Health News
E-Clips
An electronic healthcare news link service
provided by UHA,
Thursday, February 25, 2010
House backs ban on smoking in car with young children (Salt Lake Tribune, February 24, 2010) Utah lawmakers on Tuesday passed a proposed ban on smoking in a vehicle in which children are riding.
Utah Dems say enough already on states' rights (Salt Lake Tribune, February 24, 2010) State lawmakers need to get back to business and start addressing the state's real problems rather than spending so much time telling -- and retelling -- the feds to back off, say minority party members.
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Another states' rights resolution
advances (Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010) Fueling the states'
rights push, a joint resolution that aims to take back power from the federal
government passed a House committee Wednesday with a 6-2 vote .
Guv won't advocate for more Medicaid cash (Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010) A bipartisan group of 43 governors has asked Congress to extend emergency federal funding for Medicaid set to expire in 2011.
Herbert sticks to no-tax plan
(Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010) Gov. Gary Herbert remains opposed to
a tax increase -- including the tobacco tax that has widespread popular support
-- and believes Utah's budget can be balanced and critical cuts averted without
the additional revenue.
Tweaking reform (Editorial,
Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010) With all the
political noise about health care reform coming out of Washington, D.C., you
may have overlooked that Utah has its own reform plan, including a Web-based
health insurance market for small employers. Trouble is,
that Utah Health Insurance Exchange, as the market is called, hasn't worked
very well.
Intermountain Healthcare's appeal over billing practices denied (KSL.com, February 24, 2010) KSL News was the first to tell you about one woman's lawsuit that accuses Intermountain Healthcare of overcharging her through her insurance provider.
Utah gets $10M Health and Human Services grant (Deseret News, February 24, 2010) Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced on Tuesday a $10 million grant for Utah to improve care for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Drugs help prevent suicide, University of Utah dean tells Congress (Deseret News, February 24, 2010) Congress is worried that antidepressant drugs may be causing more suicides among members of the military than they prevent. But a University of Utah dean told lawmakers Wednesday that the benefits of such drugs far outweigh their risks.
Utah, Idaho get $10M to study kids' health issues (KSL.com, February 25, 2010) Health departments in Utah and Idaho will use a $10 million federal grant to look for ways to improve health care for children.
Provo hospital co-workers remember slain woman (Salt Lake Tribune, February 25, 2010) A bulletin board at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center on Wednesday remembered the woman killed in Hobble Creek Canyon.
Antidepressants
for veterans defended (Deseret News, February 25, 2010) Congress is
worried that antidepressant drugs may be causing more suicides among members of
the military than they prevent. But a University of Utah dean told lawmakers
Wednesday that the benefits of such drugs far outweigh their risks.
National Healthcare Headlines
McCain to attend Obama health care summit (USA Today, February 24, 2010) President Obama and John McCain -- together again, this time on health care.
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On sidelines, health care architect hangs
onto hope (Boston Globe,
February 24, 2010) Ted Kennedy was brimming with excitement when he asked John
McDonough to a meeting at a Cambridge hotel in early spring 2008. (Registration
required)
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Republicans plan to stress private-sector
alternatives to the president's plan (Washington Post, February 24, 2010) Republicans are preparing to
use Thursday's White House health-care summit to sell their own ideas for using
the private marketplace to expand coverage and reduce costs, but they remain
wary of fumbling away what they believe is an advantage on the issue heading
into this year's critical midterm
elections. (Registration required)
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On health care: If not now, when? (Washington Post, February 24, 2010)
Unless the sun rises in the West tomorrow, Thursday's health-care reform summit
will yield no bipartisan concord. (Registration required)
· Big Questions Still Linger on Eve of Health Care Meeting (New York Times, February 23, 2010) Three years ago this month, a presidential candidate — John Edwards, as a matter of fact — started a debate on health reform by announcing a plan to cover the uninsured. Since then, we’ve had an election, town hall meetings, speeches, Congressional hearings and a special election in Massachusetts. (Registration required)
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Americans deserve affordable care (Op Ed, Orrin Hatch, Deseret News, February 24, 2010) Health care reform is a critical national
issue that must transcend political labels and parties. It should be guided by
the voices of the American people, who expect Congress to work together to
solve this challenge in an open, bipartisan and fiscally prudent manner.
