Healthcare News

RSS

Precautions to ensure safety of children in and near water

Spending time in the water is a great way for kids to get exercise and cool off during the summer, but without taking the proper safety measures, hazards could be lurking around the pool.

10 Aug 2012

Health insurer rebates: Where has the money gone?

The New York Times reports that many consumers who get health coverage through their employers wonder what happened to the insurer rebates that were part of "the great health insurance giveback" under the health law. Also in the news, The Associated Press details who will be hit the hardest by the health law's tax provisions.

10 Aug 2012

BBC News examines malnutrition in India

BBC News reports on malnutrition in India, "an enduring problem Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a 'national shame.'" "[D]espite supposedly spending billions of rupees on poverty and food-relief programs -- and during a period of sustained economic growth -- the government has made only a dent in the problem," the news service writes.

10 Aug 2012

Agriculture, nutrition sectors must work together to fight undernutrition

"Agriculture and nutrition are deeply intertwined. Not only does increasing agricultural productivity have the potential to improve rural families' nutrition, but healthier and better-nourished farmers are more productive, earn more income, and contribute to further economic growth," Gary Darmstadt, Sam Dryden, and Emily Piwoz of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation write in the foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

10 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney campaign's response to ad incites conservatives; Opponents of law should give back their rebates

The Romney people are trying a little jujitsu on an ad from Obama backers that implies Mitt Romney is responsible for the death of an Indiana woman who lacked health insurance.

10 Aug 2012

Survey: 61 percent of employers expect health law to drive up health plan costs

The survey, conducted by the Mercer consulting firm, found that retail and hospitality companies are bracing for the biggest cost increases.

10 Aug 2012

U.S. visa policies kept sex workers, drug users from participating in AIDS 2012

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines how the "U.S. travel bans on people involved in sex work and people who have used illegal drugs ... kept many of the people at highest risk from coming to the [XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)]" in Washington, D.C., last month. "

10 Aug 2012

State roundup: Calif. officials near deal on workers' health costs

Hopes for a last-minute agreement to overhaul the state's $11-billion workers' compensation system are growing as the end of the 2012 legislative session approaches.

10 Aug 2012

GOP governors respond to CMS signs of flexibility regarding Medicaid expansion

CQ HealthBeat reports that some Republican state executives were not impressed with the decision by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials to allow states that proceed with expansion plans now to scale back their Medicaid programs later.

10 Aug 2012

Blog examines success of community-led sanitation program in Afghanistan

In this post in Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog, Abdul Qawi Qadiri, WASH coordinator for Baghlan Province in Afghanistan, writes about how a community-led program in the village of Baghalak has helped to reduce the incidence of infectious illnesses, particularly diarrheal diseases.

10 Aug 2012

VOA examines impacts of U.S. drought on global food security

VOA News examines the impacts of drought in the U.S. on global food security. "More than half the United States is experiencing the dual problems of too little rain and temperatures that are too high," the news service writes, adding, "Shenggen Fan, head of the International Food Policy Research Institute [IFPRI], said that's not only driving up prices, but contributing to price volatility as well."

10 Aug 2012

Plausible way to manipulate beneficial microbes in purified drinking water

Contrary to popular belief, purified drinking water from home faucets contains millions to hundreds of millions of widely differing bacteria per gallon, and scientists have discovered a plausible way to manipulate those populations of mostly beneficial microbes to potentially benefit consumers. Their study appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

10 Aug 2012

Sustaining focus on global hunger critical to improving transparency, accountability in fight against malnutrition

"Malnutrition is easily neglected by parents, communities and governments," Lawrence Haddad, director of the Institute of Development Studies, writes in the Guardian's "Poverty Matters Blog," adding, "The signs are not visible until very acute, the impacts are felt long after the food and infection cycle has played out -- and far beyond electoral cycles -- and the causes are often mistakenly attributed to something else."

10 Aug 2012

Doctors may underestimate importance of small set of risks that vex patients

Most informed consent disputes involve disagreements about who said what and when, not stand-offs over whether a particular risk ought to have been disclosed. But doctors may "routinely underestimate the importance of a small set of risks that vex patients" according to international experts writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.

10 Aug 2012

Philippines appeals for aid following widespread flooding in Manila

"Philippine authorities appealed Thursday for help in getting relief to two million people affected by deadly floods in and around the capital, warning that evacuation centers were overwhelmed," Agence France-Presse reports (Morella, 8/9).

10 Aug 2012

New York Times blog examines gap in surgical care in developing world

In this post in the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog, journalist Sarika Bansal reports on a gap in surgical care in developing countries, writing, "It is conservatively estimated that 56 million people in sub-Saharan Africa -- over twice the number living with HIV/AIDS -- need a surgery today," but, "across the developing world, surgical care often does not reach those who need it."

10 Aug 2012

African leaders, international community must act on commitments made at London family planning summit

In this UNFPA opinion piece, Babatunde Osotimehin, U.N. under-secretary-general and UNFPA executive director, and Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, reflect on last month's London Summit on Family Planning, where "leaders from 18 African countries made unprecedented commitments -- financially and politically -- to strengthen their family planning programs,"

10 Aug 2012

In Colorado, Obama focuses on women's health issues

Campaigning in the western swing state, President Barack Obama said his opponent, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, would take women's health care back to the 1950s.

10 Aug 2012

Even during August break, congressional health policy concerns draw headlines

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., is working to build support for new legislation to expand Medicare's nursing home coverage while Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., notes problems within the Indian Health Service. All the while, the health law's contraception coverage mandate continues to trigger disputes.

10 Aug 2012

IOM panel examines the promise and reality of telemedicine

Institute of Medicine experts find that the continued integration of telemedicine into the health care system will face challenges in the years ahead.

10 Aug 2012