NEW YORK — Publicly funded family planning prevents nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year, saving billions of dollars, according to new research intended to counter conservative objections to expanding the program.
The data is in a report being released on Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank whose research is generally respected even by experts Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK (AP) — With health care costs high on the national agenda, advocates of home births are challenging the medical and political establishments to give midwives a larger role in maternity care and to ease the state laws that limit their out-of-hospital practice.
Pending bills to further this goal have significant backing in several states, which home-birth supporters want to add to the 25 states that already have taken such steps.
Read the rest of this entry »

MONTPELIER — Gov. James Douglas made his opinion known Thursday during his presentation of the proposed 2010 state budget: Vermont cannot continue to afford its current level of health-care spending.
To bring financial stability to next year’s state budget, Douglas proposed a laundry list of possible changes to Vermont’s health-care programs. These include increasing premiums for state-sponsored insurance programs, cutting reimbursement rates for Read the rest of this entry »

Unknown to many immigrant and health advocates, a 1996 immigration law directs the Citizenship and Immigration Services to require that new immigrants receive inoculations that the CDC’s immunization committee recommends for U.S. residents.
“It’s not really a decision of ours,” said immigration service spokeswoman Sharon Rummery. “We can’t cherry-pick the recommendations of the committee.”
To help protect the health of U.S. residents, foreigners Read the rest of this entry »

“The health agenda isn’t being addressed, and the health agenda was certainly a big part of the campaign and a big part of the transition,” said Kevin Robert Frost, chief executive of the Foundation for AIDS Research, or Amfar. Noting that Obama and transition officials pledged that AIDS initiatives would get fresh attention, Frost said he fears that “all that stuff is on hold.”
Administration advisers are not talking publicly about who might replace Read the rest of this entry »

The Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative also calls for mandated coverage for those who do not get it through their employer. The group pledged that the policies would be more affordable than they are now.
The coalition of labor groups, churches, businesses and community organizations consulted with health policy experts from the University of Maryland, John Hopkins University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The plan aims to build on two Read the rest of this entry »

Health groups, some backed by the drug industry, have joined the heated lobbying battle in Washington over the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle urging him to pick a person familiar with the industry.
The letter follows signs that two outspoken critics of drug makers and the FDA–Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic and Baltimore health chief Joshua Read the rest of this entry »

Seniors should have recently received an “annual notice of change” package stating the changes that go into effect next year.
The Medicare Rights Center advises seniors to call their plans and check whether their medications are covered. They should be sure to make a list of all drugs and the dosages prescribed in advance.
Seniors also will want to ask about drug copayments, which pharmacies are in the network and whether the plan has placed Read the rest of this entry »

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Clyde Hoy has only missed one election. It was 2002, and the manic depression he had battled for nearly 20 years had taken hold again, landing him in a state psychiatric hospital.
“I wanted to vote, but I felt that I didn’t have any right at all,” said the 48-year-old Hoy. “I asked and nobody gave me an answer. There wasn’t an option.”
Advocates are working to change that with a nationwide effort to make sure those Read the rest of this entry »

Cuts to funding for mental health programs won’t save the state money, advocates said Thursday, arguing it will lead to higher spending elsewhere.
More than $5.5 million will be eliminated from state funding for such programs if lawmakers approve the most recent funding scenario for next year’s budget. Up to 90 beds could be lost at the Utah State Hospital, which houses the state’s most severely mentally ill.
Advocates describe the cuts as disproportionately Read the rest of this entry »