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Medicare overpaid for prescription drugs with new generic versions because of delay in incorporating new prices into payment calculations

Medicare overpaid for irinotecan, a cancer drug sold by Pfizer under the name Campostar, by $6.5 million in March because of a delay in updating its pricing formula, according to a report released on Tuesday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times reports.

29 Aug 2008

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

Health care costs, other economic concerns prompt baby boomers to delay retirement

USA Today on Wednesday, as part of an ongoing series about retirement issues in the 21st century, examined how many of the 1.6 million baby boomers at age 62 who will become eligible for Social Security this year "have postponed plans to retire" because of health care costs and other economic concerns.

28 Aug 2008

Sen. Clinton expresses support for Presidential nominee Obama, discusses health care in convention speech

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) on Tuesday spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and his proposals on health care and other issues, Dow Jones reports. According to Dow Jones, in "making the case for Obama," Clinton cited their joint support for "renewing the middle class, ending the war in Iraq, creating a universal health care system and boosting clean energy."

28 Aug 2008

Number, percentage of uninsured U.S. residents decreased in 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau

The number and percentage of uninsured U.S. residents declined in 2007 to 45.7 million people, or 15.3% of the population, according to an annual U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday, USA Today reports (Cauchon/Appleby, USA Today, 8/27).

28 Aug 2008

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to adopt a non-binding party platform that includes language about health care, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in calling for guaranteed health care for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).

26 Aug 2008

Uninsured U.S. residents will spend $30 billion out-of-pocket on health care this year, while receiving $56 billion in uncompensated care

Uninsured U.S. residents will spend about $30 billion out-of-pocket on health care this year, while other parties -- mainly the government -- will spend about $56 billion on uncompensated care for the uninsured, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Health Affairs, the Wall Street Journal reports.

26 Aug 2008

45 million Americans are uninsured

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report today that estimates that 45.7 million Americans were uninsured in 2007 compared to 47 million in 2006. While the report shows a slight drop in the number of uninsured, it underscores the urgent need to expand access to health coverage, according to Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

26 Aug 2008

Lack of oversight by CMS to ensure private Medicare drug plans have anti-fraud programs in place 'risks significant use of funds,' according to GAO

CMS has not conducted audits to ensure that Medicare prescription drug plans have implemented programs to prevent fraud as required by law, a lack of oversight that "risks significant misuse of funds in this $39 billion program," according to a Government Accountability Office report scheduled for release on Monday, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports. For the report, GAO examined five unnamed plans to determine whether they met requirements to participate in the Medicare prescription benefit.

26 Aug 2008

Uninsured spend $30 billion out of pocket for health care

Americans who lack health insurance for any part of 2008 will spend $30 billion out of pocket for health services and receive $56 billion in uncompensated care while uninsured. Government programs pay for about three-quarters, or roughly $43 billion, of the uncompensated care bill, researchers report in today's Web Exclusive edition of Health Affairs. The researchers define uncompensated care as care received but not paid for fully by the uninsured or by a health insurer.

25 Aug 2008

79 million adults with medical bill problems or medical debt in U.S.

The proportion of working-age Americans who have medical bill problems or who are paying off medical debt climbed from 34 percent to 41 percent between 2005 and 2007, bringing the total to 72 million, according to recent survey findings from The Commonwealth Fund. In addition, 7 million adults age 65 and over also had problems paying medical bills, for a total of 79 million adults with medical bill problems or medical debt.

20 Aug 2008

Increased coordination between CMS, IHS could improve quality of care for American Indians, GAO report finds

Increased coordination between CMS and the Indian Health Service could improve the quality of health care provided to American Indians and Alaska Natives, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Monday, CQ HealthBeat reports.

13 Aug 2008

Kaiser roundup of health policy-related blog posts

While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics.

3 Aug 2008

Presidential candidate Nader promotes single-payer health care plan

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader (I) on Thursday criticized the U.S.'s two-party political system, which he says has been beholden to corporate interests that are preventing residents from accessing health care through a universal health care system, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

3 Aug 2008

Federal health plan, Medicare do not cover routine HIV screening as recommended by CDC

Medicare and federal health care plans that provide coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan do not offer payment for routine HIV screening of people ages 13 to 64 -- a practice that was recommended by CDC in 2006 -- Bloomberg reports.

3 Aug 2008

Abbott Labs agrees to settle lawsuit over antiretroviral Norvir pricing

Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday agreed to pay between $10 million and $27.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by HIV/AIDS advocates and other drug companies over an increase in the price of the company's antiretroviral drug Norvir, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 7/31).

3 Aug 2008

Senate Republicans to begin campaign against Medicare fraud

Senate Republicans have begun "piecing together a crusade" against Medicare fraud in an effort to make the issue an important part of the health care reform debate in the next Congress, CongressDaily reports.

29 Jul 2008

CQ's Armstrong discusses Medicare 'trigger' bill, health IT legislation, tobacco regulation, mental health parity measure

Drew Armstrong, a health reporter for CQ HealthBeat, discusses House efforts to delay action on a Medicare "trigger" bill, health information technology legislation, an FDA tobacco regulation bill and steps toward passing mental health parity legislation in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

29 Jul 2008

San Jose Mercury News examines health care advocacy business

The AP/San Jose Mercury News on Thursday examined the growth in the number of businesses that are "offering some form of advocacy services to medical consumers."

29 Jul 2008

New Alzheimer's studies show advances against different treatment targets

Two studies related to experimental Alzheimer's therapies reported positive results today at the 2008 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago.

28 Jul 2008

Medicare News and Research

Medicare overpaid for prescription drugs with new generic versions because of delay in incorporating new prices into payment calculations

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

Health care costs, other economic concerns prompt baby boomers to delay retirement

Sen. Clinton expresses support for Presidential nominee Obama, discusses health care in convention speech

Number, percentage of uninsured U.S. residents decreased in 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

Uninsured U.S. residents will spend $30 billion out-of-pocket on health care this year, while receiving $56 billion in uncompensated care

45 million Americans are uninsured

Lack of oversight by CMS to ensure private Medicare drug plans have anti-fraud programs in place 'risks significant use of funds,' according to GAO

Uninsured spend $30 billion out of pocket for health care

79 million adults with medical bill problems or medical debt in U.S.

Increased coordination between CMS, IHS could improve quality of care for American Indians, GAO report finds

Kaiser roundup of health policy-related blog posts

Presidential candidate Nader promotes single-payer health care plan

Federal health plan, Medicare do not cover routine HIV screening as recommended by CDC

Abbott Labs agrees to settle lawsuit over antiretroviral Norvir pricing

Senate Republicans to begin campaign against Medicare fraud

CQ's Armstrong discusses Medicare 'trigger' bill, health IT legislation, tobacco regulation, mental health parity measure

San Jose Mercury News examines health care advocacy business

New Alzheimer's studies show advances against different treatment targets

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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