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Do omega-3 fatty acids prevent depression in coronary heart disease?

Depression is an established risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy patients and for adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with existing CHD. Dietary factors resulting in lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids not only increase CHD risk, but may also be involved in the pathophysiology of depression.

9 Jun 2009

Obama ramping up efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system

President Barack Obama is ramping up his efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system, including devoting his Saturday radio and video address to health reform.

9 Jun 2009

How Congress might tax your health benefits

If you work at a company that reimburses employees for joining a gym, you pay income taxes on the value of that perk. If you get life insurance through work, there's a good chance that you pay taxes on a portion.

9 Jun 2009

Doctors and hospitals look for ways to cut costs, improve quality

The "patient-centered" practices movement is growing in popularity, the New York Times reports. Primary care physicians in the practices "spend more time with patients, emphasize prevention and education" to keep patients healthy and "can handle many medical problems without referrals to specialists." Often, "this kind of care can reduce a patient's medical bills."

9 Jun 2009

Comparative effectiveness tested in diabetes study, VA records release

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found common surgical interventions and stents, the expensive medical devices used in bypass surgeries, are no more effective at preventing death, heart attacks and strokes in diabetic patients than less expensive drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study, which included 2,368 patients, is representative of new interest in head-to-head comparisons of treatments.

9 Jun 2009

Michigan doctors flee Medicaid program cuts

Michigan's Medicaid program is growing by as many as 15,000 people a month, but fewer physicians are accepting new patients insured by the program, which physicians say pays too little to cover their costs, the Associated Press reports.

9 Jun 2009

Recession taking toll on unemployed as well as caregivers

The recession has increased the number of uninsured Americans and made it more difficult to access health care programs while also placing special burdens on caregivers.

9 Jun 2009

Grassley strikes back at Obama, other strong personalities emerging in health debate

Several newspapers had articles about major congressional players in the health care debate.

9 Jun 2009

Single-payer advocates challenge Democrats while private insurers get nervous

Democrats working feverishly on health care reform "face increasingly noisy protests from those on the left who complain that a national program like those in Europe has been excluded from the debate," The Washington Post reports.

9 Jun 2009

Reform bill details emerge, lobbyists gear up for fight

Industry groups reacted "warily" this weekend to a draft of the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee's health overhaul plan. The first details emerged late Friday and lobbyists began speaking up, USA Today reports.

9 Jun 2009

'Roll call' solicits strong opinions on health reform

Roll Call published a special section today that pulls together opinion pieces from 20 major players from all corners of the health care debate, including Tom Daschle, Michael Tanner, Dick Gephardt and Tommy Thompson and Newt Gingrich and Jim Frogue.

9 Jun 2009

Taxing health benefits could be used to pay for expanded coverage, drive out unnecessary care, some say

Economists say taxing health benefits not only could raise billions per year for health care reform efforts, but also could make the system run better, NPR and KHN report.

9 Jun 2009

Democrats prepare message as congress reacts to Kennedy's health reform draft

Congressional Democrats are preparing the message to go with their sweeping health reform in both the House and the Senate, after Sen. Edward Kennedy's draft reform bill was circulated, CNN.com reports.

9 Jun 2009

Republicans react to Obama insistence on public plan inclusion

President Obama's insistence on having a government-run public insurance option for the middle class risks bipartisan support for reform, Senate Republicans said in a letter to the White House released Monday, The Associated Press reports.

9 Jun 2009

Lawmakers pick up pace on health legislation

House and Senate Democrats are gearing up for what could be a crucial, month-long drive to craft health care legislation before the July 4 recess.

9 Jun 2009

St. Petersburg Times examines work of Paul Farmer, potential candidate for USAID, State Department position

The St. Petersburg Times examines the work of Paul Farmer – "the Harvard-educated doctor who, starting in Haiti, built a multinational organization on the radical idea that poor patients deserve the same care as rich ones" and is reportedly being considered for a high-level job with USAID or the State Department.

9 Jun 2009

International health experts to discuss environmental effects on children's health

International health experts will gather through Wednesday in Busan, South Korea, to discuss the effects of the environment on children's health for the Third WHO International Conference on Children's Health and the Environment, the Korea Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

Jacob Zuma addresses increased access to antiretrovirals, reduction in HIV incidence

South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday said he wants to have 80 percent of HIV-positive South Africans who need antiretrovirals (ARVs) on them by 2011, BuaNews reports (BuaNews/allAfrica.com, 6/3).

9 Jun 2009

Ongoing refugee crisis in Pakistan overwhelms health system

The AP/Washington Post examines how the millions of Pakistani refugees fleeing from the army's offensive against the Taliban in the northwest of the country are overwhelming the country's health care system. "The crisis has exhausted doctors, used up limited supplies of medicines and buried hospitals in a mountain of red tape as they try to get money and medicine for the crisis" pushing the entire health system to the brink of collapse, the AP/Washington Post writes.

9 Jun 2009

3-day polio, measles vaccination campaign launched in Uganda

Uganda on Saturday launched a three-day polio and measles immunization campaign, Possy Mugyenyi, the country's immunization manager, said, UGPulse.com reports (Nyanzi, UGPulse.com, 6/5). More than 6 million children are being targeted, IRIN reports (IRIN, 6/5).

9 Jun 2009