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Federal money for COBRA has helped many but may soon end

Keeping health care after being laid off from a job is a serious concern for many people. COBRA is a health insurance program that allows people to temporarily continue their coverage, although the worker must pick up the cost of the plan. "That price, however, is one that all but a fraction of laid-off workers find much too high.

15 Oct 2009

Insurers' report backlash: Unified Dems, angry White House, dissenting experts

The insurance industry's study on the effects of health reform has incensed Democrats, given reformers a rallying point and inspired a wave of zippy one-liners in news reports.

15 Oct 2009

Medicaid enrollments jump but states are trying to cut costs

Several states are noting significant increases in Medicaid enrollment, even as they look to find ways to create savings in the programs.

15 Oct 2009

AAPA welcomes Senate Finance Committee's vote to approve the America's Healthy Future Act

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), representing 75,000 clinically practicing physician assistants (PAs) in the United States, applauds the Senate Finance Committee's vote to approve the America's Healthy Future Act. AAPA is committed to seeking health care reform legislation that provides the American people with access to quality, affordable, cost-effective health care.

15 Oct 2009

Reid: Repeal "damaging" antitrust exemptions for insurers

Leading Senate Democrats moved today to repeal a law protecting insurers from antitrust taboos in the wake of an industry-sponsored report that condemned a key reform proposal, the New York Times reports. Testifying before the Judiciary Committee as a witness, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, "Providing an exemption for insurance companies to antitrust laws has been anticompetitive and damaging to the American economy."

15 Oct 2009

Interest groups campaign against proposed health taxes

"Insurance companies, unions, medical device makers and others in the health care industry are furiously lobbying lawmakers to shift burdens onto someone else — anyone else — before they find themselves saddled with billions of dollars in taxes under new health care legislation," The Associated Press reports.

15 Oct 2009

New food reports highlight growing global hunger

Reforms are required to curb global hunger, which was already "growing" before the worldwide financial downturn, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a report, released in Rome, ahead of World Food Day on Friday, the BBC reports (10/14).

15 Oct 2009

ACRO urges Congress to include clinical testing in biosimilars legislation

The Association of Clinical Research Organizations has called on Congress to ensure that any biosimilars legislation it passes requires clinical testing to ensure patient safety, efficacy, purity and potency. ACRO’s recommendations were included in a letter to the congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care policy.

15 Oct 2009

House bill would extend parents' coverage for young adults

In a new development in the House health bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has agreed to insert language allowing young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan through the age of 26.

15 Oct 2009

News outlets examine efforts to control TB in South Africa

Agence France-Presse examines the ongoing fight to control the spread of tuberculosis in South Africa. "The World Health Organisation estimates almost one percent or 461,000 South Africans develop TB annually, with government figures showing that the disease was the country's leading natural cause of death in 2006," the news service writes.

15 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: 'Delivering as one'; syringe vending machine; hospital preparedness

Rwanda will host a three-day U.N. meeting next week to discuss ways to improve the U.N.'s ability to "provide development assistance in a more coordinated way," the New Times/allAfrica.com reports. "Rwanda is one of the 8 pilot countries implementing the U.N. 'Delivering as One' initiative, as part of the body's reform process," the publication writes. Participants in the meeting will share their experiences and lessons learned from the program since its implementation in 2007 (Gathoni, 10/14).

15 Oct 2009

IMF policies harm Kenyan health system, report says

According to a report released Tuesday, policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, "denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare," Business Daily reports.

15 Oct 2009

Dramatic effects on Norway's health service

If we continue to use our hospitals in the same way as we do now, the health service in 2030 will need to employ every second young person in the country and increase hospital bed capacity by 5000.

15 Oct 2009

HealthPartners to establish new clinic in Minnesota

HealthPartners today announced that it will open a new 5,000 square foot clinic at 7500 80th Street south in Cottage Grove, Minn. in early 2010.

15 Oct 2009

DNA Precision offers services for genetic research and healthcare research

DNA Precision has begun offering services for genetic research and healthcare research. These include gene discovery, Agilent ® microarray processing and bioinformatics. DNA Precision is a division of EcoArray, Inc., a 7-year old environmental genomics firm in Gainesville, FL.

15 Oct 2009

New York Times examines HIV stigma in Vietnam

The New York Times examines the story of Vietnamese orphans from the Mai Hoa AIDS Center who were turned away from a local primary school because they are HIV-positive. Though the principal at the primary school agreed to accept the children, the parents of the other students at the school refused to allow their children in classes with the orphans, leading the principal to turn the students away.

15 Oct 2009

Fero Industries to acquire Pyro Pharmaceuticals

Fero Industries, Inc. (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a Definitive Agreement to acquire Pyro Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Irvine, California.

15 Oct 2009

Less expensive anti-rejection drug as effective as more expensive drug, says study

A newer, less expensive drug used to suppress the immune system and prevent organ rejection in kidney and pancreas transplant patients works just as well as its much more expensive counterpart, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

15 Oct 2009

Error in CT scan machine led to radiation overdoses in LA hospital

More than 200 CT scans delivered eight times the normal dose of radiation to potential stroke patients in a Los Angeles area hospital since February 2008 because of a scanner reset, The Los Angeles Times reports.

15 Oct 2009

Analysis: Support for health reform drops if people think it'll cost them more

"Democrats in Washington are navigating treacherous electoral terrain as they craft healthcare reform legislation, judging by new polls that show Americans pulled by conflicting desires on healthcare," according to the CSM.

15 Oct 2009