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Romer sees health care reform as critical to ease deficit

Top White House advisor Christina Romer said that health reform would help to ease the deficit at a speech today. Reuters reports: "While some critics say Democrats' efforts to regulate the insurance sector should wait until the deficit is under control, they should instead see it 'as the most significant act we could take to tackle the deficit,' Romer said in speech to the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think-tank" (Heavey, 10/26).

27 Oct 2009

Post-storm conditions in Philippines continue to threaten health

Filipinos are "struggling to live in flooded suburbs or crowded shelters one month after devastating rains began pounding the Philippines, and officials warn no quick fix is in sight," Agence France-Presse reports. According to the WHO, 1.43 million people, "mostly in and around Manila, continue to endure a dangerous existence living in flooded districts" (Morella, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

Medicare fraud: One of the most profitable crimes in U.S.

Medicare "provides a rich and steady income stream for criminals who are constantly finding new ways to steal a sizable chunk of the half trillion dollars that are paid out each year in Medicare benefits," 60 Minutes reports. "In fact, Medicare fraud - estimated now to total about $60 billion a year - has become one of, if not the most profitable, crimes in America." Medicare fraud leaves little evidence: an FBI agent in South Florida said "the only visible evidence of the crimes are the thousands of tiny clinics and pharmacies that dot the low-rent strip malls.

26 Oct 2009

Cantor Fitzgerald teams up with Healthcare Interactive to introduce new healthcare software management tool

Cantor Insurance Group, a unit of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, has joined with Healthcare Interactive to introduce Cantor Health Interactive, a new healthcare software management tool to help businesses monitor and reduce their healthcare costs.

26 Oct 2009

Congressional hearing addresses International Violence Against Women Act

VOA News reports on the recent appeals by human rights advocates for the U.S. Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would fund "a five-year program to reduce violence in countries where the problem is most serious." Then Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) first introduced the legislation in 2007.

26 Oct 2009

Observer examines calls for reworking health spending focus in Africa

The Observer examines the recent appeal by some health experts for an "overhaul of health spending in Africa," which, they say, focuses on HIV/AIDS and overlooks other deadly diseases, such as diarrhea.

26 Oct 2009

Report finds hundreds of billions of dollars of waste in U.S. healthcare system

The U.S. health care system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters, the parent company of the Reuters news service.

26 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Ghana, Nigeria Global Fund grants; CDC Director on global health role; African Peacekeepers and HIV/AIDS

Stabroek News reports on the recent news that Guyana received a $10 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The "six-year programme aims at strengthening critical areas in the system such as Mental Health; the Nursing Programme; Management and Development Programme; Surveillance and Monitoring Programme and Management and Information systems," the newspaper writes (10/23).

26 Oct 2009

Hospital gives Medicare patients cash back for surgery

In a story done by Kaiser Health News in collaboration with USA Today, KHN staff writer Phil Galewitz reports on a hospital in Tulsa, Okla. "An hour into knee replacement surgery — with U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For playing in the background — Dr. Yogesh Mittal smiles as he raises the left leg of his patient, 76-year-old Frank Morrow.

26 Oct 2009

Health care legislation benefits insurers, but annual profits are not so hot

The health insurance industry is likely to benefit from a health care overhaul, but industry profits are not as high as many seem to believe.

26 Oct 2009

AP looks at USAID administrator vacancy

Although there's "increasing pressure" on President Obama "to fill his administration's vacant top foreign-assistance post ... no candidate is in sight nine months into his term," the Associated Press writes in an article exploring the absence of a leader for USAID. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have expressed a desire for "the agency to play a bigger role in U.S. foreign policy ... [with] more equal roles for diplomacy and development alongside defense," according to the AP.

26 Oct 2009

House Democratic leaders huddle on public insurance option

House Democratic leaders faced an impasse late last week as it became clear that a liberal version of the public option did not have enough support in the caucus.

26 Oct 2009

Health care bills could leave millions uninsured

The cost of health insurance could hinder President Obama's goal of achieving universal coverage.

26 Oct 2009

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

Aging in Place" is the popular rallying cry in the senior community. But living at home is not so easy, either for the frail elderly or younger people with disabilities. Interestingly enough, the reasons may have more to do with social issues than medical concerns (Howard Gleckman, 10/26).

26 Oct 2009

Initiative from BankAtlantic and Tenet South Florida Hospitals to meet healthcare needs of local community

BankAtlantic, Florida’s Most Convenient Bank, announced today that it has partnered with Tenet South Florida Hospitals to provide outreach events designed to improve the health of the local community. The partnership involves branches and hospitals from Miami-Dade to Martin County, and includes events such as screenings and lectures.

26 Oct 2009

Lobbying to 'tweak' health reform bills heats up

"In Washington, there are two ways to wage legislative war: fight to kill and fight to tweak," the Washington Post reports. "With a growing sense that Democrats may have the votes to pass health-care reform, many participants are now attempting to shape the components of landmark legislation rather than to defeat it.

26 Oct 2009

In the House, Democrats opposed to abortion threaten reform bill

Some House Democrats opposed to abortion are threatening to thwart health care reform legislation if it does not clearly steer away from funding abortions. Congress Daily reports: "With Republicans likely to try to use the emotional issue to draw support and money for 2010 contests, Democrats tried to make the bill 'abortion neutral' -- maintaining existing federal policy without further restricting abortion rights.

26 Oct 2009

Moderates spotlighted in health debate, stir tension with liberal colleagues

Roll Call reports that the two longtime Connecticut Senators, Democrat Chris Dodd and Independent Joe Lieberman, are at "near-opposite ends of a health care debate that amounts to Congress' biggest undertaking in a generation." The relationship between to the two lawmakers was strained in 2008, when Dodd ran for president, but Lieberman supported Republican John McCain. In 2006, Lieberman left the Democratic Party after losing a primary race and Dodd endorsed his challenger.

26 Oct 2009

Integrated care's drawback: It could lead to health monopolies

President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders have repeatedly praised integrated health care for its ability to improve safety and quality while reducing costs, citing examples such as the Mayo Clinic. But health economists worry that such consolidation may actually increase costs and could lead to monopolies.

26 Oct 2009

Failure to fix Medicare doctor payments highlights perennial problem

NPR reports on Senate Democrats' failed attempt to fix Medicare's perennial problem of threatening to cut doctor pay. "Just about every year a formula glitch threatens to cut payments to doctors who treat seniors and the disabled," according to NPR. "And just about every year Congress cancels the cut. This year lawmakers are complaining about the bill because it's not paid for. But, despite what both Republicans and Democrats are claiming, that's nothing new."

26 Oct 2009