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More Arizona Hispanics uninsured in 2005 than whites, new census analysis finds

In 2005, 34.6% of Hispanics in Arizona were uninsured, compared with 12.7% of whites, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday, Cronkite News/Arizona Republic reports (Konopken, Cronkite News/Arizona Republic, 10/10).

13 Oct 2008

Voters pick Obama to tackle nation's health care problems

Health care - cost and coverage - has been a hot topic among presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

13 Oct 2008

Pennsylvania Governor revises health insurance expansion proposal

In a letter to several state Senate Republicans on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) described two alternative funding mechanisms for a scaled-down version of his proposal to expand health coverage to more uninsured state residents, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

5 Oct 2008

Florida regulators try to determine specifics of new law that allows some adults to stay on parents' health policies up to age 30

A Florida state law allowing certain workers to keep dependents on their health insurance policies until age 30 was scheduled to take effect on Wednesday, but some of the specifics of the law still are being discussed, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

5 Oct 2008

Medicare stops paying for 10 reasonably preventable medical errors

Medicare starting Wednesday will no longer pay hospitals for additional care resulting from "reasonably preventable" errors, the New York Times reports.

5 Oct 2008

Newspapers examine efforts, reaction to easing ban on HIV-positive visitors to U.S.

Some HIV/AIDS advocates are "being cautious with their optimism" regarding new immigration rules for HIV-positive visitors as well as HHS efforts to remove HIV from the list of diseases barring entry into the U.S., the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Fulbright, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/2).

5 Oct 2008

Commonwealth Fund report examines health care proposals of major Presidential candidates

The health care proposal of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is more likely to improve health care affordability, accessibility, efficiency and quality than the plan of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), according to a report released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

5 Oct 2008

Vice Presidential debate includes references to health care

Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) and Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday during a debate at Washington University in St. Louis discussed health care and other proposals offered by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Washington Post reports.

5 Oct 2008

Office of personnel management estimates premiums for Federal employees will increase by 8% in 2009

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday announced that federal employees in 2009 will have to pay on average about 8% more for their health insurance premiums, the Washington Post reports. The projected increase is significantly higher than the 2.9% increase in 2008 and the 2.3% increase in 2007.

29 Sep 2008

Protecting patient privacy the new fashioned way

Protecting patient privacy has been recognized as the duty of health-care providers for aHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Actbout as long as doctors have seen patients. Since 1996, that duty became a legal obligation when Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

25 Sep 2008

Massachusetts lawmakers pass legislation to attract more primary care physicians to state as wait times for appointments increase

The average wait time for an appointment with a primary care physician in Massachusetts this year increased to 36 days from 34 days in 2007, according to an annual study by the Massachusetts Medical Society, the AP/Boston Herald reports (AP/Boston Herald, 9/22).

24 Sep 2008

Obama releases new ad criticizing McCain on health insurance regulation

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on Monday released an advertisement that criticized Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) for his views on health care and an article in which he discusses regulation of the health insurance market, the Boston Globe's "Political Intelligence" reports (Rhee, "Political Intelligence," Boston Globe, 9/22).

24 Sep 2008

Aetna allows independent physician panel to review rescissions

Starting on Thursday, Aetna will let an independent panel of physicians decide whether to rescind health insurance policies for sick plan members suspected of submitting false or incomplete information on their applications, the Los Angeles Times reports.

24 Sep 2008

Obama criticizes McCain on health insurance regulation

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) over the weekend criticized Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) for an article that McCain wrote about the health insurance market in an "obscure journal," the Washington Post reports.

22 Sep 2008

Premium, 'out-of-pocket' costs for U.S. workers to increase by 9% in 2009, according to study

The combined average premium and out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for a U.S. worker are projected to increase by nearly 9% in 2009, to $3,826 per year, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates, the Chicago Tribune reports.

22 Sep 2008

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

U.S. spending on health care services is "under pressure" as Americans are "cutting back on health care," an area of the economy "once thought to be invulnerable to recession," the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Sep 2008

Huckabee discusses need to focus on preventable health problems

Former Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday during the "State of Our Health" conference in Columbia, S.C., said that the U.S. must seek to decrease rates of obesity and other preventable health problems to help reduce health care costs, the AP/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

22 Sep 2008

Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss positions on reimportation, generics, biotechnology medications

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) have begun "reviewing their support" for prescription drug reimportation in response to recent cases of contaminated medications and other products from other nations, advisers to the candidates said on Thursday during the annual conference of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association in Washington, D.C., Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

22 Sep 2008

Studies look at Hispanics' access to U.S. health care system

Three studies published online on Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health look at how poverty, language and health insurance coverage affect access to care among foreign-born U.S. residents, particularly Hispanics, HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports.

22 Sep 2008

House Energy and Commerce Committee discusses options for health care reform amidst struggling economy

Lawmakers and witnesses on Thursday at a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing discussed several proposals to reform the U.S. health care system, CQ HealthBeat reports. Subcommittee Democrats said that the current economic downturn increased the need for health care reform.

22 Sep 2008

Health Insurance News and Research

More Arizona Hispanics uninsured in 2005 than whites, new census analysis finds

Voters pick Obama to tackle nation's health care problems

Pennsylvania Governor revises health insurance expansion proposal

Florida regulators try to determine specifics of new law that allows some adults to stay on parents' health policies up to age 30

Medicare stops paying for 10 reasonably preventable medical errors

Newspapers examine efforts, reaction to easing ban on HIV-positive visitors to U.S.

Commonwealth Fund report examines health care proposals of major Presidential candidates

Vice Presidential debate includes references to health care

Office of personnel management estimates premiums for Federal employees will increase by 8% in 2009

Protecting patient privacy the new fashioned way

Massachusetts lawmakers pass legislation to attract more primary care physicians to state as wait times for appointments increase

Obama releases new ad criticizing McCain on health insurance regulation

Aetna allows independent physician panel to review rescissions

Obama criticizes McCain on health insurance regulation

Premium, 'out-of-pocket' costs for U.S. workers to increase by 9% in 2009, according to study

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

Huckabee discusses need to focus on preventable health problems

Advisers to Presidential candidates discuss positions on reimportation, generics, biotechnology medications

Studies look at Hispanics' access to U.S. health care system

House Energy and Commerce Committee discusses options for health care reform amidst struggling economy

Event guide: 4th Extra-Hepatic Lipid-Based Nanoparticles Delivery Summit eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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