Opposition to President Obama's plan for a public health insurance system includes some in Congress, the American Medical Association and private health insurers who argue that a government plan would draw customers away from private insurers. What's their side of the story?
Opposition to President Obama's plan for a public health insurance system includes some in Congress, the American Medical Association and private health insurers who argue that a government plan would draw customers away from private insurers. What's their side of the story?
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White House Proposes New Rules For Food Safety
Every year, 5,000 Americans die from contaminated food, and tens of millions get sick. The Obama administration is calling for tougher production standards for poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes so consumers can stop fearing their food.
Every year, 5,000 Americans die from contaminated food, and tens of millions get sick. The Obama administration is calling for tougher production standards for poultry, beef, leafy greens, melons and tomatoes so consumers can stop fearing their food.
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What's In The Health Care Overhaul For Us?
From long-term care savings accounts to parks funding, revamping the health care system is about more than just new taxes and deals with hospitals and insurance companies.
From long-term care savings accounts to parks funding, revamping the health care system is about more than just new taxes and deals with hospitals and insurance companies.
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The Hunt For Affordable Health Insurance
Last month, small business owner Larry Harbour of Broken Bow, Neb., told NPR that health insurance was unaffordable because of the $24,000- to $40,000-a-year premiums. That sounded way off-base to a Nebraska insurance broker. So, he called Harbour himself.
Last month, small business owner Larry Harbour of Broken Bow, Neb., told NPR that health insurance was unaffordable because of the $24,000- to $40,000-a-year premiums. That sounded way off-base to a Nebraska insurance broker. So, he called Harbour himself.
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Could mental toughness training boost grades?
Could schools struggling to improve GCSE scores help their students with 'mental toughness' training?
Fay and Ajay, two pupils at All Saints Catholic high school in Knowsley, Merseyside, are locked in concentration.
The 13-year-olds are competing to control a ball using nothing more than their powers of concentration. They are wearing headsets that chart on a nearby computer how focused and relaxed their brains are. The pupil who concentrates the most finds the ball move to the opposite side of the table.
"It's proper hard," says Fay, wrinkling her forehead. "You think you are concentrating, but it turns out you aren't that much." Ajay says when the ball comes his way, it puts him off. "I have to think really hard to make it go in the right direction," he says.
Here in Knowsley, the proportion of pupils who obtain five A*-C grades at GCSE including maths and English is well under the national average. Just 30% of pupils achieved A*-Cs last year, making the local authority the 2nd worst performer in England. The national average for a local authority is 47.2%.
It's not that these pupils aren't every bit as clever as their peers in other parts of the country, says All Saints' headteacher, Peter Bradley. It's that their powers of concentration, resilience and confidence may need a bit of boosting, he argues. "Even where teaching is good and extra lessons are given, learners haven't been progressing at the same speed as they have elsewhere.
"Their mental toughness has a lot to do with why they are not achieving as much as they should be," he says.
Knowsley thinks it has found the answer in Peter Clough, a psychology lecturer at the University of Hull.
Clough believes he can boost pupils' grades by bolstering their mental toughness. By this he means their confidence, ability to control their minds, and their openness to challenges and commitments.
The psychologist has devised a psychometric test to gauge how mentally tough pupils are. Those who perform poorly participate in games that train them to concentrate, focus and develop confidence. One of these is Mindball, which Fay and Ajay are playing.
Clough's approach is hands-off. He only visits Knowsley's secondary schools occasionally, preferring to train teachers in his techniques.
Raising grades
Knowsley, the first local authority Clough has worked with, hopes schools that have used his method over the last year will raise their proportion of pupils who obtain A*-C grades at GCSE this year by six percentage points.
For Clough, though, it's not just about grades. "People who are mentally tough perform better in school and in life," he says. "They take the opportunities that life offers them."
He recognises that several neighbourhoods in Knowsley are very poor and that it's patronising and unreasonable to ask pupils to just "develop a positive attitude".
"It's not about training yourself to be happy, it's about controlling your thoughts," he says. "It's particularly important here, because these children may be presented with fewer opportunities than others."
He recognises, too, that a positive outlook won't get someone wherever they want to be. "No matter how positive I am, I'm not going to ever be able to put on a tutu and be a good ballet dancer. But working on your psychological state will help," he says.
Children are less resilient now than in the past, Clough argues. Their fear of failure is huge. "We live in a society that is stress-averse, but everything that is worth having is stressful. We seem to have demonised stress for some reason and to have accepted that life in 2009 is more stressful than in the past," he says. "We seem to panic more as a society."
His psychometric test, which is being produced and sold across the country by the firm AQR, asks children how strongly they agree or disagree with 48 statements.
