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Examining Romney's 'shift' on birth control mandate, other campaign news

Mitt Romney's conservative credentials on birth control are examined through the lens of a Massachusetts state law similar to the birth control mandate President Obama has proposed. In other campaign news, Rick Santorum continues his "Romneycare" assault, and The Associated Press analyzes how Obama's birth control compromise affects the campaign.

14 Feb 2012

Ugandan government announces $3M plan to fight nodding disease

"The growing threat of nodding disease and increased pressure for action has spurred the Ugandan government to announce a $3 million (USD) plan to address the mystery illness," Global Health Frontline News reports, adding, "Initial funds will be used to set up screening centers and treat those affected in Pader, Kitgum, and Lamwo districts in northern Uganda as early as this month."

14 Feb 2012

WHO warns battle against leprosy not over in Western Pacific region

"The World Health Organization warned Monday that the battle against the age-old scourge of leprosy is not yet over, with more than 5,000 new cases reported yearly in the Western Pacific, where the disease was declared eliminated in 1991," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (2/13).

14 Feb 2012

Political cartoon: "Love, Mitch?" by John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh perspective on health policy developments with "Love, Mitch?" By John Cole, Scranton Times-Tribune

14 Feb 2012

Switching from calorie-laden beverages to water can help lose weight

Making a simple substitution of water or diet soft drinks for drinks with calories can help people lose 4 to 5 pounds, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows.

14 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 14, 2012

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include news on congressional package to payroll taxes and stop a Medicare payment cut and analysis of President Barack Obama's budget.

14 Feb 2012

Tips to reduce car accident risk among teens

Teenage drivers are four times more likely than an adult driver to get into a car accident according to the Centers for Disease Control. The elevated risk comes in wake of a young driver's inexperience coupled with the natural tendency to want to test or break the rules. As a car accident lawyer in San Diego, there are many cases that come across my desk involving young, inexperienced drivers.

14 Feb 2012

Pakistan, Afghanistan form joint action plan against polio

Pakistan and Afghanistan, "the world's two worst polio-affected countries," have "decided to form a joint block under the World Health Organization to eradicate the infectious disease -- which causes motor paralysis and the atrophy of skeletal muscles, often resulting in permanent physical disability or deformity -- by December 2012," Inter Press Service reports.

14 Feb 2012

Administration brief defends Medicaid expansion

Administration attorneys defended on Friday the part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law that expands the Medicaid program for the poor and disabled and said Congress has the power to set the terms under which it will disburse funds to the states.

14 Feb 2012

E-cars in China could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles

Electric cars have been heralded as environmentally friendly, but findings from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers show that electric cars in China have an overall impact on pollution that could be more harmful to health than gasoline vehicles.

14 Feb 2012

Tax increases, Medicare cuts expected in Obama budget

President Obama will release his budget plan Monday, which is already getting its share of Republican detractors. In it, Obama will propose tax increases on the wealthy and $360 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, mostly in the form of payment cuts to providers and drug companies.

14 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Rationing health care, Jindal and hospitals, Romney vs. past

It is time to begin open discussions about how to deal with expensive, minimally effective, medical care with patients, families, professionals and ethicists and not the medical industrialists who gain from prolonging life at every expense.

14 Feb 2012

Shortage of primary care doctors raises concerns

As the administration moves toward implementation of the health law, officials are seeking to bolster the number of primary care doctors. Also, hospitals are concerned about a possible measurement that would grade their efforts on patient safety.

14 Feb 2012

Two research studies receive HSR Impact Award from AcademyHealth

Research studies that helped shine a light on the impact of health reform in Massachusetts and industry influence on health care, respectively, were jointly awarded the AcademyHealth HSR (Health Services Research) Impact Award at the 2012 National Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

14 Feb 2012

Large NTD public-private partnership has greater potential than smaller efforts

The announcement at the end of January of the largest coordinated effort to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) provides "more reason to hope that we may soon see a future free of these diseases," Adetokunbo Lucas, former director of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, writes in a Daily Monitor opinion piece.

14 Feb 2012

N.Y. Times poll finds majority of Americans say taxes will exceed benefits

A majority of Americans say they expect to pay more in federal taxes over their lifetime than they will ever receive in benefits from the government, according to a recent New York Times poll. At the same time, the taxes Americans pay today are not keeping pace with the growing costs of government. Medicare is the program projected to add the most to federal spending over the next decade, likely increasing the government's annual budget deficits. But only one in five Americans surveyed named Medicare as the fastest-growing benefits program.

14 Feb 2012

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

New York's charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals' pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota.

14 Feb 2012