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Romney pledges more health care options for veterans

The Republican presidential nominee took a break from his party's convention in Tampa to address the American Legion in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, one news outlet looks at geographic disparities in services for veterans.

31 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney, Ryan rely on 'the magic asterisk'; Frightening voters over Medicare cuts

The press has focused a lot on the similarities between Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. They are both technocratic, they espouse tax cuts, and they believe in a balanced budget. But there is a deeper similarity as well: they both believe deeply in the "magic asterisk." The magic asterisk was the invention of David Stockman, budget director to Ronald Reagan. Stockman, who needed to show a more favorable budget than the Reagan tax cuts would justify, put in an asterisk and noted "future savings to be identified."

31 Aug 2012

Brazil expanding national HIV treatment program to include patients with higher CD4 cell counts

Brazil is expanding its national HIV/AIDS treatment program to include about 35,000 additional people, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. "Ronaldo Hallal of the health ministry's Sexually Transmitted Disease Department said people with 500 or fewer CD4 cells per cubic millimeter will receive antiretroviral HIV treatment," increasing the cutoff from 350 or less CD4 cells per cubic millimeter prior to the expansion, the news service writes.

31 Aug 2012

Healthy diets during infancy and early childhood can prevent obesity in future

Rats born to mothers fed high-fat diets but who get normal levels of fat in their diets right after birth avoid obesity and its related disorders as adults, according to new Johns Hopkins research.

31 Aug 2012

Park Nicollet, HealthPartners sign merger agreement

HealthPartners and Park Nicollet Health Services announced today that their boards of directors have signed an agreement to combine their organizations and create a comprehensive, integrated health care delivery and financing organization serving the entire Twin Cities metro area and western Wisconsin.

31 Aug 2012

U.S. lags three other industrialized nations in potentially preventable death rates

The United States lags three other industrialized nations-France, Germany, and the United Kingdom-in its potentially preventable death rate, and in the pace of improvement in preventing deaths that could have been avoided with timely and effective health care, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study published as a web first online today in Health Affairs.

31 Aug 2012

Young undocumented immigrants allowed to stay in U.S. are still ineligible for Obamacare benefits

A new CMS rule aims to ensure that illegal immigrants exempted from deportation under the Obama administration's June 15 policy change on immigration will not qualify for subsidized coverage under either high-risk insurance pools or state-based exchanges.

31 Aug 2012

Ironwood receives FDA approval for Linzess to treat chronic idiopathic constipation, IBS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Linzess (linaclotide) to treat chronic idiopathic constipation and to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) in adults.

31 Aug 2012

Roundup: Brown's pension plan no panacea for Calif.; Personhood amendment won't make Colo. ballot

Even by the most ambitious forecasts, the plan Gov. Jerry Brown and fellow Democrats are championing to contain government worker pensions in California could leave state taxpayers awash in debt to public employees.

31 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 30, 2012

In this updated FAQ, Kaiser Health News staff writer Marilyn Werber Serafini reports: "It may come as a surprise that President Barack Obama and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan are pushing the same target rate for controlling federal spending on Medicare.

30 Aug 2012

Christie says Romney would tell 'hard truths'

Republican keynote address lays "the foundation for calls" by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to change Medicare, Wall Street Journal reports.

30 Aug 2012

Tips for parents to help their kids get a smart start to the academic year

The first day of school always requires preparations -- notebooks, pens and a new set of clothes. But don't forget to prepare for your child's health, says Dr. Joan Bregstein, a physician in the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

30 Aug 2012

Guinea worm disease on verge of eradication, WHO reports

"The World Health Organization reports Guinea worm disease, which has plagued people for thousands of years, is on the verge of eradication," VOA News reports. "The U.N. agency says fewer than 400 cases of the infectious parasitic disease exist in four African countries, and that it will soon become only the second, after smallpox, to be wiped off the face of the earth," the news service writes.

30 Aug 2012

Poll: Abortion not decisive issue for more than half of voters

While the 2012 presidential race has energized pro- and anti-abortion rights groups, a new CBS News poll shows that as many as 57 percent of registered voters in both parties say it's possible they would vote for a candidate who disagreed with them on the issue. However, women are less likely than men to say that.

30 Aug 2012

Judge rewords Mo. health insurance exchange ballot measure

A judge has reworded a ballot measure that would require that state's governor to seek legislative or voter approval before establishing a health insurance exchange over charges that the secretary of state's ballot language was misleading.

30 Aug 2012

Residency cap may hamper efforts to expand number of doctors

Bloomberg examines the need for more primary care physicians and the limit on the number of slots for training doctors.

30 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Clarity needed on GOP health plan; Blaming the poor

As soon as he moves into the White House, Mitt Romney promises, he will demand that Congress repeal the health care reform law that is President Barack Obama's signature achievement. Far less clear is how Romney and Republicans in Congress would replace the Affordable Care Act. That is a critical question for Florida, which has nearly 4 million uninsured residents and has failed to develop its own solution.

30 Aug 2012

Global guidance on bednet purchasing needed, analysis suggests

"According to analysis led by Kanika Bahl and Pooja Shaw of Results for Development's (R4D's) Market Dynamics team, improved global incentives and information on cost-effectiveness could save the fight against malaria up to $630 million over the next five years and encourage manufacturers to produce better-performing nets," Bahl, a managing director for R4D, and Shaw, a program officer in the Market Dynamics Practice at R4D, write in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

30 Aug 2012

Georgia Governor rejects Medicaid expansion

Gov. Nathan Deal told reporters at the GOP convention that he has no intention of expanding the program because the federal government's commitment to pay the full cost for three years, and 90 percent thereafter "is probably unrealistic." An estimated 650,000 Georgians would gain health coverage under an expansion.

30 Aug 2012

Medicaid cuts hit dental services; Minn. seeks waiver to save $151 million

The New York Times looks at the problems that come when the health care program for low-income people doesn't meet their dental needs. At the same time, Minnesota news outlets report on an effort by the governor to get federal authorities to approve changes in the Medicaid program there.

30 Aug 2012