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Politico reports that the high stakes that involve everything from the health industry to Native American tribes in the deficit panel's deliberations have created a veritable "swarm" of lobbyists.
The moving parts involved in the Supreme Court's determination about whether to review challenges to the health law and which issues it wants to hear are quite complicated.
As the world's population approaches seven billion -- which it is expected to hit sometime in March, according to Census Bureau estimates -- Joel Cohen, a mathematical biologist and the head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, examines the implications of "the enormous increases in households, cities, material consumption and waste" on health, agriculture, water security, the environment and poverty in this New York Times opinion piece. He writes, "For some in the West, the greatest challenge -- because it is the least visible -- is to shake off, at last, the view that large and growing numbers of people represent power and prosperity."
Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight Against AIDS" examines the implications of the world's growing population for Africa in this New York Times Opinion piece, writing, "Before this century ends, there could well be 10 billion of us, a billion more than previously expected. Nearly all of these extra billion people will be born in Africa, where women in some countries bear seven children each on average, and only one in 10 uses contraception. With mortality rates from disease falling, the population of some countries could increase eightfold in the next century."
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) last week cut short a three-week measles vaccination campaign intended to reach 35,000 children in the Daynile area near the Somali capital Mogadishu, after intense fighting erupted between the militant group al-Shabab and forces of Somalia's Transitional National Government, backed by the African Union Mission in Somalia, VOA News reports. Only 4,831 children had been reached in six days, according to the news agency.
The WHO on Friday "said the number of cholera cases in Haiti is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of the year" if current trends continue, Agence France-Presse reports. As of October, the agency estimated 470,000 cases of the disease and 6,600 cholera deaths had occurred since the outbreak began in 2010, the news service notes. "The number of new cholera cases in Haiti halved in August, but the rainy season is once again worsening the situation, the WHO warned," AFP writes (10/22).
Data from lab experiments published online by the journal Cell Host and Microbes last week show that the gel form of the antiretroviral tenofovir, which is being investigated as an HIV prevention method, works to inhibit the reproduction of herpes virus in tonsil and cervical tissue, the New York Times reports.
"Scientists are warning officials negotiating a global treaty on mercury that banning the deadly chemical completely would be dangerous for public health because of the chemical's use in vaccines," the Associated Press reports. "The ban option is one of several proposals on the table for a [United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP] meeting later this month in Nairobi, but a final treaty isn't expected until 2013," the news service writes.
The final document of the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, which concluded last week in Rio de Janeiro, "calls for better governance for health and development, with transparent decision-making and social participation," and "[g]overnments are urged to develop policies and measure progress towards defined goals," Inter Press Service reports.
Health care news from Georgia, Ohio, California, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts and Texas.
With the RTS,S malaria vaccine trial results showing "moderate" success, helping to reignite "optimism about eradicating malaria entirely," "there are other big hurdles still to surmount," a New York Times editorial states. "There are hints that the protection may wane over time and results from administering a booster shot won't be known until 2014," and side effects could be a concern, the editorial writes.
Though the number of new polio cases has dropped by 99 percent over the past 20 years, World Polio Day is recognized "because we haven't done enough yet," Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes in his blog, "The Gates Notes." He continues, "The last one percent is the hardest percent, and we have to do even more than we've already done if we hope to finish the job on polio. The day the world is declared polio free is the day we can really begin celebrating" (10/21).
The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality founding that tracking quality of care does indeed impact physician efforts to provide high quality of care.
The Los Angeles Times looks at various issues surrounding palliative care.
Modern Healthcare reports that this aspect of the concierge medicine trend is holding up well despite the economy.
The Arizona Republic reports that the Veterans Administration is looking into spending after noting that the system had surpassed its budget for community fee care.
States, facing budget shortfalls, look for ways to save money on their Medicaid programs, including limiting hospital stays for enrollees. Wisconsin is holding hearings on plans to alter the programs there, and California is looking at restructuring the way health care is delivered to people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. Meanwhile, Stateline reports that a number of states are using new technology to run their benefits programs.
Costs for this employer's most popular health coverage plan will increase to about $15 per two-week pay period. It's current cost is $11 per pay period.
Open enrollment periods for health plans also focus the spotlight on how health coverage is likely to change in 2014 when key elements of the health law take effect.
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