Checkup

Vice President Dick Cheney got good news from doctors after his annual checkup. His heart is beating normally for a 67-year-old who has had four heart attacks.

If you thought it was hard getting a doctor's appointment now, just wait until 30 million more Americans join the line. Nearly 3 in 4 California counties already lack a sufficient number of family physicians, and by 2020 the U.S. faces an estimated shortage of 40,000 primary-care doctors with no way to remedy that in just a few years. As a result, more consumers may soon find themselves getting their checkups and help in managing their high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes at the local pharmacy or Wal-Mart as the Affordable Care Act extends health insurance to 30 million people and puts unprecedented strain on an already fragile network of primary care.

T.J., have you checked your own pulse recently? While you're off pursuing J.D. Drew and his faint beat, your own column is flat-lining on Page 2. Perhaps you can drop by a local hospital for a checkup. If you're lucky, a couple of Dodgers might even stop by for a chat. TROY GARRETT Long Beach

It's been almost two years since President Obama signed healthcare reform into law. And even now, it seems most Americans still have no clue as to what was approved or how it works. A USA Today / Gallup poll released this week shows that almost three-quarters of us think a requirement for nearly all people to buy insurance — the so-called individual mandate — is unconstitutional. About 70% of poll respondents say the reform law hasn't affected them personally. Roughly a third of Americans say the changes won't make any difference for their family, and 38% say they'll make things worse.

A Milwaukee couple are waiting for answers after their baby boy died in foster care last week, two days after being removed with three other children from their home. "A week before he was taken from the home, we had taken him to the doctor and he was as healthy as can be," the boy's father, Robert Whitman, said Tuesday night. "Today was supposed to be his two-month checkup." The county medical examiner's office reported Oct. 2 that the infant, Robert R. Whitman, was found dead that day in a crib at a foster home.

Cajun Ty Bourgeois is referred to as "a typical Louisiana coon ass." Before some of your readers get in an uproar, let it be noted that "coon ass" has nothing to do with either raccoons, donkeys or anything else their imaginations can conjure up. "Coon ass" is a corruption, or variant, of the old French cuss word conasse-- a prostitute who had not had her regular health checkup. Conasse, and later "coon ass," was used as a slang term for Cajuns, and is one of those designations that may constitute fighting words when used by outsiders, but is OK when used by us. I have cousins in New Iberia who have T-shirts and bumper stickers that proclaim, "I'm proud to be a coon ass."

Richard M. Nixon was admitted to a Miami area hospital today suffering from a viral infection and dehydration, and an aide said the 73-year-old former President was suffering from the flu. Eileen Marcus, a spokeswoman for the Miami Heart Institute, said Nixon "was admitted at 1:04 p.m., suffering from a viral infection and dehydration." She said Nixon's Miami area physician, Dr. Lewis Elias, had not reported immediately on the former President's condition.

YOU'RE in great shape. You watch your diet and exercise, and you don't smoke or drink. Your itinerary is a little strenuous, but that's no big deal. Or is it? It can be, doctors say. And that's why they suggest a pre-trip checkup, whether your destination is Africa or Illinois, and especially if you're recovering from an operation ? including plastic surgery ? or taking a course of chemotherapy, among other things. A checkup also can reveal things you only suspected. Take, for example, the case of two doting grandparents who had decided to treat their family, all 15 of them, to Christmas in Kenya.

A jovial President Reagan, feeling restless and claiming to be eager for work just a week after cancer surgery, returned Saturday to the White House from Bethesda Naval Medical Center after threatening to send his surgeons to Congress to help trim the budget deficit. A crowd of 2,000 official well-wishers--including top aides and Cabinet members--greeted the President with balloons, placards and band music when he returned by helicopter to the South Lawn.

The eyes narrow, as if considering a twisting blue highway, when William Croker talks about his life's obsession--the art of shifting his weight and placing one size-11 foot in front of the other, the act that has twice moved him to span the United States. Walking.

