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Study: Obesity adds more to health care costs than smoking

Obesity adds more to health care costs than smoking does, reports a study in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

4 Apr 2012

Young girls face increased risk of side effects after Gardasil vaccination

Younger girls are more likely than adult women to report side effects after receiving Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine.

4 Apr 2012

Many RA patients more likely to develop lower GI disease

Add lower gastrointestinal (GI) problems such as ulcers, bleeding and perforations to the list of serious complications facing many rheumatoid arthritis patients. They are at greater risk for GI problems and gastrointestinal-related death than people without the disease, a Mayo Clinic study shows.

4 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Shouldering the health costs of the 'irresponsible'; Learning from the parallels between Obamacare and the 'war on terror'

The central idea of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - the formal name of the Obamacare law - emphasized in the hearings is to spread the cost of health care to ever-larger pools of Americans. In particular, to those who pay low health insurance premiums, the young who choose to have no insurance and the healthy.

4 Apr 2012

Blues insurers win antitrust case in Mich., see profits increase 20% in Minn.; HMO profit caps mean Minn. will get $8M back from another insurer

Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Michigan won a hospital pricing antitrust case. In Minnesota, nonprofit insurer UCare prepares to return $8 million to the state while Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota's profit rose 20 percent in 2011.

4 Apr 2012

State roundup: Docs fight over HMO in Fla.; Striking health law wouldn't stop reform in Minn.; Calif. mulls public employee 'Bill of Rights'

Two doctors who are among Florida's most aggressive fundraisers for the Republican Party have had a nasty falling-out over control of an HMO. Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah, a prominent Broward cardiologist, has filed suit against Dr. Akshay Desai, the chairman and CEO of Universal Health Care. Universal, founded in 2002, is a fast-growing Medicare HMO based in St. Petersburg.

4 Apr 2012

IOM releases new report on public health dimensions of epilepsies

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) on March 30th released its new report on the public health dimensions of the epilepsies, the first authoritative independent appraisal of epilepsy and its management in the United States.

3 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 3, 2012

In today's health policy headlines, President Barack Obama's expresses confidence that the health law will stand.

3 Apr 2012

Early appendectomy can reduce length of stay, medical interventions and hospital charges

Pediatric surgeons can lower health care costs if they remove a young patient's perforated appendix sooner rather than later, according to new study results published in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

3 Apr 2012

Federal Trade Commission OKs $29 billion merger by Express Scripts, Medco

By a three-to-one vote, regulators approved Express Scripts' plan to purchase Medco, ending an eight-month inquiry into whether the deal would stifle competition in the pharmacy benefits industry.

3 Apr 2012

Doctors more reluctant to start their patients on insulin

Doctors are more reluctant to start their patients on insulin than the patients are themselves, according to a new study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital.

3 Apr 2012

USAID working to help millions needing food aid in Africa's Sahel region

"This week, urgently needed food -- 33,700 tons of sorghum from American farmers -- will depart the United States for West Africa, as a part of the U.S. Government's response to the drought in the Sahel," Dina Esposito, director of the Office of Food for Peace, writes in this post in USAID's "Impact" blog.

3 Apr 2012

Medicare: Republicans face uphill battle to find like minds across the aisle

House GOP lawmakers are having a hard time making the case that plans to revamp Medicare have broad bipartisan support.

3 Apr 2012

South Sudan hoping to mark three years without recording polio case

"South Sudan officials are hopeful the country will soon be declared polio-free," if the nation can go another four months without recording a polio case, VOA News reports. "Before 2008, the area that is now South Sudan had been considered free of polio," but "that year the country was re-infected through an imported strain that originated in Nigeria," the news service writes.

3 Apr 2012

NSABB recommends full publication of controversial bird flu studies

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) on Friday recommended that revised versions of two controversial studies on H5N1 avian flu be published in scientific journals, reversing its previous recommendation that the studies only be published if certain details were withheld, the New York Times reports.

3 Apr 2012

Supreme Court's health law ruling: If that falls, what's next?

News outlets offer analysis about how the high court's decision could play out -- both in terms of policy and politics.

3 Apr 2012

PRI's 'The World' examines role of churches in fight against HIV in Swaziland

PRI's "The World" examines the role of churches in the fight against HIV in Swaziland. The news service highlights several church-run HIV programs, writing, "Churches have long played an important role in caring for the sick, but in terms of HIV prevention they've been at odds with the public health community. It has often come down to one issue: until recently, Swazi church leaders publicly rejected the use of condoms by their congregants. But now you hear many comments that suggest a change in thinking."

3 Apr 2012

Health insurers continue to rally after high court hearings

Certain segments of the health care marketplace appeared to be optimistic about signals from the court's consideration of the individual mandate and the sweeping health law.

3 Apr 2012

April issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The April issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial on the WHO research agenda for influenza; a public health round-up; an article on influenza in Ghana; a research paper on population-based burden of influenza-associated hospitalization in rural western Kenya; and a policy paper on the integration of pneumonia prevention and treatment interventions with immunization services in resource-poor countries.

3 Apr 2012

Older maternal age, fertility treatments account for marked increase in twin births

Women having children at older ages and the growing availability of fertility treatments has led to a marked increase in the birth of twins: In 2009, one in every 30 babies born in the United States was a twin compared with one in every 53 in 1980.

3 Apr 2012