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June 30, 2005Americans View the Medicaid Positively and Are Reluctant to See State and Federal Cuts
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: A new national survey assesses the public's views towards Medicaid and knowledge of how the program operates. Read more from this post....
Justice Dept. Asks for $14 Billion from Tobacco Industry
From Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco News: The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge to require the tobacco industry to spend $10 billion on a stop-smoking campaign and $4 billion on tobacco-education programs as its racketeering case came to a...
Drug Abuse Warning Network Implements New System
From Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco News: A new system for DAWN data collection and reporting was implemented in January 2003; data and estimates for 2003 are not comparable to those for previous years. Read more from this post....
AMA Calls for Higher Alcohol Taxes
From Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco News: The American Medical Association (AMA) says that members should lobby lawmakers to raise alcohol taxes and to tax drinks based on their alcohol content, not volume. Read more from this post....
The Graetz Tax Reform Plan And The Treatment Of Low-Income Households
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: A tax reform plan designed by Yale Law School professor Michael Graetz would replace much of the income tax with a Value Added Tax. The plan would essentially repeal the regular income tax,...
FTCR: Canada Threatens to Ban Prescription Drug Imports; U.S. Seniors Left With No Alternative
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced today that he will introduce legislation this fall to ban bulk export of prescription drugs to the U.S by likely requiring Canadian doctors to examine patients before writing prescriptions. Under...
Health Groups Expect to Miss AIDS Target
From NYT > Health: Two major health groups said that they would not reach their goal of treating three million H.I.V.-infected poor people by the end of 2005. Read more from this post....
Americans Migrate to Cities in South, West (AP)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: AP - Skyrocketing housing prices are driving people from San Francisco, Boston and other big cities. Warm weather and more affordable living are behind the rapid growth in midsize cities in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and...
June 29, 2005
Changing job criteria to discriminate in employment
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A Yale study finds that shifting hiring criteria after learning the gender of job applicants is one way that employers engage in sex discrimination, despite laws and policies banning it. Read more from this post....
Women's health suffers under welfare reform, study says
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Women who are current and former welfare recipients suffer a whole host of health problems---and getting a job doesn't always help matters. Read more from this post....
National Children's Charity Opens Doors to D.C. Children for Whom Many Doors Have Closed; New Foster Care & Family Services Center
From U.S. Newswire Releases: In an effort to fill a burgeoning need by helping more of the 1,100 local kids now in need of foster homes in and around the nation's capital, the 123-year-old national children's charity KidsPeace is opening...
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Aids in Reducing Childhood Obesity and Strengthening Family Ties; Photo Available
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center, part of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, facilitates a program designed to impact families with children who are obese. This program, Fun with Fitness, creates the ability for children and families...
New Interactive Timelines Highlight Key Developments in Medicaid and Medicare
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: These interactive timelines provide information about policy developments since the creation of the and programs 40 years ago. These timelines will be updated with new developments as they occur. Read more from this post....
The Importance Of Social Security To The Hispanic Community
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Social Security is of particular importance to Hispanic Americans. In fact, research demonstrates that Hispanics benefit more from the Social Security system than does the rest of the population. Specifically, Hispanics receive higher...
Tax Subsidies to Help Low-Income Families Pay for Child Care
From The Urban Institute: Low-income working families face enormous challenges. Key among them is how to pay for decent child care. The federal income tax code subsidizes child care in several ways. The largest subsidy is the Child and Dependent...
Small Business and Microenterprise as an Opportunity- and Asset-Building Strategy
From The Urban Institute: Small business and microenterprise are important because of their role in the economy, their role in the American dream, and their economic development and self-sufficiency objectives. They are attractive because they create more economic development and...
Testimony Before Aging Committee Discusses the Future of Medicaid
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Diane Rowland, executive director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging on the future of Medicaid and its role for low-income Americans, particularly the...
June 28, 2005
New drug abuse treatment shows promise
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Patients who receive buprenorphine treatment for opioid addiction in an office-based setting are more likely than those receiving methadone treatment to be young men, new to drug use, and with no history of methadone treatment,...
The health effects of weight loss need more research
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Although it seems obvious that when overweight people lose weight their health should improve, the relationship between weight loss and health may not be assimple as that, suggests previous studies from Finland and Denmark. In...
$5.1 billion would save 6 million children
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: According to researchers from the JHSPH, six million children could be saved if $5.1 billion in new resources for preventive and therapeutic interventions were provided each year in the 42 countries around the world where...
