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Employer health care costs to increase by 8% in 2007

Employer health care costs last year increased by 8%, and companies expect the same rate of growth this year and in 2008, according to a survey released on Wednesday by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the AP/Detroit News reports.

25 Feb 2007

Medicare MA plan payments might increase by less than 3% in 2008

The estimated reimbursement rate increase for private Medicare Advantage plans in 2008 likely would not equal the increase in medical costs, according to Wall Street analysts, Dow Jones reports.

25 Feb 2007

Pharmaceutical companies overcharging federal health care programs

Pharmaceutical companies have been systematically overcharging federal health care programs, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, according to federal officials, members of Congress and an advocacy group, the Newhouse News/Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

25 Feb 2007

Federation of American Hospitals announces near universal health insurance proposal

As expected, the Federation of American Hospitals on Thursday announced a proposal that would require all U.S. residents to obtain health insurance, Reuters/Los Angeles Times reports (Reuters/Los Angeles Times, 2/23).

25 Feb 2007

Health care IT adviser resigns over lack of progress on privacy

Paul Feldman, chair of the privacy and security workgroup of the American Health Information Community, on Wednesday announced his resignation because the workgroup "has not made substantial progress towards the development of comprehensive privacy and security policies that must be at the core of a nationwide health information network," CQ HealthBeat reports.

25 Feb 2007

Alaska Medicare beneficiaries have trouble finding primary care physicians

Alaska Medicare beneficiaries experience greater difficulty than beneficiaries in other states in finding primary care physicians, and "evidence indicates" the problem is "worsening" amid a growing physician shortage and low federal reimbursements rates, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

25 Feb 2007

Tennessee's CoverRX program stops enrollment due to high demand

Enrollment has been suspended for CoverRX, Tennessee's new prescription drug program for low-income adults, as a result of high demand, the Tennessean reports.

25 Feb 2007

New way to identify which men need a second prostate biopsy

A researcher in the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute and Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center has found a way to identify which men need a second prostate biopsy because they may be harboring life-threatening prostate cancer even though they were given a clean bill of health after their first biopsy.

22 Feb 2007

Roman Catholic leaders criticize New York City for distributing condoms

Roman Catholic leaders in New York City on Thursday released a joint statement criticizing the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's efforts to deliver about 26 million condoms to organizations and venues in the city to help curb the spread of HIV, the New York Post reports.

22 Feb 2007

Project Ubuzima to continue trials of microbicide Dapirivine

Project Ubuzima, an international not-for-profit group conducting clinical trials of microbicides, last week "assured the public" it will continue its trial of the microbicide Dapirivine in Rwanda, the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports.

22 Feb 2007

Progress being made in efforts to stop female genital cutting in Mali

Organizations working in Mali to stop female genital cutting -- a practice sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital mutilation in which there is a partial or full removal of the labia, clitoris or both -- are beginning to make progress, Afrol News/Daily Nation reports.

22 Feb 2007

Some health experts concerned proponents of mandatory HPV vaccination are acting too soon

Some public health experts recently have expressed concern that proponents of human papillomavirus vaccination legislation -- including Merck, producer of the HPV vaccine Gardasil -- have acted "far too fast" and are "potentially undermining eventual prospects for the broadest possible immunization," the New York Times reports .

22 Feb 2007

Cyprus considers social welfare measures to offset declining fertility rate

Cyprus Minister of Labor and Social Insurance Antonis Vassiliou on Thursday announced the government is creating a series social welfare measures that might include paying couples who have three or more children $45,351 in an attempt to reverse the country's declining population, Agence France-Presse reports.

22 Feb 2007

First embryonic stem cell research grants approved under California Proposition 71

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee on Friday announced the approval of the first human embryonic stem cell research grants provided under Proposition 71, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

22 Feb 2007

Merck pledges to stop lobbying States on Gardasil

Merck has decided to suspend its campaign to lobby for state proposals that would mandate girls receive its human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil in light of opposition from some parents, patient advocacy groups and public health officials, the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Feb 2007

Increased demand, compensation for egg donors in U.S.

The AP/Boston Globe on Monday examined how increased demand for egg donations and compensation for donors in the U.S. has prompted more young women to donate their eggs. According CDC data, about 10,000 women donated eggs to federally monitored programs in 2004, compared with 3,800 women in 1996.

22 Feb 2007

India to open orphanages for female infants to reduce sex-selective abortion

The Indian government plans to set up orphanages in each regional district for female infants in an effort to curb sex-selective abortions, Renuka Chowdhury, minister of women and child development, said, the PTI/Hindustan Times reports.

22 Feb 2007

$70 milion pledged to help Zimbabwe address growing number of AIDS orphans

Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom on Thursday pledged $70 million to Zimbabwe to help the country address the growing number of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS-related illnesses, Reuters South Africa reports.

22 Feb 2007

South Africa to revise AIDS control program to address extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis

South Africa is taking steps to revise its HIV/AIDS control program in an effort to combat the spread of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, TB that is resistant to first- and second-line drugs, Nomonde Xundu, the Department of Health's chief director for HIV and TB, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

22 Feb 2007

Gates Foundation, Canadian Government announce initiative to develop HIV/AIDS vaccine

Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday announced a joint $139 million initiative to establish a research institute for the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports.

21 Feb 2007