Health News
E-Clips
An electronic healthcare news link service
provided by UHA,
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
U. professor sets sights on
healthy aging (Salt
Leavitt: Health reform starts with cost control (Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 2010) With a final vote on health care reform drawing near, former Gov. Mike Leavitt said Friday the approach preferred by House and Senate Democratic leaders is a government takeover of health care that doesn't address the real problem -- cost.
Health
for minorities: Disparity in Hispanic health care offset by Salt Lake clinics
(Deseret News, March 15, 2010) Though disparities
exist in access to insurance and health care for Hispanics nationally, at least
two
Intermountain
Medical Center research shows benefits of vitamin D (Deseret News,
March 16, 2010) People who are deficient in vitamin D and raise their intake —
through supplements or more sun exposure — can cut their risk for heart disease
and a host of other chronic conditions, according to new research from
·
Vitamin D can prevent heart
disease, kidney failure, other ills, Utah research finds (Salt Lake
Tribune, March 16, 2010) Taking vitamin D supplements could reduce the risk of
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney failure, depression and death,
according to research by Intermountain Medical Center.
National Healthcare Headlines
Rep. Paul Ryan on what real health reform should look like (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) Today, the House Budget Committee is to mark up a "reconciliation" vehicle, initiating the greatest expansion in government and entitlement spending in a generation through a partisan process to push "health-care reform" across the finish line.(Registration required)
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Democrats
should stop being clever and pass the bill. (
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Health
care vote: The final countdown (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) In six days time, President Obama's health care bill will
almost certainly have either passed or failed -- although which of those two
options will be better for Democrats politically this fall remains an open
question. (Registration required)
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Decisive
week begins for health reform (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) Four
months after the House got the health-reform ball rolling with a narrow vote to pass
its version of the measure, the chamber is set this week to decide the fate of
the bill -- and Democrats' near-term political future -- once again.
(Registration required)
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Gibbs
says health-care will become law this week, but House Democrats still short of
votes (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) Even as a House Democratic
leader admitted that Democrats are still lacking votes, White House press
secretary Robert Gibbs proclaimed Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation"
that "this is the week" that the House will pass the Senate's
health-care reform bill and send it to President Obama's desk for his
signature. (Registration required)
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Democratic
leaders say health bill will pass (Washington Post, March 15, 2010)
Democratic leaders scrambled Sunday to pull together enough support in the
House for a make-or-break decision on health-care reform later this week,
expressing optimism that a package will soon be signed into law by President Obama
despite a lack of firm votes for passage. (Registration required)
·
States
battle feds on health care (USA Today, March 15, 2010) In a
backlash against President Obama's health care legislation that
stretches from Virginia to California, lawmakers in more
than two-thirds of the states are scrambling to undercut the bill before it
even passes Congress.
· Graham: More gridlock if Democrats 'jam' health care into law (USA Today, March 14, 2010) The Obama administration risks losing GOP votes on any of its priorities this year if Democrats use procedural tactics to "jam through" the president's health care legislation and "deal out Republicans," says Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
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More
Than Onerous (Editorial, New York Times, March 14, 2010) After a year
of national debate, a handful of House Democrats who oppose abortion may be the
ones to decide whether health care reform goes forward or not.
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Millions
Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care (New York Times, March 14, 2010)
The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close
as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a
presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes will
help determine the fate of President Obama’s top domestic
priority. (Registration required)
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Obama
letter writer has leukemia and no insurance (USA Today, March 15, 2010)
An Ohio woman who dropped her health insurance because of rising premiums --
and whose story has been cited by the White House -- has leukemia, President
Obama told a crowd of supporters today.
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We
Might Remember These as the ‘Good Times’ in Health Care (Wall Street
Journal, March 15, 2010) The number of Americans without health insurance could
rise to almost 60 million by 2015 from 49 million today if nothing is done to
overhaul the health-care system, a new forecast says.
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Official: Dems lack health care
votes -- for now (Salt Lake Tribune, March 15, 2010) The House's chief
Democratic headcounter said Sunday he hadn't rounded up enough votes to pass
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul heading into a make-or-break
week, even as the White House's top political adviser said he was
"absolutely confident" in its prospects.