Congress plans emergency funds for vets health care (Reuters)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: Reuters - As U.S. war injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan mounted, Congress on Tuesday hurriedly crafted legislation to provide around $1.5 billion in "emergency" funds for veterans' health care programs stretched thin by combat and...
VA Faces $2.6 Billion Shortfall in Medical Care
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: The Bush administration disclosed yesterday that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the Department of...
Low birth weight of a baby entails risks for the baby's father
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Parents whose children are born with a low birth weight run greater risk of dying of cardiovascular diseases. Even the fathers are at greater risk. These findings are published in a new report by Karolinska...
Keep an Ear Out for Language Delays in Children
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Read more from this post....
June 27, 2005
Hospital outcomes for women improve, but some hospitals fall far behind: Healthgrades study
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: American hospitals improved women's survival rates by 11 percent for cardiac disease and stroke from 2001 through 2003, according to the HealthGrades Women's Health Outcomes in U.S. Hospitals study, released today. But a "quality chasm"...
U.S. Report Faults States' Medicaid Tactics
From NYT > National: Two-thirds of the states use consultants to help them get more federal Medicaid money, often by using "questionable billing practices," Congressional investigators said. Read more from this post....
Study Says Weight Loss May Raise Risk of Death
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Overweight people who are otherwise healthy may increase their risk of dying by intentionally losing weight, according to provocative new research. Read more from this post....
Coalition Leaders to Learn Key Nonprofit Management and Fundraising Skills at Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's Mid-Year Training Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., July 25-28
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) will hold its Fourth Annual Mid-Year Training Institute at the JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Ariz., July 25-28, 2005. Attendees can choose from a menu of intensive...
Once in the doctor's office, racial and ethnic disparities in care nearly disappear: Stanford study
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found that once U.S. patients visit a doctor for outpatient care, their race and ethnicity make little difference in the quality of care they...
Stanford Business School Research: Unlocking The Mystery Of Poverty
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Read more from this post....
Infant abuse linked to early experience, not genetics
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Intergenerational transmission of infant abuse is more likely caused by early experience than genetic inheritance, a new University of Chicago research on macaque monkeys shows."Maternal abuse of offspring in macaque monkeys shares some similarities with...
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Aids in Reducing Childhood Obesity and Strengthening Family Ties
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center, part of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, facilitates a program designed to impact families with children who are obese. This program, Fun with Fitness, creates the ability for children and families...
June 26, 2005
Look to the future: Preparing for baby boomer dementia epidemic
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute, Inc. researchers begin to answer a question of how US health-care system and more specifically, primary care doctors - the physicians from whom older adults receive most...
End-of-life study to focus on needs of Sikh and Muslim patients
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new project to help terminally ill Sikh and Muslim patients to have 'a good death' sensitive to their cultural and religious beliefs is to begin at the University of Edinburgh. The research -- the...
Pelosi: Democrats Seek Swift Action to Restore Funding for Veterans' Health Care
From U.S. Newswire Releases: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement this afternoon after Republicans admitted that they have underfunded veterans' health care by $1 billion. Despite that admission, Republicans once again rejected Democratic efforts this afternoon to...
In Effort to Pare Medicaid Rolls, Long-Term Care Is the Focus
From NYT > Health: Lawmakers, health policy experts and stakeholders in the long-term-care industry are proposing to remove from the Medicaid rolls people who are not poor by standard definitions. Read more from this post....
Patients' Diversity Is Often Discounted
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Scientists have played down the role of culture in mental disorders but are rethinking that approach as the U.S. population grows more diverse. Read more from this...
Worry Over Public Housing
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: PHILADELPHIA -- The Bush administration's proposal to eliminate many of the federal rules requiring public housing authorities to serve extremely low-income people has generated widespread concern among...
Healers Prescribe Tribal Tradition
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: When a chronically depressed 9-year-old girl at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota became so sad that she stopped eating, Ethleen Iron Cloud-Two Dogs came...
June 25, 2005
Leveraging the Power of the Media to Combat HIV/AIDS
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Featured in the May/June 2005 edition of is an article describing the Kaiser Family Foundation’s unique public education model to combat HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world. Read more from this post....
New Website for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Information: GlobalHealthReporting.org
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Designed to help journalists, researchers, policy makers and NGOs efficiently sort through the latest and most accurate information on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, this new website provides the latest news, information and data on the...
Briefing and Webcast on the Basics of the Medicare Program
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: The Foundation and the Alliance for Health Reform cosponsored a Washington, DC. Capitol Hill briefing, on Monday, May 16. The briefing featured presentations by Tricia Neuman, a vice president and director of the Foundation’s Medicare Policy...
