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Longer looks: A key Hagel mission is to cut military health costs; Medical lessons from a mother's death; How they price - and how we pay for -a $300,000 medicine

As David Brooks and Paul Wolfowitz and many others have shown, it's easy to frame our messy fiscal conundrum in these simple terms of guns vs. butter, or rather, guns vs grandma's buttery-yellow, super-pricey heart medication.

11 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: Rove says GOP unlikely to make much 'structural change' to entitlements; Roe anniversary and fading public understanding; Fast food workers' health insurance

As a matter of policy, rather than politics, it is no more sensible to draw the line at $620 billion in additional revenue over the next decade than to insist, as have some Democrats, that Medicare and Social Security remain untouched. The country's structural deficit poses too large a threat to future prosperity, and there is no politically or fiscally realistic scenario under which entitlement cuts alone can solve the problem.

11 Jan 2013

New guidelines to help fast track radiation oncology drug development

Researchers from the translational research program of the National Cancer Institute and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Therapy Group have developed new guidelines to help fast track the clinical development of targeted cancer drugs in combination with radiation therapy.

11 Jan 2013

Medicaid cost estimates trigger Florida flap

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's concerns about the health law's Medicaid expansion during a meeting Monday with HHS Secretary Sebelius is continuing to draw criticism that he is exaggerating the potential cost.

11 Jan 2013

Mothers' online message board questions about parenting infants and toddlers

Parenting infants and toddlers can be challenging, and for generations, mothers have turned to other moms for advice. Now, with the availability of the Internet, mothers are consulting each other using modern venues: online message boards. Research from the University of Missouri indicates online discussion boards provide safe environments for mothers to anonymously express child-rearing concerns and receive support from other moms.

11 Jan 2013

Former CMS head Berwick eyes run for Mass. governor

The former director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was a lightning rod for debate in Congress after Republicans accused him of supporting health care rationing, but he remains a respected health care expert.

11 Jan 2013

Federal officials scale back Maine's plan for Medicaid cuts

The Obama administration has denied Republican Gov. Paul LePage's idea to cut health coverage for more than 20,000 low-income residents, but let stand provisions that would cut benefits for another nearly 13,000 residents.

11 Jan 2013

Scientists develop playbook to end devastating impact of fibrotic diseases

A team of scientists has developed a playbook for ending the devastating impact of fibrotic diseases of the liver, lung, kidney, and other organs, which are responsible for as many as 45 percent of all deaths in the industrialized world.

11 Jan 2013

Insurers in California, elsewhere, propose steep rate hikes

California's insurance commissioner criticized Anthem Blue Cross for raising rates for small businesses but acknowledged he has no authority to block it. Medpage Today looks at double-digit increases in the individual and small group markets nationwide.

11 Jan 2013

Timely data about Americans' views on issues related to biomedical and health research

America Speaks, Volume 13, a compilation of public opinion polls commissioned by Research!America, features timely data about Americans' views on issues related to biomedical and health research.

11 Jan 2013

Whistleblowers, sheltered assets key in Medicaid fraud and abuse

Whistleblowers are an increasingly important part of detecting Medicaid fraud while GOP lawmakers look more closely at those who shelter their assets in order to qualify for the program's long-term care.

11 Jan 2013

KHN analyzes regional variations in Medicare quality payment program

Fort Wayne, Ind., fared the best among the major health care markets, the analysis finds. Meanwhile, a new study of a plan to tie Medicare's payments to the quality of doctors' services suggests many physicians may face penalties.

11 Jan 2013

Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network announces availability of three research awards

The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) has announced the availability of three research awards of $100,000 each, over a two-year period. Applications will be accepted from January 9 to March 6, 2013.

11 Jan 2013

Republicans take aim at Planned Parenthood's 'record' taxpayer support

Also making headlines, a group of House Democrats are pressing the White House to retain funding for mental health, and New York members of Congress are pushing to include cancer care in the 9/11 health program.

11 Jan 2013

Leveraging public-private partnerships to improve global health

"Although global health was historically dominated by U.N. agencies and bilateral organizations, new partnerships with the private sector have emerged since the 1990s," Jeffrey Sturchio, senior partner at Rabin Martin, and Adel Mahmoud, a professor at Princeton University, write in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

11 Jan 2013

Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than others

On average, Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than people in other high-income countries, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The report finds that this health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 and that even advantaged Americans -- those who have health insurance, college educations, higher incomes, and healthy behaviors -- appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations.

11 Jan 2013

Examining growing attention toward health systems strengthening

In an article published in the journal Health Policy and Planning, Tamara Hafner and Jeremy Shiffman of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at American University examine the factors behind why "many organizations involved in global health have come to direct attention and resources to the issue of health systems strengthening," especially since 2005, according to the abstract. They "construct a case history and analyze the factors shaping and inhibiting global political attention for health systems strengthening," the abstract states.

11 Jan 2013

Lower education level negatively impacts cancer screening rates

When researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues conducted a random telephone survey among blacks, whites and Hispanics in New York, Baltimore and San Juan, Puerto Rico, they found that Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to report that fear of being used as a "guinea pig" and lack of trust in medical professionals contribute in being unwilling to participate in cancer screenings.

11 Jan 2013

Global health spending levels remain unresolved under 'fiscal cliff' deal

The "fiscal cliff" deal agreed to by Congress "leaves suspended in mid-air the fates of programs essential to meeting the goals of continued global health responses -- including the implementation of PEPFAR's blueprint for an AIDS-free generation, and whatever promise the new Office of Global Health Diplomacy will offer," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

11 Jan 2013

Pakistan re-launches polio vaccination campaign amid increased security

"Pakistan's ambassador for polio eradication, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, re-launched the anti-polio campaign in Sindh province on Tuesday," Pakistan Today reports.

11 Jan 2013