In The News

Indonesia Relents Over Bird-Flu Sample Release

February 28, 2008
The high cost of health care has developing nations thinking ahead and balking at participating in global studies. After refusing to share H5N1 avian-flu samples with the World Health Organization, Indonesia has since relented and sent the samples on to researchers in the US. Indonesia “wants a material transfer agreement to protect its rights over the samples,” as well as access to any...

Running for Cover

February 28, 2008
In a relatively rare instance of policy – rather than personal – disagreement, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hold differing views on how to make sure Americans have health insurance. While Clinton proposes an individual mandate, Obama contends that making health care affordable is the only way to achieve true universal coverage. Individual mandates have run into trouble, in legislation in...

Bird Flu Remains Dangerous as It Continues to Mutate

Robert S. Boyd February 22, 2008
The virus that causes avian influenza continues to mutate, with seven slightly different types now identified by researchers. So far human transmission is rare. The virus has killed more than 200 people in 14 countries, and millions more birds. “The fear is that the virus will change into a form that makes human-to-human transmission quick and easy,” writes Robert S. Boyd for McClatchy...

Saying No to Coercive Care

Shikha Dalmia January 31, 2008
Some individual states have attempted to mandate the purchase of health insurance, with mixed results. For instance, Massachusetts offers subsidies for some people above the federally determined poverty line, but the rise in overall demand for health insurance has allowed insurance companies to increase premiums even faster. In turn, uninsured people above the cutoff for government subsidies...

The GOP’s Prescription for Healthcare

Grace-Marie Turner January 27, 2008
The US health care system emphasizes health care as a benefit of employment. For more six decades, federal and state tax policy has tied the two together by exempting workers from paying taxes on any income used on employer-supplied health insurance. However, only about 60 percent of Americans are covered by employer-based insurance. Increasing procedure costs and mobility in the labor market...

Virus On Jet Plane

Nayan Chanda January 22, 2008
The speed and frequency of today’s travel has placed individuals at risk to the spread of many infectious diseases. As Nayan Chanda points out, governments facing these challenges should be more vigilant than ever to avoid future epidemics. Full cooperation with the WHO must also be achieved. In an interconnected world, it is important everyone recognizes that our health and well-being is...

The Scourge of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Laura H. Kahn December 28, 2007
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria – including Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA – are a growing public-health problem. Complicating matters is the tendency of high-strength antibiotics to kill or change regular bacteria that live in the human body; people with low levels of the regular bacteria can be more susceptible to infections. The agriculture industry’s practice of feeding farm animals with...