Latest Data on Medicaid Spending on Mandatory and Optional Populations and Services
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Two new Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured reports show that although optional populations account for 29 percent of Medicaid enrollment, 60 percent of all Medicaid spending (whether for mandatory or optional populations) is...
"Ask the Experts" Live Webcast on Health Information Technology
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: On , kaisernetwork.org will host a live "Ask the Experts" discussion on improving the nation’s health technology infrastructure, addressing questions about the government’s role in developing an electronic medical information network, what steps are necessary...
Antisocial Disorders More Common Among Addicted
From Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco News: A new government study concludes that people with alcohol and other drug addictions are more likely to have antisocial personality disorders, conduct disorders, and adult antisocial behavior disorders. Read more from this post....
June 24, 2005
KaiserEDU.org – Redesigned With New Features and New Tools
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: KaiserEDU.org, a comprehensive website for health policy students, faculty and others has been redesigned to include new features and tools providing easier access to the latest data, literature, news, and developments in health policy. The...
New KCMU Brief Finds Most Elderly Do Not Have Assets Sufficient to Pay For a One Year Nursing Home Stay
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: A new Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured issue paper finds that most elderly people living in the community do not have assets, excluding home equity, sufficient to finance a nursing home stay of...
New Resource about Social Security Privatization
At a hearing about design issues with private accounts in Social Security, held on June 23 by the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, testimony by Joan Entmacher of the National Women’s Law Center raised a series of questions...
Family and Medical Leave at Risk; Millions of Americans Could Lose Access to Leave If Bush Administration Revises Regulations, Warns President of National Partnership for Women and Families
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Many more Americans will have to choose between job and family when medical crises strike or babies are born if the Bush Administration rolls back the 12-year-old Family and Medical Leave Act, the nation's leading expert on...
Gov't OKs First Racially Targeted Drug (AP)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: AP - The heart failure drug BiDil was approved Thursday by government regulators for use by blacks. It will be the first medication marketed for a specific racial group. Read more from this post....
FDA Approves Controversial Heart Medication for Blacks
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the controversial drug BiDil to treat heart failure specifically in black patients, marking the first time a medication has been...
Pelosi: Labor-HHS-Education Bill Does Not Meet the Needs of America's Children, Workers, or Seniors
From U.S. Newswire Releases: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this afternoon on the House floor in opposition to the Republican Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill, which underfunds investments that are crucial to America's future. Read...
June 23, 2005
Connect for Kids Teen Essay Contest: Youth Writers, Youth Judges; Contest Invites 14- to 18-Year-Olds to Write Essays on the Decisions That Affect Them
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Connect for Kids is inviting youth ages 14 to 18 to share their ideas in a summer essay contest. Submissions will be judged by young writers from DC WritersCorps, a non-profit literacy organization. Four winners will have...
Teacher's little helpers: Robots attend UCSD nursery school in research study
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Humanoid robots RUBI and QRIO, both of whom are research platforms for advanced robotic technologies, are attending the Early Childhood Education Center at the University of California, San Diego as part of a long-term research...
NCLR Hails Groundbreaking Decision: California Court of Appeal Holds That Lesbian Co-Parent Is Entitled to Seek Visitation
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights hailed a groundbreaking decision by the California Court of Appeal holding that a lesbian co-parent is entitled to seek visitation. The Court held that Angela G. is entitled to...
June 22, 2005
Tax Policies to Help Working Families in Cities
From The Urban Institute: This paper examines how existing federal tax rules affect low- and middle-income working families in cities, and finds that several tax policy options could provide better economic opportunities and incentives for these households. Policies that expand...
Protecting Low-Income and Moderate-Income Families' Savings
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and The Retirement Security Project This policy brief describes the steps that both the federal government and state governments can take to reduce an important barrier to...
Ill-health and unhappiness among the risks for older mothers
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Although there are considerable risks to becoming pregnant later in life, more and more women are choosing to do it, a scientist reported at the 21st annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction...
Children's Defense Fund Opposes the Unfair 'Consent Decree Fairness Act'
From U.S. Newswire Releases: The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) opposes the so-called "Consent Decree Fairness Act" because it could destroy protections for the most vulnerable children in the United States. This misguided piece of legislation would undermine enforcement of federal...
June 20, 2005
Improving Homeownership Among Poor And Moderate-Income Households
From The Urban Institute: No asset is more important in expanding opportunity and hedging against economic uncertainty than owning a home. While homeownership may not be for everyone, strong disincentives are created by existing federal policies that subsidize poor families...
