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Anxiety Index: Survey examines baby boomers' concerns about Medicare, future health care costs and related issues

Worries about health care, inflation, taxes, nest eggs and more have boomers scoring a 70% on AARP's anxiety index, compared to 59% of younger voters and 46% of people ages 65 or older.

12 Aug 2012

PM Cameron discusses foreign aid, nutrition summit; Aid agencies deliver petitions to Downing Street calling for government action on hunger

British Prime Minister David Cameron "has defended the government's commitment to overseas aid funding at a time of recession, as he prepares to co-host a hunger summit in Downing Street on the closing day of the Olympics," the Guardian reports.

12 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Democrats must get tough on entitlements; Fla. Gov. Scott says feds should stay out of state Medicaid decisions

Democrats nurtured entitlements, which provided a bedrock of security for Americans. But we never said no to entitlement expansion or benefit increases. We haven't supplied enough discipline, and they are out of control. Conversely, we've ignored the New Frontier investment programs, bragging about them but meting out only subsistence rations. They're now stunted and need higher rations. We have one more chance. The fiscal cliff was designed to force tough choices.

12 Aug 2012

Highlights: New reports of problems at Parkland Hospital in Dallas; Mammogram rates did not rise under expanded Mass. coverage

Federal safety monitors produced a harsher critique of Parkland Memorial Hospital's reform efforts than recently portrayed by the hospital, finding ongoing dangers to patients from a botched surgery, medication errors and emergency care failures. Those problems, cited in a June compliance report obtained by The Dallas Morning News, were not disclosed in a Parkland summary released to The News two weeks ago.

12 Aug 2012

Medicare payments for anemia drug too high; Feds seek fix to glitch that denies some hospitalized beneficiaries coverage for follow-up nursing home care

The U.S. health-care system is vastly overspending for a single anemia drug because Medicare overestimates its use by hundreds of millions of dollars a year, according to an analysis of federal data. The overpayment to hospitals and clinics arises because Medicare reimburses them based on estimates rather than the actual use of the drug.

12 Aug 2012

Lucentis receives FDA approval for treatment of diabetic macular edema

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), a sight-threatening eye disease that occurs in people with diabetes.

10 Aug 2012

Evaluating cash transfers as a tool to combat HIV/AIDS

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, and Denizhan Duran, a research assistant at the center, examine several recent studies evaluating the use of cash transfers as a strategy against HIV/AIDS.

10 Aug 2012

Resistant starch can help improve insulin sensitivity

Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions, today announced the results of a new independent clinical trial published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

10 Aug 2012

Fat transfers may benefit patients after breast reconstructive surgery

When Susan McLain, 49, underwent a double mastectomy, she never imagined that she would look and feel better after reconstructive surgery than she did before breast cancer.

10 Aug 2012

States set standards, continue health insurance exchanges fight

State officials in California are moving to define standards for insurers hoping to participate in the insurance exchanges, while a legislative committee in Colorado gives the state permission to continue building its exchange.

10 Aug 2012

Hospital debt, financial practices draw investors' attention

Also in the news, The Wall Street Journal reports that consumers may be returning to the doctor after a period during which the difficult economy appeared to keep them away.

10 Aug 2012

Blogs address upcoming global hunger event in London

In this post in the Independent's opinion blog "Notebook," Ivan Lewis, member of Britain's parliament and shadow secretary of state for international development in the U.K., writes "the Global Hunger Event being hosted by David Cameron in London this weekend, which will seek to use the Olympic spirit to galvanize action on global hunger, ... is crucial in its potential to provide a new and much needed impetus in the mission to end undernutrition."

10 Aug 2012

Health insurer rebates: Where has the money gone?

The New York Times reports that many consumers who get health coverage through their employers wonder what happened to the insurer rebates that were part of "the great health insurance giveback" under the health law. Also in the news, The Associated Press details who will be hit the hardest by the health law's tax provisions.

10 Aug 2012

BBC News examines malnutrition in India

BBC News reports on malnutrition in India, "an enduring problem Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a 'national shame.'" "[D]espite supposedly spending billions of rupees on poverty and food-relief programs -- and during a period of sustained economic growth -- the government has made only a dent in the problem," the news service writes.

10 Aug 2012

Agriculture, nutrition sectors must work together to fight undernutrition

"Agriculture and nutrition are deeply intertwined. Not only does increasing agricultural productivity have the potential to improve rural families' nutrition, but healthier and better-nourished farmers are more productive, earn more income, and contribute to further economic growth," Gary Darmstadt, Sam Dryden, and Emily Piwoz of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation write in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

10 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney campaign's response to ad incites conservatives; Opponents of law should give back their rebates

The Romney people are trying a little jujitsu on an ad from Obama backers that implies Mitt Romney is responsible for the death of an Indiana woman who lacked health insurance.

10 Aug 2012

Survey: 61 percent of employers expect health law to drive up health plan costs

The survey, conducted by the Mercer consulting firm, found that retail and hospitality companies are bracing for the biggest cost increases.

10 Aug 2012

U.S. visa policies kept sex workers, drug users from participating in AIDS 2012

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines how the "U.S. travel bans on people involved in sex work and people who have used illegal drugs ... kept many of the people at highest risk from coming to the [XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)]" in Washington, D.C., last month. "

10 Aug 2012

State roundup: Calif. officials near deal on workers' health costs

Hopes for a last-minute agreement to overhaul the state's $11-billion workers' compensation system are growing as the end of the 2012 legislative session approaches.

10 Aug 2012

GOP governors respond to CMS signs of flexibility regarding Medicaid expansion

CQ HealthBeat reports that some Republican state executives were not impressed with the decision by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials to allow states that proceed with expansion plans now to scale back their Medicaid programs later.

10 Aug 2012