Health News
E-Clips
An electronic healthcare news link service
provided by UHA,
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hospital assessment could bring $90M for low-income care (Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2010) The Senate approved a bill that would reap more than $118 million a year in federal funds for hospitals who have seen their payments for caring for Medicare patients slashed.
Women pay more, face hurdles finding
insurance (Salt Lake
Tribune, March 8, 2010) While shopping for health insurance last year,
26-year-old Hillary McCormack was rejected because she had, for two months in
2007, taken a fertility drug. The Salt Lake City lawyer's older husband,
though, was approved.
Primary Children's expands to Riverton (Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2010) Children suffering from a lung infection called RSV and overtaking Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City will have a new option for getting their oxygen treatments next winter: For the first time, the state's only pediatric hospital will open an inpatient satellite center in this suburb.
Lawmakers OK $1 per pack cigarette tax hike (Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2010) The Utah Legislature has given final approval to a $1 per pack increase to the state's cigarette tax, sending the measure to Gov. Gary Herbert, whose opposition to a tax increase this session will be tested.
Utah
Legislature: Bill would require insurers to cover prosthetics (Deseret
News, March 9, 2010) Tami Stanley realizes if she hadn't been playing softball
that day five years ago, and if she hadn't slid into third base at just the
right angle and with enough force to shatter her shin bone, she would still
have both legs and a lot fewer dealings with hospitals, insurance companies and
a generally recalcitrant group of state lawmakers.
Stealth killer: Patients may be unaware of failing kidneys (Deseret News, March 9, 2010) He once enjoyed spending hours in the yard, forming vases and bowls on his newly acquired wood turning lathe, but 69-year-old Taylorsville resident Duane Slaughter spends his time much differently these days.
U
celebrates 25 years of heart transplants (Daily Chronicle, March 8,
2010) In the eighth month of Allyson Gamble’s
pregnancy with her son, she came down with the flu, which severely damaged her
heart.
National Healthcare Headlines
Obama turns up the heat for health care overhaul; GOP digs in (Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2010) President Barack Obama is trying to persuade a weary public and wavering Democrats to get behind his frantic, late-stage push on health care, while Republicans dig in and demand starting from scratch after a year's worth of work.
· Obama turns up heat on health bill (USA Today, March 6, 2010) President Obama is trying to persuade a weary public and wavering Democrats to get behind his frantic, late-stage push on health care reform, while Republicans dig in and demand starting from scratch after a year's worth of work on the president's top domestic priority.
·
Obama: Congress 'Must Act Now' On Health
Care Bill (Wall Street
Journal, March 6, 2010) U.S. President Barack Obama used his weekly radio
address to urge lawmakers to schedule a final vote on a Democratic health-care
overhaul plan, rejecting Republican requests to start over on a bill with
bipartisan support.
·
If Reform Fails (Editorial, New York Times, March 7, 2010) As the fierce debate on
President Obama’s plan for health care reform comes to a head, Americans should
be thinking carefully about what happens if Congress fails to enact
legislation. (Registration required)
·
Obama Wields Analysis of Insurers in Health
Battle (New York Times,
March 6, 2010) To bolster the case for a far-reaching overhaul of the health
care system, the Obama administration is seizing on a new analysis by Goldman Sachs,
the New York investment bank, recommending that investors buy shares in two big
insurance companies, the UnitedHealth Group and Cigna, because insurance rates
are up sharply and competition is down. (Registration required)
·
Brown's election may ending
up being a positive for health-care reform (Washington Post, March 7, 2010) Remember how Republican Scott P.
Brown's victory in January's Senate race in Massachusetts was supposed to
represent a mortal blow to health-care reform? (Registration required)
·
Obama to Appeal for Public Support on
Health Care (Wall Street
Journal, March 8, 2010) With the fate of his signature
legislative initiative far from certain, President Barack Obama is taking his
last-ditch push for U.S. health-care overhaul on the road.