Can Today's Preschoolers Save Tomorrow's Social Security? WestEd Report: Funding Preschool May Help Solve Budget, Social Woes
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Investing immediately in a national preschool program would yield high returns - including possibly shoring up an ailing Social Security system - says a new WestEd report. According to economist Robert G. Lynch, funding a national, high-quality,...
Thirty Outstanding Hong Kong Students to Visit New York City and Washington, D.C., for Global Citizenship Program
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Thirty outstanding students from universities in Hong Kong will visit New York City and Washington, D.C., from June 17-25 to participate in The Dragon Foundation's Global Citizenship Program, designed to develop the skills and qualities they will...
Teens' Take: Sex Is All Around Them (washingtonpost.com)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: washingtonpost.com - This is what teenagers at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School tell you: They talk about sex. In the hallways. At lunch tables. Who's doing it. Who's not. Girls talk to their girlfriends. Boys talk...
Sometimes It's Better Just to Do Less Harm
From NYT > Health: Sometimes doing the right thing medically means risking lesser harm to avoid greater harm, especially when it comes to treating addiction. Read more from this post....
Health Care Costs, Spending Up
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: After hints that the rapid growth in health care spending was slowing, a report being released today suggests the brief reprieve has stalled and the soaring costs...
Personal debt: envy, penury or necessity?
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: What part does envy play in the apparently spiralling stock of personal debt in the UK, which last year passed the .1 trillion mark? New research by Stephen McKay, published in ESRC's new report Seven...
Low-income seniors skimp less on prescription drugs with pharmacy assistance programs
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study by Brandeis University researchers shows that state-run pharmacy assistance programs in Wisconsin and Illinois reduce by one-half the number of seniors who either forgo necessities or skimp on prescribed drugs. In January...
Study examines barriers to disclosure of childhood abuse
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children who don't tell anyone about being sexually abused often come from families that have rigid gender roles and other similar characteristics, says a University of Toronto researcher. Read more from this post....
Violent boys in unsafe conditions less prone to depression
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Violent adolescent boys in neighborhoods where they routinely witness violence tend to be less depressed than other violent youths, says a new study by Raymond Swisher of Cornell University and former student Robert D. Latzman....
Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Observe National Ask Day; Educate Public About Risks to Children Posed by Guns in the Home
From U.S. Newswire Releases: WHAT: An educational press conference to inform parents and physicians of strategies to reduce the threat of gun violence to children. Read more from this post....
Rep. Markey, PBS Characters, Peggy Charren, PTA, Children NOW, Friends of Public Broadcasting Rally to Protect America's Favorite Programming
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member on the House Committee Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will be joined by Clifford the Big Red Dog, Arthur and other PBS characters, the Founder of Action for...
High Court Blocks Pa. Inmate's Death Sentence
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: The Supreme Court overturned the sentence of a death row inmate in Pennsylvania yesterday, ruling that his attorneys failed to investigate readily available evidence of child abuse...
Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Research Grants
From Substance Abuse Funding News: The National Institute on Drug Abuse has issued a call for research into the effects of drug abuse prevention and intervention. Read more from this post....
Suddenly, nonprofits seek profits
From Christian Science Monitor | Work/Money: Leveraging unique physical and intellectual assets found at schools, museums, and charities can generate much-needed revenue. Others in the nonprofit world are discovering the same thing. For-profit side businesses that leverage unique physical and...
June 19, 2005
Housing Envy: Soaring Prices Create Divide (washingtonpost.com)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: washingtonpost.com - Lorna Dressendorfer and Erin Call, both single women in their early thirties, work side by side as labor and delivery nurses in the busy maternity ward at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Northwest Washington....
Corporate Donors Want Their Gifts to Help Bottom Line, Says Article in Stanford Social Innovation Review
From Ascribe Newsfeed: It is part of a broad, historic shift in the nature of corporate philanthropy. It goes by a variety of names - strategic philanthropy, cause marketing, values-led marketing, or just plain corporate citizenship - but what is...
New research evidence on anger in children and adults
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: New research uses longitudinal evidence to help understand anger and distinguish between people for whom anger is an occasional experience - and therefore quite normal - and those for whom it is more persistent. Read...
Marin, Bay Area Leaders Honored for Alcohol Prevention Work; Youth, Adults Recognized With First Annual Community Prevention Leadership Awards
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Four San Francisco Bay Area leaders in the fight against community alcohol problems have been chosen by the Marin Institute to receive Community Prevention Leadership Awards for their efforts. The awards are designed to highlight the often...
Church Adopts Sex Abuse Reporting Changes (AP)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: AP - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has formally adopted constitutional changes aimed at preventing and punishing sexual abuse by clergy. The ratification of 11 constitutional changes by presbyteries, or regional governing bodies, of the Louisville-based...
