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| U.S. government seeks to cut Medicare payments to insurers Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday proposed a cut in payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, a move Republican lawmakers said would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to cut payments by more than the 6 to 7 percent the insurance industry had expected, one Wall Street analyst said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government proposes cut to insurer payments for Medicare Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:55 PM PST  The U.S. government on Friday proposed a cut in payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, a move Republican lawmakers said would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to cut payments by more than the 6 to 7 percent the insurance industry had expected, one Wall Street analyst said. Insurers have said they could only maintain benefits if there was no change in payments for 2015 from 2014. Many factors go into determining the government's total reimbursement to insurers. Full Story | Top |
| Wall St. dips with S&P 500's record high in sight Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Friday on options-related trading, with the S&P 500 facing resistance as it flirts with its record high even as economic data continues to underwhelm. Shares declined late in the session due in part to trades related to options expiration, according to market participants. U.S. home resales, also known as existing home sales, fell more than expected in January and hit an 18 month-low as the combination of cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential buyers. Traders have selectively dismissed weak economic data, which is being blamed on the extreme weather that has affected large swaths of the United States. Full Story | Top |
| California lawmaker indicted on bribery, corruption charges Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:25 PM PST  By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator has been indicted on federal charges that he accepted some $100,000 in bribes from a businessman and undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood movie executives in exchange for steering legislation in their favor, prosecutors said on Friday. Democrat Ron Calderon, 56, has agreed to turn himself in on Monday to face two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Calderon's brother, Tom Calderon, a former member of the California State Assembly, was also named in the U.S. District Court indictment and charged with conspiracy and seven counts of money laundering. Tom Calderon, 59, has surrendered to federal authorities and was expected to face an arraignment on Friday, Mrozek said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. health regulator proposes insurer payments for Medicare Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:07 PM PST (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday announced proposed payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, amid pressure from the industry and Congress to avoid cuts that would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, lays out a benchmark amount of reimbursement that insurers use to help set prices on private Medicare plans. Insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc, Humana Inc and Aetna Inc manage private Medicare plans for about 15 million of the 50 million Americans eligible for Medicare. Full Story | Top |
| FDA seeks to modernize over-the counter drug reviews Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:55 PM PST By Toni Clarke and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing sweeping changes to how it regulates over-the-counter drugs from aspirin to allergy medications to make it easier to react to new information on a product's safety or recommended use. As one example, the FDA has sought to lower the dosage of painkiller acetaminophen from 500 milligrams in widely used products such as "extra strength" Tylenol to 325 mg, based on current knowledge of the liver damage the drug can cause. "We believe the OTC dose should be changed, but it will take a long, long process because it can only change through rulemaking," FDA spokeswoman Andrea Fischer said in an emailed statement. In contrast, the FDA was able to act swiftly to require such a change for prescription pain treatments that contain acetaminophen. Full Story | Top |
| Night eating disorder needs more study Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:49 PM PST They analyzed eating disorders and mental health history in more than 1,600 university students and found about 4 percent met night eating disorder criteria, with about a third of those also engaging in binge eating. "Night eating syndrome is characterized not only by eating at night - certainly many college students might have a late night study fest with eating - but it's also characterized by other things, like feeling that you can't eat in the morning, and feeling like you have to eat in order to go back to sleep," Dr. Rebecka Peebles told Reuters Health. "Our study helped extend findings of previous studies that have not been controlling for binge eating," Peebles said. "We know that binge eating and night eating have a pretty moderate overlap so a lot of people who come into the clinic for night eating often have binge eating." "We think night eating is something to be aware of even though it only occurs in just under 3 percent of the students after controlling for binge eating, so it's still a pretty important entity," Peebles said. Full Story | Top |
| Health fraud lawsuit echoes 'Wolf of Wall Street' Friday, Feb 21, 2014 12:35 PM PST A former business partner of the man who inspired the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street," about a high-profile stock fraud scheme in the '90s, has been sued for alleged Medicare fraud. The complaint, filed on February 10, claims that Danny Porush and five other leaders of privately held Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies Inc and an affiliated company participated in a "deceitful, high pressure telemarketing" scheme to sell unneeded medical equipment to patients. Porush said in an email that he works as a manager at Med-Care and that the company never engaged in the activities alleged in the complaint. Porush and Jordan Belfort, the main character in "The Wolf of Wall Street," led defunct brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont Inc, a boiler room that pumped up stocks. Full Story | Top |
