Health Care Issues

Miami Therapist Gets Nine Years For His Role In $63 Million Medicare Scam

In the capital of medicare fraud, Miami therapist Paul Thomas Layman and his cohorts pulled off a doozy of a heist, stealing $63 million from the federal government through bogus mental health services. Now Layman will spend the next nine years in federal prison following his sentencing hearing yest ... More >>

Smoke Pot Now, Tallahassee

State Lawmakers Want To Ruin 4/20 For Everybody

Uncle Luke, the man who made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke says its time to legalize medical marijuana.Florida lawmakers need to roll up a fat joint and chill out. While the Republican-dominated state legislature ... More >>

15th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert at Tobacco Road March 2

Lake Worth Legislator Pushing Medical Marijuana Bill

Florida has some of the nation's toughest anti-marijuana laws. For instance, anyone caught growing at least 25 plants in their home can be charged with a second-degree felony and face a maximum sentence of 15 years. Even the feds aren't that draconian. They at least give you 99 plants before chargin ... More >>

70 Percent of Floridians Support Legalization of Medical Marijuana

Come 2014, Florida may join the ranks of states that legalize medical marijuana. There is talk of putting the measure on the ballot in the next state-wide election, and a new poll conducted by People United for Medical Marijuana finds that nearly seven out of ten Floridians back the idea. 

E-Cigarettes: Danger or Healthy Alternative?

Miami's 15th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert Is Gonna "Change People's Minds"

It's only happened once, and it wasn't even real -- a recreational pot-smoking session gone terribly wrong. Blanche was simply playing the piano cartoonishly fast to soothe Ralph's mind. But when Jack showed up unexpectedly, Ralph lost his shit and killed the man. The police arrived shortly therea ... More >>

Rick Scott and Florida Republicans Backing Down on Obamacare Opposition

Not only did Floridians vote to reelect President Obama on Tuesday, they also, by a wider margin, voted down a proposed state constitutional amendment that sought, in theory at least, to limit the effects of Obamacare in Florida.Dejected, Rick Scott, the former health care CEO, is now backing down o ... More >>

Obamacare Isn't All Good or All Bad

Obamacare Ruled Constitutional By Supreme Court; Sorry, Pam Bondi

In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court has upheld President Obama's health care mandate, with Chief Justice John Roberts casting the surprising, deciding vote that the sweeping reform is constitutional. The ruling is a blow to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who spearheaded the first national court ch ... More >>

Ronald Poppo's Gotten $75,000 In Donations; Here's How To Give Without The Middleman Taking 10 Percent

Ronald Poppo, the homeless victim of the face-eating attack, faces a long and expensive road towards recovery. But the international interest in the gruesome event has an upside: To date, around 2,000 Samaritans have donated approximately $75,000 to go to his medical care. We got that figure from La ... More >>

Robert Platshorn, Former Smuggler Turned Medical Marijuana Activist, Faces Return to Prison

Robert Platshorn served thirty years in prison for smuggling pot into Florida. That's more than any other person has served for a marijuana offense in the United States. He'll turn 70 years old in November. But it now appears clear that he will never be free from the federal government. Platshorn ... More >>

Miami-Dade Could Ban Flavored Tobacco Products like Grape Blunts

When it comes to the little vices, Miami-Dade is notoriously lax. Depending on where you are in the county, you can order a drink at a bar til 5 a.m. and smoke inside the whole night. You can also stop by a liquor store until 1 a.m. But the Miami-Dade County Commission is now considering an uncharac ... More >>

White House Confuses University of Miami for That Ohio School

President Barack Obama was just at the University of Miami, so you'd think that his staff could get the name of the school correct. Apparently not. The White House sent out a press release today describing University of Miami president Donna Shalala as "President of Miami University." Miami Uni ... More >>

Electric Cigarette Explosion Blows Out Florida Man's Teeth and Tongue

​The corrosive work of cigarettes is supposed to be a slow thing, quietly eating away at your lungs as you puff away. Though, electric cigarettes are a whole other story. A Florida man is recovering after an e-cigarette exploded in his mouth and knocked out his front teeth and took a chunk of his ... More >>

Pot smuggler schools seniors on medical marijuana

"Obamacare" Has Already Saved Floridians $142 Million

​Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi may be fighting to repeal President Obama's healthcare reform laws in court, but the new laws have already saved Floridians close to $142 million, and most of the laws haven't even gone into effect yet. The savings come from Medicare recipients who now pay l ... More >>

Medical marijuana's unlikely Florida hero is 64-year-old Larcenia Bullard

Medical Marijuana Bills Introduced In Florida Senate and House

​Miami-area State Sen. Larcenia Bullard has fired up a big ol' blunt of legislative reform this morning, as her proposal to give Florida voters a chance to legalize medical marijuana was introduced in the Senate. Bullard's bill joins a similar proposal by Lake Worth Rep. Jeff Clemens in the House ... More >>

Orange Bowl Slammed By Anti-Smoking Groups For Camacho Cigars Sponsorship

​Cigars are as Miami as white guayabaras, cafecitos and questionable uses of teal and pink, but a national group is slamming the Orange Bowl this week for including the Calle Ocho favorites in the bowl week festivities.The American Cancer Society has sent a letter to NCAA and Orange Bowl offi ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Amendment Gets Sponsor in Florida State Senate

​The first steps towards the possibility of legalizing medical marijuana in Florida are underway. Last month State Rep. Jeff Session, a Democrat from Lake Worth, introduced a resolution that would allow Floridians to vote on the matter in 2012. Now, state Sen. Larcenia Bullard, a Miami Democra ... More >>

Obama's war on weed

In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees.