Laws May Reduce Unwed Fathers
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: SEATTLE, June 18 -- Tough child support laws may dissuade men from becoming unwed fathers, as states with the most stringent laws and strict enforcement have as...
June 17, 2005
Medicare Drug Benefit Resources
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: As President Bush calls for a national outreach effort to help seniors and people with disabilities understand the new Medicare drug benefit, the Kaiser Family Foundation has a number of Read more from this post....
Jobless at retirement
From Economic Policy Institute: Some policy makers have suggested that raising the retirement age would address the projected long-term gap in Social Security finances by inducing Americans to work long and postpone claiming their benefits. This recommendation, however, ignores the...
Making Tax Incentives for Homeownership More Equitable and Efficient
From The Urban Institute: While many recent evaluations of the effects of housing subsidies in the tax code focus on the choice between renting and owning, this paper examines the distribution and effectiveness of various changes to these subsidies. Specifically,...
A Profile of Families Cycling on and off Welfare
From MDRC: In MDRC's study of over 160,000 single-parent welfare recipients, families who repeatedly return to welfare assistance-"cyclers"-were less disadvantaged in the labor market than long-term welfare recipients. At the same time, they were less able than short-term recipients to...
Students revamp tractor for use by worlers with disabilities
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Undergrad engineers answer challenge to make tractor useable by disabled volunteers at southern Maryland state park. Read more from this post....
Walk slowly for weight loss, according to University of Colorado study
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Leisurely walking for distance combined with low-impact cardiovascular activity appears to be the best formula for obese people seeking to get into shape and stay healthy, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder study....
Bush Begins Campaign to Publicize Medicare Drug Benefit
From NYT > Health: President Bush opened a nationwide campaign to publicize the value of Medicare's new drug benefit, and he urged everyone on Medicare to sign up for it. Read more from this post....
The bigger the serving, the more young children will eat
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Preschool children do not adjust for how much they've already eaten in the past 24 hours or how calorie-rich their meal is. Rather, how much kids eat is determined by how much food is put...
Why being a teenage mum could be good for you!
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A unique breed of cockroach may hold the key to explaining why women who delay having children until later life have lower fertility compared to women who gave birth in their teens. Read more from...
June 16, 2005
Tax Credits for Health Insurance
From The Urban Institute: Over 40 million Americans under age 65-the overwhelming majority of them in working families-lack health insurance. The public ultimately shoulders the burden of paying for the medical treatment of those lacking insurance, either through higher taxes...
Social Security--A Labor Force Issue
From The Urban Institute: Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred in the economy, life expectancy, health care, the physical demands of jobs, the labor force participation of women, and even the age at which one can...
Robert Greenstein Comments on the National Governors Association's Medicaid Recommendations
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Today, the National Governors’ Association outlined NGA’s preliminary recommendations for Medicaid. Several of the NGA proposals are promising. Others are troubling and likely would be damaging to low-income people. On the positive side,...
Tobacco Policy Change Awards
From Substance Abuse Funding News: Groups advocating for policy changes to promote effective tobacco prevention and cessation strategies may apply for grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Read more from this post....
Public Housing Transformation and the "Hard to House"
From The Urban Institute: Public housing transformation has largely failed to address the more complex needs of "hard-to-house" residents who have relied on public housing as a source of stable, if less than ideal, housing. The hard-to-house include a range...
Implementing Financial Work Incentives in Public Housing
From MDRC: This report examines how public housing authorities in six cities implemented one of the most innovative features of the Jobs-Plus demonstration: using incentives plans to keep rents lower than they would have been under existing rules as a...
Building Learning Communities
From MDRC: Opening Doors Learning Communities, a program serving mostly low-income freshmen at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, improved course and test pass rates, particularly in English. Read more from this post....
June 15, 2005
Case finds oral health of residents in nursing homes needs more attention
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The oral health of nursing home residents needs more attention. A study from Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine found half of executive directors of nursing homes in Ohio, responding to a survey...
A poor child may be left behind
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The tables are turned as tests show that standardized testing in public schools favors the wealthy with access to better instruction. Read more from this post....
Senior citizen support for school spending is growing
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Local school districts can take heart from trends in senior citizen attitudes toward school spending since each succeeding bloc of senior voters attaches increased value to public school education, according to a Penn State study....
New Columbia Business School Web Portal 'Columbia Ideas at Work' Links Faculty Research With Business Practice
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Read more from this post....
Student Loan Loophole Cost Millions
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: It is an obscure government report that could have big consequences for taxpayers. Read more from this post....