These include: I generally feel that I am a worthwhile person; I usually speak my mind when I have something to say; and I can usually adapt myself to challenges that come my way.
The pupils in Knowsley who have taken the test receive a breakdown of how they scored and a few pointers to help them, such as tips on relaxing and goal-setting.
Fay and Ajay's class achieved scores that were bottom of the average for their age.
"Close your eyes," Clough tells the class. "Can you think of five things that are really positive about yourself? Those who can't, put up your hand."
After a couple of minutes, at least six or seven out of this class of 18 raise a hand.
"Don't forget, you control the way you think. If you learn how to control your brain, you can get on really well," he says. "Did you know that Rugby League players write down their best attributes and put them in their socks before a game?" Clough tells the pupils.
In one of his activities, children cover themselves in electrodes and a computer monitors their stress levels. If they are anxious, they see a caterpillar on the screen. Once they've breathed deeply, tried to imagine a "happy place" and relaxed, the caterpillar turns into a butterfly. In another, pupils shoot down canisters that are placed around the classroom with a toy gun. What they don't know is that some of the canisters can't be shot down. Clough examines how they cope with not being able to shoot them down.
All Saints now has a team of teachers to bolster its pupils' mental toughness, particularly at exam time. Clough says he expects a "dramatic improvement in exam performance and positive behaviour" as activities to bolster mental toughness are integrated into classrooms.
Bradley believes the techniques can "transform educational standards by making our youngsters more confident and able to meet challenges".
At exam time, all eyes will be on Knowsley. Let's hope the teachers, as well as the pupils, are mentally tough enough to cope well with such pressure.
Health Care For Undocumented First Of Calif. Cuts
Budget-strapped counties around the country are looking for ways to save money. Some in Northern California are eliminating health benefits for thousands of undocumented immigrants. But critics warn this is a short-sighted policy that carries a public health threat and burdens already-struggling community clinics and emergency rooms.
Budget-strapped counties around the country are looking for ways to save money. Some in Northern California are eliminating health benefits for thousands of undocumented immigrants. But critics warn this is a short-sighted policy that carries a public health threat and burdens already-struggling community clinics and emergency rooms.
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Congress Woozy With Health Care Sticker Shock
Guest Host Alison Stewart talks with NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving about the upcoming week in Congress, and how it looks like it will be dominated by big numbers — many in red ink. The cost of overhauling the health care system is giving members of Congress sticker shock, and polls show the public is worried about the cost of multiple bailouts.
Guest Host Alison Stewart talks with NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving about the upcoming week in Congress, and how it looks like it will be dominated by big numbers — many in red ink. The cost of overhauling the health care system is giving members of Congress sticker shock, and polls show the public is worried about the cost of multiple bailouts.
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Bill Aims To Disclose Doctor-Drugmaker Payments
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley speaks with Host Liane Hansen about a federal bill that would require disclosure of the financial relationship between drug companies and physicians. The Iowa Republican also discusses a federal bill that would regulate the tobacco industry, and other health care issues.
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley speaks with Host Liane Hansen about a federal bill that would require disclosure of the financial relationship between drug companies and physicians. The Iowa Republican also discusses a federal bill that would regulate the tobacco industry, and other health care issues.
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Essential English
Cuts to beginners' language courses will hit the most vulnerable people hard, say campaigners
When her husband died suddenly 12 years ago, Minara was left to bring up her nine children in a deprived part of east London, speaking very little English.
English language classes at Wapping women's centre became the 35-year-old's lifeline. Her husband had always dealt with the family paperwork; now she had to, but was unable to read or understand it.
She left her youngest children in the centre's creche and joined a beginner's course in English for speakers of other languages (Esol).
Minara is now at level 3 - the standard required to sit the British citizenship test - and has started her own catering business.
She is one of 28 mainly Bangladeshi women on Esol courses at the centre; 20 more are on its waiting list. "Esol courses are essential to these women's survival," says Sufia Alam, the centre's manager. "Without the classes, they wouldn't be able to speak to emergency services, fill out benefit forms, or go to the doctor without help.
"Some are so buoyed by knowing basic English, they go to their local libraries, think about attending the local college or working in their communities and take a bus ride out of town," she says.
No longer, it seems.
Wapping women's centre is a community outreach site of Tower Hamlets College. According to a document circulated to college staff and seen by Education Guardian, entitled Securing the Future, the centre is one of 11 that the college proposes to "withdraw provision" from in 2009-10.
The result would be a saving of £45,000 excluding pay costs, the college says.
Job losses
On top of this, staff say, the college has told them that nine people's jobs are at risk of compulsory redundancy - the equivalent of just over seven full-time Esol teaching posts.
