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Public health prevention fund at center of partisan clash on student loans

House Republicans are eyeing the fund as a means to offset the costs of extending the current interest rates for student loans, but Democrats have other plans.

27 Apr 2012

Judge rejects trade groups' effort to stall Express Scripts-Medco deal

A U.S. district judge denied an effort by trade groups representing pharmacies and drugstore chains to halt Express Scripts' acquisition of Medco Health Solutions until their lawsuit to block the deal is reviewed.

27 Apr 2012

McKesson to settle Medicaid billing lawsuit

The Justice Department says the prescription drug distributor overcharged Medicaid.

27 Apr 2012

World must extend access to life-saving vaccines to all children

"For too long, there has been an unwritten rule that it can take 15 years or more before children in the poorest nations benefit from new life-saving vaccines in use in rich countries," Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, writes in this post in the Independent's "Notebook" blog.

27 Apr 2012

Youth facing greater health risks today than in past; those in developing world face increasing challenges, Lancet series suggests

"Young people today face greater risks to their physical and mental health than generations past, new research has found, with adolescents in the developing world rapidly acquiring the unhealthy habits of their wealthier counterparts," the Financial Times reports.

27 Apr 2012

U.N. SG Ban commends India for working to improve public health

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday during travel to India met with Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nazi Azad and "commend[ed] the country's progress on health," its "continued efforts towards achieving universal health coverage," and its "commitment to the Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health," highlighting "its innovative programs in this area" and "the need to do more to promote the well-being of women and children," the U.N. News Centre reports.

27 Apr 2012

Opinion pieces examine malaria fight in recognition of World Malaria Day

Wednesday, April 25, marked World Malaria Day, which this year had the theme "Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria." The following opinion pieces address the fight against malaria.

27 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Minn. missteps with Medicaid are object lesson; 'Defensive' medicine: Red herring or key to health costs?

It was painful to watch Minnesota's stellar health care reputation and its Human Services commissioner, Lucinda Jesson, get pummeled on Wednesday at a congressional hearing on Medicaid oversight.

27 Apr 2012

Minn. Gov. vetoes anti-abortion bill; Calif. bill stalls

The Minnesota bill would have mandated licenses for clinics performing 10 or more abortions a month. The California measure would let nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants perform specific types of abortions.

27 Apr 2012

Political cartoon: 'Supersize It?'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Supersize It?" by Nate Beeler.

27 Apr 2012

Ghanaian vaccination campaign hopes to prevent up to 14,000 child deaths

In a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), describes watching the suffering of an infant with severe pneumonia and his parents while in Ghana on Thursday, writing that the experience was "a personal reminder as to why our work to prevent disease is so perilous, and why disease control so promising in Africa."

27 Apr 2012

Florida Senator Marco Rubio addresses future of U.S. Foreign Policy

"On April 25, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for a major address on the future of U.S. foreign policy," according to an event summary on the organization's website.

27 Apr 2012

GOP report: Obama's corporate advisors say health law will increase costs

The report by Republican staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee also contends consultants have advised large employers to drop employee coverage after the exchanges come online in 2014. Democrats say the report takes comments out of context, calling it "misleading, inaccurate, contradictory."

27 Apr 2012

Highlights: Cuomo's plan for out-of-network charges runs into trouble; Federal agents seize patient records in Houston mental hospital

Today's news on local health policy issues comes from New York, Connecticut, Mississippi, Colorado, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina and Kansas.

27 Apr 2012

Senate committee questions federal officials about dual-use research of concern procedures

"Spurred by events surrounding two controversial H5N1 transmission studies, a U.S. Senate committee [on Thursday] questioned federal officials whose agencies have a stake in dual-use research of concern (DURC) about the procedures they use to spot possible bioterror threats," CIDRAP News reports.

27 Apr 2012

GAO report: Millions of adults have pre-existing conditions

A report issued by the Government Accountability Office estimated that between 36 million and 112 million American adults have some form of pre-existing condition that could result in health coverage denials or restrictions.

27 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 27, 2012

Today's headlines include details of a new study finding that, as a result of the health law, consumers and businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from insurance companies this year.

27 Apr 2012

Checklist for seniors to reduce risk of falls

For those 65 and older, falling can be fatal; in fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among this age group, and some 40 percent of seniors fall at least once each year. Additionally, one in four who sustains a hip fracture from a fall will die within a year, and another 50 percent will never return to their pre-fall level of mobility.

27 Apr 2012

Feed the Future examines 'whole-of-government approach' to fighting global hunger

Tjada McKenna, deputy coordinator for development for Feed the Future, and Jonathan Shrier, acting special representative for global food security and deputy coordinator for diplomacy for Feed the Future, examine efforts to end global hunger through a "whole-of-government approach" in this article on the initiative's webpage.

27 Apr 2012

Congressional panel grills Minn. official over possible Medicaid overpayments

The state's commissioner for human services was called on to answer questions about why Minnesota got a $30 million payment from a managed care company.

27 Apr 2012