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Opinion Pieces Discuss Whether Current Efforts To Fix Health Costs Will Produce Sufficient Savings
David Brooks, New York Times: Health care costs have become "the crucial issue of [President Obama"s] whole presidency," Times columnist Brooks writes. According to Brooks, Obama"s original plan was to fund his priorities, including education and energy, with debt that would be paid off with future savings resulting from health care reform. Brooks writes that Obama"s aides have been discussing "game-changers" -- such as health information technology, wellness programs, preventive medicine, comparative effective measures and altering reimbursement policies -- that would result in cost reductions. However, Brooks writes that most experts do not think such efforts would "produce much in the way of cost savings over the next 10 years" and that "nobody is sure" the efforts would "ever produce significant savings." Brooks writes that because "there are deep structural forces, both in Medicare and the private insurance market" that make it "nearly impossible to put together a majority coalition for a bill" challenging those structures, reform efforts this year likely will produce a "medium-size bill that expands coverage to some groups but does relatively little to control costs." Brooks concludes, "Without serious health cost cuts," Obama"s agenda "will hasten fiscal suicide" (Brooks, New York Times, 5/15).

Bacteria Pack Their Own Demise
Numerous pathogens contain an "internal time bomb", a deadly mechanism that can be used against them. After years of work, VIB researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) were able to determine the structure and operating mechanism of the proteins involved. This clears the road for finding ways to set the clock on this internal time bomb and, hopefully, in the process developing a new class of antibiotics. The research was accepted for publication by top journal Molecular Cell, with congratulations from the editorial board.
News of the day
Health Care Costs For Small Businesses Considered
"Health care costs are killing small businesses. Their insurance premiums are rising dramatically and unpredictably," NPR reports. "Jody Hall, who owns Seattle"s Cupcake Royale, now pays as much in health insurance for her employees as she does in rent for four choice Seattle storefronts. A majority of working Americans are employed by small businesses, but according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 6 in 10 small businesses provide health care. What"s more, the National Federation of Independent Business reports that small companies pay substantially more in premiums than large firms do. Hall, for example, has just three or four insurers to choose from, and she says they won"t negotiate on price."
Endocrinology

Fremont Patients, Public Health Endangered By Kaiser Cutbacks In Urgent Services

TUESDAY: Dozens of Registered Nurses to March on Kaiser Permanente-Fremont to Protest Effort to Slash Urgent Care Citing grave risks to the care they are able to provide to their patients, dozens of RNs from Kaiser-Fremont will march on the facility this Tuesday July 14th to protest a new effort to cut urgent-care res at the facility. The nurses will demand Kaiser continue offering these services and cancel any proposed cutbacks. What: Nurses Picket Kaiser-Fremont Over Loss of Urgent Care Services Where: Kaiser Fremont, 39401 Civic Center Drive, Fremont When: Tuesday, July 14, 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. The nurses charge that Kaiser"s decision to slash the hours, access, and capacity of their urgent care center will negatively impact patients by shuffling them into an already-overcrowded emergency room, and will cause financial hardship through the higher schedule of co-pays for care in the ER. "Cutting back urgent care hours and services is the latest step by Kaiser to cut corners on patient care," said Robert Marth, an RN at Kaiser. "Kaiser is forcing people into the emergency room, despite the fact that they"ll pay more to receive care in what may not be the appropriate setting. Kaiser is a profitable and well-funded system and our patients deserve better than these ongoing reductions in patient care." "Urgent care services at Kaiser Fremont are important to our community and should not be cut," added Bob Weickowski, a member of the Fremont City Council. Kaiser recently announced that its profits from the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year are up 72 percent over last year-jumping from $250 million to $432 million-making clear that they have the res to maintain urgent-care services. California Nurses Association


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