'Hazardous' drinking and drug use have serious health implications
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Individuals with alcohol and drug dependencies tend to have a greater incidence of health-related problems as well as higher health-care costs. New research has found that primary-care patients with less severe drinking and drug use...
Medicare's investment in quality improvement may not be paying off
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Medicare's quality improvement organizations are charged with improving the medical care of Medicare beneficiaries. A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that hospitals that actively participate with...
Teenagers at Risk for Range of Health-Threatening Weight Problems, From Obesity to Anorexia: Can Parents Help Them Avoid One Without Encouraging the Other?
From Ascribe Newsfeed: Read more from this post....
Medicare Officials Insisting on Wider Choices in Drug Benefits
From NYT > National: As companies devise insurance policies for the new Medicare drug program, federal officials are pressing them to offer a surprisingly generous array of choices. Read more from this post....
NAACP Turns to Business Community for New Chief Executive Officer
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: In a move that departs from its leadership choices of recent decades, the NAACP will choose Bruce S. Gordon, a former senior executive at Verizon Communications Inc.,...
New program focuses on the sometimes neglected needs of siblings of sick children
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A sick child in the family sometimes means that well children don't always receive a proportional share of parents' attention; a new program focuses on the needs of well children dealing with thecomplexity of having...
Good friends, rather than close family ties, help you live longer in older age
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A network of good friends, rather than close family ties, helps you live longer in older age, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Read more from this post....
Maryland's poor, African-American communities suffer disproportionate cancer risk from air pollution
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: New research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that Maryland communities that are poor and predominantly African-American incur a disproportionate cancer risk from ambient exposure to airborne toxins. Further, the researchers...
Government Acting Like 'Flat Earth Society' Promoting Abstinence-Only Programs; Study Demonstrates No Evidence of Increasing Youth's Intention to Remain Abstinent
From U.S. Newswire Releases: A long awaited report on the impact of federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs was released today in concert with the Administration for Youth and Families' Annual Welfare Research and Evaluation Conference. An objective reading of the study,...
2005 Could Be Another Record Year, According to Top Housing Industry Economists
From U.S. Newswire Releases: The nation's top housing and mortgage finance economists told financial analysts 2005 could be yet another record breaking year for the industry during a biannual call sponsored by the Homeownership Alliance. However, the economists did say...
Governors' Group Proposes Medicaid Curbs
From NYT > Washington: The National Governors Association offered sweeping bipartisan proposals to rein in the growth of Medicaid. Read more from this post....
Agreement Reached on Major Foster Care Legislation; Increases Opportunity for Relatives to Become a Child's Foster Parents
From U.S. Newswire Releases: AARP will hold a press conference with the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Committees on Children and Families announcing an agreement on major legislation to help ensure that when a court determines a child must...
AWWA, EPA, Dept. of Education Sign Pact to Reduce Lead in Drinking Water at Schools, Child-Care Facilities; New AWWA Report Helps Utilities Communicate with Schools on Lead
From U.S. Newswire Releases: A "Memorandum of Understanding" signed this week by the American Water Works Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Education, the Centers for Disease Control and other water organizations seeks to reduce children's...
New Clinical Building at Children's Hospital Boston Home to First Intraoperative MRI Suite of Its Kind in the World; Photo Available
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Children's new clinical expansion building is home to the world's first-of-its-kind Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system, where a magnet suspended from the ceiling moves in and out of the OR on rails, allowing the patient...
Nuclear Monitor for U.N. Has His Pivotal Role Extended
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Mohamed ElBaradei was virtually unknown when the United States engineered his candidacy eight years ago to run the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency. He was a soft-spoken...
Jury Acquits Jackson on All Charges
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Jury of eight women and four men concluded that the evidence was not sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt that pop star is a predatory child molester. The jurors...
Paternity Disestablishment in 2004-2005
From Center for Law and Social Policy: by Paula Roberts. This memo analyzes the statutory and case law developments in paternity disestablishment from late 2004 and early 2005, as well as recently enacted statutes. The first appendix describes in detail...
Designing a Work-Friendly Tax System: Options and Trade-Offs
From The Urban Institute: The federal tax system often imposes its highest effective marginal tax rates on low- and moderate-income individuals. This paper suggests several ways to reduce those high effective marginal rates but illuminates the large trade-offs involved. One...
Promoting Student Success in Community College and Beyond
From MDRC: The Opening Doors Demonstration is designed to show how community colleges can help more low-income students remain in school and improve other outcomes, including degree attainment, labor market success, and personal and social well-being. Read more from this...
