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UIC Hispanic Center of Excellence receives $3.4M HHS grant to address disparities in minority health care

The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine has received a five-year, $3.4 million federal grant to address disparities in minority health care.

21 Sep 2012

Targeting companies that cut health care costs

Reuters reports that the health care sector will be "a focal point" for years to come and looks at investments in companies that are likely to make money by helping to reduce costs. Meanwhile, Kaiser Health News examines whether competitive health care models like Medicare Part D and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program are taming costs as effectively as supporters suggest.

21 Sep 2012

Health law, Medicare both hot issues in House and Senate races

News outlets examine how health issues are playing out in a House race in Pennsylvania and a Senate race in Massachusetts.

21 Sep 2012

Viewpoints: AARP's agenda on health law; Cuccinelli 'demeaning' Va. AG's office; Government's health care role

President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak Friday via satellite to a convention sponsored by AARP. ... here are five facts you're unlikely to hear from the president, or AARP, about how each treats seniors: First, while AARP poses as a disinterested senior advocate, it functions as an insurance conglomerate, with a liberal lobbying arm on the side. AARP depends on profits, royalties and commissions to make up more than 50 percent of its annual revenues.

21 Sep 2012

Broker bill gets House Energy and Commerce Committee OK

The House panel approved legislation that would modify the health law's medical loss ratio provision to protect the earnings of insurance brokers and agents.

21 Sep 2012

Political cartoon: 'Auction Block?'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Auction Block?" by Jeff Danziger.

21 Sep 2012

Bipartisan report details health care cost drivers

The Bipartisan Policy Center issued a report yesterday detailing the reasons behind the nation's spiralling health care costs.

21 Sep 2012

State roundup: Big changes ahead for Mich. Blue Cross; End-of-life planning programs spreading; Texas mental health treatment shortage

The Michigan Legislature took its first steps Wednesday toward tackling a proposed overhaul of the state's largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Joe Hune introduced bills that would end the nonprofit health insurer's tax-exempt status and align it with competitors.

21 Sep 2012

USA Today/Gallup Poll shows Obama more trusted on Medicare

Other polls indicate President Barack Obama is faring well in some swing states. GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign hopes to shift the focus to federal spending and Medicare issues as Obama and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan speak today to the AARP.

21 Sep 2012

Administration: Health law led Medicare beneficiaries to save $4.5 billion on prescriptions

USA Today reports the Obama administration is annoucing that, because of provisions in the health law Medicare's prescription drug doughnut hole, Medicare beneficiaries experienced considerable savings.

21 Sep 2012

First Edition: September 21, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about recent polling results indicating that, despite GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's efforts to frame the Medicare debate, President Barack Obama still has the advantage on this issue.

21 Sep 2012

Death rates after surgery found to be too optimistic

National estimates of death following general surgery have been too optimistic, suggests the first large-scale study to explore surgical outcomes across Europe published in the first Article in a special Lancet theme issue on surgery.

21 Sep 2012

USAID releases new issue of 'FrontLines'

The September/October issue of USAID's "FrontLines" focuses on the agency's efforts to "engag[e] youth around the world and how it is embracing mobile technology," according to an overview of the issue in USAID's "IMPACTblog."

21 Sep 2012

Romney touts his health care credentials

During a forum hosted by Univision, the GOP presidential nominee embraced his role as the "grandfather of Obamacare." Elsewhere on the camapign trail, the Service Employees International Union launches a Medicare attack ad against the Romney-Ryan campaign and other Republicans.

21 Sep 2012

IRIN examines child nutrition, stunting in Asia

"Stunting is a key factor holding back progress on children's well-being, and Asia faces a significant challenge with millions of children under five stunted," according to Save the Children's 2012 Child Development Index (CDI), IRIN reports.

21 Sep 2012

NCDs should be considered a 'human rights concern'

Noting that "non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill four times the number of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that they do in high-income countries," Benn Grover, a health communications specialist who manages policy for the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, and Felicia Knaul, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, write in the Huffington Post Blog.

21 Sep 2012

Presidential campaigns vie for specific voting blocs

The New York Times reports that young adults are up for grabs in several key states. Meanwhile, both candidates are courting Hispanics. The Washington Post reports that President Barack Obama is hoping women voters give him the edge in Virginia.

21 Sep 2012

CMS eyes improper Medicare payments for power wheelchairs

A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday that 80 percent of this type of fee-for-service Medicare claim should not have been paid.

21 Sep 2012

CBO: More people than expected will face health law's penalty

The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that nearly six million people will face penalties for not getting health insurance as a result of the 2010 health law's individual mandate.

21 Sep 2012

Blogs examine progress on NCDs one year after U.N. summit

On the one-year anniversary of the U.N. High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), two blogs examine what has happened since. In the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the center, and Laura Khan of Princeton University ask, "[W]here has the attention and commitment to NCDs gone?" They say "subsequent attention and action after the NCD Summit last year has been paltry," and they explore some reasons why this might be the case.

21 Sep 2012