President Obama was correct to declare a H1N1 emergency

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

The word "emergency" sounds exceptional but a national health emergency is just a statutory phrase, not a vernacular expression of seriousness or danger.

It applies to any situation has the potential to put too much pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms.

The biggest effect of a declared health emergency is that it temporarily changes how medicare and medicaid interact with hospitals, speeding some reimbursements, reducing some paperwork.

The scary sounding stuff, like triage units and respirator rationing, are not government instructions to do these things, but guidelines on how to do them if necessary.

Though scary sounding, the equivalent of national health emergencies is local "snow emergencies" where different parking rules kick in during an emergency so plows can clear off the main streets.

[tekisui]

1. I have no problem with it.

If it does blow up the winter, I want our health care providers to be as unencumbered as possible to deal with it.

[kestrel91316]

2. It's just a commonsense bureaucratic maneuver. I have NO problem with it.

[saltpoint]

3. Agree. A good call made appropriately given the circumstances.

[Forkboy]

4. Agreed.

[IndianaGreen]

5. The real emergency is that we haven't got the promised number of vaccines

A major blunder from our leaders in the Beltway.

[JanusAscending]

6. That may turn out to be a blessing!

We'll see soon enough!