Thursday News Bites

The number of uninsured adults in America has hit a record high - 50 million and counting. This isn't just bad for them; it's bad for all of us because, when they get sick, they end up in an emergency room and the taxpayers foot the bill. Bringing down the cost of health care is critical, but so is expanding coverage, and this is what health reform is good at. In 2014, with expanded Medicaid, subsidies for people up to 400% of federal poverty level, and the Exchanges all making care more available and affordable, we should cover at least another 30 million people. That's if we hang in until 2014 and don't dismantle the legislation before it can do the most good.

And Congress has a lot of health-related work to do besides health reform. Medical malpractice reform is a priority for the GOP. Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors are set to fall by a huge amount unless they are postponed yet again.

In other news, ......................

Caregiving for veterans is a struggle for families. Veterans health care in general is becoming an ever larger issue as so many vets return from Iraq and Afghanistan needing our support.

And here's a moving article about efforts to make one's home the right place to die for a terminal patient.

Have you seen the new graphics the FDA wants to put on cigarettes to warn of their danger? Wow.

How about high-tech informed consent, where a computer tells you all about the procedure to which you are agreeing?

And here's a wake-up call about colon cancer from the Colon Club, a great organization.

How to dispose of your old prescription drugs, from USA Today.

And that's how the morning landscape looks. Have a good one. Jennifer