June 14, 2005
Nation's Mayors Give NEA President Standing Ovation at Annual Conference
From U.S. Newswire Releases: In a rousing speech on Sunday (June 12) before mayors of the nation's largest cities, National Education Association (NEA) President Reg Weaver identified the challenges facing public education -- chief among them the faulty implementation of...
Homeless prefer aggressive medical treatment
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study published in the June issue of Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, reports that homeless persons are more likely than physicians to want lifesaving procedures performed on...
Pediatricians lack confidence in managing obesity, and their own weight might be an important factor
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: If North Carolina reflects what is happening nationally, most pediatricians across the country lack confidence in their ability to treat obesity, which is increasingly recognized as robbing children of physical vigor now and good health...
Brookings Health Policy Initiative Public Forum: Biting the Bullet on Health Care Costs
From U.S. Newswire Releases: WHAT: A Brookings Health Policy Initiative Public Forum: Biting The Bullet on Health Care Costs Read more from this post....
Teen-agers with Type 1 diabetes already developing cardiovascular disease
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Youths with type 1 diabetes, especially boys, already show early signs of cardiovascular disease by their teen-age years. Read more from this post....
Children need 60 minutes of daily physical activity, expert panel says
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: School-age children should participate in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily, according to an expert panel. Read more from this post....
June 13, 2005
Tough child support laws deter single men from becoming dads
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: States that are strict in enforcing child support have up to 20 percent fewer unmarried births than states that are lax about getting unmarried dads to pay. Read more from this post....
National Council For Adoption Advocates 'Next Step in Foster Care Reform'
The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) released a new report, "Performance Measures for Courts: The Next Step in Foster Care Reform." The report (http://www.adoptioncouncil.org/documents/Adoption_Advocate_Vol_No_1_06_05.pdf) is a product of NCFA's Adoption Leader Engagement Project, which educates policy makers, judicial leaders, the...
Protecting and Strengthening Social Security for Women
Social Security is the largest source of income for most Americans in retirement; two-thirds of the beneficiaries receive over half of their income from Social Security. And with lower earnings, more time out of the labor force for caregiving, smaller...
A Brief Comparison of the Marriage-Related Provisions in Welfare Reauthorization Bills
From Center for Law and Social Policy: by Paula Roberts. This paper summarizes the marriage provisions in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization bill passed by the House Human Resources Subcommittee and the one passed by the Senate...
Improving Tax Incentives for Low-Income Savers: The Saver's Credit
From The Urban Institute: The federal tax system provides little incentive for participation in tax-preferred saving plans to households that most need to save more for retirement and whose contributions would most likely represent an actual increase in savings. By...
June 10, 2005
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Commends House for Restoring $100 Million in Public Health Block Grant Funds; Remains Optimistic Full Funding Will Be Returned
From Ascribe Newsfeed: The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials today commended the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies for reinstating $100 million in FY06 federal funding for the Preventive Health and Health Services...
New Website Featuring Free Health Clinics Launched for National Men's Health Week
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Men's Health Network (MHN) has established a Web site that identifies free and low- cost health care for men and their families. Recognizing that health care access is a major issue for many Americans, the Web...
June 09, 2005
Hundreds of Mayors to Convene in Chicago for the 73rd Annual Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors June 10-14
From U.S. Newswire Releases: -- Community Development Block Grants, Homeland Security, Tax Reform and Unfunded Federal Mandates Top Agenda -- Read more from this post....
Hispanic Growth Surge Fueled by Births in U.S. (washingtonpost.com)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: washingtonpost.com - Hispanics accounted for about half the growth in the U.S. population since 2000, according to a Census Bureau report to be released today that indicates the nation's largest minority group is increasing its...
TV confuses children about which foods are healthy, new study finds
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Despite -- or perhaps because of -- the barrage of information about food that they consume while watching television, kids are getting the wrong message about healthy eating.A study has found that the more television...
Study: More Milk Means More Weight Gain
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Children who drink more than three servings of milk each day are prone to becoming overweight, according to a large new study that undermines a heavily advertised...
Low-Income Assistance Under the Medicare Drug Benefit
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Beginning in 2006, 42 million elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries will have access to prescription drug coverage through Part D of the Medicare program, including an estimated 14.4 million who will be eligible for low-income...
KNOW HIV/AIDS - Promotes HIV Testing
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Viacom Inc. and the Kaiser Family Foundation announced today, as part of their Emmy and Peabody Award-winning public education campaign, KNOW HIV/AIDS, a new series of public service announcements (PSAs) and other programming to encourage...
