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Demonstrators provide punctuation, personality to ongoing debate

Though events inside the Supreme Court were staid and steeped in the high court's rules and processes, outside activists converged to argue their positions and to shape public opinion about the health law.

28 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 28, 2012

Today's headlines recap yesterday's Supreme Court action related to the constitutionality of the individual mandate and set the scene for day 3 of the oral arguments, which will tackle issues of severalbility and questions about the health law's Medicaid expansion.

28 Mar 2012

States continue epic struggle over what the health law means for them

Minnesota GOP lawmakers are being criticized by their Democratic governor for how they are trying to create a health insurance exchange. Elsewhere, California insurance rates are increasing as the Supreme Court hears arguments on the health law and a pair of protests targets the health law and unions in Missouri.

28 Mar 2012

What individual mandate, other health law rulings may mean for Americans

News outlets analyze arguments around the individual mandate and what a ruling by the Supreme Court will mean for most Americans. Kaiser Health News looks at changes in the health care industry as a result of the law, and how most of those shifts will continue regardless of what the Court decides.

28 Mar 2012

Lung cancers diagnosed in CT screening are similar to those found in clinical practice

Growth rates of lung cancers found by annual rounds of computed tomography (CT) screening are important for determining the usefulness and frequency of screening, as well as for determining the treatment.

28 Mar 2012

As court brings health overhaul into focus, politicians pounce

Rick Santorum picks up his criticism of Mitt Romney's efforts in Massachusetts, which set up mandatory health coverage, but the former governor continues to assail the federal plan.

28 Mar 2012

High court unlikely to push health law ruling into the future

Based on justices questions' during the opening day of oral arguments in the challenges to the health law, it appears the court was receptive to arguments by both the federal government and the measure's opponents that the case should be decided now rather than waiting until after the individual mandate's penalties for not having health insurance have kicked in.

28 Mar 2012

CSEP develops two guidelines to improve health and activity levels of infants, toddlers

In response to an urgent call from public health, health care, child care, and fitness practitioners, the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), with assistance from multiple partners, has developed two important sets of guidelines directed at improving the health and activity levels of infants and toddlers.

28 Mar 2012

Cholera vaccination campaign still stalled in Haiti, NPR reports

A planned mass cholera vaccination project in Haiti continues to be "bogged down in bureaucratic red tape," as spring rains begin and the number of cholera cases starts to rise, NPR's health blog "Shots" reports.

28 Mar 2012

India's public, private sectors must do more to control TB

In this Lancet opinion piece, Madhukar Pai, a professor and tuberculosis (TB) researcher at McGill University and consultant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses TB control in India. He writes, "Much has been said and written in the media about totally drug-resistant tuberculosis… However, all of these discussions really miss the key point -- that tuberculosis continues to be a huge problem in India, and that the conditions for emergence of drug resistance are undeniably prevalent, in both public and private sectors."

28 Mar 2012

Scott Brown turns to Olympia Snowe for help in appealing to women voters

The Massachusetts senator, who has riled some women's groups for his stand on the Obama administration's contraception coverage policy, is seeking to raise the profile of women in his campaign.

28 Mar 2012

Insecurity threatening success of West, Central African mass polio vaccination campaign

Instability and insecurity in some West and Central African nations are threatening the success of a 20-country polio vaccination campaign, which aims to immunize 111.1 million children against the disease, IRIN reports.

28 Mar 2012

Study: Insurance loss or acquisition means more ER visits

Changes in health insurance status -- whether gaining or losing coverage -- are associated with increased likelihood of an emergency department (ED) visit, researchers said. Among some 160,000 people completing the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) from 2004 to 2009, both newly insured and newly uninsured respondents reported using an ED in excess of 30% more often than those who were continuously insured.

28 Mar 2012

CGD examines House Budget Committee recommendation to eliminate Feed the Future

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog," Connie Veillette, director of CGD's rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, discusses the passage of the House Budget Committee's "budget alternative last week that calls for reduced spending for international affairs."

28 Mar 2012

Legislatures, governors contentious on health care issues

But the Legislature, with a Senate controlled by Republicans and an Assembly by Democrats, was unable to agree on whether to establish a health insurance exchange to comply with the much-debated federal health overhaul championed by President Obama. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, is now planning to sidestep opposition from Senate Republicans by creating an exchange via executive order.

28 Mar 2012

Two-thirds of Americans want at least part of health law overturned, according to poll

News outlets examine polls and public opinion related to the health law and explore how much of a campaign issue it may ultimately turn out to be.

28 Mar 2012

If it's Tuesday, it's the individual mandate

In the second day of oral arguments, the Supreme Court is considering the "individual mandate," which is considered the "heart" of the health law. The issue is steeped in politics.

28 Mar 2012

Pakistan's draft bill that would punish parents for not vaccinating children 'misses the mark'

"Eradicating polio and improving the health of millions of children in Pakistan depend quite heavily on assuring that all children have access to life-saving vaccines," but "the most recent policy prescription from the Pakistani parliament to improve immunization coverage, however, misses the mark, and badly," Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center, writes in this Huffington Post "World" blog post.

28 Mar 2012

World Bank presidential nominee Kim begins 7-country 'listening tour' to promote candidacy

The White House nominee for president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, on Tuesday begins a seven-country "listening tour" in order "to promote his candidacy with stops in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the Treasury Department announced Monday," Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

28 Mar 2012

Cardiac CT more effective in evaluating ER patients with chest pain

Cardiac computed tomography angiography scans (CT scans that look at the heart) can provide a virtually instant verdict on whether chest pain is from blockage of the coronary arteries.

28 Mar 2012