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New report urges expanded health coverage for children

The American Public Health Association (APHA) today released its recommendations for expanding health coverage to uninsured children through Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a successful federal and state joint program that is set to be reauthorized this year.

13 Mar 2007

Groundbreaking study of anorexia

New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Westchester Division (NYPH) will participate in a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) clinical research study of anorexia nervosa, the serious and potentially lethal eating disorder that mostly afflicts teenage girls.

12 Mar 2007

Leavitt promotes 'four cornerstones' initiative in Wisconsin

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Wednesday in a speech to Milwaukee-area business and health system leaders promoted the Bush administration's Value-Driven Health Care Initiative, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

11 Mar 2007

States face SCHIP funding shortfalls as Congress debates program's funding, formula, eligibility

Fourteen states this year are facing federal budgetary shortfalls for SCHIP because of inflation, higher enrollment levels and program expansions, USA Today reports. Democratic lawmakers want to provide an additional $745 million through a bill funding the Iraq war to maintain coverage levels through the end of this fiscal year.

11 Mar 2007

High-deductible health plans could lead to less preventive care

High-deductible health plans could lead people -- especially children in low-income families -- to forgo or delay health care, according to a policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics published on Monday in Pediatrics, Reuters reports.

8 Mar 2007

Baucus to draft new legislation that would allow small business health insurance pools

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is working on new legislation that would permit small businesses to jointly negotiate health plan rates and also give them tax incentives for offering employees coverage, according to a Democratic aide to the committee, CongressDaily reports.

8 Mar 2007

Blagojevich proposes health coverage expansion

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on Sunday unveiled a plan to expand access to health insurance to the 1.4 million uninsured state residents at an estimated cost of $2.1 billion per year, the Chicago Tribune reports.

8 Mar 2007

Democrats, Republicans disagree on funding for SCHIP reauthorization

As Congress begins considering reauthorization of SCHIP, Republican and Democratic lawmakers continue to disagree about funding levels and enrollment eligibility, the Washington Post reports.

5 Mar 2007

Bush's health care proposal would increase tax revenues by $526 billion through 2017

President Bush's health insurance proposals for the tax code would increase tax revenues by $526 billion through 2017, according to a preliminary estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation that "is stunningly different from the administration's estimates as well as those from other independent analysts," the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

4 Mar 2007

Uninsured children admitted to hospitals are twice as likely to die as insured children

Children who lack health insurance are twice as likely to die from their injuries after being hospitalized as children who are insured, according to a new report released by Families USA, USA Today reports. For the report, researchers led by J. Mick Tilford of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences analyzed government data from 2000 and 2003.

4 Mar 2007

California Senator Sheila Kuehl reintroduces single-payer health system legislation

California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D) on Tuesday for the third time introduced legislation (SB 840) that would eliminate health insurers and create a state-run, single-payer health insurance system, the Los Angeles Times reports.

1 Mar 2007

President Bush in weekly radio address promotes proposal to implement standard tax deductions for health insurance coverage

President Bush during his weekly radio address on Saturday promoted his proposal to offer a standard tax deduction for health insurance, Bloomberg/Bergen Record reports.

27 Feb 2007

Governors criticize provisions on SCHIP in fiscal year 2008 budget request from President Bush

A bipartisan group of governors at the National Governors Association winter meeting on Sunday asked Congress to provide $765 million in supplemental funds for SCHIP, the Bergen Record reports (Jackson, Bergen Record, 2/26).

27 Feb 2007

State proposals for universal health insurance unlikely to succeed

Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) recently released a universal health care proposal that incorporates "the bad idea of raising taxes on employers and forcing individuals to purchase insurance," but before "others get carried away with this model, they should take a look at its most recent manifestation in Massachusetts," Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

27 Feb 2007

State actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals

The following highlights recent news of state actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals. Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases.

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

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

Lawmakers announces proposal to extend health insurance to more children

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) on Friday announced a proposal that would extend health insurance to an additional nine million U.S. children, the Chicago Tribune reports

21 Feb 2007

Bush Administration has no overall strategy to protect patient privacy in electronic health records

The Bush administration has no overall strategy to ensure patient privacy as it promotes expanded use of electronic health records among insurers, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the New York Times reports.

21 Feb 2007

Maryland universal coverage plan estimated to cost $2.5 billion

The Maryland Health Care Commission on Thursday said its proposal to provide health coverage to nearly all of the state's uninsured residents would cost $2.5 billion annually, the Baltimore Sun reports.

21 Feb 2007

Health Insurance News and Research

New report urges expanded health coverage for children

Groundbreaking study of anorexia

Leavitt promotes 'four cornerstones' initiative in Wisconsin

States face SCHIP funding shortfalls as Congress debates program's funding, formula, eligibility

High-deductible health plans could lead to less preventive care

Baucus to draft new legislation that would allow small business health insurance pools

Blagojevich proposes health coverage expansion

Democrats, Republicans disagree on funding for SCHIP reauthorization

Bush's health care proposal would increase tax revenues by $526 billion through 2017

Uninsured children admitted to hospitals are twice as likely to die as insured children

California Senator Sheila Kuehl reintroduces single-payer health system legislation

President Bush in weekly radio address promotes proposal to implement standard tax deductions for health insurance coverage

Governors criticize provisions on SCHIP in fiscal year 2008 budget request from President Bush

State proposals for universal health insurance unlikely to succeed

State actions on human papillomavirus vaccine proposals

Federation of American Hospitals announces near universal health insurance proposal

Tennessee's CoverRX program stops enrollment due to high demand

Lawmakers announces proposal to extend health insurance to more children

Bush Administration has no overall strategy to protect patient privacy in electronic health records

Maryland universal coverage plan estimated to cost $2.5 billion

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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