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Bill Would Allow Federal Funding For Needle Exchange Programs
House Democrats on Friday as part of a spending measure to fund the Departments of Labor and HHS for fiscal year 2010, "unveiled legislation to lift a ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs, a shift to try to reduce [HIV infections] but one that will probably spark a fight," Reuters/Boston Globe reports (7/11). The ban has been included in the annual spending bill in previous years. House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-Wis.) said, "Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing [HIV] infections and do not promote drug use" (Reuters, Pelofsky, 7/10). "The move is in keeping with a pledge [President] Obama made during the primaries to remove the prohibition on such funding, although the ban was carried in his budget request this year," CQ Today reports (Wolfe, 7/10). However, "Republicans are girding for a fight over the ban and lawmakers could try to restore it as the legislation moves through the House during the next two weeks," according to Reuters (7/10). The bill also addresses sex education and "appears to continue Democrats" slow march away from funding abstinence-only sex education," CQ reports (7/10).
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Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treated Effectively By Surgery
Infants and young toddlers with obstructive sleep apnea and sleep disordered breathing experience significant improvement following surgical treatment of the ailment, according to an invited article in the June 2009 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
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Bacteria With A Built-in Thermometer
Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre demonstrate how bacteria measure temperature and thereby control infection.
Oncology

President Obama "Open" To Coverage Mandate For All Americans

President Obama on Wednesday signaled in a letter to top Senate Democrats that he may be open to requiring all Americans to have health insurance coverage as part of health care reform. The Washington Post: "In his push to enact sweeping health-care reform legislation this summer, Obama previewed what could be the outlines of a compromise on two of the thorniest issues confronting Congress. He said he could support mandates on both individuals and employers to contribute to the cost of health insurance if the bill provides protections to certain small businesses and poor people." Employers would be asked by the government to share in the costs of covering their employees, and if they refuse they would face a penalty. Obama mentioned the hardship waiver in the letter addressed to key committee chairmen, Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, late Tuesday. He outlined his support for some facets of the reform, insisting again that they send him a bill to sign by the end of the year. Last year, during the presidential primaries, "Obama attacked then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton"s proposed individual mandate as a scheme to "go after people"s wages,"" the Post recalls. Draft legislation of a health reform bill may be available to Senate Finance Committee members June 17, with markup starting the following week (Connolly, 6/4). At least one Republican lawmaker praised Obama"s effort, according to The Los Angeles Times: ""Having the president engaged in the legislative debate with yesterday"s meeting and today"s letter, which doesn"t draw lines in the sand, is helpful because of his statements that reform legislation needs to have bipartisan support," said Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee" (Levey, 6/4). Politico writes: "Obama"s positions on these issues were not entirely surprising, but his decision to weigh in before congressional Democratic leaders released a single bill was unexpected. Prior to the letter, Obama and his aides had declined to say specifically where he stood on various issues, including the public plan and individual mandate, saying they wanted Congress to lead the way in writing a bill" (Brown, 6/3). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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