U.S. lawmakers battle over “specialty” hospitals
Battle lines were officially drawn Thursday on Capitol Hill over whether lawmakers should ban the further spread of physician-owned “specialty” hospitals that only treat patients with select conditions.
On Wednesday, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana introduced legislation that would continue a moratorium on construction of new specialty facilities beyond its June 8 expiration.
U.S. Medicaid commission draws unusual interest
When it comes to the Medicaid health program for the poor, the question in Washington has moved from whether to cut the program to how.
The budget blueprint approved by the U.S. Congress late last month calls for legislation to trim Medicaid spending by $10 billion over five years. But, in a compromise with moderate Republicans in the Senate, the deadline for that legislation to be written was pushed back to September, and the Bush administration agreed to appoint a bipartisan commission to make recommendations for how the program should be restructured.
Asian states hampering bird flu checks - UN agency
A top U.N. agency official accused Asian nations of blocking proper monitoring of the deadly bird flu virus by giving too few samples to scientists, but denied a charge that his own agency was failing to share specimens.
The head of the Animal Health Service of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said countries were failing to export samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003.
England, Wales in grip of mumps epidemic
England and Wales are in the grip of a mumps epidemic affecting mostly adolescents and young adults, scientists said on Friday.
More than 5,000 cases of the disease, which causes swelling and pain in one or both of the salivary glands, have been reported in the first five months of 2005.
Last year there were 16,436 sufferers - four times as many as the previous year.
