Poverty News and Research

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First Edition: July 9, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a look at HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' challenges and a delay in implementing insurance penalties on smokers.

9 Jul 2013

Coughs give vital clues to confirm the presence of pneumonia in children

A new method, which analyzes the sounds in a child's cough, could soon be used in poor, remote regions to diagnose childhood pneumonia reliably. According to Udantha Abeyratne from the University of Queensland in Australia and colleagues, this simple technique of recording coughs with a microphone on the patient's bedside table, has the potential to revolutionize the management of childhood pneumonia in remote regions around the world.

28 Jun 2013

High court's DOMA ruling will impact health benefits for gay couples

The decision will affect benefits for federal employees, as well as people eligible for new coverage under the health law, and will likely lead employers in the 12 states that recognize same-sex marriages to review employee-benefit packages to make sure they don't discriminate against gay spouses and comply with the law.

28 Jun 2013

Job provides extra emotional support for HIV women to manage their illnesses

Having a job helps women with HIV manage their illnesses, according to researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the University of California at San Francisco.

28 Jun 2013

Poor, less educated patients are less likely to receive opioid pain medications in emergency rooms

Patients in moderate to severe pain in emergency rooms across the U.S. are less likely to receive opioid pain medications if they are black, Hispanic, poor, or have less education, compared to more affluent patients, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

27 Jun 2013

Community wide interventions hold promise as effective approach to reduce childhood obesity rates

Community wide interventions hold promise as an effective approach to reducing childhood obesity rates according to new research from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine.

27 Jun 2013

First Edition: June 27, 2013

Today's headlines include reports explaining how yesterday's Supreme Court decision on DOMA impacts federal health benefits and the health law's coverage expansion.

27 Jun 2013

Viewpoints: Entitlements driving U.S. toward insolvency; Shalala on being informed; Catholics find contraceptive mandate morally wrong

As currently structured, entitlement programs can't keep up with longer life expectancies and changing demographics. Soon, one-third of Americans will be retired and will spend one-third of their lives in retirement. Meanwhile, the ratio of workers to retirees has dropped precipitously. During this decade and the next, the number of Americans 65 or older will jump 75 percent, while those of working age will nudge up by just 7 percent. Within a decade, the total price for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will reach $3 trillion a year, but we'll have fewer workers paying into the system and supporting those growing costs (R. Bruce Josten, 6/25).

27 Jun 2013

Study: Despite struggles with poverty, more children getting health insurance

Families in the United States are making gains in education and health, two key factors in their overall well-being, a report released on Monday showed, adding to data that suggests the U.S. economy is slowly rebounding from the 2007-2009 recession. Still, the latest findings on the state of U.S. children and their parents by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found many families continue to struggle ... Most states also saw more children with health insurance, improvements in birth weights, and fewer youth deaths between 2005 and 2011, it said (Heavey, 6/24).

26 Jun 2013

Improving care for depression in low-income communities provides greater benefits: Study

Improving care for depression in low-income communities -- places where such help is frequently unavailable or hard to find -- provides greater benefits to those in need when community groups such as churches and even barber shops help lead the planning process, according to a new study.

26 Jun 2013

Compared with Medicaid enrollees, low-income uninsured adults are less likely to have chronic conditions

Compared with adults already enrolled in Medicaid, low-income uninsured adults who may be eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act were less likely to have chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, although those with 1 of these conditions were less likely to be aware they had it or to have the disease controlled, according to a study in the June 26 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the AcademyHealth annual research meeting.

24 Jun 2013

Older adults raising grandkids alone may be most vulnerable residents due to high cost of living

Raising a child is not cheap. Now try raising one on a fixed income and long past the age one associates with parenthood: 65 years and older.

21 Jun 2013

Study: Risk of malaria doubles in poorest children compared with the least poor

The collaborative study, led by Durham University and the London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine, is published today in The Lancet and unusually brings together the health and development communities.