The hit movie "Contagion" depicts a nightmare scenario: a bat virus jumps to pigs and then to humans, infecting them with abandon since they have no immunity to the novel bug. The virus circles the globe in a matter of days, causing coughs, fevers and seizures as scientists from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scramble to identify the pathogen and develop a vaccine. Before they do, millions are infected and about a quarter of them die. Those who are not sickened hunker down at home or panic in the streets, scrounging for food and supplies until the outbreak can be contained.

It's time for a midyear checkup. Stepping back to take a careful look at finances and operations can help a small business determine how well it's managing costs and making use of sales opportunities. It's a smart thing to do any time, of course, but midyear is a good benchmark. "Business owners need to give themselves a break," said Christina Cardenas, president of Cardenas Insurance Services Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga, "give yourself time to make some adjustments. " After several years of battling through the recession, a lot of business owners "are burnt out because we are having to wear so many hats," she said.

An innovative social program taking hold in Latin America may have left Luz Dary Lopez a single mother, but it has helped her and hundreds of other poor women in this central Colombian city gain a measure of financial independence, self-respect and better living standards for their families. Partly funded by the World Bank, the program, called Families in Action, pays Lopez and 4,200 other poor mothers in Tunja about $100 a month as long as they attend diet and hygiene classes, get their children to school and have them undergo medical exams.

Pointing to Japan's nuclear crisis, state and federal officials have begun pushing for comprehensive reviews of California's two commercial nuclear plants, which are near powerful fault lines and have been cited repeatedly in recent years for safety lapses. If reviewers identify new problems, it could lead to added safety measures ? or potentially, delays or denials for renewals of the operating permits for the plants. The two plants, which have been online for decades, supply nearly 15% of the state's electricity.

A well-woman exam should be conducted each year, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The exam includes: ?General examination (height, weight, body mass index, blood pressure) ?Breast exam ?Pelvic exam (which may include a Pap test) ?Discussion of health and lifestyle, including personal and family health history; medications and supplements used; current diet, exercise and sexual practices; use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.

External heart defibrillators can save lives, provided they work properly. How can you tell whether one might have problems? A South Florida Sun Sentinel story says to "check the manufacturer's website periodically to learn about safety alerts or recalls, and to keep up with the changes. "  The Food and Drug Administration demanded safety upgrades in automated external defibrillators from manufacturers in a plan announced Monday. This Los Angeles Times story says the FDA acted after some units were found to have harmful, even deadly, shortcomings.

Alice Marie Francis believes it's important to have health insurance, but finding a plan that fit her budget was no easy task. "Money is tight," says the 50-year-old Burbank mother of two, whose children are insured by their father's work-based policy. To make sure she had coverage that didn't break the bank, she opted for a high-deductible health plan - an increasingly popular option with lower monthly premiums but high upfront costs before most insurance payments kick in. High-deductible plans are typically recommended for younger policyholders who are in good health and have less need for doctor visits and prescription drugs, and for people with incomes high enough to cover the cost of routine medical care.

Times are tough enough for Californians; they're even tougher for Californians' teeth. "One-quarter of all adults and 28% of children in California have untreated dental caries [cavities]," says Len Finocchio, a senior program officer at the California Healthcare Foundation, a health advocacy group. "Our research tells us that many people in California have been avoiding routine care that might have cost about $100 for a checkup and cleaning, and then find themselves in the emergency room, where they get only an antibiotic, a bill that can average over $600 and instructions to see a dentist."

If you've been holding off getting screened for high cholesterol, diabetes or hypertension because of a co-payment, you soon won't have a reason to put it off. That's because co-payments, which typically cost at least $20, for a host of preventive services will disappear starting Jan. 1 for most workers thanks to the Affordable Care Act. For others, they're already seeing that benefit under the new health law, or soon will if they bought a new...

Re "Medi-Cal effort nabs few cheaters," Oct. 6 We spent $16.6 million to deny eight people health services? As you wrote, "One congressional oversight committee found that the regulations cost the federal government and six of nine states surveyed this year $16.6 million in new administrative costs but resulted in snagging only eight illegal immigrants." The U.S. can further be proud of money-saving through its healthcare freeloading off Europe, which provides services to tourists.