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Health Care Ads Leave Washington, Follow Lawmakers Home During Break
Roll Call reports that "several major industry stakeholders" will be "noticeably absent from the advertising airwaves over the July Fourth recess. Though they will continue to keep in touch with Members through meetings and grass roots, AARP, the American Medical Association, America"s Health Insurance Plans, the Federation of American Hospitals and AdvaMed all say they are sitting out this recess when it comes to advertising campaigns." Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and White House aides have "warned that any groups that run ads attacking reform efforts before the bills have been crafted would lose their seats at the bargaining table," but the "advocacy ad floodgates" may "open shortly." Until then, "groups are working in a lower-profile way to get their messages across to Members," such as planning in-district meetings with Members and activating grassroots networks.
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House Passes Spending Bill; Amendment To Block Removal Of Needle Exchange Funding Ban Defeated
The House on Friday passed a $730.5 billion bill (HR 3293) "to fund health, education and labor programs in fiscal 2010 after narrowly defeating an attempt to strip language that would lift the ban on federal needle exchange programs," in the U.S., CQ Today reports (Wolfe, 7/24). Lawmakers voted 211-218 to reject an amendment by Mark Souder (R-Ind.) that sought to keep the ban in place, the AP/Lewiston Sun Journal reports (Taylor, 7/25). The bill that passed includes a restriction against using federal funds for needle exchanges within 1,000 feet of day care centers, schools, parks, playgrounds, pools and youth centers, the Washington Post reports.
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Monkey Study Finds Reducing Calories Thwarts Aging, Disease
The bottom-line message from a decades-long study of monkeys on a restricted diet is simple: Consuming fewer calories leads to a longer, healthier life.
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Study Demonstrates Benefits Of 'Healthy Kids' Program

A program that provides health care coverage to uninsured kids saved Los Angeles County health facilities more than $37 million in uncompensated costs over the past three years, according to an analysis led by USC community health expert Michael Cousineau. The findings appear in the July issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. Using data provided by Los Angeles County, the authors analyzed how the Healthy Kids program has affected use of ambulatory care services in safety net hospitals and health centers over a three-year period. More than 40,000 children in Los Angeles County many of whom are ineligible for the State Children"s Health Insurance Program or Medicaid due to family income or immigration status have been enrolled since the program launched in 2003. The Healthy Kids program currently operates in nearly 30 California counties and has linked more than 85,000 children statewide with health insurance coverage. "This is the first analysis to really show that the program has made a significant impact in reducing uncompensated costs," says Cousineau, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "It demonstrates the practical, financial value of the program in providing coverage for children who otherwise would not have access to health insurance." While the role of the healthcare safety net in providing services for uninsured and underinsured patients has been debated in various proposals for healthcare reform in the United States, little is known about how health coverage expansion affects the use of these services, he notes. Cousineau and his colleague, Albert J. Farias, M.P.H., project manager for the Center for Community Health Studies at the Keck School of Medicine, tracked visits to L.A. County emergency rooms and clinics during the past three years. They found that expansion of the Healthy Kids program resulted in a decrease in the use of County-funded programs for the uninsured. The data suggests that the insurance coverage provided by Healthy Kids improves access and also reconfigures where children get their care, he says. "Those with both public and private coverage are more likely than uninsured children to receive needed primary healthcare visits, have a medical home and have improved health care status," the authors wrote in the report. The Healthy Kids coalition is currently financed through a combination of private and state funds. Cousineau says a more effective, long-term solution would be to fold all the individual county programs into a statewide program that covers all children in California. "The success of Healthy Kids demonstrates the value of universal coverage," he says. "It will help to stabilize the County safety net and will help alleviate the tremendous financial shortfall that Los Angeles County hospitals are facing." University of Southern California Health Sciences


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