Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack today announced that Community Health Care, Inc. of Davenport will receive $343,290 in funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Ryan White Title III Outpatient Early Intervention Services Grant.  This program provides funding for organizations to provide high quality early intervention services for patients recently diagnosed with HIV.

"It is critical that we equip health care providers with the tools necessary to best assist those who are diagnosed with HIV," said Loebsack.  "Quality treatment, along with education and counseling, can help those with the disease live their lives to the fullest.  I am pleased that Community Health Care will continue to receive this funding to support the services they provide to the Davenport community."

Community Health Care, Inc. provides preventative, acute, and chronic care for patients who do not have access to primary health care elsewhere in their communities.  As a recipient of the Ryan White Title III grant, Community Health Care will provide HIV counseling, education and testing, as well as clinical care and related services, including mental health, nutritional and oral care for patients with HIV.

Designates Every Nov. 14 to Highlight Diabetes Education, Prevention 

CHICAGO - July, 17, 2012. As part of his ongoing efforts to improve health and wellness in Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn today signed a law to raise awareness of diabetes. Under the new law, every Nov. 14 will be "Diabetes Awareness Day" in the state of Illinois. November is American Diabetes Month, and more than 800,000 Illinois residents are living with the disease, double the number 20 years ago.

"In order to prevent diabetes, we must continue to raise awareness and educate people about the importance of having a healthy, active lifestyle to lower the risk of developing diabetes," Governor Quinn said. "I would like to thank Leader Cross for his longtime commitment to increasing awareness and prevention of diabetes."

House Bill 5003 was sponsored by House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) and Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-Chicago). Cross is a member of the board of directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Illinois Chapter and founded the Illinois Diabetes Caucus.

"We've had tremendous support in the legislature and from our local and state diabetes communities to make today's law a reality. It is so important to know the risk factors of diabetes and to consult your doctor if you are experiencing them," said Cross.

"As a member of the Illinois Legislative Diabetes Caucus, I have led the effort to designate November 14 of each year as Diabetes Awareness Day in Illinois," said Hunter. "This and other initiatives, such as my work to reinsert the Diabetes Research Check-off Fund into next year's income tax form and exempt the check-off from being removed from the form in the future, helps to raise awareness of this dreadful disease while providing resources to combat it in the future. I applaud the governor for his leadership in signing this legislation."

Governor Quinn has long worked to encourage Illinois residents to adopt healthy lifestyles, which can help prevent diabetes from developing in some cases. "Diabetes Awareness Day" will help remind Illinois residents to make decisions - healthy eating, exercising and not smoking - to lower the risk of getting diabetes.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the number of Illinois residents who have diabetes has more than doubled over the past 20 years, reaching approximately 800,000 in 2011. The department also estimates that an additional 500,000 people are unaware they have the disease. Of Illinois adults with diabetes, 18.6 percent are 65 years of age or older. Diabetes-related care in Illinois costs around $7.3 billion each year.

Individuals who have diabetes have too much glucose in their blood, which can cause serious cardiovascular and nervous system problems. Although Type 1, or insulin-dependent, diabetes can occur at any age, the most commonly diagnosed form of diabetes is Type 2, formerly called "adult-onset" diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States and is a major cause of heart disease and stroke.

Governor Quinn signed the new law at Edward Hospital. The Edward Diabetes Center provides counseling and education for individuals living with diabetes, including: Type 1 diabetes, pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes; La Diabetes, Spanish diabetes education; gestational diabetes; insulin pump therapy; glucose sensor training and medical nutrition therapy.

The Illinois Department of Public Health offers programs aimed at preventing diabetes, such as the Illinois Diabetes and Prevention Control Program and the Illinois Tobacco Quitline. For more information please visit: www.idph.state.il.us. The new law goes into effect immediately.

Health Law "Taxes" the IRS

by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley

The highest court in the land issued a landmark decision just days before the United States celebrated its 236th anniversary declaring independence from a tax-happy monarchy.  I respect the Supreme Court, but the colonial patriots who rallied against "taxation without representation" and blazed the trail for liberty, freedom and the pursuit of happiness must have rolled over in their graves on the eve of Independence Day 2012.

The 5-4 ruling upholding the 2010 health care law essentially gives Congress a license to use its taxing authority to regulate and direct the public in infinite scenarios as a means to an end.  Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts threaded a legal needle, massaging the federal law to solve a Constitutional conundrum.

As the Chief Justice wrote in his 59-page opinion, "...the requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax."  Using this logic and Congress' track record for inflating the tax code, it is undoubtedly reasonable that the long arm of the law will be reaching deeper into the public's pocketbooks to steer and regulate citizens' behavior.

Notwithstanding the considerable issues of individual liberty, freedom of religion and free enterprise, the ruling triggers all kinds of administrative nightmares.  By any measure, the Internal Revenue Service already has its hands full administering an exceedingly complex federal tax code.

The IRS handles over 145 million individual tax returns annually and its workforce is under increasing pressure to thwart identity theft, close the tax gap, and balance customer service with efforts to track down tax cheats.

The IRS has enough on its plate to properly and effectively carry out its primary mission:  enforcement of the nation's revenue laws.  That's why during Senate debate on the health care law I raised concerns about giving the IRS more responsibility than it could chew.

