package that woul ... More >>

Nature's Way

Ohmygod Grandma Do Not Rap When the NY Times Reporter Is Around!

nytimes.comArtificial hip-hop and health care hysteria: all the rage at Sunrise Lakes​They've still working do on destroying Obama's health care plan but in the opening moments of this New York Times video,  Sunrise seniors dealt a death blow to hip-hop. Chilling video here.The accompanying a ... More >>

Cigarette Smokers Burned By New Tax; Cigar Aficionados Blow Celebratory Rings

flickr.com While cigarette smokers will now pay a dollar per pack more, the legislature gave the cigar industry a break. A new state-wide dollar-per-pack tax on cigarettes and smokeless and pipe tobacco starts today. The stated goal from the legislature is to encourage smokers to stop. If ... More >>

Is Big Tobacco Using Healthy Start to Do Its Dirty Work?

Like many nonprofits that depend on government funding, the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions is facing cuts. The organization that focuses on prenatal and infant health may have 22 percent trimmed from its 2009 budget.  Unlike other nonprofits, however, the organization has propo ... More >>

Pick Your Battles

There are all kinds of reasons not to eat hearty pub fare at Trafalgar Tavern. Ignore them.

Let Me Kill Myself

Before he dies of Lou Gehrig's disease, Phil Snaith wants to accomplish one final goal: force the state to allow assisted suicides

No Exit

In South Florida the new killing fields are filled with sick, depressed senior citizens who make self-inflicted death their final ally

Cutting the Healing

The emotional triage performed by therapists for the severely disabled is being eliminated by budget cutbacks

Infuriating the Joint

A public seminar on the evils of marijuana. An activist claiming pot saved his life. Someone was arrested.