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Democrats cautiously embrace Obama health plan (Salt Lake Tribune, February 24, 2010)
Congressional Democrats cautiously embraced President Barack Obama's new health
care plan as their last hope for enacting a comprehensive overhaul. Republicans
trashed it, dimming prospects for any deal at the
bipartisan health care summit that Obama has scheduled for Thursday to try to
jump-start the debate.
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Health Bill Faces Hurdles in House
(Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) The sweeping
health-care package unveiled this week by the White House appears to face big
hurdles in the House, with abortion and unease among moderates potential
stumbling blocks to winning passage of the legislation.
· The Early Word: Health Care Summit (New York Times, February 25, 2010) Expect Mr. Obama to use his opening remarks to argue that Democrats and Republicans are not as far apart as they think on health care — both are concerned about the deficit and rising health premiums, he will argue — but, beyond that it’s hard to say what will come of the six-hour made-for-TV meeting, The Times’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg and David Herszenhorn write. (Registration required)
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Democrats
looking beyond health-care summit to final talks within party (Washington
Post, February 25, 2010) Congressional Democrats are already looking beyond the
White House health-care summit, reckoning that Thursday's session will amount
to little more than political theater and focusing instead on a final round of
intraparty negotiations that are likely to determine the fate of President Obama's
top domestic priority. (Registration required)
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Preparing
for Health Debate, and Its TV Audience (New York Times, February 25,
2010) In convening Thursday’s bipartisan health session, President Obama is angling to
recreate the kind of spontaneous, unscripted debate that gave him a decided
advantage when he took questions on live television at a House Republican
retreat in Baltimore last month. (Registration required)
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Poll
shows less fear on health care overhaul (Washington Post, February 25,
2010) With President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in limbo, Americans'
fears about its effect on them eased in January, according to a poll released
as the president tries to revive sweeping Democratic legislation. (Registration
required)
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Obama
opens health summit with plea for agreement (Washington Post, February
25, 2010) President Barack
Obama opened a last-ditch bid to save his stalled healthcare overhaul on
Thursday, telling a televised summit that health reform was critical to
boosting the ailing economy and emphasizing areas of agreement with
Republicans. (Registration required)
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Obama,
GOP Trade Barbs Over Costs (Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2010) President
Barack Obama urged lawmakers not to let Thursday's health-care summit deteriorate
into "political theater," but conceded that Democrats and Republicans
may not be able to bridge the gaps that divide them on health legislation.
(Registration required)
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A
Better Way to Reform Health Care (Opinion, Wall Street Journal, February
25, 2010) Today, President Obama will host members of Congress from both
political parties at the White House to discuss health reform. He has already
put on the table an ambitious plan that takes elements from the bills already
passed by the House and Senate and adds others, such as an agency to control
health-insurance premiums.
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GOP
to Obama at summit: 'We have a better idea' (Deseret News, February 25,
2010) President Barack Obama argued Thursday that a sweeping overhaul of the
nation's broken health care system is imperative for the nation's future
economic vitality, setting off an immediate clash in an extraordinary
live-on-TV summit with Republicans who want far more modest changes. "We
believe we have a better idea," retorted GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander.
Insurer's 39 percent rate hike angers California lawmakers (Salt Lake Tribune, February 24, 2010) California lawmakers said Tuesday they were astonished by an attempt by Anthem Blue Cross to boost individual insurance premiums by as much as 39 percent at a time when policyholders are struggling to afford health coverage.