·
Democrats Voice Health-Bill Doubts
(Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2010) Some House Democrats wavering over whether
to back a health-care overhaul questioned whether it would effectively curb the
country's health costs, highlighting a difficult issue that the White House and
congressional leaders must address in the final negotiations on the measure.
·
The
Emotion of Reform (Op Ed, New York Times, March 9, 2010) We all have our emotional hot and cold spots. If you asked
me about the New York Mets, you’d see a glow in my eyes. If you asked me about banking
reform, words might come out of my mouth, but you’d notice me nodding off
midsentence. (Registration required)
·
State
Insurance Experts See Flaw in Obama’s Plan to Curb Health Premiums (New
York Times, March 9, 2010) At the heart of President Obama’s drive to rein
in health costs is a proposal for federal review and regulation of health
insurance premiums, with a new agency empowered to block excessive rate
increases. (Registration required)
·
Obama
Turns Up the Volume in Health Care Bid (New York Times, March 9, 2010) President Obama challenged
wavering members of his party on Monday not to give in to political fears about
supporting health care legislation, asserting that the urgency of getting a
bill through Congress should trump any concern about the consequences for
Democrats in November. (Registration required)
· Obama back on the campaign trail, this time for health care (USA Today, March 9, 2010) He gave shout-outs to local officials. He doffed his jacket. He talked about being "kind of fired up."
·
Health reform bills are online
but compromise isn't (Salt Lake Tribune, March 9, 2010) Is there a copy of the health care bill that we the American
people can examine?
·
Reform 'within our grasp,'
Obama says as he takes pitch on the road (Salt Lake Tribune, March 9,
2010) Stirring memories of his campaign for the White House, President Barack
Obama made a spirited, shirt-sleeved appeal for passage of long-stalled health
care changes Monday as Democratic congressional leaders worked behind the
scenes on legislation they hope can quickly gain passage.
Watercooler » How to save on health care costs (Salt Lake Tribune, March 6, 2010) Here are some smart ways to save money on health care costs and control medical spending, starting today:
US Government Presses Health Insurers On Rate Increases (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) Health insurers took more heat over rising premiums Monday as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called on managed-care companies to publicly justify rate increases and President Barack Obama cited a recent Wall Street conference call as evidence that the industry is willing and able to price out some customers.
·
Obama
launches attack on health insurance companies (Washington Post, March
9, 2010) The White House is mounting a stinging, sustained broadside against
health insurance rate increases as President Obama and
his aides enter what they hope will be the final stretch of a year-long
political war over health-care reform. (Registration required)
Having
health insurance doesn't ensure it will be easy to find a doctor (Washington
Post, March 9, 2010) It seemed like a relatively
simple process: When you get sick, first call your primary-care doctor. Second,
visit said doctor. Third, follow doctor's orders: Fill prescriptions, take to
bed, whatever. Fourth, get better. (Registration required)
How would health care overhaul help young people? (USA Today, March 8, 2010) Like most Americans, Dominic Ouellette, an uninsured 23-year-old waiter in Washington, likely would be required to have health coverage under the legislation being debated in Congress.
Lessons at Indian Hospital About Births (New York Times, March 7, 2010) After less than two hours in the maternity ward, with her boyfriend, his mother and a nurse-midwife by her side, Jacquelynn Torivio gave birth to a five-pound, five-ounce son with his grandmother’s dimples and a full head of shiny black hair. (Registration required)
Doctor
Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for Patients (New York Times, March
9, 2010) What got you started in your crusade for
hospital safety? (Registration required)
Court will hear case about vaccine side
effects (Deseret News, March
8, 2010) The Supreme Court says it will decide whether drug makers can be sued
by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from
vaccines.
