Q: What is the actual percentage of annual U.S. healthcare costs that tort reform would address?
A: The percentages vary, depending on the source, but the highest reported percentage is from a PricewaterhouseCoopers study that looked at wasteful spending in the health care system and found 10 percent of health costs are "attributed to too much care in the form of defensive medicine and associated legal costs."
That equates to about $210 billion annually. The April 2008 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute says the costs stretch across physician, outpatient, hospital, drugs and other medical services.
Q: Is it possible (and safe) to get flu shots for the seasonal flu and swine flu on the same day?
A: The seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines may be administered on the same day, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But individuals should be able to receive the seasonal vaccine earlier than the H1N1 vaccine and the CDC recommends that individuals get the seasonal flu vaccine as soon as it is available.
Q: How many years has the soap opera "General Hospital" been on the air?
A: The show premiered on ABC on April 1, 1963. It is the longest-running daytime drama produced on the West Coast, ABC said.
Q: Is the Sforza horse that will be on display at the High Museum in Atlanta as part of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit the Nina Akamu casting that is on display at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., and the Ippodromo (horse racing stadium) in Milan, Italy?
A: The concept for the 26-foot statue depicting Francesco Sforza, duke of Milan, on horseback, at the High is by Andrea Bernardoni.
The High's version, which is part of the "Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture: Inspiration and Invention" exhibit, was produced in resin in seven pieces by Opera Laboratori Fiorentini SpA in collaboration with the Museo e Istituto della Storia di Scienza in Florence, Italy.
Akamu's recreations of various heights were made in bronze. From 1482 to at least 1499, da Vinci developed plans and techniques to build the sculpture. He created a huge clay model, intending a bronze cast for display in Milan. But war with France was imminent and bronze for the horse was requisitioned for cannons. Invading soldiers destroyed the clay horse.
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