Dec 09 Congress Patches Payment Gap for Medicare Doctors Congress once again headed off a pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients by stopping a 25 percent decrease in the amount the federal government pays them to take care of seniors. The cut was scheduled to take effect… Continue reading
Dec 09 Top 5 Global Health Headlines: One Cigarette Causes Harm, Haiti Cholera By Talea Miller Photo by Valentin Ottone Just One Cigarette Can Harm Health The chemicals from even one puff of a cigarette can cause immediate damage to the lungs and DNA, according to a new report issued by U.S. Surgeon General Regina… Continue reading
Dec 07 Watch In Cuba, Biotech Eyed for Potential Economic Boost Ray Suarez, who is reporting for the NewsHour's Global Health Unit in Cuba, speaks with Jeffrey Brown about the country's changing economy, its booming medical research industry and health care system. Suarez returns to Havana for the first time since… Continue watching
Dec 06 Texas Considers Dropping Medicaid as States Face Budget Crisis Texas State Capitol Building (Flickr Creative Commons/Ed Schipul) For 45 years, the states and federal government's Medicaid program has provided health care to low income children, pregnant women, seniors and disabled adults. Today, Medicaid covers about 50 million Americans. Continue reading
Dec 06 New Meningitis Vaccine Could be Model for Future Drugs By Talea Miller The rollout of a new meningitis vaccine developed specifically with poor countries in mind began Monday in western Africa. Health officials hope to vaccinate more than 12 million people in Burkina Faso by the end of the year and… Continue reading
Dec 06 Employers Paying More, Workers Getting Less for Health Insurance The price businesses pay for their workers' health insurance has ballooned more than 41 percent over the past six years, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund. At the same time, many workers are getting less for… Continue reading
Dec 03 Health Reform Watch: Health Care Helps Bring Down Deficit Plan; Judge Rules for Reform in Virginia Citing Health Care, Republicans Say No to Deficit Plan President Obama's bipartisan Deficit Commission failed to get the 14 votes necessary to send its deficit reduction plan to a full vote in Congress. The plan made major cuts in… Continue reading
Dec 03 Reporter’s Notebook: Getting Reacquainted with Havana By Ray Suarez Streets of Havana. (Photo by Andy Squires). All the stereotypes are still in place: Cubans love cigars, rum, music, and baseball. 1950s Chevys, Buicks, Plymouths, and 1970s Ladas and Zils from the Soviet Union still drive on the streets of… Continue reading
Dec 02 Top 5 Global Health Headlines: World AIDS Day, Doctors Needed in Haiti By Talea Miller The White House decorated for World AIDS Day. Photo by M.V. Jantzen. World AIDS Day On December 1, the 23rd annual World AIDS Day, UNAIDS celebrated the global reduction of new HIV infections over the past decade, while the… Continue reading
Dec 01 World AIDS Day: Highlights from 2010 It has been a busy year for HIV/AIDS research and policy. Here are some of the most important developments of 2010: Global Funding for AIDS Declining -UNAIDS reported this summer that support from developed nations to low-income countries for… Continue reading