21 Jun 2013

Viewpoints: Urgency has slipped away for 'grand bargain'; The need to scrutinize drug competition; Restore funding to 'Meals on Wheels'

It may seem paradoxical that Congress was willing to tackle a grand bargain when the deficit problem looked big and insoluble - but quickly lost interest as soon as the problem became more manageable. … But the reason isn't really mysterious. A grand bargain would have required both sides to swallow unpalatable compromises. It would have required Democrats to agree to cuts in future spending on Medicare and Social Security. Likewise, it would have required Republicans to accept increases in tax revenue (Doyle McManus, 6/19).

20 Jun 2013

Medicaid expansion: Second thoughts and changes of heart?

PBS NewsHour reports on some states with GOP governors who opposed the health law but want to pursue the Medicaid expansion. In one such state, Arizona, the Republican governor signed expansion legislation after a bruising fight with conservatives in the legislature. But, in Maine, the governor vetoed such a measure for the second time while news outlets offer updates from Virginia, Michigan and Ohio.

19 Jun 2013

Viewpoints: Don't change course on Medicare reforms on medical equipment prices; Liberals' agenda depends on cutting entitlements; Making hospital prices public

Marilyn Tavenner has been administrator of Medicare and Medicaid officially for only about a month, but already she faces a policy challenge from Congress. A majority of the House, 145 Republicans and 82 Democrats, wrote to Ms. Tavenner on Wednesday, asking her to delay implementation of a Medicare cost-reduction initiative, scheduled to take full effect July 1, for six months.

18 Jun 2013

Malaria control strategies: an interview with Sir Richard Feachem, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco

Exciting progress has been made in the global fight against malaria. The malaria map continues to shrink each year; in the last ten years four countries have been certified malaria-free, and thirty-four additional countries are now working towards malaria elimination targets.

17 Jun 2013

Anatomy of a Hospital: New book chronicles history of nation's oldest hospital for orthopedics

With 537 pages and 150 photographs, "Anatomy of a Hospital" chronicles the history of the nation's oldest hospital for orthopedics, from its beginnings in a doctor's home to help destitute children with disabilities to the premier hospital it has become today.

15 Jun 2013

Calif. regulator seeks to bar Anthem from small business health exchange

Meanwhile, Minnesota officials announce the opening of a call center Sept. 3 to answer consumer questions about the state's online insurance marketplace, which will begin enrolling people a month later.

15 Jun 2013

Arizona legislature approves Medicaid expansion

After a months-long, high-stakes political battle, Arizona lawmakers endorsed a Medicaid expansion plan backed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

15 Jun 2013

Poverty News and Research

First Edition: July 9, 2013

Coughs give vital clues to confirm the presence of pneumonia in children

High court's DOMA ruling will impact health benefits for gay couples

Job provides extra emotional support for HIV women to manage their illnesses

Poor, less educated patients are less likely to receive opioid pain medications in emergency rooms

Community wide interventions hold promise as effective approach to reduce childhood obesity rates

First Edition: June 27, 2013

Viewpoints: Entitlements driving U.S. toward insolvency; Shalala on being informed; Catholics find contraceptive mandate morally wrong

Study: Despite struggles with poverty, more children getting health insurance

Improving care for depression in low-income communities provides greater benefits: Study

Compared with Medicaid enrollees, low-income uninsured adults are less likely to have chronic conditions

Older adults raising grandkids alone may be most vulnerable residents due to high cost of living

Study: Risk of malaria doubles in poorest children compared with the least poor

Viewpoints: Urgency has slipped away for 'grand bargain'; The need to scrutinize drug competition; Restore funding to 'Meals on Wheels'

Medicaid expansion: Second thoughts and changes of heart?

Viewpoints: Don't change course on Medicare reforms on medical equipment prices; Liberals' agenda depends on cutting entitlements; Making hospital prices public

Malaria control strategies: an interview with Sir Richard Feachem, Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco

Anatomy of a Hospital: New book chronicles history of nation's oldest hospital for orthopedics

Calif. regulator seeks to bar Anthem from small business health exchange

Arizona legislature approves Medicaid expansion

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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