Taking care with treatment (Boston Globe, March 8, 2010) Rosemary
Gibson once led a successful national initiative to make palliative care more
available to seriously ill patients. Now she has turned her attention to the
overuse of medical care and how it can hurt patients as well as drive up health
care costs. (Registration required)
Pfizer CEO got $13.7 million in 2009 compensation (USA Today, March 6, 2010) The chief executive of drug giant Pfizer Inc., Jeffrey Kindler, received a 2009 compensation package valued by The Associated Press at $13.7 million, down 7.6% from 2008, as the board reduced the stock awards he received, citing economic pressures.
FDA lax on conflicts of interest (Editorial, Boston Globe, March 8, 2010) The Food and Drug Administration has done far too little to avoid conflicts of interest among those who serve on its scientific panels and advisory boards. (Registration required)
Diagnosis in psychiatry's 'DSM-5' has power
to change lives (USA Today, March 8, 2010) From
the day she brought her son Jack home from the hospital, Kim Leserman knew something wasn't quite right.
Americans of all races don't get enough sleep (USA Today, March 8, 2010) All Americans are struggling to get more snooze time, but a report out today shows that race and cultural differences play a role in sleep-related habits.
Researchers link inflammation to illness in overweight people (USA Today, March 8, 2010) Researchers are beginning to understand the ways in which being overweight or obese contributes to a downward spiral of inflammation that can trigger heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.
Soft-Drink Sales Drop in Schools, Group Says (Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2010) The main trade association representing Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., and other beverage companies plans to release a report Monday showing that sales of soda and other drinks in U.S. secondary schools have dropped sharply since 2004, in a sign that efforts to improve nutrition in schools are progressing.
Infection Defense May Spur Alzheimer’s (New York Times, March 9, 2010) For years, a prevailing theory has been that one of the chief villains in Alzheimer’s disease has no real function other than as a waste product that the brain never properly disposed of. (Registration required)
After Cancer, Removing a Healthy Breast (New York Times, March 9, 2010) For decades, advocates have fought to protect women from disfiguring breast cancer surgery, arguing that it was just as effective to remove only the cancerous tissue rather than the whole breast. (Registration required)
Fewer Patients Undergo Knife For Beauty (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) The number of cosmetic-surgery procedures in the U.S. sagged for the second year in a row in 2009, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by a plastic surgeons' association.
When Anger Is An Illness (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) Scream at the boss? Snap at a colleague? Throw your cell phone into your @#$%%&* computer monitor? If so, you may find yourself headed to anger-management classes, which have become an all-purpose antidote for fit-throwing celebrities, chair-throwing coaches, vandals, road ragers, delinquent teens, disruptive airline passengers, and obstreperous employees.
What's Wrong With Eli? A Mother's Quest (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) At age 2, Eli Jenkins does not talk, crawl or walk. He has trouble swallowing and cannot feed himself. He takes medication to control seizures.
Test to Help Determine If Ovarian Masses Are Cancer (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) Doctors and hospitals are getting a new test that many think will help fight ovarian cancer, one of the deadliest cancers, by helping them to more quickly distinguish cancerous from benign growths.
Say What? New Risk in Pain-Reliever Use (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2010) Regular use of pain-relief medicine appears to increase men's risk of hearing loss, especially among middle-aged men, according to an American Journal of Medicine study.
Study:
People would lose 5 pounds a year if soda cost extra 18% (USA Today, March
9, 2010) If the price of regular soda and other sweetened beverages
increased by 18%, people would consume an average of 56 fewer calories a day
and lose about 5 pounds a year, according to projections in a study out Monday
in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Report: Minorities more likely to suffer Alzheimer's disease (USA Today, March 9, 2010) As deaths from heart disease and many types of cancers have dipped, living longer is putting more people at risk for Alzheimer's disease, the brain-wasting condition that a new report shows African-Americans and Hispanics are particularly vulnerable to as they grow older.
Study: Nicotine builds, doesn't spike, in brain while smoking (USA Today, March 9, 2010) Nicotine builds up gradually in smokers' brains rather than spiking after each puff, according to a study that might help point to new ways to help people quit smoking.