As a doctor, I know that if my patients were doing poorer each year, someone would be suiting me for malpractice. A doctor is supposed to make his patients healthier and a teacher is supposed to make his students better educated. When that isn’t happening, something needs to change.

But that isn’t happening in the world of education. The problem seems to be Democrats who are supporting the teachers unions and defending the status quo. No less an authority than former Democratic New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling them out on this in The Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg tells us many voters are still unhappy with Democratic support for excessive school closings during the pandemic. Too many elected officials, pandering to teachers unions, kept schools closed well past the point when it was clear that in-person classes could safely resume. Children paid a terrible price, and they are still paying it.

This week brought more bad news. On the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress, a test that functions as a national report card, student scores hit new lows. One-third of eighth-grade students in the U.S. are reading at a “below basic” level. Fourth-graders fared even worse: 40% were below basic. The divide between high-performing and low-performing students, which is correlated with family income, has widened.

Bloomberg says, “This is a disaster for our country and our ability to compete internationally. First and foremost, it is a disaster for our children, especially in low-income areas. Many of them are being condemned to lives of minimum-wage jobs, government dependency and, tragically, prison.”

Bloomberg is putting his money where his mouth is through his Bloomberg Philanthropies organization. It seems to be paying off as there was a bright spot in the NAEP scores. In the four localities and states where Bloomberg Philanthropies has been most active—supporting charter schools, high standards and system accountability—students bucked the national trend: Their test scores went up. They’ve shown what works in raising student achievement levels, and have the data to back it up. But instead of pursuing these proven strategies, Democrats have been fighting them.

In New York, the teachers union has fought to maintain a cap on the number of charter schools, which have dramatically raised achievement levels, even as student waiting lists grow longer. Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature have refused to repeal a law prohibiting longstanding charters from receiving the same kind of rental assistance that newer charters do. The state also gives charters far less funding than traditional schools, discriminating against their students.

Bloomberg doesn’t shy from calling out his own party. He says, “For a party that speaks a great deal about equity, the Democrats ought to put their money where their mouth is. And the problem isn’t only that Democratic leaders are fighting reforms that would help students. It’s that they’re trying to pretend the education crisis doesn’t exist, in part by papering over it.”

In New York, state education officials are planning to abolish the requirement that students pass basic proficiency exams to earn a high-school diploma. Students will still take English, math and science exams, since they are required by federal law, but failing them won’t matter. High-school diplomas will become participation trophies. In Massachusetts, voters passed a November referendum eliminating a requirement that students pass tests covering math, science and English to receive a high-school diploma.

This is education malpractice and the voters must hold their public officials accountable. The problem boils down to this: Are you more concerned about supporting teachers unions or educating children? The answer may determine the future of our country.

Medicaid spending is out of control. There are about 10 million more people on Medicaid than before the Covid pandemic. Annual federal and state spending on the program has grown by 60% to $963 billion – more than the U.S. now spends on national defense! How did this happen so rapidly? A little history lesson is needed here to understand what is happening.

For over a hundred years the Progressives in Congress have been pushing for a nationalized healthcare system, which means the government is in total control of healthcare. This is generally referred to as socialized medicine. It is currently in practice in other countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden.

Republicans have resisted this in the United States for many years, correctly understanding that socialized medicine in all countries that have tried it leads to limited access to healthcare and denial of expensive treatments.

In 2010, under President Obama, the Democrats were successful in passing new healthcare legislation called The Affordable Care Act, (better known now as ObamaCare) without a single Republican vote. This legislation was a giant step toward total government control of healthcare, while not fully achieving their goal. It greatly expanded the eligibility for Medicaid by raising financial limits and incentivizing state governments to accept the change. Many blue states accepted this change, while most red states did not. This led to increased Medicaid enrollment.

During the Covid pandemic, a national emergency was declared by the Trump administration, which raised financial eligibility ceilings even further temporarily. This was never intended as a permanent change. Enter the Biden administration, which extended the declaration of a national emergency well beyond the Covid pandemic.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board calls this “The Great Biden Welfare Blowout.” They explain: “. . . Mr. Biden and the Democrats used the pandemic as an excuse to turn Medicaid into another entitlement for the middle class. Congress finally ended the pandemic expansions in spring 2023. Yet there are still about 10 million more people on Medicaid than before Covid. Annual federal and state spending on the program has grown by 60% to $963 billion—more than the U.S. now spends on national defense.”

One reason is the Biden Administration let Democratic states ease eligibility verifications and use federal Medicaid funds to pay for other social spending like homeless housing, food and mini-refrigerators. Biden officials also let states use accounting tricks to wring more Medicaid money out of Washington.

Consider California, where 37% of residents are covered by Medicaid. The state has extended Medicaid to undocumented immigrants and waived asset limits for beneficiaries. Mr. Newsom’s budget forecasts some $190 billion in Medicaid and other health spending this year, $119 billion of which will be picked up by the feds. The latter amount is greater than Florida’s annual budget.

