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Public opinion polls uncover differing views on plans for Medicare's future

NPR reports that the answer to how the public is reacting to plans to transform the Medicare program depends on precisely how the question is posed. Meanwhile, different polls are finding varying impressions among Americans. A Gallup poll released Wednesday found the public evenly divided over how to handle the budget, but a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found that seniors seem to prefer Medicare as it is.

29 Apr 2011

First Edition: April 29, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about how independent groups and activists are taking positions on the Ryan plan for the budget and Medicare.

29 Apr 2011

Dems sharpen focus on Medicare; Reid to hold vote on Ryan budget

Democrats are going on the offensive and using the controversial Republican plan to overhaul Medicare to seize the political moment.

29 Apr 2011

New study identifies less invasive therapy for ACE inhibitor side-effects

A new Henry Ford Hospital study takes a closer look at one of the lesser known, but potential most serious side-effects of ACE inhibitor use - facial, tongue and airway swelling - and identifies a successful and less invasive course of treatment.

29 Apr 2011

CSMLS calls on federal leaders to prioritize health care during election

The Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science is calling on the Federal Party Leaders to make health care a key priority during this election.

29 Apr 2011

Ind. lawmakers vote to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funds

News outlets report that this step, which would make this state the first to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood, could put Gov. Mitch Daniels, a possible Republican presidential hopeful, in a difficult position.

29 Apr 2011

CBO offers savings estimate on GOP plan to repeal health law provision

According to the Congressional Budget Office, a bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would abolish the law's planning grants designed to help states establish health insurance exchanges could save about $14 billion over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, discussion and debate continues regarding pending legal challenges to the measure.

29 Apr 2011

Drought in the Horn of Africa threatening food security

"A drought in the Horn of Africa, triggered by the same La Nina episode that caused massive flooding in Australia last year, is plunging millions of pastoralists closer to food insecurity," Greenwire/New York Times reports in a story looking at how the drought is affecting several areas in the region.

29 Apr 2011

Bayer expands sponsorship agreement with World Federation of Hemophilia

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and the World Federation of Hemophilia are announcing a three-year extension of Bayer's sponsorship agreement with WFH.

29 Apr 2011

Florida's Medicaid experiment continues to draw attention

News outlets report on the state's effort to shift care for Medicaid enrollees to managed care and how this move will impact specific populations such as pregnant women.

29 Apr 2011

Hospitals deal, others release profit reports

The Boston Globe reports on an upcoming merger between Beth Israel Medical Center and Milton Hospital, while Reuters reports that Community Health's profits exceeded expectations.

29 Apr 2011

Longer looks: Autism researcher's legacy; methadone for prisoners

Andrew Wakefield has become one of the most reviled doctors of his generation, blamed directly and indirectly, depending on the accuser, for irresponsibly starting a panic with tragic repercussions: vaccination rates so low that childhood diseases once all but eradicated here —whooping cough and measles, among them — have re-emerged, endangering young lives. And yet here he was in Texas, post-career-apocalypse, calmly discussing his work, and a crowd of around 250 people showed up to listen.

29 Apr 2011

Symposium to examine bidirectional relationship between oral health and diabetes

Some 65 percent of people in the US have periodontal disease, but that rate jumps to 90 percent among individuals with diabetes. While the links between oral disease and other systemic health issues are now well known, there continues to be little to no connection between medical and dental care for diabetic patients.

29 Apr 2011

More women using ‘morning after’ pill

Figures have revealed that the rate of women using emergency contraception in 2006-08 more than doubled, compared with the rate in the previous four to six years, before the pills were approved for use without a prescription. This comes from a study from the Guttmacher Institute.

29 Apr 2011

Belmont Village to inaugurate senior housing in Thousand Oaks

Belmont Village Senior Living will officially open its 20th community in August 2011 at 3680 N. Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. The company has opened an on-site Information Center to provide details about leasing and the care and amenities that will be available for residents.

29 Apr 2011

New innovative pilot project to combat surgical infections

Roughly one out of every 24 patients undergoing surgery acquires a surgical site infection. With 40 million operations performed in the U.S. each year, between 800,000 and 2 million individuals contract these infections annually.

29 Apr 2011

GHRI founder earns Baxter-AUPHA recognition for Health Services Research

In recognition of his significant contributions to studying how best to provide health care, Edward H. Wagner, MD, MPH, has been named the 2011 recipient of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research.

From Baxter International Inc. 29 Apr 2011

State roundup: Mass. House votes to limit collective bargaining rights

A week after lawmakers reached a compromise that leaves SustiNet backers short of their goals, leaders of the push for the proposed state-run health plan told supporters that the fight isn't over. House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, one party to the compromise, told the crowd that their goals would be achieved.

29 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: Taking the deficit seriously; despite low numbers, high-risk pools are succeeding

The deficit debate, now fully engaged, is also an evaluation of political seriousness. House Republican leaders have passed the test, supporting a politically risky budget that changes Medicare into a premium-support program and eventually returns federal spending to sustainable levels.

28 Apr 2011

AARP warns against Medicaid block grants

In a five-page policy paper issued Wednesday, the seniors lobby detailed how the proposal to transform the state-federal health care program for the poor into a block grant would, among other things, have an especially negative impact on low-income elderly people and people who depend on long-term care services.

28 Apr 2011