Jackson Memorial Apparently Only Hospital in the South That Cares About Gay People

​We wouldn't wish a trip to Jackson Memorial Hospital on our worst enemies. Yet according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign, the public Jackson Health System is the only hospital in the entire southern United States cited this year for providing equal care to LGBT patients. That's a b ... More >>

Health Care Costs a Miami Family of Four $23,362 a Year, More Than Anywhere Else in America

​The average health care bill for a family of four living in the Miami area in 2011 will be $23,362. That's more than any other major metro area in America, and a 120.5 percent, or $3,969, more than the national average. Considering that national average for health care cost has more than doubled ... More >>

Democratic Rep. Pushes for Amendment to Legalize Medical Marijuana in Florida

​With a recent poll showing 57 percent of Floridians favoring legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, state Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) has introduced a resolution to put an amendment on the 2012 ballot that would do just that. Clemens claims that the move could bring in $5 to $12 million ... More >>

57 Percent of Floridians Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana

​With 14 states and the District of Colombia allowing the legal medical use of marijuana, acceptance of the issue is steadily growing in America. A new poll shows that 57 percent of Floridians support legalization of medical marijuana as buzz grows that the issue could be placed on the ballot as s ... More >>

FIU Completely Bans Smoking On Campus

​Students and faculty at Florida International University should expect increased incidents of their colleagues incessantly tapping pencils, drinking inhuman quantities of black coffee, and randomly exploding at them for no apparent reason before sending a text message latter saying, "Sorry about ... More >>

Joints for the Sick

American Therapeutic Corp. Charged with Fleecing Medicare out of $200m By Using Dementia Patients

Bad doctors, bad. ​Miami has long been the country's capitol for Medicare fraud schemes, and today federal authorities arrested four people associated with American Therapeutic Corporation and charged the Miami-based company with fleecing $200 million from Medicare. The company is accused of preyi ... More >>

Miami Beach's reefer revolution

SoBe is ground zero in the battle to decriminalize pot.

Marijuana-Food Pairings: 10 Questions With Denver Pot Critic William Breathes

From Amsterdam​After recently writing a goofy post about imaginary pot-food pairings, I received an email from the pseudonymous William Breathes, one of two medical marijuana critics for our sister paper Westword, in Denver, Colorado. He expressed gratitude for being mentioned in the post and disa ... More >>

Old People Hate the Tanning Tax

via BartBaKer's Youtube​Vanity Fair and 60 Minutes have come together to commission a wide ranging poll that includes questions on the ability of Sarah Palin to be President (most don't think she can) and whether or not people would still see a Mel Gibson movie (most would). Though perhaps ones of ... More >>

Fox News Wonders if Local Mom Battling Leukemia is "First 'Death Panel' Victim"

​In the News Roundup each morning we've been keeping an eye on the plight of Diana Smith, a local mother battling a rare form of leukemia. Smith was almost denied a life saving treatment when Social Security disability payments made to her son raised her income enough to where she no longer qualif ... More >>

RPOF Says Alex Sink is Basically Florida's Fidel Castro

​Fidel Castro took some time out of his busy schedule of not dying to pen a piece for a state newspaper that said President Obama and the Democrat's recent passage of health care reform is a "miracle." Well, the Republican Party of Florida took time out of their busy schedule of basically giv ... More >>

Democrat Maurice Ferre Doesn't Back Democrat Health Plan One Day After Democrat Loss

​Former Mayor of Miami Maurice Ferre, who somehow thinks he is running for US Senate even though he is trailing in the primary race for the party that is trailing in the general election race, has announced that he doesn't support the Democratic healthcare plan.  "It is a special-interest pla ... More >>

Floridians Sure Have Some Funny Ideas About Health Care Reform

via A R B O's flickr​According to a new Quinnipiac poll, 58% of Floridians support creating a government health insurance plan, while only 36% oppose it. So it should be good news for supporters of the so-called "public option" that voters in a notoriously moderate swing state seem to be ... More >>

Sparked By Sucess in Miami, Feds Widen Health Care Fraud Force

The string of headlines involving several local busts of fraudulent HIV/AIDS treatment facilities milking medicare for money was no coincidence. Two years ago the justice department begin specifically targeting medicare fraud in the city. After success in Miami and then Los Angeles, today Attorney G ... More >>

10th Annual Medicinal Marijuana Benefit

Puff, Puff, or Perish

For some, ganja is nothing to giggle about.

It’s Medicinally Delicious

An Ounce of Prevention -- At Last

County jail officials finally decide to get serious about a highly contagious disease

Cavity Depravity

The rotten roots of a sweet HMO deal rip dental health from the mouths of babes

Healthy Puff

Celebrate the medicinal benefits of Mary Jane

Waiting to Inhale

To ban or not to ban, that could be the question on a ballot near you.

Best Politician Convicted In The Past Twelve Months

Alberto Gutman

Night & Day

December 10 - 16, 1998

Smoke Gets in Your Eats

Letters

Carnival of Fraud

Step right up and be astounded by Miami's bizarre side show of Medicare and Medicaid scammers! After all, you're paying for it!