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Dems schedule own contraception hearing

House Democrats have scheduled their own hearing in response to last week's all-male panel organized by House Republicans on the Obama administration's contraception rule. The Dems have invited a young woman to testify, but say that GOP leaders won't allow them to televise it.

23 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 22, 2012

In today's health policy headlines, the Supreme Court added 30 minutes to the time allocation for next month's health law arguments. Also in the news, the federal government announced funding awards yesterday to help launch consumer-governed health plans in eight states.

22 Feb 2012

Contraception opinions: We're all Catholics now, a sex tax? And the 'safe, legal, rare' illusion

Because when the state comes against the Catholics, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Pentecostals, or the Mormons or those of any other faith – exotic or familiar – we must all stand up as one: We are all Catholics now. ... Perhaps this is a hard line. But when it comes to the separation of church and state, we need absolutes.

22 Feb 2012

Link between brain dominance and laterality of cell phone use

If you're a left brain thinker, chances are you use your right hand to hold your cell phone up to your right ear, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

22 Feb 2012

Biotech company defends patent on gene mutation for breast cancer

A US biotechnology company is defending the granting of a controversial patent over a common genetic mutation for breast cancer, rejecting accusations it amounts to the privatization of the human body.

21 Feb 2012

NASDAQ notifies CytRx of non-compliance with minimum bid price requirement

CytRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology, today announced that, as anticipated, on February 15, 2012, the Company was notified by The NASDAQ Stock Market that because the Company has not regained compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(a)(2), the Company's common stock would be subject to delisting from The NASDAQ Capital Market unless the Company requests a hearing before a NASDAQ Hearings Panel.

18 Feb 2012

Catholic bishops call birth control compromise 'simply unworkable'

A wealthy backer of GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum apologizes for aspirin-as-birth control "joke," a day after female lawmakers stage walkout from a GOP-led committee hearing after no women were allowed to testify for the contraception mandate.

18 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: The constitution and birth control; War on Wyden

Give him points for cleverness. President Obama's birth control "accommodation" was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless. It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients - all of which violate church doctrine on the sanctity of life.

18 Feb 2012

Federal probe of FDA's treatment of whistleblowers widens

Investigators say they are broadening their efforts because of "new and troubling allegations."

18 Feb 2012

DASH II app to optimise stroke care and improve patient outcomes

The Newcastle team who helped develop the FAST system to identify a stroke are now piloting an app to ensure the best treatment for stroke patients.

18 Feb 2012

Scientists discover molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death.

17 Feb 2012

State roundup: U.S. Senators demand more medical board oversight; Californians losing coverage; Arizona's prison 'quandary'

"The administration never consulted us," said Susan Millerick, spokeswoman for the Hartford-based Aetna. Other Connecticut health insurers are letting the American Health Insurance Plans, a Washington-based trade association, voice their concerns. ... "We are concerned about the precedent this proposed rule would set," AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach said.

17 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 17, 2012

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports about the latest debate on the Obama administration's regulation to mandate free birth control for women.

17 Feb 2012

White House budget director stumbles on question about mandate

The health law's individual mandate is not a tax, the OMB director said under questioning at a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday, even though the administration has claimed the opposite in its defense of the law before the Supreme Court.

17 Feb 2012

Birth control rule will apply to self-insured groups, Sebelius says; Political fallout continues

The revised rule on insurance coverage of birth control that HHS will formulate, finalize and implement by August 2013 will apply to self-insured entities, as well as policies issued by insurance companies, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters. The details of the revised birth-control rule - announced after a furor from Catholic employers who object to funding something to which they are morally opposed - remain undefined, except that it will require insurance companies to pay for the drugs instead of religious employers.

17 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Contraception conscience vs. political objections; Is the mandate the 'non-tax' tax?

The president's new birth control plan would insure coverage of women's birth control without copayments or deductibles. Sounds fair, especially given that men's anti-impotence Viagra treatments have been covered by insurance plans for years.

17 Feb 2012

Contraception battle flares on two fronts

Two female Democrats walked out of a House oversight committee hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule Thursday morning, accusing Chairman Darrell Issa of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying. "What I want to know is, where are the women?" asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney before walking out. "I look at this panel of witnesses, and I don't see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventive health care services, including family planning."

17 Feb 2012

Hospital news: Colorado legislature considers limits on charges, Philly children's hospital apology, Mass. facility closure

Colorado's legislature is taking up a bill Thursday that would limit how much hospitals can charge people without insurance. ... The lawmaker who wrote it is trying to reduce the number of Coloradans bankrupted by medical bills.

16 Feb 2012

AHF dismayed at FDA decision to expedite review for expanded use of Gilead's AIDS drug, Truvada

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation's largest HIV/AIDS nonprofit medical provider, today expressed its disappointment and dismay at the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision to grant an expedited review for Gilead Sciences' application for expanded use of its blockbuster AIDS drug, Truvada, as a means of preventing HIV infection in non-infected people.

16 Feb 2012

Debate over Medicare, health law already playing out in 2012 races

Nearly all the candidates for president are weighing in on how to make Medicare fiscally sustainable, while Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says the health law will factor into which candidate he endorses.

16 Feb 2012