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Polls and expectations for debt panel

Two new polls indicate that Americans want the 'super committee' to reach an accord that includes new taxes on the wealthy and major cuts in domestic spending. Public opinion appears cool, though, to proposals to make significant changes in Medicare.

11 Aug 2011

Linking U.S. foreign aid to U.N. General Assembly voting

A backgrounder by Jay Schaefer, a Jay Kingham fellow in International Regulatory Affairs at the Heritage Foundation's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, and Anthony Kim, a policy analyst in Heritage's Center for International Trade and Economics, examines the relationship between U.S. foreign aid and U.N. General Assembly voting.

11 Aug 2011

More than 9M Afghans facing food insecurity, WFP says

The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that 1.5 to 2 million more people in Afghanistan likely will be pushed into food insecurity later this year because of ongoing drought in the northern, northeastern and western parts of the country, IRIN reports.

11 Aug 2011

Twitter, Facebook emerging as disease-fighting tools

From Iowa to Brazil, researchers are discovering there is a distinct association between complaints, worries and random rants on the social media site and the spread of medical issues as wide-ranging as the flu, dengue fever and pollen-induced allergies.

11 Aug 2011

Analysis: Health insurance premium costs vary widely

Premiums were generally highest in the Northeast and lower in the South and Mountain states, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

11 Aug 2011

New report finds lackluster growth for nonprofit hospitals

Moody's finds that the hospitals reporting the slowest rate of revenue growth in 20 years, the Wall Street Journal reports. Also in hospital news, a new urgent care center in New Orleans is off to a good start and California officials weigh one chain's efforts to take over more facilities.

11 Aug 2011

Fertile Guatemala faces starvation as subsistence crops fail

Despite its status as "the world's fifth largest exporter of sugar, coffee and bananas," Guatemala "has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America," with "half of all children under five" reportedly malnourished, Agence France-Presse reports.

11 Aug 2011

Members of U.S. delegation to Horn of Africa discuss response efforts

The August 8 visit of a U.S. delegation to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa "was important in terms of shedding light on the important efforts that are under way and the importance of continued support from the international community," Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz said on Tuesday during a briefing on the trip, IIP Digital reports.

11 Aug 2011

$28 million awarded to help establish new community health centers

The funds, provided by the Department of Health and Human Services as a result of the health law, will help an estimated 286,000 people gain access to health care, according to HHS officials.

11 Aug 2011

Many low-income seniors go without enhanced Medicare drug coverage

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which says that as many as 2 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries are not enrolled in the Medicare Low-Income Subsidy Program, is stepping up efforts to market the assistance to consumers.

11 Aug 2011

Kansas rejects health law exchange grant

Kansas will send back its $31.5 million Early Innovator Grant to the Department of Health and Human Services, which would have helped pay for the development of the state's online insurance exchange. Gov. Sam Brownback said he was returning the money because of doubts that the federal government would be able to maintain its promised future payments.

11 Aug 2011

Foreign aid community faces difficulties as food prices rise and dollar declines

The Council on Foreign Relations features an interview with Laurie Garrett, a CFR senior fellow for Global Health, in which she discusses the effects of the declining dollar, the struggling global economy and the rise in food prices on food aid pledges for the drought and famine in East Africa.

11 Aug 2011

Pakistan faces HIV/AIDS spreading from high-risk groups to general population

"For a long time, perceptions of Pakistan as a conservative Muslim country encouraged a belief that HIV/AIDS incidence would be non-existent or very low," but "with the number of HIV cases rising, the government finally included it in its 2009 national health policy," BBC News reports.

11 Aug 2011

Reid taps Sen. Patty Murray to co-chair 'super committee'; Baucus, Kerry also named

The deficit panel will have three months to recommend $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions over the next 10 years, with Medicare and Medicaid part of the mix. Republicans reacted by saying the picks were political moves and offered little hope of overcoming the continuing partisan stalemate.

11 Aug 2011

Neurologist care may improve quality of life for people with Parkinson's

People with Parkinson's disease who go to a neurologist for their care are more likely to live longer, less likely to be placed in a nursing home and less likely to break a hip than people who go to a primary care physician, according to a study published in the August 10, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

11 Aug 2011

CDC Director lauds India for TB and tobacco use control efforts, urges preparations to fight NCDs

CDC Director Thomas Frieden, who currently is visiting India and who previously worked with the Indian government assisting in tuberculosis (TB) control, praised the country's "progress in controlling tuberculosis and tobacco use" on Monday during a speech to health practitioners and policymakers, according to the Wall Street Journal's "India Real Time" blog.

11 Aug 2011

Outlook: The health law and its various battles

News outlets report on how timing issues could impact whether the challenges to the health law make it to the Supreme Court in the next term, how messages regarding efforts to overhaul the health care system are playing in presidential primary states and how opposition to "Obamacare" is motivating one Republican to consider joining the presidential contest fray.

11 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: High-cost drugs and Medicare; pitfalls for ACOs; federal funding fix for nursing homes

Life-extending drugs debut frequently, and they usually seem exorbitantly expensive when weighed against their promise of adding a few weeks or months of life to someone with a terminal illness. In these prostate-cancer cases, one new drug costs $5,000 a month, another $8,000 every three weeks and a third $93,000 for a full course of treatment.

11 Aug 2011

Roundup: Report finds Calif. fails to discipline 710 doctors; GOP takes 4 of 6 races in Wis.; obesity and poverty in Miss.

California's medical board failed to discipline 710 troubled doctors even as they were disciplined by hospitals, surgical centers and other health care organizations in the state, according to a report released Tuesday.

11 Aug 2011

Biomarker may signal whether common back pain treatment will work

A new study from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine has identified a unique protein complex that can be used to predict whether an epidural steroid injection will help relieve pain caused by a herniated disc in the lower spine.

10 Aug 2011