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Health coverage issues around the country

News from around the country includes a lawsuit over Medicaid in Alaska, a health care mandate in California and the future of a multimillion-dollar contract for uninsured children in Mississippi.

24 Aug 2009

Dominique Wilkins urges seniors to undergo diabetes screening test

Dominique Wilkins, NBA Hall-of-Famer and advocate for healthier living, visited Towne Club today to create awareness of the fact that seniors at risk for diabetes can get a free diabetes screening test in their health care provider's office.

24 Aug 2009

The Health care reform bill and Medicare regulation cut Medicare-funded nursing home care in Texas by $2.7 billion

A new American Health Care Association (AHCA) analysis of the pending U.S. House health care reform bill, combined with the impact of a recently-enacted Medicare regulation cutting Medicare-funded nursing home care by $12 billion over ten years, finds seniors in Texas requiring nursing and rehabilitative care will face total funding cuts of more than $2.7 billion over that same time period, which equals the 4th-highest state cut across the 50 states.

24 Aug 2009

Obama, dems plot new health reform strategy

Though they've spent years "testing and refining their message," Democrats are back at the beginning, plotting a new strategy to sell health reform, Politico reports.

24 Aug 2009

Pharmaceutical manufacturers increase lobbying

The Associated Press reports: "The pharmaceutical industry's primary trade group spent nearly $6.2 million lobbying in the second quarter on health care reform provisions, confirmation of two top federal officials and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

24 Aug 2009

Labor unions boost campaign contributions in N.C.

The Charlotte Observer reports: "Labor unions trying to shape the nation's health care debate have poured millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of N.C. congressional lawmakers in recent years.

24 Aug 2009

The California Chronic Care Coalition launches new website to share information on chronic conditions

The California Chronic Care Coalition (CCCC) continues to advance its work toward meaningful and responsible health care reform with the launching of its consumer website: www.chroniccareca.org. Designed to help build a healthier California, the website is aimed at the more than 16 million Californians with chronic conditions such as Asthma, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Heart disease, Epilepsy and Multiple Sclerosis.

24 Aug 2009

Chicago health conference to focus on health care reforms and expandng access to care for the uninsured and jobless during recession

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be among top federal officials to address a national conference of Community, Migrant and Homeless Health Center representatives from across the country.

24 Aug 2009

Mount Sinai Medical Center physicians pioneer a non-surgical procedure for treating LAA

Physicians at The Mount Sinai Medical Center were the first in the country to perform a non-surgical procedure using sutures to tie off a left atrial appendage (LAA), which is the source of blood clots leading to stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib). AFib is the most common sustained heart-rhythm disorder in the United States.

24 Aug 2009

Some basis seen for senior citizens' anxieties

Some seniors, including some who voted for President Barack Obama, are concerned that health care reform could cut some of their Medicare benefits.

24 Aug 2009

CIGNA Health Awareness Tour team to help raise money and awareness for cancer prevention

Nearly 100 members of the CIGNA Health Awareness Tour team will walk, bike and run into Blue Bell Sunday to help raise money and awareness for cancer prevention.

24 Aug 2009

Lancet examines dengue fever in Mexico

Lancet World Report examines the factors contributing to a steady uptick in the number of dengue fever cases in Mexico over the past decade. Compared to the year 2000, when "there were 1,781 reported cases … Last year, the number totalled 33,000, according to Mexico's Public Health Department. And confirmed cases this year have already surpassed 2008 figures by 15%," according to the journal.

24 Aug 2009

Estimating the number of uninsured

NPR reports that 46 million represents "roughly 15 percent of the U.S. population," and the number comes from 2007 Census Bureau estimates. "Although the number of uninsured has grown slowly in the past several years, it's speeding up, mainly because employment has declined drastically since the Census report. And most of us get our insurance through our jobs."

23 Aug 2009

WHO recommends against using homeopathic treatments for HIV, TB, malaria, influenza, infant diarrhea

The WHO has warned that people with conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria should not rely on homeopathic treatments, the BBC reports. The agency was responding to a June letter (full text available here), in which researchers from the Voice of Young Science Network called on the agency "to condemn the promotion of homeopathy for treating TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV."

23 Aug 2009

'Explosion' of H1N1 cases likely, WHO Says

In the coming months, countries should prepare for an "explosion" in new cases of H1N1 (swine) flu until peak transmission of the virus is reached, WHO Western Pacific Director Shin Young-soo told a symposium of health officials gathered in Beijing Friday, the Associated Press reports.

23 Aug 2009

Doctors' strange economic role

Doctors play an unusual role in the economy. "When asked what profession, economically speaking, the doctor resembles most, many economists say auto mechanic — because of… the information problem," NPR reports.

23 Aug 2009

Democrats consider endgame strategies as bipartisan reform hopes fade

The Associated Press reports that as hopes for a bipartisan agreement on health care reform fade, Democrats are considering many ways to pass reform unilaterally and all of them come with problems.

23 Aug 2009

Daschle advising Obama, health industry on reform

The Washington Post: "Former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle's visit to the Oval Office on Friday, at the invitation of President Obama, was more than just a meeting between two loyal friends and political allies. It also served as a reminder of what might have been."

23 Aug 2009

Brits defend National Health Service against U.S. criticism

The United Kingdom's National Health System enters into the health care debate amid comparisons of the British and American health care systems. Meanwhile, British politicians defend NHS against critics.

23 Aug 2009

Dems in conflict on health reform options, Mccain defends GOP 'end of life' claims

The Associated Press: "Some lawmakers have suggested that a separate bill with changes that are supported by Republicans and Democrats would be one route toward progress on the health care overhaul. But a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, says he doesn't see how lawmakers could get two health care bills through Congress and coordinate them well." Conrad spoke on CBS' "Face The Nation" (8/23).

23 Aug 2009