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Patrick Kennedy takes offense at ad by Sen. Scott Brown

The campaign advertisement invokes the name of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. The younger Kennedy calls the ad, which suggests that Brown shares the late senator's position on religious exemptions for health care providers, "misleading and untrue."

28 Feb 2012

A health care history lesson

Most of us get health insurance through our jobs, a system puzzling to the rest of the industrial world, where the government levies taxes and offers health coverage to all as a basic right of modern society. But for many Americans, their way feels alien - the heavy hand of government reaching into our business as some bureaucrat tells doctors and patients what to do.

28 Feb 2012

Ghana Health Service launches initiative to prevent, eliminate NTDs

A new project developed and launched by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) aims "to address the debilitating effects of neglected tropical diseases [NTDs] in Ghana," the Global Network for NTDs' "End the Neglect" blog reports.

28 Feb 2012

A look at Obama's 'deficit dilemma'

Yet starting with that April speech, Mr. Obama has come to adopt most of the major tenets supported by a majority of the commission's members, though his proposals do not go as far. He has called for cutting deficits more than $4 trillion over 10 years by shaving all spending, including for the military, Medicare and Social Security; overhauling the tax code to raise revenues and lower rates; and writing rules to lock in savings.

28 Feb 2012

World Bank needs better leadership to achieve goals of reducing poverty

With the proper leadership, the World Bank "can play a key role" in fighting "poverty, resource depletion and climate change," therefore "the global stakes are ... very high this spring as the bank's 187 member countries choose a new president to succeed Robert Zoellick, whose term ends in July," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to the U.N. secretary general on the Millennium Development Goals, writes in a Project Syndicate opinion piece.

28 Feb 2012

Swaziland looking to shore up funding for AIDS treatment, testing supplies

"Cash-strapped Swaziland is struggling to fund its HIV programs, and experts are warning of long-term damage to treatment and prevention schemes if steps are not taken to ring-fence funding and supplies," the Mail & Guardian reports.

28 Feb 2012

Study shows incorrect condom use common worldwide

According to an analysis published in the journal of Sexual Health, the incorrect use of male condoms has become a concern for public health officials worldwide, CBS News reports.

28 Feb 2012

Examining HIV/AIDS in Zambian prisons

In this post in PSI's "Healthy Living" blog, Mannasseh Phiri, PSI's country representative in Zambia, examines HIV/AIDS in Zambian prisons. Phiri reports the findings of a survey recently conducted by the IN BUT FREE (IBF) Prisons Project "to determine the extent and magnitude of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Zambia's prisons."

28 Feb 2012

Actuarial value, health disparities draw attention as part of health law implementation

The Department of Health and Human Services offered a bulletin last week to provide guidance on how insurers should calculate actuarial value. Also, some health policy experts are beginning to question whether the health law's quality provisions might exacerbate the nation's health disparities.

28 Feb 2012

States, governors have different thoughts on insurance exchanges, impact of health law

States are lagging in the creation of health insurance exchanges, the supermarkets where millions of consumers are supposed to buy subsidized private coverage under President Obama's health care overhaul.

28 Feb 2012

The high cost of cancer care

Forty years after the National Cancer Act launched the "war on cancer," the battle is not just finding cures and better treatments but also being able to afford them. New drugs often cost $100,000 or more a year. Patients are being put on them sooner in the course of their illness and for a longer time - sometimes for the rest of their lives.

28 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Santorum on repeal; Ariz. Republic endorses Romney; How Catholic church almost accepted birth control

I'll submit legislation to repeal ObamaCare, and on day one issue an executive order ending related regulatory obligations on the states. I'll work with Congress to replace ObamaCare with competitive insurance choices to improve quality and limit the costs of health care, while protecting those with uninsurable health conditions.

28 Feb 2012

LA BioMed to honor Women & Infants physician as 'Legend'

The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) recently announced that it will honor John E. Buster, MD, associate director of the Center for Reproduction and Infertility at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island and Tufts Medical Center, as one of its three "Legends" this May.

28 Feb 2012

Senate slated to debate GOP plan to allow for religious 'opt out' from administration birth control rule

Like two boxers returning to the center of the ring, Senate Democrats and Republicans return from a weeklong recess this week to debate and vote on a GOP proposal that would allow companies and insurance providers to opt out of mandated birth control coverage for religious reasons. Democrats are eagerly anticipating the debate because they see an opportunity to use the issue for political gain in the upcoming November elections.

28 Feb 2012

Hearing loss may increase risk of falls

Hearing loss has been linked with a variety of medical, social and cognitive ills, including dementia. However, a new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher suggests that hearing loss may also be a risk factor for another huge public health problem: falls.

27 Feb 2012

State roundup: State tobacco funds scrutinized; More allegations against Calif.'s Prime Healthcare; Ore. CCOs get green light

A U.S. Surgeon General's report due to be released March 8 will come down hard on states that have cut anti-smoking funds in tough fiscal times, said Terry Pechacek, who oversees the report as director for Science in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report can't result in sanctions, but it has proven to move public opinion in the past to force changes by tobacco companies in how they sell cigarettes, how states fund efforts and how the federal government regulates the trade.

27 Feb 2012

Romney's Medicare plan would gradually raise eligibility age

The plan was released just days before just days before the next round of primary elections. Also in the news, more on GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's tea party appeal and position on abortion, while rival Rick Santorum offers more charges that the former Massachusetts governor is not conservative enough.

27 Feb 2012

Sebelius casts doubt on Calif. Medi-Cal changes; Other Medicaid changes around America scrutinized

Medicaid cuts in California, Washington and Texas prove controversial, while changes or proposed changes in Florida, Georgia and Minnesota get closer looks.

27 Feb 2012

New poll finds public opinion sharply divided on health law repeal

Politico reports on a new poll that shows the nation is almost evenly split on whether, if elected, a Republican president should repeal the health law. Meanwhile, in related news, The Hill reports that House GOP lawmakers will renew their attacks on the overhaul to correspond with the Supreme Court review of the measure.

27 Feb 2012

India taken off WHO list of polio endemic countries

"India was taken off a list of polio endemic countries by the World Health Organization on Saturday, marking a massive victory for health workers battling the crippling disease" and "leav[ing] just three countries with endemic polio -- Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria," Agence France-Presse reports (2/26).

27 Feb 2012