| Hookah is not harmless, experts say Friday, Feb 21, 2014 12:32 PM PST  By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smoking hookah can be addictive and harmful, though many dabblers may not realize the dangers, according to a new review. "The cooled and sweetened flavor of hookah tobacco makes it more enticing to kids and they falsely believe it's less harmful," Tracey E. Barnett from the University of Florida in Gainesville told Reuters Health. Barnett has studied the recent rise in teen hookah smoking. She was not involved in the new review, published in Respiratory Medicine. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pregnancy not the best time to lose weight: study Friday, Feb 21, 2014 12:30 PM PST By C.E. Huggins NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Overweight and obese women who gain too few pounds, or even lose weight, during pregnancy may be putting their unborn child at risk, a new study suggests. "While many people recommend that weight loss in pregnancy, particularly for very obese women is ok . (there) may be adverse effects," said Dr. Patrick Catalano, director of the Center for Reproductive Health at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio. "We don't have much data, in particular on body composition changes in overweight (or) obese women who lose weight," said Catalano, who led the new study. Full Story | Top |
| Elderly profit from group meetings and home visits Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:54 AM PST By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Group meetings and preventive home visits helped octogenarians maintain their health, independence and a positive outlook, according to a first-of-its-kind study in Sweden. Gerontologist Gwen Yeo told Reuters Health she was "amazed" that researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg successfully documented what she has long suspected - health-promotion programs can postpone disease progression in older adults and keep them in relatively good shape. Yeo, director emeritus of the Stanford School of Medicine Geriatric Education Center, was not involved in the new study published in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. It found that the health of people 80 years and older who attended group meetings or were visited at home by healthcare workers was only half as likely to deteriorate over two years as the health of older adults without the meetings or the visits. Full Story | Top |
| Uganda leader puts anti-gay law on hold to seek more scientific advice Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:08 AM PST  By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has put a bill imposing strict penalties for homosexuality on hold to give scientists a chance to prove that homosexuality could be triggered by genes and is not a "lifestyle choice". Homosexuality is taboo in African countries and illegal in 37. Museveni dismissed the U.S. threat, but said in a statement dated February 18 and seen by Reuters on Friday that he would not sign the proposed law until after hearing from scientists. Presidential spokesman, Tamale Mirundi, told Reuters on Friday the bill would be on hold for now "until more conclusive research is done, and that's what the president is saying in that letter." The bill, which was introduced in 2009, initially proposed a death sentence for homosexual acts, but was amended to prescribe jail terms including life in jail for what it called aggravated homosexuality. Full Story | Top |
| Iran's rising executions dim U.N. hopes for reforms Friday, Feb 21, 2014 08:54 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 80 people and perhaps as many as 95 have been executed in Iran already this year, a surge in the use of the death penalty that has dampened hopes for human rights reforms under President Hassan Rouhani, the United Nations said on Friday. Rouhani, who won a surprise election last year on a platform of more openness with the West, clinched an interim deal in November with world powers over Iran's nuclear program. In September, dozens of political prisoners were released, raising hopes that he would also improve human rights in a country that ranks second after China on Amnesty International's list of states with the highest use of capital punishment. Full Story | Top |
| Ariad to add activist investor Alex Denner to board Friday, Feb 21, 2014 08:10 AM PST (Reuters) - Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, which has been struggling with safety concerns involving its only approved drug, said it agreed to add two directors backed by its second-largest investor Sarissa Capital Management to its board. Ariad shares rose 3 percent to $8.98 in early trading. The company said Alexander Denner - investor Carl Icahn's former healthcare lieutenant and Sarissa's chief investment officer - will assume one of the seats. The other director would be selected by the board, "subject to Denner's concurrence," Ariad said. Full Story | Top |
| EU Agency backs respiratory drugs for approval Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:43 AM PST European regulators recommended the approval of a clutch of drugs to treat respiratory diseases on Friday, including two from GlaxoSmithKline and another from Teva Pharmaceuticals. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said four of the drugs recommended for approval were intended to treat the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that typically affects smokers, while another two were for asthma and COPD. Israeli drugmaker Teva received the nod for a combination of budesonide and formoterol, delivered by its Spiromax multi-dose dry powder inhaler, for the regular treatment of asthma and for the symptomatic treatment of patients with severe COPD. Full Story | Top |
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