Biden officials have also boosted food-stamp allotments and waived work requirements for able-bodied adults. A recent Wall Street Journal article reported the case of an unemployed worker who worried that accepting a job with a “smallish paycheck” would end his eligibility for food stamps and Medicaid. How many more are like him?

The WSJ editors say: “Republicans have floated stiffer work requirements for welfare programs and fixing the accounting gimmicks that states use to scam more federal Medicaid dollars. Good ideas. By our calculation, simply returning to pre-pandemic Medicaid spending levels, adjusted for inflation, could generate more than $1.4 trillion in savings over a decade. Progressives claim that Republicans want to take food and healthcare away from the poor and sick. But the reality is that Mr. Biden’s welfare expansions have mostly benefited those who can support themselves but for any number of reasons choose not to.”

Osteoporosis increases the risk of fractures, especially hip fractures, which can raise the one-year mortality risk in older people by two to five times. That makes it one of the leading causes of death in senior citizens.

What is osteoporosis? The simple answer is fragile or weak bones. But how do they get that way and what can be done about this?

Osteoporosis, the most common age-related bone disease worldwide, is characterized by low bone density, deterioration of bone microarchitecture, and reduced bone strength. To understand how bones get this way, you must first grasp that bones are living cells, just like any other tissue in the body. There are two kinds of bone cells: osteoblasts that make bone, and osteoclasts that absorb bone. The normal bone condition is a balance between making bone by osteoblasts and removing bone by osteoclasts.

Osteoporosis occurs when there is less bone making by osteoblasts and more bone removing by osteoclasts.  This imbalance leads to less density in the bone, which makes the bone weaker. Then the bone is more vulnerable to fractures.

Shan Lam and JoJo Novaes, writing in The Epoch Times, tell use each year in the United States, about 300,000 older adults are hospitalized for hip fractures caused by falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, 83 percent of hip fracture-related deaths in the United States were caused by falls.

Data indicate that 20 percent to 24 percent of individuals with hip fractures die within one year of the injury, and the increased risk of mortality can persist for up to five years. The high mortality rate following hip fractures can be attributed to multiple factors. First, patients often experience limited mobility after a hip fracture, leading to reduced physical activity, slower metabolism, and a rapid decline in physical strength and immunity. Prolonged bed rest is often required for most patients, increasing the risk of complications such as pressure ulcers (bedsores), urinary tract infections, and potentially fatal conditions such as pulmonary embolism.

For these reasons, surgery is the preferred treatment of all displaced hip fractures since this allows the patient to get out of bed faster. Surgery is considered the conservative approach since non-surgical treatment carries a higher mortality rate.

What causes osteoporosis?

Intrinsic Factors

Intrinsic factors are unmodifiable, such as sex, age, and race. Caucasians or those of Asian descent have a higher prevalence of osteoporosis. Those with small body frames are also at greater risk, as they often experience poorer nutrient absorption. Additional risk factors include advanced age, family history of age-related fractures, and hormonal change in women following menopause. Nearly 75 percent of hip fractures occur in women. Therefore, middle-aged and older women should pay particular attention to preventing osteoporosis.

Extrinsic Factors

Extrinsic factors are typically modifiable, at least to some degree, and include the following:

• Lifestyle Habits: Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high intake of coffee and tea, improper dieting for weight loss, overly bland diets, and lack of exercise contributed to osteoporosis.
• Nutrition: Nutritional imbalances in the diet, excessive or insufficient protein intake, high-salt diets, low body weight, calcium deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency are also factors.
• Diseases: Chronic gastrointestinal dysfunction, impaired liver or kidney function, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and a history of surgical removal of the ovaries, uterus, stomach, or intestines contribute to osteoporosis. These cannot always be avoided.
• Medications: Glucocorticoids commonly prescribed to treat asthma, arthritis, and other conditions, can lead to osteoporosis if taken for more than three months. Fractures occur in 30 to 50 percent of patients undergoing this type of steroid treatment. While medications can be changed or stopped, their use is not always avoidable.

What else can you do to prevent osteoporosis?

Exercise is important to good bone formation. Weight-bearing exercises, such as walking or running, are especially beneficial since bones respond to the impact of gravity by producing more bone. On the other hand, bones become weaker when not adequately stimulated by weight-bearing activity. This is known as Wolff’s Law. A daily walk is an excellent way to strengthen your bones.

Diet can also have an impact. You want to get plenty of calcium and Vitamin D, which are essential to healthy bone formation. This may come from dietary supplements or from foods such as milk, legumes, and lean meat. Dried small fish and dried shrimp provide rich sources of calcium. Walnuts, and eggs not only supply calcium but also help strengthen the kidneys.

On the other hand, avoid smoking and drinking alcohol, avoid overconsuming coffee and strong tea, and refrain from drinking carbonated beverages. These may contribute to declining bone density.

In summary, osteoporosis is a common condition in the elderly and women are more vulnerable than men due to menopause changes in hormone levels. A good diet, combined with calcium and Vitamin D supplements, and weight-bearing exercises are all good measures to prevent osteoporosis. But if you’re in a high-risk category, you should see your doctor to consider medications that can be prescribed to strengthen your bones.