Japan’s overcrowded, understaffed hospitals are in danger – and so are the people who rely on those hospitals when they need emergency medical care. An elderly Japanese man who sustained head injuries after being struck by a motorcycle waited ninety minutes in an ambulance – while paramedics phoned fourteen different Tokyo hospitals, trying to find a hospital that would accept the man for treatment. All the hospitals refused to admit the injured man, saying they lacked the equipment and staff needed to treat him. The paramedics arrived at the accident site just a few minutes after the 69-year-old man was injured, but ninety minutes and fourteen hospitals later, the man died just a short time after paramedics finally located a hospital that would accept him for treatment. The man died from the shock caused by the loss of a large amount of blood – a condition which the man might have survived if he had received treatment earlier.

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According to recent figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 148,000 Americans lost their jobs in the financial sector alone. Regardless of the industry in which they work, many of those who have found themselves out of work as a result of the economic crisis haven’t only lost their jobs – they have also lost their healthcare.

What do you do if you find yourself in this position? It’s tempting to go without – it’s one more expense at a time when you can least afford it. But without healthcare coverage, you can’t afford to become sick or injured, either. So what are your healthcare and coverage options if you lose your job?

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To add on to the worries of smokers developing cancer in the lung, pharynx, larynx, esophagus and other respiratory areas, there is the possibility of having alterations in their DNA as well. Studies have shown that when you smoke tobacco, you are at risk of getting tumors on your colon and MSI. MSI, or microsatellite instability, is when your genes are damaged; it also blocks the cells from being able to repair the DNA that were damaged, which can lead to cancer growths to proceed without interruption.

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