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- Maryland /
Regional
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- National /
International
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House Passes Senate Bill On Tobacco Regulation
(Washington Post)
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Drugmakers rush to make swine flu vaccine
(Baltimore Sun)
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- Opinion
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Doctors and the
Cost of Care
(New York Times
Editorial)
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Health Care Reform: The View From the A.M.A.
(New York Times
Letter to the Editor)
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- Maryland /
Regional
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- National / International
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House Passes Senate Bill On Tobacco Regulation
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- By Lyndsey Layton
- Washington Post
- Saturday, June 13, 2009
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- By a ratio of 3 to 1, the House of Representatives
yesterday approved the Senate version of a bill that gives
the federal government sweeping new powers to regulate
tobacco.
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- "This is the day when Americans can begin to truly kick
the habit, with the full force of our laws marshaled to
protect consumers, and especially our young people," said
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a key sponsor of the House
version of the bill.
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- The House had already passed a nearly identical version
of the bill in April, but it needed to ratify the Senate's
action and did so by a vote of 307 to 97.
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- President Obama, himself a smoker who has struggled to
quit, congratulated lawmakers. "We've known for years, even
decades, about the harmful, addictive and often deadly
effects of tobacco products," he said. "Each year, Americans
pay nearly $100 billion in added health-care costs due to
smoking. Each day, about 1,000 young people under the age of
18 become regular smokers."
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- The legislation gives the Food and Drug Administration
authority to regulate the advertising, marketing and
manufacturing of tobacco products. Tobacco is used by one in
five Americans, yet it is one of the least-regulated
consumer products. Pet food and cosmetics are more heavily
controlled by the government.
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- For smokers, the law will mean confronting graphic
warnings of the risks of their habit every time they pick up
a pack, and possible changes to the formulations of
cigarettes and cigars. The law is aimed particularly at
young people, by banning the use of cherry and other
flavorings as well as advertising that uses cartoon
characters like Joe the Camel.
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- The $89 billion tobacco industry will be required to
disclose the ingredients in cigarettes and other tobacco
products and will face severe limitations on how they are
advertised and promoted.
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- The legislation stops short of allowing the FDA to
prohibit tobacco or to eliminate nicotine, the addictive
drug in tobacco.
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- Congress has been battling for more than a decade over
regulating tobacco, coming close several times but faltering
in the face of procedural hang-ups or opposition from the
tobacco lobby or the White House. Over the years, changing
social attitudes toward smoking have helped transform the
suggestion of regulating tobacco from controversial to
common sense.
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- Staff writer William Branigin contributed to this
report.
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- Copyright 2009 Washington Post.
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Drugmakers rush to make swine flu vaccine
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- Associated Press
- Baltimore Sun
- Saturday, June 13, 2009
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- LONDON - With swine flu now an official pandemic, the
race is on among drugmakers to produce a vaccine.
GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday after the World Health
Organization declared a global flu epidemic that it would be
ready within weeks to begin large-scale vaccine production.
Sanofi-Aventis also said it had started working on its own
version. On Friday, Swiss pharma giant Novartis announced it
had created an experimental vaccine that has not been tested
in people. Novartis' vaccine was made via a cell-based
technology that may prove faster than the traditional way of
making vaccines, which relies on chicken eggs. WHO and
others estimate that about 2.4 billion doses of pandemic
vaccine could be available in about a year.
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- Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.
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- Opinion
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Doctors and the Cost
of Care
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- New York Times Editorial
- Sunday, June 14, 2009
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- As the debate over health care reform unfolds, policy
makers and the public need to focus more attention on
doctors and the huge role they play in determining the cost
of medical care — costs that are rising relentlessly.
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- Doctors largely decide what medical or surgical
treatments are needed, whether it will be delivered in a
hospital, what tests will be performed, and what drugs will
be prescribed or medical devices implanted.
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- There is disturbing evidence that many do a lot more
than is medically useful — and often reap financial benefits
from over-treating their patients. No doubt a vast majority
of doctors strive to do the best for their patients. But
many are influenced by fee-for-service financial incentives
and some are unabashed profiteers.
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- All Americans are affected. Those with insurance are
struggling to pay ever higher premiums, as are their
employers. If the government is going to help subsidize
coverage for the millions of uninsured, it will need to find
significant savings in Medicare spending, at least some of
which should come from reducing over-treatment. In the long
run, if doctors can’t be induced to rein themselves in,
there is little hope of lasting reform.
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- A glaring example of profligate physician behavior was
described by Atul Gawande in the June 1 issue of The New
Yorker. (His article has become must reading at the White
House.) Dr. Gawande, a Harvard-affiliated surgeon and
author, traveled to McAllen, Texas, to find out why Medicare
spends more per beneficiary there than in any other city
except Miami.
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- None of the usual rationalizations put forth by doctors
held up. The population, though poor, is not sicker than
average; the quality of care people get is not superior.
Malpractice suits have practically disappeared due to a
tough state malpractice law, leaving no rationale for
defensive medicine. The reason for McAllen’s soaring costs,
some doctors finally admitted, is over-treatment. Doctors
perform extra tests, surgeries and other procedures to
increase their incomes.
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- Dr. Gawande’s reporting tracks pioneering studies by
researchers at Dartmouth into the reasons for large regional
and institutional variations in Medicare costs. Why should
medical care in Miami or McAllen be far more expensive than
in San Francisco? Why should care provided at the U.C.L.A.
medical center be far more costly than care at the renowned
Mayo Clinic?
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- After adjusting for differences in health, income,
medical price and other factors, the Dartmouth researchers’
overall conclusion is that the more costly areas and
institutions provide a lot more tests, services and
intensive hospital-based care than the lower cost centers.
Yet their patients fare no better and often fare worse
because they suffer from the over-treatment.
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- The Dartmouth group estimates that up to 30 percent of
Medicare spending is wasted on needless care.
-
- Although most experts think the Dartmouth research is
essentially right, a few believe that other factors,
including the health of individual patients, play a bigger
role. Even if the over-treatment is less than the Dartmouth
researchers believe, their findings point to areas and
institutions where Medicare should be able to coax or push
physicians to behave more prudently, for all their patients.
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- When President Obama speaks at the annual meeting of the
American Medical Association on Monday he will need all of
his persuasive powers to bring doctors into the campaign for
health care reform. Doctors have been complicit in driving
up health care costs. They need to become part of the
solution.
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- Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company.
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Health Care Reform: The View From the A.M.A.
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- New York Times Letter to the Editor
- Saturday, June 13, 2009
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- To the Editor:
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- Re “Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Health Insurance Plan”
(news article, June 11):
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- Make no mistake: The American Medical Association is
committed to health reform that covers the uninsured this
year. Every American deserves affordable, high-quality
health care, and the A.M.A. is calling for reforms that
build on what works and fixes what’s broken.
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- A government-run health care plan is certainly not the
only option on the table, and there are alternatives we are
actively considering. The A.M.A. is engaged in continuing
discussions with President Obama and members of Congress
about how to make health care coverage for all a reality.
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- We are focused on reform that covers the uninsured,
makes private insurance more affordable, increases the value
we receive from our health care spending and enhances
prevention and wellness for all patients. We look forward to
the day when all Americans have health care coverage.
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- Nancy H. Nielsen
- President
- American Medical Association
- Chicago, June 12, 2009
-
- Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company.
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