NPR's Mike Shuster reports from Moscow that the international community, led by the International Monetary Fund, has announced a huge new loan package of 17 Billion dollars to shore up Russia's markets and stabilize the ruble. IMF officials have made disbursal of the money contingent on passage of tax and spending reforms by the Russian parliament. Lawmakers are to consider the government's reform proposals later this week. The pledge of new aid should put pressure on them to endorse the reforms. The moldy meat, the nasty customers, the surly staff remind him that not much has changed since the Soviet era.
Humiliation is a daily occurrence for the Russian people.
More than neuroscience is shaping the field of mental health care. NPR's Frank Browning examines the demand for access to patients' mental health records by many health insurance providers, particularly managed care companies and currently, the federal government under Medicare. At this point, the federal government can demand the records of even private insurance patients in order to establish whether Medicare patients in a given practice are being treated equally. This privacy breach violates what has long been regarded as the sacrosanct relationship between patient and therapist, and affects the willingness of patients to seek treatment, since they have no guarantee that employers and data banks won't become privy to highly personal and sensitive information. It also affects their ability to get treatment since, because of Medicare rules, therapy can remain truly private only if paid for in cash to a therapist who treats only cash patients.