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Obama tells Senate Dems entitlement programs may have to change

In a meeting on Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama told members of his party that some changes to Medicare might be necessary to ensure the program's survival.

14 Mar 2013

Viewpoints: Ryan's 'tired ideas;' House GOP 'reboots' on budget; Bloomberg's soda campaign 'ill-conceived'

All the tired ideas from 2011 and 2012 are back: eliminating Medicare's guarantee to retirees by turning it into a voucher plan; dispensing with Medicaid and food stamps by turning them into block grants for states to cut freely; repealing most of the reforms to health care and Wall Street; shrinking beyond recognition the federal role in education, job training, transportation and scientific and medical research.

14 Mar 2013

Medicaid financing issues grab attention of state lawmakers

State legislators deal with Medicaid financing issues including increasing hospital assessments to leverage federal money in Oregon, paying off Medicaid bills in Texas and detailing a shortfall in North Carolina.

14 Mar 2013

Homelessness and aging combine for significant health challenges

If aging is not for sissies, that's especially true if you're homeless. You can be on your feet for hours, forced to sleep in the frigid cold, or seriously ill with no place to go.

14 Mar 2013

Budget proposals show Democrats and Republicans far apart

The House GOP plan, which was unveiled yesterday, would repeal the health law's subsidized insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion and turn Medicare into a premium-support system.

14 Mar 2013

Mozambique to begin widespread use of GeneXpert TB testing machine

The Guardian reports on the rollout of the GeneXpert tuberculosis testing machine in Mozambique, where it "should speed up TB diagnosis from two to three months to two hours."

14 Mar 2013

Study findings show survivors of ruptured aneurysm have decreased quality of life

Ten years after stroke caused by a ruptured aneurysm of the brain, surviving patients have persistent difficulties in several areas affecting quality of life, reports a study in the March issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

14 Mar 2013

Researchers study how skin microbiome gets transmitted between players using roller derby

The human skin is home to countless microorganisms that we can't see, but these microbes help define who we are. Our invisible passengers - known as the skin microbiome - contribute to our health in numerous ways including educating our immune system, protecting us from pathogens, and mediating skin disorders.

14 Mar 2013

Ariz., Fla. governors face intra-party opposition to Medicaid expansion

News outlets reports that, in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott's support for the expansion was rebuffed by a Senate panel that voted against the expansion plan and instead is advancing an idea that would use federal money for private insurance.

14 Mar 2013

New paper examines long-term damage that political strife can do to public health

As Kenyan citizens negotiated the tensions following the March 4 nationwide elections, memories of the violence that followed the December 2007 vote weighed heavily for many reasons.

14 Mar 2013

Applying for benefits in online marketplaces might be daunting

The Associated Press reports that the draft version of the application for a three-person family is 15 pages while the online version has 21 steps, some with additional questions.

14 Mar 2013

Study: Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea no worse in primary care vs specialist sleep center

Among patients who were identified as likely having moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, treatment based in primary care was not clinically inferior to treatment at a specialist sleep center for improvement in daytime sleepiness scores, according to a study appearing in the March 13 issue of JAMA.

14 Mar 2013

State roundup: Conn. bill would require kids behavioral health assessments

A selection of health policy stories from New York, Connecticut, Oregon, Idaho, Georgia, Texas and California.

14 Mar 2013

Brand-name and generic drug makers join forces to challenge FTC

Brand and generic drug companies are usually at each other' throats.

13 Mar 2013

Examining the Global Fund's new funding model

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog features an interview with Deborah Derrick, president of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in which she discusses the Global Fund's new funding model.

13 Mar 2013

Haiti fighting cholera by recycling human waste into fertilizer

The Guardian describes a program being run by Soil (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) in Haiti, in which human waste is being collected and recycled "into fertile soil, simultaneously helping to fight cholera and deforestation, and revive food production."

13 Mar 2013

Implications of IOM PEPFAR evaluation for Global Fund

"The U.S. Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences recently completed a congressionally mandated impact evaluation of the PEPFAR HIV/AIDS program, which is the single largest ever health initiative of the U.S. government," Todd Summers, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies' (CSIS) Global Health Policy Center, writes in the center's "Smart Global Health" blog.

13 Mar 2013

Global CEOs should sign U.N. Women's Empowerment Principles

In an opinion piece in Forbes' "Leadership" blog, contributor Davia Temin highlights International Women's Day, observed annually on March 8, writing, "There has been so much talk, but so little action -- around women's leadership, gender equality, and curtailing violence against women.

13 Mar 2013

Examining quality of global health data

"Although counting the sick and dead in a country can seem quite dull if not morbid, these facts are critical inputs to designing any national health policy, let alone global priorities in health," Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in the center's "Global Health Policy" blog.

13 Mar 2013

CEOs of 27 companies write open letter urging British PM to keep foreign aid commitment

"Chief executives of 27 [of the] biggest companies in the U.K., including BP and Vodafone, [on Monday] joined the boss of English football's Premier League in appealing to Prime Minister David Cameron to keep his commitment to devote 0.7 percent of national income on international aid," the Press Trust of India/Business Standard reports (3/11).

13 Mar 2013