It's not just in Tower Hamlets that Esol budgets are being slashed, but across the country. The Manchester College, one of the UK's biggest, with 80,000 students, says "as part of a continuous review process, the college has identified the need to reduce staffing in Esol and is engaged in a process with the staff and trade unions concerned". It won't talk about the numbers of student places or staff to be cut.
At Hackney Community College in north-east London, a basic Esol course - entry 1 level literacy - is no longer going to be offered on its own. It will be taught with a vocational course such as childcare. The college says this will help students progress into employment.
Hackney Community College says: "We are adjusting our provision in this way to try to meet the demands of both our communities and our funders, to help us to keep a breadth of provision and ultimately help more learners to enrol on college courses and succeed."
But the most basic needs - and rights some would say - of vulnerable communities are not being met, say students and Esol teachers.
John Biggs, London assembly member for City and East, is so worried about the situation that he is urging the London mayor, Boris Johnson, to look into the matter urgently. "The impact of these proposed cutbacks on east London would be catastrophic. As well as the jobs lost, the provision of Esol courses would fall by half - a devastating loss for an area as diverse as Tower Hamlets and a massive setback for community integration."
At Solihull College in the West Midlands, a trade union officer says Esol courses are threatened and course fees have risen. The college would not make a comment.
Just why colleges are having to make these cuts - or threaten to make them - is unclear. The colleges receive their funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which in turn receives its funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
A spokeswoman from BIS says that far from cutting Esol funds, the government has trebled its investment in the courses since 2000-01. It gave £300m last year and the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government added to this. But this is only half the story. In the last three years, Esol funds have stayed the same, despite demand for them increasing.
Colleges say the government wants Esol classes to only go to higher-level learners who go on longer courses and that this has resulted in a reduction of funds for beginner-level courses, which the most vulnerable people, such as Minara need. The government denies this and says its priority is still people like Minara. "We want to focus provision on those most in need, the most vulnerable and the hardest to reach," a government spokeswoman says. "That is why we are asking local authorities to identify priority groups and work with the LSC and colleges to make this happen. The bulk of ESOL provision is for those with the most basic ESOL needs, ie, at entry level. We see no reason for this to change."
Colleges have been asked to look more carefully at just who the priority learners are, says Chris Taylor, programme director for Esol at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. "Vulnerable women don't always push their way to the front of the queue," he says.
Tower Hamlets' principal, Michael Farley, says that since 2005-06, 1,998 student places funded by the LSC have been cut at his college and an extra 1,000 are to go in the next academic year. Many of these are from Esol or basic skills - Skills For Life - courses, he says. An estimated 2,000 are left.
"The college's policy of delivering courses against which no income is received is simply not sustainable as it is putting untenable strains on the college's finances," he says.
"We have been directed to ensure our provision provides long courses as a priority. Therefore we are forced to redirect our funding into courses which are, by their very nature, more expensive than short courses. With the same amount of money we can provide fewer long courses than short courses, and this reduces student numbers.
"The governors are saddened that they have had to make this decision, but are committed to the long-term health of the college and securing its future," he says.
The cuts come almost two years after another blow to Esol. In August 2007, ministers decided that they could not allocate any extra funds to Esol and introduced fees for students who could afford to pay. Those who can will have to pay 47.5% of course fees from August - the equivalent of about £350 a year for 15 hours of classes a week.
Fee threshold
Sarah Wright, vice principal of Warwickshire College, says: "Some of our learners earn very slightly above the threshold for claiming means-tested benefits and as such are not eligible for free places. But they can't afford to fund themselves. This is also true for many of the smaller businesses. We are concerned about the impact on our local communities and ... the speed of their assimilation into the community. As a result, we have had a significant reduction to staffing."
Wright said this had been done by redeploying staff, rather than through redundancies.
Taylor says that without basic English, newcomers to the UK are isolated, left behind by their extended families and children, and unable to speak up for themselves. The cuts are strange when the government has such a high agenda for community cohesion, she says.
The government has already suggested that local authorities should have a stronger role in improving English for non-native speakers. Perhaps mosques and charities will also step up to the task.
Perdita Patterson, an Esol teacher at Tower Hamlets College, says she "doesn't know where to begin in response to this argument". "It is beyond me to understand how a miscellaneous collection of private providers, charities and religious organisations could possibly replace an established mainstream educational institution with decades of specialist expertise, relationships all over the borough, and the ability to identify barriers to learning - from dyslexia to domestic abuse. There is simply no case to be made," she says.
• This article was amended on 15 July 2009. The original said that
it was a government strategy to give priority of Esol learners at higher levels. This has been corrected to show that this is the assertion of colleges.
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