Health Care News and Research

RSS

Health bills might not protect some needy Americans, experts say

Kaiser Health News reports that the House's health overhaul proposal would allow some families "to obtain family coverage for $250 a month, with the government picking up the rest of the premium costs.

5 Sep 2009

Gawande on "rationing": Provokes fear, but won't happen in U.S. health care

Atul Gawande, the New Yorker staff writer and cancer surgeon, spoke with NPR's Morning Edition about the how the word "rationing" has been used - and misused - in the health care debate.

5 Sep 2009

Senate negotiators have 'productive' phone call, despite tensions

A group of Senate negotiators, known as the Gang of Six, held a teleconference today to discuss their efforts to craft a bipartisan reform bill in the Finance Committee, USA Today reports. The group, which includes three Republicans and three Democrats, went into the call on the heels of a rough patch, with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asking supporter for help defeating "Obama-care" and Democrats attacking Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., for making critical remarks.

5 Sep 2009

$2.4M approved for LHIN's Urgent Priorities and Aging at Home initiatives

At its meeting on August 26 2009, the South West LHIN Board approved a total of $2.4M for 2009/10 in one-time and base funding as part of its Urgent Priorities and Aging at Home initiatives. These initiatives and projects support the priorities identified in the LHIN's Integrated Health Service Plan (IHSP) and will help to address health care pressures within the South West LHIN.

5 Sep 2009

Opinion: Local drug production in developing countries; Obama's PEPFAR changes

The international community focuses on lowering drug prices as a means of improving access and "today its idea is local pharmaceutical production .

5 Sep 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Tactically, however, (former Alaska Gov. Sarah) Palin's move was pure brilliance: in but a few keystrokes she synthesized the underlying suspicion at least half of Americans have about a government role in health care delivery and created a visual metaphor from which the Obama White House and congressional Democrats still haven't fully recovered. So would it surprise you that Palin has a legitimate point? Well, sort of (John Edgell, 9/4).

5 Sep 2009

PPA bus tour raises awareness of patient assistance programs

The "Help is Here Express" bus tour will be stopping in Kentucky throughout the week of September 8 - 11 at various cities in order to help uninsured and financially-struggling Kentuckians access information on programs that provide prescription medicines for free or nearly free.

5 Sep 2009

Proposed subsidies to expand coverage may miss some families

Democrats' reform proposals would attempt to expand health coverage to uninsured middle and low-income families with new premiums to help buy insurance plans, Kaiser Health News reports. But for many families, those efforts may not go far enough.

5 Sep 2009

Taskforce formed to help speed licensure, vaccine distribution following RTS,S trials

GNA/Peace FM examines the recent creation of a local and international taskforce to help shorten the window of time between the completion of the clinical trial of the RTS,S malaria vaccine - currently being tested across Africa - and licensure and vaccine distribution. According to the news service, scientists recently launched a Phase III trial of the RTS,S vaccine in Kintampo, Ghana, which will include 1,200 children, between the ages of 6-12 weeks and 5-17 months.

5 Sep 2009

Impact of the patient centered medical home model on the health care reform

Health2 Resources announced today free access to its Web portal, H2RMinutes, a one-stop source for news about the patient centered medical home (PCMH). H2RMinutes (http://www.h2rminutes.com) is designed specifically to keep health care policymakers, providers, employers and suppliers informed about the impact that the PCMH model is having on the national health care reform debate.

5 Sep 2009

U.N. calls on Israel to ease Gaza embargo to enable water, sanitation service repairs

U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories Maxwell Gaylard "urged Israel to ease its embargo of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and allow in materials urgently needed to repair water and sanitation services," Agence France-Presse reports.

5 Sep 2009

President Obama reforming America's health care system to guarantee quality and affordable health care: RWDSU

For RWDSU members and their families Labor Day 2009 comes at both the worst of times and the best of times.

5 Sep 2009

Tightening the belt for health reform

Kaiser Health News asks: "If health care reform has to be put on a diet to pass this year, how much must the proposal slim down?" And officials are already considering the possible cuts.

5 Sep 2009

Obama to offer details, strive for consensus in upcoming speech

"With President Obama poised to give a health-care address Wednesday before a joint session of Congress, administration officials promised that he will deliver a detailed prescription for reform despite the risks of spelling out exactly where he stands," the Washington Post reports.

5 Sep 2009

Wisconsin city was unwitting birthplace of 'death panel' myth

A Wisconsin city has a pioneering program with Medicare reimbursements, which has essentially made it the birthplace of the "death panel" myth. The Washington Post reports on La Crosse: "This city often shows up on 'best places to live' lists, but residents say it is also a good place to die -- which is how it landed in the center of a controversy that almost derailed health-care reform this summer."

5 Sep 2009

Recent releases: PEPFAR in Zimbabwe; dengue in Thailand; blogs on improving U.S. foreign aid; examining allocations of health aid

The U.S. plans to support efforts to develop a sustainable health system in Zimbabwe and increase its capacity to treat people, Eric Goosby, U.S. global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR, said on Wednesday after a visit to the country with USAID and CDC officials, according to a press release from the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. Goosby said he is "optimistic" that the Zimbabwe PEPFAR team's experience will be used "to develop a response that fits the existing health infrastructure, supports it and reinforces it in a way that creates a durable and lasting response" (9/2).

5 Sep 2009

Safety net hospitals worry health reform poses threat

The Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News: "To all the knotty issues involved in health care overhaul, add one more: The proposals in Congress may threaten the funding and future of the nation's already-struggling safety net hospitals."

5 Sep 2009

Polls show mixed results for President's health care reform efforts

NPR reports: "President Obama's plan to make a rare address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday has been characterized as an all-in effort to shore up support for his attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system.

5 Sep 2009

Texas Senators higlight CMS about the delay in opening many local dialysis facilities

As Congress prepares to reconvene next week following an August recess period filled with wide-ranging local discussion of health care reform, the Texas kidney community expressed hope that the momentum and public desire for health care reform in Washington can help drive momentum and discussion in Texas about the vital need to open 38 end stage renal disease (ESRD) centers still sitting idle, which, if opened, will dramatically expand access to quality dialysis care and create good-paying local jobs.

5 Sep 2009

More PMTCT interventions needed, experts at WHO Regional meeting say

Experts participating in the 59th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa called for more interventions to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), New Times/allAfrica.com reports.

5 Sep 2009