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Report urges integrated aid approach to tackle poverty, disease

Action Against Hunger, Action for Global Health, End Water Poverty, PATH, Tearfund and WaterAid on Wednesday released a report that "provides clear and compelling evidence that a new combined approach to tackling poverty and disease that brings together work on water and sanitation, health, education and nutrition achieves better results for the world's poorest," according to a joint press release.

16 Sep 2011

Democrats hold on to Medicare message despite special election losses

Despite two bad losses in Tuesday's House special elections in Nevada and New York, Democrats vowed Wednesday to continue to focus their message on a House GOP plan to overhaul Medicare - an issue that was central to Democrats' campaign efforts in the early part of this year, but which faded as the debate over the country's debt ceiling took precedence during the summer.

16 Sep 2011

Calif. and Texas face big challenges, take different health reform approaches

The LA Times reports that California, because of its budget issues and need to slash state safety net programs, could become a trouble spot for the health law.

16 Sep 2011

PEPFAR announces $45M, four-year initiative to study combination HIV prevention

PEPFAR on Wednesday "announced awards for a new initiative totaling $45 million over four years to examine the effectiveness of combination approaches to HIV prevention. These evaluations of combination prevention will be the largest and most robust to date. Data gathered will help partner countries to strengthen their efforts to prevent new infections and save lives," according to a State Department press release.

16 Sep 2011

Appeals court to take up Ariz. Medicaid challenge

The state appellate court will hear arguments next month on whether the governor can reduce enrollment in Medicaid.

16 Sep 2011

Reading between the lines: As poor get poorer, their health is at greater risk

In the wake of this week's Census Bureau report, news outlets report that the dire data about the percentage of Americans living in poverty could feed the current deficit-reduction discussions in Congress.

16 Sep 2011

Health CEOs urge deficit panel to raise Medicare's eligibility age

But Blue Dog Democrats said Wednesday that no one is going to cut benefits for seniors or people near the current eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security.

16 Sep 2011

Unlikely coalition launches effort to aid enrollment of people without insurance

Enroll America, which is a group of health care organizations and companies, is making a health coverage push to boost the new health law.

16 Sep 2011

Medicare Advantage premiums to go down next year: HHS

On average, Medicare Advantage premiums will be 4 percent lower in 2012 than in 2011, and plans project enrollment to increase by 10 percent, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.

16 Sep 2011

'Super committee' moves behind closed doors; public confidence in Washington at stake

The leaders of a bipartisan congressional committee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade say Americans' confidence in Washington hinges on their success. … If the committee deadlocks or fails, $1.2 trillion still would be cut automatically from future deficits, divided between defense and domestic spending, including Medicare. Hensarling likened that threat to "a hammer in the closet".

16 Sep 2011

New report finds improvements in hospital performance

Meanwhile, Reuters reports on the quality of weekend care at stroke centers and nursing homes are trying to reduce their use of powerful antipsychotic drugs for patients with dementia.

16 Sep 2011

U.S. HIV/AIDS policy and funding should be guided by science, policy statement recommends

The IDSA Center for Global Health Policy and the HIV Medicine Association recently released a policy statement responding to the results of the HPTN 052 study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH, which found that people with HIV who received immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) were more than 96 percent less likely to sexually transmit the infection to their uninfected partners.

16 Sep 2011

Obama deficit-reduction plan details emerging

As President Barack Obama prepares to present to Congress his detailed plan to rein in the nation's debt, changes to Social Security appear unlikely, but the outlook for Medicare is less certain.

16 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: NY Times on uninsured; Wilensky's 'sobering reflection'; caring for aging parents

Nearly one million more Americans went without health insurance in 2010 than in 2009. ... The only consolation was that government insurance programs were able to mitigate some of the damage. ... The new health care reforms will expand Medicaid coverage for the poor and provide subsidies to help middle-income people buy private health insurance.

16 Sep 2011

$Bachmann, Perry embroiled in HPV fracas$

Bachmann, Perry embroiled in HPV fracas

Since Monday night's GOP primary debate, the two presidential hopefuls continue to be the targets of discussion and coverage regarding both the style and substance of the HPV vaccine issue.

16 Sep 2011

In Md., hospital stay costs rise; VA hospital in Calif. revamps to meet needs of female vets

The cost of a hospital stay in Maryland is on the rise, but not as much as that nationally, according to a report released Wednesday by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission. The average cost to stay in a Maryland hospital was $10,983 in fiscal year 2010, compared to $10,767 the previous year, according to the report. The 2 percent increase was lower than that nationally, where the cost of a hospital stay increased 3 percent.

16 Sep 2011

Potential new treatment for fragile X syndrome

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in collaboration with Seaside Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., have achieved a milestone in the development of a potential new treatment for fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism.

16 Sep 2011

Experimental malaria vaccine shows positive results among children in small Burkina Faso study

"An experimental malaria vaccine tested on children in Burkina Faso has shown 'a high level of efficacy' in protecting against the disease, a study published in" Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine said, according to Agence France-Presse.

16 Sep 2011

State roundup: Mich. Gov. releases health plan

The job of implementing a key Obama administration health reform - a statewide marketplace where consumers and businesses can buy affordable health insurance - would be turned over to a non-profit company under proposed legislation announced today by Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

16 Sep 2011

Longer looks: Fighting antibiotic resistance; a health care arms race video; the HVP debate

We won't stop the rising tide of infections until we develop a new business model to fight them. We are not quite on the brink of some dystopian Victorian future. But every year, the prognosis for infectious-disease patients gets a bit grimmer. … And more-powerful drugs tend to cost more than the old drugs. … Even in the rich world, death from infection still looms; MRSA alone kills thousands every year. And firms are not developing antibiotics as fast as they used to.

16 Sep 2011