Health Care News and Research

RSS

Also in Global Health News: Asia-Pacific reproductive health; developing country medical waste disposal; draft bill in Uganda; diarrhea deaths in China

"China has called on Asia-Pacific countries to attach greater importance to population and family planning and put more funds into the reproductive health and family planning programmes," the Daily Times reports (10/19).

19 Oct 2009

Campaign seeks to hold governments accountable to meeting MDG targets

Inter Press Service examines the Stand Up Take Action campaign, which took place October 16-18 to highlight the Millennium Development Goals' [MDG] 2015 deadline.

19 Oct 2009

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

"The American people deserve facts and a fair discussion of what's most important as Congress tackles healthcare reform. AARP and the American Medical Association are committed to preserving the best of our current system and to working to improve it with policies that expand coverage, improve quality and make insurance more affordable" (Jennie Chin Hansen and J. James Rohack, 10/19).

19 Oct 2009

Health providers make cuts, changes and gambles in face-off with economy

News reports this weekend highlight several developments as medical providers respond to changing economic forces, and in some cases, clashes of personality.

19 Oct 2009

White House hedging bets on public option in health bills

The Associated Press "The White House is waiting for Congress to settle on a final health care bill, even though President Barack Obama has a clear preference in favor of at least one specific — the much-debated public option, advisers said. Obama, however, will not demand that legislation include a government-run insurance plan intended to drive down costs through competition with private insurers, they said."

19 Oct 2009

Analysts urge Democrats to tailor health reform pitch to women

Politico reports that provisions addressing women's concerns about health care may help Democrats build public support for their overhaul plans and grease the passage of a bill.

19 Oct 2009

Workers to pay more for health care next year, consultants say

Co-pays and deductibles are likely to increase in 2010 for employees, Hewitt Associates, a consulting group, says.

19 Oct 2009

SEIU opts out of ad campaign opposing tax on 'Cadillac' plans

The healthcare negotiator for one of nation's most powerful unions made clear that it opposes a tax on high-cost-insurance plans, despite abstaining from an multi-union campaign objecting to the plan," The Hill reports. "The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was not among the 27 unions to sign on to an ad criticizing a proposed tax on 'Cadillac' insurance plans that was included in the Senate Finance Committee healthcare bill."

19 Oct 2009

Young adults struggle finding health care coverage

Young adults represent the largest group of uninsured people while they also increasingly report mental health issues in college.

19 Oct 2009

Medicaid expansion could hit struggling state budgets

"The government programs that provide health care to the poor would expand to cover nearly one in five Americans under health insurance legislation pending in Congress, putting pressure on federal and state budgets," USA Today reports.

19 Oct 2009

Is 'model health system' Geisinger replicable elsewhere?

Geisinger Health System, in central Pennsylvania, has been widely hailed as a model for health reform by leading Democrats including President Obama, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. But, its success may hinge on "a rare combination of factors" including "a relative lack of competition, its stable patient base, and the fact that its 800 doctors are on salary," as well as an in-house pharmacy and insurance plan that covers one-third of its patients.

19 Oct 2009

Health reform bills may not protect consumers from treatment denials

"Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions," The Los Angeles Times reports.

19 Oct 2009

Insurers, other health businesses examine effect of reform bills

Health care industry CEOs are analyzing their wins and losses in the bills being considered in Congress.

19 Oct 2009

Campaign to educate men and women about fibromyalgia

Women and men have opposing views on many topics, and it turns out that they also have different takes on chronic pain.

19 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 19, 2009

Five Rivers Medical Center in Pocahontas, Ark., needs help to get a highly coveted "critical access" hospital designation - and the extra Medicare funding that comes with it. Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, intends to provide it.

19 Oct 2009

Mcconnell: GOP will seek amendments to offset cost of Medicare physician pay fix

"U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Thursday that Senate Republicans will offer amendments to offset the cost of a 10-year, $247 billion Medicare physician payment bill set for debate next week," according to The Wall Street Journal. The GOP amendments, he said, would "either pay for a one-year fix for Medicare physician payment rates - set to drop 21% in January - or a 10-year fix, possibly paid for with unused funds from the $787 billion fiscal stimulus measure passed earlier this year."

19 Oct 2009

Pelosi has tough words for insurers as she pushes public plan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is joining liberal Democrats in the House on warning insurers that health care reform could mean lower profit, more fees and new competition from government.

19 Oct 2009

Minnesota Governor proposes to let residents buy out-of-state insurance and other state headlines

News outlets report on a variety of state health stories including insurance in Minnesota, premiums and out-of-pocket costs in Massachusetts and high premiums for Blue Sheild in California.

19 Oct 2009

Readmission of elderly patients after colectomy strongly linked with mortality: Study

Readmission to a hospital after standard surgical treatment for colon cancer is far more common than suspected for elderly patients according to researchers who presented their findings at the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Results from the first study to determine nationwide readmission rates following colectomy [surgical removal of malignant disease and part of the colon] in the Medicare population revealed that nearly one in nine patients over the age of 65 was readmitted within 30 days.

19 Oct 2009

Breakthrough discovery by scientists may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease

A breakthrough discovery by scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease that actually removes amyloid plaques-considered a hallmark of the disease-from patients' brains.

19 Oct 2009