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Obama's
health care 'reform' illusion tells us what we want to hear, not what we need
to hear (Commentary, Deseret News, March 15, 2010) One job of
presidents is to educate Americans about crucial national problems. On health
care, Barack Obama has failed.
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Obama
seeks to reassure seniors on health care (Deseret News, March 15, 2010)
With a fresh sense of urgency, President Barack Obama
sought to reassure seniors Monday about health care legislation approaching a
final vote in Congress, pledging it would make preventive care cost-free and
close a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage.
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House
may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it (Washington
Post, March 16, 2010) After laying the groundwork for
a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without
having members vote on it. (Registration required)
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The
Health Care Letdown (Op
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Obama
Tries to Personalize the Health Care Bill (New York Times, March 16,
2010) Declaring that “every argument has been made” on his health care
overhaul, President Obama sought to seal
the deal with Congress and the American people Monday by focusing on a single
patient: a self-employed cleaning woman who dropped her costly insurance plan
and just discovered she has leukemia. (Registration required)
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Democrats
Scramble to Secure Health-Bill Votes (Wall Street Journal, March 16,
2010) President Barack Obama is turning up the pressure to pass health-care
legislation as Democratic leaders make a desperate scramble for votes.
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White House, wavering Dems in
health care reform clinch (Salt Lake Tribune, March 16, 2010) Days away
from a make-or-break vote on his health care overhaul, President Barack Obama
is turning up the pressure as only presidents can, as Democratic leaders make a
desperate scramble for votes.
With
Medicaid Cuts, Doctors and Patients Drop Out (Washington Post, March
15, 2010) Carol Y. Vliet’s cancer returned
with a fury last summer, the tumors
metastasizing to her brain, liver, kidneys and throat. (Registration required)
For doctors, a matter of time (Boston Globe, March 14, 2010) Dr. Jennifer LaFemina had been caring for the woman with the mysterious illness for nearly three weeks. Suddenly one afternoon, the woman’s blood pressure dropped and her pain intensified. It became clear she would die that night. (Registration required)
New
Focus on Averting Errors: Hospital Culture (Wall Street Journal, March
16, 2010) Errors made by doctors, nurses and other medical caregivers cause
44,000 to 98,000 deaths a year. Hospital infections, many considered
preventable, take another 100,000 lives. And mistakes involving medications
injure 1.3 million patients annually in the
Novel health plans try to help uninsured (USA Today, March 16, 2010) In historic downtown Pueblo, Colo., business is down at the Gold Dust Saloon, a kid-friendly place known for a hamburger smothered with chili called the "slopper."
Bill
Gives Insurers a Younger Market (Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2010)
Although insurers generally oppose the Democrats' health-care bill, an overhaul
would give the industry a chance to boost its diminishing rolls with an influx
of young customers who tend to be healthy and profitable to cover.
Insurer
details its unequal payments (Boston Globe, March 16, 2010) Newly
released documents from a major insurer detail how certain hospitals and
doctors are paid dramatically more than others for the same types of services,
sometimes as much as three times higher. (Registration required)
Embryonic stem cell research stalled despite Obama's try at lifting restrictions (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) One year after President Obama announced he was lifting his predecessor's controversial restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, some scientists are complaining that so far the new policy is -- ironically -- more of a burden than a boon to their work. (Registration required)
Project to get transplant organs from ER patients raises ethics questions (Washington Post, March 15, 2010) In the hope of expanding a controversial form of organ donation into emergency rooms around the United States, a federally funded project has begun trying to obtain kidneys, livers and possibly other body parts from car-accident victims, heart-attack fatalities and other urgent-care patients. (Registration required)
NIH studying progesterone to treat traumatic brain injuries (USA Today, March 15, 2010) Marc Baskett is not exactly the same guy he was before suffering serious injuries in a traffic accident in 2004.
Allergy sufferers journey into the season of symptoms (USA Today, March 15, 2010) Seasonal allergies won't kill you, but they sure can knock you down.
Heart health: Doctors devise less invasive valve surgery (USA Today, March 15, 2010) Leaky heart valves can be fixed without major surgery by guiding a tiny, clothespin-like clip into place from an incision in a vein in the groin, doctors said Sunday.
