Health News E-Clips

An electronic healthcare news link service provided by UHA,

Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association

 

 

 

Friday, January 8, 2010

 

Utah Healthcare Headlines

Bennett predicts Demo pain for health care votes (Salt Lake Tribune, January 8, 2010) Utah Sen. Bob Bennett said that Republicans' stellar tactics opposing Democratic health care legislation will result in the GOP gaining up to seven U.S. Senate seats.

 

Satellite clinics now offering H1N1 vaccine (Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 2010) A step-up in production of the H1N1 flu vaccine coupled with waning demand means there are plenty of doses available in Utah County.

 

Neural tube birth defects on rise in Utah (Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 2010) Thousands of Utah women are getting free bottles of multivitamins in the hopes that none of their future children will develop deadly but preventable neural tube defects.

 

Utah lawmakers dig in on federal health reform (Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 2010) Calling national health reform "onerous" and an infringement on states' rights, Utah lawmaker Carl Wimmer is carrying a bill that would make it illegal for state agencies to implement any part of a new federal law without reporting to the Legislature first.

 

Folic acid can help reduce birth defects (Deseret News, January 6, 2010) Amazing what a difference one little vitamin can make — for good or ill.

 

Salmonella outbreak linked to pet frogs (Salt Lake Tribune, January 7, 2010) A 31-state salmonella outbreak first detected in Utah was linked to pet frogs, U.S. health officials said Thursday, suggesting that public-health efforts to educate children about the proper handling of reptiles should be expanded to amphibians.

 

National Healthcare Headlines

Health bills would shift Medicare money to Mayo and other 'high-value' hospitals (Washington Post, January 6, 2010) As House and Senate lawmakers start to reconcile their health-care bills with an eye to final passage, a little-noticed provision is already prompting celebration from a small group of influential hospitals that stand to gain millions in Medicare dollars. (Registration required)

  • Democrats holding final intraparty talks on health-care reform (Washington Post, January 6, 2010) Democratic leaders in Congress began a final round of health-care talks Tuesday, pledging to overcome their remaining differences, with the aim of sending a bill to President Obama before his State of the Union address in late January or early February. (Registration required)
  • Will Exchanges Spur Lawsuits? Maybe Not (New York Times, January 6, 2010) Could a health care overhaul lead to a raft of consumer lawsuits against insurers over medical claims denials? (Registration required)
  • Democrats holding final intraparty talks on health-care reform (Washington Post, January 6, 2010) Democratic leaders in Congress began a final round of health-care talks Tuesday, pledging to overcome their remaining differences, with the aim of sending a bill to President Obama before his State of the Union address in late January or early February. (Registration required)
  • Pelosi Says Lawmakers 'Very Close' to Melding Health Bills (Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2010) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said lawmakers were "very close" to resolving differences between the House and Senate health-care bills and sending a final version to President Barack Obama. Also found in New York Times, January 7, 2010.
  • Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill (Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2010) Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress.
  • Pelosi: Lawmakers 'very close' on health care (USA Today, January 7, 2010) The House and Senate are "very close" to finalizing historic legislation revamping the nation's health care system, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday after she and other Democratic leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House.
  • AP Sources: Obama Backs High-End Health Plan Tax (New York Times, January 7, 2010) President Barack Obama signaled to House Democratic leaders Wednesday that they'll have to drop their opposition to taxing high-end health insurance plans to pay for health coverage for millions of uninsured Americans. (Registration required)
  • Labor, elected leaders seek affordable health care (Boston Globe, January 7, 2010) Labor leaders, elected officials and progressives are urging President Barack Obama and Congress to make health insurance more affordable for low-income Americans. (Registration required)
  • How interest groups behind health-care legislation are financed is often unclear (Washington Post, January 7, 2010) Many of the Washington interest groups that are seeking to shape final health-care legislation in the coming weeks operate with opaque financing, often receiving hidden support from insurers, drugmakers or unions. (Registration required)
  • Health-care reform bill's proposed tax on high-cost plans raises questions (Washington Post, January 7, 2010) With Congress on the verge of imposing a new tax on high-cost health insurance plans, skeptics continue to raise questions about who would be hit hardest and whether health-care spending would be limited as much as proponents say. (Registration required)
  • Obama Urges Excise Tax on High-Cost Insurance (New York Times, January 7, 2010) President Obama told House Democratic leaders at a meeting on Wednesday that they should include a tax on high-priced insurance policies favored by the Senate in the final version of far-reaching health care legislation, aides said. (Registration required)
  • More Health Aid Gets Backing (Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2010) The White House supports an effort to tweak the health bill so it makes insurance more affordable for the lowest earners. But the change would drive up the cost of the overhaul, an area where lawmakers have little room to maneuver. (Registration required)
  • House Democrats confer on health-care reform (Washington Post, January 8, 2010) Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week. (Registration required)
  • Health-Care Views Hurt Dorgan's Bid (Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2010) Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan, long a popular figure in this state, faced political peril in his re-election bid because he was closely associated with Washington and policies being crafted there, in particular the health-care overhaul, according to polls and interviews with his constituents.
  • Battle Over 'Exchanges' Regulator (Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2010) Health insurers are girding for a fight over who should regulate the new marketplaces that would sell policies to 30 million Americans under the health-care bills pending in Congress.