Just consider a recent report that reveals a surge in identity theft (450,000 cases) and high-dollar refundable credits fraud.  The IRS faced unprecedented backlogs during the past tax season as the agency worked to keep up with the jump in fraudulent schemes.  Its fraud detection system identified more than one million returns as potentially fraudulent.

As a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, I have worked to try to make the IRS an accountable tax collection agency.  From championing taxpayer service to strengthening transparency through my advocacy of whistleblowers and the independent taxpayer advocate, I have worked through legislative and oversight channels to help the IRS better do its job for the honest taxpaying public.  The big spenders in Washington tirelessly seek to increase the IRS budget, angling for billion dollar increases.  The tiresome argument undoubtedly will be re-charged now that the IRS has been charged with administering a slew of new tax laws included in the 2010 health care law, including the individual health insurance mandate, the employer free-rider penalty, the premium subsidy for low-income individuals and the small business tax credits.

Consider the "unprecedented" backlog this tax season as just the tip of the iceberg.  Imagine the dysfunction once the IRS starts to sort through millions of returns claiming refundable insurance premium tax credits, verifying income information for the new government insurance exchanges, calculating and collecting excise taxes and assessing the individual mandate tax.

Speaking from three decades of experience as a taxpayer watchdog, my crusade to root out waste, fraud and abuse tells me the IRS hasn't seen anything yet.

Assigning the administration of social welfare programs to IRS is misguided policy.  Unless, of course, centralizing health care, growing new layers of government and putting federal bureaucrats in charge of one-fifth of the nation's economy are underlying goals of 2010 health care law.  The partisan overhaul was an overreach that missed an opportunity to enact important reforms to the health care system that have broad-based support.

The IRS certainly has its work cut out to try and connect the dots and collect the mandate "tax," distribute premium subsidies, administer health insurance coverage and keep on top of its core mission of collecting taxes.

Voters who disagree with the Supreme Court's ruling need to take Justice Roberts' advice. He noted the nine justices on the court "possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments.  Those decisions are entrusted to our Nation's elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them.  It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices."

Justice Roberts essentially pitched the ball back to the court of public opinion for the electorate to decide in November if the Supreme Court hit a home run or struck out by upholding the health care law.

There wasn't a name for the syndrome before the 1960s, when psychologists started recognizing a condition among patients who all happened to be Holocaust survivors. It came to be known as "survivor guilt."

The affliction also affects those who have endured war, natural disasters, the suicide of a loved one, epidemics and even employment layoffs. Eli Nussbaum, recently named among the top pediatric pulmonologists, is keenly aware of the circumstances surrounding this subset of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I am a consequence of the Holocaust - both of my parents lost their families during those years," says Nussbaum, author of The Promise (www.elinussbaum.com), a novel that begins in Poland on the eve of World War II and follows three generations through the aftermath.

He is among the group known as the "Second Generation" - children born to survivors anxiously trying to rebuild the families they'd lost. Nussbaum was born in Poland to a man who'd lost his first wife and four children, and a woman who lost her first husband and child, during the Nazi's genocidal regime.

"Because of my family background, I am intimately aware of life's fragility and how a devastating experience can affect a person emotionally," he says. "As a Second Generation, I too was shaped by my parents' trauma. While being raised by survivors made some of us more resilient and better able to adapt and cope, it made others distrustful of outsiders and always on the defense."

For anyone profoundly affected by loss, he says, it's worth the effort to work at transitioning from guilt to appreciation of the gift that is their life. He offers these tips:

• Seek treatment early: The sooner counseling is provided, the more preventable or manageable guilt may be. Early methods may recognize a survivor's feelings and eventually offer alternative perspectives. The hope is to get the survivor to see the loss of colleagues, friends or family as the result of misfortune that has nothing to do with personal culpability.  

• Watch for delayed reactions - even years later: No two individuals are identical, and some survivors do not show symptoms until long after a traumatic event. If you or a loved one has experienced a life-altering change or loss and later develop problems such as clinical depression or a prevalent sense of self-blame, be aware they may be rooted in past trauma and share that information with a counselor. Other problems that could be signs of survivor guilt: nightmares, unpredictable emotional response and anxiety.

• Don't turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with uncomfortable feelings: Many people suffering post-traumatic stress-related disorders try to self-medicate or somehow will themselves into a better mental state. Drug addiction is often the result, which is why those who suspect a problem should seek professional help. One-on-one therapy, as well as group talk and possibly doctor-prescribed medications are frequently used to help survivors move past guilt.

"Whether people are dealing with the loss of life from combat, or an accident, or suicide, they may not consider themselves 'victims.' So they don't seek help," Nussbaum says. "They may also feel that no one has been through the same experience.

"That's why it is important to be surrounded by loved ones who can offer love, support and perhaps the perspective to seek professional help."

Because their families were gone, many Holocaust survivors did not have that option, which Nussbaum says made the writing of his novel that much more imperative.

"Only they can know just what it was like - but suffering is a universal experience to which we can all relate," he says. "Life can get better, and the story of my parents, and the fortune in my life, is proof of that."

About Eliezer Nussbaum, M.D.

Eliezer Nussbaum, M.D., was born in Katowice, Poland. He is a professor of Clinical Pediatrics Step VII at the University of California and Chief of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine and Medical Director of Pediatric Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Memorial Miller Children's Hospital of Long Beach. He has authored two novels, three non-fiction books and more than 150 scientific publications, and was named among the top U.S. doctors by US News and World Report in 2011-12.