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Tenofovir gel no more effective than placebo gel in preventing HIV

April 04, 2017

Forbes: Consumer Driven Health Care Proponents Finally Proven WrongMeet Grand Junction, Colorado, home of superior medical treatment for an entire community while ranking sixth from the bottom in the nation when it comes to costs per patient. ... Consumer driven health care proponents argue that placing the responsibility on the individual to pay for a larger share of their health care expenditures results in greater competition as consumers "shop" for the best prices and make fewer visits to the doctor as a result of having to pay a greater share of the cost of their visits. Yet, Grand Junction, Colorado has discovered that it is exactly the opposite that is dramatically bringing down costs in their part of the country (Rick Unger, 11/27).

Des Moines Register: From Charitable Origins To 'Wall Street Values'In protests from New York to Des Moines, the central concern is the same: [G]reed has corrupted our culture. Industries have grown so large and rich that they have usurped our government through political influence. Their executives own more and more of our nation's wealth. Though this state of affairs conjures images of huge, profitable corporations, we might also consider many hospitals (and other care facilities) for inclusion (Dean Lerner, 11/26).

Denver Post: A Critical First Step Toward Tackling Drug ShortagesAs an important first step to begin to tackle this crisis, I have introduced bipartisan legislation to provide an early warning system, enhancing communications among all relevant stakeholders when shortages occur. The bill requires manufacturers to notify the FDA of shortages -; including discontinuances or production interruptions -; promptly. Information on those shortages, including the expected duration, would then be posted on the FDA website and distributed to health care providers and organizations (Rep. Diana DeGette, 11/25).

Reuters: As Open Enrollment Winds Down, Grab What's YoursTo really crank up your compensation, you don't have to confront your boss with any ultimatums. You just have to crack open your employee handbook. If raises might offer a potential 3 percent boost, employee benefits represent 10 times that amount of your total compensation. For private-sector workers, benefits now comprise 29.6 percent of what you're taking home -; even if you don't realize it. And if you're a government staffer, that number spikes even higher, at 34.6 percent (Chris Taylor, 11/23).

Minneapolis Star Tribune: In Times Of Health, Insurance Seemed OptionalIf health care would have been accorded to me as easily in the United States as it was in Italy, I might have opted to treat my breast cancer before it moved to my bones. ??¦ Although it is too late for me, I hope that the mandated health insurance will be upheld in the courts. Universal coverage is a good first step in helping to reduce the costs and to bring down the barriers so American citizens can receive the simple human right that people, even tourists, in other developed countries receive as a matter of course: medical care when they need it (Katherine Morrow, 11/25).

Modern Healthcare: No Solutions HereVendors nowadays offer their customers services that they invariably label "solutions." The American political establishment, especially Congress, peddles solutions that are in reality, problems -; huge ones. That became painfully evident to health care professionals and just about everyone else with the failure of the wildly misnamed super committee to reach a deficit-reduction deal. Now providers are left facing Medicare cuts, including a 27 percent whack to physician payments, as well as a raft of painful reductions in discretionary health spending (Neil McLaughlin, 11/28).

Boston Globe: Medicaid Has A Problem, But Block Grants Won't Solve ItIt's become a consensus position among the Republican presidential candidates that Medicaid, a federal entitlement program best known for providing health care to the poor, should be turned over to the states as a block-grant program. States know their own needs, the logic goes, and will use fixed grants creatively and efficiency -; as opposed to a federal bureaucracy that writes checks on behalf of all who qualify. But if only it were that simple (11/25).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.