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New bill would expand health law subsidies for those in high-cost areas

The bill would tie subsidy levels to cost of living around the nation instead of to the national federal poverty level. In the meantime, a lawmaker from Colorado introduces a bill to speed construction of VA hospitals.

9 Feb 2014

Scientists find a clue as to why muscles weaken with age

Scientists from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have found a clue as to why muscles weaken with age. In a study published Feb. 5 in The Journal of Neuroscience, they report the first evidence that "set points" in the nervous system are not inalterably determined during development but instead can be reset with age. They observed a change in set point that resulted in significantly diminished motor function in aging fruit flies.

9 Feb 2014

New study provides important understanding of what drives appetite

While the function of eating is to nourish the body, this is not what actually compels us to seek out food. Instead, it is hunger, with its stomach-growling sensations and gnawing pangs that propels us to the refrigerator - or the deli or the vending machine. Although hunger is essential for survival, abnormal hunger can lead to obesity and eating disorders, widespread problems now reaching near-epidemic proportions around the world.

9 Feb 2014

N.H. State Senators agree to bipartisan Medicaid expansion compromise

The plan will require three federal waivers, would sunset after three years without continued 100 percent federal contributions and would use private insurance to reach the additional low-income New Hampshire residents. It's similar to the Iowa and Arkansas approaches.

9 Feb 2014

Hot flashes, depression and anxiety affect thinking skills of midlife women with HIV

Hot flashes, depression, and most of all, anxiety, affect the thinking skills of midlife women with HIV, so screening for and treating their anxiety may be especially important in helping them function, according to a study just published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

9 Feb 2014

Penn Medicine launches program to improve health of LGBT individuals

Penn Medicine is the first academic medical center in Philadelphia - one among just a handful of academic medical centers in the U.S.—to launch a program across multiple professional schools and affiliated hospitals at Penn to improve the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.

9 Feb 2014

Despite jump in enrollment, Aetna says it faces losses from health law marketplaces

Aetna Inc. said it expects to lose money on its business in the health-law marketplaces this year, with the demographics of enrollees skewing slightly more than expected toward people likely to rack up higher costs. The insurer, which is participating in public consumer exchanges in 16 states and the District of Columbia, the most of any carrier, said it has signed up about 135,000 paid members through the end of January (Mathews, 2/6).

9 Feb 2014

Partners support can have significant bearing on overall cardiovascular health

Matters of the heart can influence actual heart health, according to new research. A study from researchers at the University of Utah shows that the ways in which your spouse is supportive - and how you support your spouse - can actually have significant bearing on your overall cardiovascular health.

9 Feb 2014

Henry Schein and ADA join forces to celebrate annual Give Kids A Smile Day

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC), the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners, together with 26 of the Company's valued supplier partners, join the American Dental Association (ADA) today to celebrate the ADA's annual Give Kids A Smile Day.

9 Feb 2014

Fact checker skewers attack ads 'based' on CBO report on health law

The first ads are already out based on the Congressional Budget Office report on the health law's impact on the labor market, and the Washington Post's Fact Checker finds plenty of distortions. Meanwhile, the White House seeks to persuade Americans that it's a good thing if the health care law means they can work less.

9 Feb 2014

Sunshine Health and Orange Bowl partner to create special graffiti wall with messages of hope

Sunshine Health, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, partnered with the Orange Bowl at the City of Fort Lauderdale Orange Bowl Downtown Countdown on New Year's Eve to create a special graffiti wall with messages of hope and compassion for the Make-A-Wish Southern Florida.

9 Feb 2014

AOL blames health law for change in retirement benefits, without details

AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong on Thursday offered a number of unusual explanations for why his company pulled back its 401(k) benefits for employees this year. The first reason: Obamacare. The second: two women at the company who had "distressed babies" in 2012. ... "As a CEO and as a management team, we have to decide: Do we pass the $7.1 million of Obamacare cost to our employees? Or do we try to eat as much of that as possible and cut benefits?," said Armstrong in the CNBC interview (Yang, 2/6).

9 Feb 2014

Novel combined therapy for treatment of septic patients in ICU

Septic shock is caused by excessive and systemic reaction of the entire body against infectious agents, in most cases of bacterial origin. The number of deaths by septic shock in intensive care units is very high and is still increasing, despite numerous large scale clinical trials.

9 Feb 2014

DP stimulation in spinal cord-injured patients is successful in weaning patients from mechanical ventilators

A new study published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery finds that diaphragm pacing (DP) stimulation in spinal cord-injured patients is successful not only in weaning patients from mechanical ventilators but also in bridging patients to independent respiration, where they could breathe on their own without the aid of a ventilator or stimulation.

9 Feb 2014

States struggle to fix failed exchanges

The "spectacular failure" of health insurance exchanges in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland and Oregon -- despite their support of the health law -- gets a closer look from ProPublica. Repair efforts in Maryland and Oregon are also covered.

9 Feb 2014

Researchers shed light on role of genes and blood lipid levels in cardiovascular health

New genetic evidence strengthens the case that one well-known type of cholesterol is a likely suspect in causing heart disease, but also casts further doubt on the causal role played by another type. The findings may guide the search for improved treatments for heart disease.

9 Feb 2014