Study: Doctors need tools to help patients slim down (USA Today, March 16, 2010) Physicians know they're on the front lines in the fight against obesity, but many say they don't have staff able to help patients with weight loss, according to a survey of 290 primary-care physicians by Harris Interactive.
Michelle Obama talks anti-obesity to food giants (Salt Lake Tribune, March 16, 2010) Michelle Obama has talked to schools and nutrition groups across the country in her effort to reduce childhood obesity. On Tuesday she will face the food companies that make the snacks and junk food that stuff grocery aisles and school vending machines.
Boston Scientific Halts Sales of Device (Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2010) Boston Scientific Corp. said it suspended sales of medical devices that restore normal heart rhythm and manage heart failure, saying it failed to submit for U.S. regulatory approval certain changes in the way it makes the products.
Fix
for a Faulty Heartbeat (Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2010) Patients
with the most common type of irregular heartbeat who aren't helped by drugs may
benefit from a treatment that freezes tiny portions of heart tissue to correct
a flaw, a new study shows.
Search for Better Diabetes Therapy Falls Short (Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2010) New strategies to prevent and treat diabetes and heart disease failed to improve care in two major studies, frustrating researchers' efforts to find more-effective approaches to the world's burgeoning diabetes epidemic.
Third-Party
Reviews of Devices Come Under Scrutiny at the FDA (Wall Street Journal,
March 15, 2010) When medical-equipment makers like Philips Electronics NV,
Siemens AG and General Electric Co. need approval for some new devices, they
don't always have to start at the Food and Drug Administration. They can pay
companies to do the reviews, which are then routinely approved by FDA officials
most of the time.
Boston Scientific halts some sales (Boston Globe, March 16, 2010) Boston Scientific Corp. yesterday said it has halted shipments and is recalling unused units of some of its best-selling products after determining it did not get approval from federal regulators for changes to its manufacturing processes. (Registration required)
Glucosamine and chondroitin fare poorly in pain study, but sales are strong (Washington Post, March 16, 2010) In 2006, the New England Journal of Medicine published a $12.5 million study saying that, for most people, glucosamine and chondroitin do not soothe knee pain much better than a placebo. (Registration required)
Damaged ankles can be fused or replaced, but these surgeries have drawbacks (Washington Post, March 16, 2010) The best athlete I knew in college has just had both his hips replaced. Another friend recently got two new titanium knees. We're all in our 50s -- once among the fittest in our college classes and now suffering from the kind of worn-out, creaking joints that generally come at a much older age. (Registration required)
Rare disorder makes people feel off balance for weeks or months (Washington Post, March 16, 2010) When Claudette Broyles tries to describe to friends how she feels, she likens herself to a balloon on a string, tied to a post. (Registration required)
With
Cancer, Let’s Face It: Words Are Inadequate (New York Times, March 16,
2010) We’re all familiar with sentences like this one: Mr. Smith died yesterday
after a long battle with cancer. (Registration required)
In Cancer Fight, Teenagers Don’t Fit In (New York Times, March 16, 2010) Simone Weinstein’s ordeal with cancer started in the most banal way: she was tired. She had a hard time getting up in the morning, and did not even have the energy to hang out with her friends. (Registration required)
Hit the Floor and Give Me a Dozen...Pillar Bridges (Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2010) After years of conquering the treadmill and bench press, I am now striking poses and performing movements that I had always considered "girly," and the difficulty of it is humbling.
Forensic Role for Bacteria? (Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2010) Warning to criminals: Rubbing out your fingerprints may no longer be enough. Your germs could still give you away.
$70 million in prescription drugs stolen in Connecticut heist (Deseret News, March 16, 2010) Authorities say prescription drugs worth tens of millions of dollars have been stolen in a brazen, well-planned heist at a pharmaceutical company warehouse in Connecticut.
Pepsi to cut sugary drinks from schools worldwide (Deseret News, March 16, 2010) PepsiCo plans to remove sugary drinks from schools worldwide, following the success of programs in the U.S. aimed at cutting down on childhood obesity.