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Living in America - you don't live quite as long!

According to the National Centre for Health Statistics, despite being one of the richest countries in the world, America has dropped to 42nd place in the world rankings of life expectancy.

15 Aug 2007

Why young adults become uninsured and how new policies can help

Since 2003, 16 states have enacted legislation requiring insurance companies to provide health insurance coverage to dependent young adults on their parents, health plans beyond age 18 or 19, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.

9 Aug 2007

Underinsured children in the U.S. increasingly at risk for not getting needed vaccines

Due to limited federal and state funding for vaccines, underinsured children in the United States are increasingly at risk for not getting needed vaccines, according to a new study published August 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

8 Aug 2007

Children in single-father families miss out on health care

Children living in the custody of single fathers are less likely to have access to affordable health care and visit the doctor less often compared to children living in families with a single mother or both parents.

8 Aug 2007

Congress takes major step toward equitable payment for nurse-midwifery services

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007 (CHAMP)" (H.R.3162), which expands health care coverage to pregnant women and their children and addresses a long-standing inequity in reimbursement for services of certified nurse-midwives (CNMs).

7 Aug 2007

Early-childhood intervention improves well-being through young adulthood

Minority preschoolers from low-income families who participated in a comprehensive school-based intervention fared better educationally, socially and economically as they moved into young adulthood, according to a report by University of Minnesota professors Arthur Reynolds and Judy Temple.

7 Aug 2007

Three million seniors could lose their Medicare Advantage coverage

Three million seniors could lose their Medicare Advantage coverage, while millions more would face benefit cuts and higher out-of-pocket health care costs under legislation passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives.

1 Aug 2007

Health care access problems in New Orleans

As the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall approaches, new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation of its household survey of people in the New Orleans area shows that more than four in 10 (43 percent) adults reported at least one health care access problem in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

31 Jul 2007

Critical for Congress to vote for health care for children and seniors

In a letter to leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce committees, the president of the American College of Physicians (ACP) expressed support for the Children's Health and Medicare Preotection (CHAMP) Act of 2007 (H.R. 3162).

26 Jul 2007

Tetrabenazine protects brain cells in Huntington's disease model

A drug used in some countries to treat the symptoms of Huntington's disease prevents death of brain cells in mice genetically engineered to mimic the hereditary condition, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

25 Jul 2007

Uninsured adults increase Medicare costs

While the overall cost-effectiveness of Medicare benefits have been much-debated, new data now show that people who were uninsured before receiving benefits at age 65 required more intensive and costlier care than those who had been privately insured prior to receiving Medicare.

12 Jul 2007

New Tax Foundation study of poverty levels

Almost 60 percent of U.S. children and many childless adults would qualify for government-provided health insurance under an expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) if plans popular on Capitol Hill become law, according to a new Tax Foundation study of poverty levels.

12 Jul 2007

Screening for behavioral health first step to getting treatment

Health plans seldom require screening for substance abuse and mental health in primary care even though it can improve detection, according to a new Brandeis University study published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

11 Jul 2007

Two-thirds of nursing home residents not getting regular eye care

Two-thirds of nursing home residents in a new UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) study had no record of or reference to an eye examination in their medical charts, although more than half were visually impaired.

11 Jul 2007

High vision impairment rates among nursing home residents - many do not get regular eye examinations

In a study of Alabama nursing home residents, more than half were visually impaired yet two-thirds had no record of or reference to an eye examination in their medical charts, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

10 Jul 2007

Competitive marketplace key to successful U.S. health care system

The U.S. health care system "is in need of serious reform, but the solution is not Cuban-style socialized medicine, as Michael Moore advocates in his new film 'Sicko,'" HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

10 Jul 2007

Democrats work to reauthorize, expand SCHIP while Bush administration tries to limit program growth

Congressional efforts to reauthorize SCHIP, which expires on Sept. 30, are "intensifying," but the Bush administration "has taken several steps to slow momentum for expansion of the program," the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 7/9).

10 Jul 2007

Live donors have genuine concerns with insurance problems

According to a new review in American Journal of Transplantation, people who donate their kidney or part of their liver to help someone else may themselves encounter difficulty with life and health insurance, despite insurance companies saying otherwise.

4 Jul 2007

Young adult smokers are highly motivated to quit

Despite tried and true methods to quit smoking, young adults do not take advantage of these proven smoking cessation treatments that can double their chances of quitting, University of Illinois at Chicago public health researchers report.

29 Jun 2007

Dangers of permitting smoking in the workplace

Offering alarming new evidence on the dangers of permitting smoking in the workplace, scientists have found that nonsmoking restaurant and bar employees absorb a potent carcinogennot considered safe at any levelwhile working in places where they had to breathe tobacco smoke from customers and co-workers.

29 Jun 2007