 

Medicare and the Mayo Clinic (Op Ed, Boston Globe, January 6, 2010) President Obama is a great admirer of the Mayo Clinic. Time and again he has extolled it as an outstanding model of health care excellence and efficiency. (Registration required)

  • Medicare and the Mayo Clinic (Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2010) President Obama last year praised the Mayo Clinic as a "classic example" of how a health-care provider can offer "better outcomes" at lower cost. Then what should Americans think about the famous Minnesota medical center's decision to take fewer Medicare patients?

 

Should Medicaid Pay More for Primary Care? (Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2010) The health-care bills passed by both the House and the Senate would both expand Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor.

 

Drug benefit expanded to 1 million more seniors (Deseret News, January 8, 2010) In case the prospect of nearly $4,000 in prescription assistance isn't enough to perk up low-income seniors, the government is using '60s singer Chubby Checker to publicize "the twist" in the Medicare drug program.

 

Hospital Cuts Dialysis Care for the Poor in Miami (New York Times, January 8, 2010) To chip away at an overwhelming budget deficit, Miami’s public hospital system stopped paying for kidney dialysis for the indigent this week, officials said, leaving some patients to rely on emergency rooms for their life-sustaining treatments. (Registration required)

 

AP: State AGs make appeal over health care deal (Washington Post, January 7, 2010) Two top state prosecutors are asking attorneys general across the country to let Washington know if they oppose the health care reform bill they say includes a political deal for Nebraska. (Registration required)

 

Treat Me, but No Tricks Please (Commentary, New York Times, January 7, 2010) I received an e-mail message recently from an angry doctor. He’d torn his hamstring running on a beach and spent eight weeks — a total of 20 hours — in physical therapy. Then his insurer said the physical therapy was not covered. (Registration required)

 

Executives snub hearing on rising health care costs (Boston Globe, January 8, 2010) With rising health care costs burdening the country, Governor Deval Patrick’s attempt to find out what can be done about them is being met with resounding silence from many of the state’s health care executives. (Registration required)

 

Effectiveness of Antidepressants Varies Widely (Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2010) Patients with severe depression benefit most from antidepressant medications while those with less-severe symptoms see little or no benefit, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

  • Study: Drugs only aid deeply depressed (Salt Lake Tribune, January 6, 2010) Some widely prescribed drugs for depression provide relief in extreme cases but are no more effective than placebo pills for most patients, according to a new analysis.

 

Missed vaccines weaken 'herd immunity' in children (USA Today, January 6, 2010) Brendalee Flint did everything she could to keep her baby safe. She nourished her with breast milk; she gave her all the routine vaccines.

 

Antiseptic bath for surgery patients could curb infections (USA Today, January 6, 2010) Looks like doctors aren't the only ones who should scrub before surgery. Also found in Washington Post and Salt Lake Tribune.  

 

Hazards of obesity now rival smoking in U.S. (USA Today, January 6, 2010) Obesity now poses as great a threat to Americans' quality of life as smoking, a new study shows.

 

Give These Donors a Bone (Op Ed, New York Times, January 8, 2010) Every year, more than 100,000 Americans discover that they have often life-threatening blood and bone-marrow diseases like leukemia. For many, the only hope is a transplant of blood-producing marrow cells. (Registration required)

 

Avatars Don’t Smoke (Editorial, New York Times, January 8, 2010) Somewhere in the afterlife’s screening room, Will Hays, architect of Hollywood’s old Production Code, and the stern Catholic bishops of the Legion of Decency are probably sharing a chuckle, maybe over Scotch and cigarettes. (Registration required)

 

A Drug’s Second Act: Battling Jet Lag (New York Times, January 7, 2010) It seemed like the offer of a lifetime — earn $2,500 by flying to France aboard a private luxury jet. (Registration required)

 

Kid-friendly diet helps fight childhood obesity at home (USA Today, January 7, 2010) Here's some advice for parents who want to help their overweight children and teens slim down: Make some stealth changes at home so that everyone in the family is eating healthier and no one feels singled out as the heavyweight.

 

China Turns Drug Rehab Into a Punishing Ordeal (New York Times, January 8, 2010) Fu Lixin, emotionally exhausted from caring for her sick mother, needed a little pick-me-up. A friend offered her a “special cigarette” — one laced with methamphetamine — and Ms. Fu happily inhaled. (Registration required)