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Bust the Health Care Trusts (Op Ed, New York Times, February 24,
2010) MY health insurer here in California is Anthem Blue Cross. So far, my
group policy hasn’t been affected by Anthem’s planned rate increase of as much
as 39 percent for its customers with individual policies — but the trend
worries me, as it should everyone. (Registration required)
House votes to strip health insurance companies of antitrust exemption (Washington Post, February 25, 2010) The House voted Wednesday to strip health insurance companies of their exemption from federal antitrust laws, a Democratic measure that could resonate with public concerns about insurers but that has an uncertain future in the Senate. (Registration required)
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Health
Executive Defends Premiums (New York Times, February 25, 2010) A top health
insurance company executive told a Congressional committee on Wednesday
that higher premiums were justified by soaring medical costs, and warned that
pending legislation could make the problem worse, further driving up costs for
young, healthy people. (Registration required)
Doctors cut work hours (Salt Lake Tribune, February 24, 2010) Doctors have steadily cut their work hours over the past decade, a new study finds, something that experts say may only worsen the health care situation.
Emergency Doctors Leave Haiti (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) Doctors here are bracing for another onslaught of patients, as emergency workers leave the country and thousands of surgeries done after the January 12 earthquake need to be redone.
Michelle
Obama shares the emotions behind her movement to boost kids' health (Washington
Post, February 25, 2010) First lady Michelle Obama sits in an upholstered
armchair in her East Wing office, a generous bowl of fresh apples on a nearby
table. (Registration required)
A Drug Trial Cycle: Recovery, Relapse, Reinvention (New York Times, February 24, 2010) On a sunny afternoon last June, Dr. Keith Flaherty stood before a large room packed with oncologists from around the world and described the extraordinary recovery of the melanoma patients in the experimental drug trial he was leading. (Registration required)
Approval of New Version of Prevnar Lifts Pfizer (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) A new version of the Prevnar childhood vaccine won regulators' approval Wednesday, giving maker Pfizer Inc. a quick and important lift from its takeover of rival Wyeth last year.
Teasing Vaccines From Tobacco (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) The U.S. Department of Defense, caught off guard by the swift spread of the H1N1 flu virus last year and delays in producing a vaccine, is backing an unusual plan to use tobacco plants to make the vaccine.
Genetic testing may yield personalized health treatments (USA Today, February 25, 2010) Heart disease patient Terence Gooding and breast cancer survivor Kathy Negro live 2,000 miles apart, but they stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the burgeoning field of personalized medicine.
Some drug labels note effect of inherited genes (USA Today, February 25, 2010) Although scientists first noticed in the 1930s that natural genetic variations caused patients to respond differently to some medications, information about pharmacogenomics didn't appear on a drug label until 2004.
Experts: Lactose intolerance misunderstood, 'gaps' found (USA Today, February 25, 2010) Many Americans avoid dairy products, an important source of calcium, vitamin D and other nutrients, because they mistakenly think they're lactose intolerant, a panel of experts concluded Wednesday at a National Institutes of Health conference.
The Danger of Daily Aspirin (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) If you're taking a daily aspirin for your heart, you may want to reconsider.
Cheney's
5 heart attacks unusual, shows good care (USA Today, February 25, 2010)
Surviving five heart attacks makes former Vice President Dick Cheney pretty unusual —
showing that he has good medical care as well as a particularly aggressive form
of heart disease.
Lawsuit Hits Marketing by Medtronic (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) A recently unsealed fraud lawsuit accuses medical-device maker Medtronic Inc. of "unlawfully and unabashedly" marketing bile-duct stents used to prop open arteries throughout patients' bodies.
FDA Flags Safety Concern for HIV Drug Combination (Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010) The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it was reviewing clinical data that suggest the HIV drug Invirase, given in combination with another HIV drug, Norvir, could cause heart problems.
Do Toxins Cause Autism? (Op Ed, Washington Post, February 25, 2010) Autism was first identified in 1943 in an obscure medical journal. Since then it has become a frighteningly common affliction, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting recently that autism disorders now affect almost 1 percent of children. (Registration required)
Trusting Other Patients' Drug Advice (Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2010) Who are you going to listen to when it comes to medicines—your peers or the companies that actually make the drugs?
Roche's
Avastin Shows Positive Results in Ovarian Cancer (Wall
Street Journal, February 25, 2010) Roche Holding AG Thursday said its cancer
drug Avastin showed positive results in the treatment
of advanced ovarian cancer, further improving the prospects of one of the Swiss
pharmaceutical company's best-selling drugs.