Study: U.S. Leads In Mental Illness, Lags in Treatment
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: One-quarter of all Americans met the criteria for having a mental illness within the past year, and fully a quarter of those had a "serious" disorder that...
Hispanic Growth Surge Fueled by Births in U.S.
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: Hispanics accounted for about half the growth in the U.S. population since 2000, according to a Census Bureau report to be released today that indicates the nation's...
Crime Subcommittee Holds 2 Hearings Thursday on Protecting Kids From Sexual Predators and Violent Criminals
From U.S. Newswire Releases: What: Legislative Hearing on bills to reform sex offenders registries, authorize the creation of a national sex offender registry, increase use of DNA evidence, and other child crime issues Read more from this post....
Census Bureau: Hispanic Population Passes 40 Million; Number of Elementary School-Age Children in Nation Totaled 36.4 Million
From U.S. Newswire Releases: The Census Bureau today released the following information on Hispanic population figures, number of elementary school-age children and other populations: --- Hispanic Population Passes 40 Million, Census Bureau Reports The nation's Hispanic population reached 41.3 million...
The Impact of Tax Reform on Low- and Middle-Income Households: Testimony Submitted to the House Committee on Ways and Means
From The Urban Institute: This testimony focuses on how the income tax system affects low- and middle-income taxpayers and the potential effects of tax reform. Despite its flaws and some recent erosion, the income tax is highly progressive and is...
June 08, 2005
Social Security Reform: Statement before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate
From The Urban Institute: The Social Security debate could and should be part of a larger one in which we engage our fellow citizens in figuring out how to take best advantage of new opportunities created by longer lives and...
New KCMU Reports Highlight Latest Data on Medicaid Spending on Mandatory and Optional Populations and Services
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: Two new Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured reports show that although optional populations account for 29 percent of Medicaid enrollment, 60 percent of all Medicaid spending (whether for mandatory or optional populations) is...
CAFTA proposal follows in NAFTA's failed footsteps
From Economic Policy Institute: The proposed Dominican Republic/Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) shares many similarities with its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) crafted in the early 1990s. Both have made promises to revitalize the U.S. economy,...
May employment growth unexpectedly weak
From Economic Policy Institute: The May employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed weaker-than-expected job growth, with payrolls up only 78,000. Nonetheless, today's report marks the first month since the recession began in March 2001 that private-sector payrolls...
Hundreds of Mayors to Convene in Chicago for 73rd Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors June 10-14, 2005
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Community Development Block Grants, Homeland Security, Tax Reform and Unfunded Federal Mandates Top Agenda Read more from this post....
Link between mothers' poor diets, kids' obesity
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: New work may have found the missing link between mothers' diets and obesity in kids. A study published in the June issue of Cell Metabolism suggests that a hormone may explain the connection between mothers...
Men, women disagree on number of guns at home, new study finds
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Many couples with small children living at home disagree not only about how they have firearms stored but also about the number and types of guns they possess, a new study shows.The study suggests that...
June 07, 2005
With Changes at Cabrini-Green, Longtime Ministry Closes
From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.: CHICAGO -- When Steve Pedigo showed up at the Cabrini-Green housing project as a young seminary student, he mostly hung out on the basketball courts. It was...
For disabled parents, extra family services could improve entire family's health
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Research from Tufts University illustrates the role parental disability plays in overall family health as indicated by immunization rates for children. Raymond Hyatt, PhD, of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition in...
Who Graduates in the South?
From The Urban Institute: This research brief presents a new analysis of high school graduation rates in the South. Graduation rates are calculated using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI), a widely-reported statistic developed at the Urban Institute. Results show that...
Side-by-Side Comparison of Child Support and Fatherhood Program Provisions in Welfare Reauthorization Bills
From Center for Law and Social Policy: by Vicki Turetsky. This chart summarizes the marriage and fatherhood provisions in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) reauthorization bill passed by the House Human Resources Subcommittee and the one passed by...
Prevalence and severity of mental illness in the United States
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Over the course of the previous 12 months, more than one-fourth of adults reported having symptoms that would qualify them for a diagnosis of a mental disorder; and most of those disorders can be classified...
The latest U.S. mental health tracking survey shows mixed results of progress
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a set of four papers published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the survey authors reported that a majority of Americans will have a mental health disorder at some time in...
Perceptions of weight important risk factor for suicidal behavior in adolescents
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: How adolescents perceive their body weight may be more important than their actual weight in terms of increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts and attempts, according to a study in the June issue of Archives of...
Mental illness exacts heavy toll, beginning in youth
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Researchers supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have found that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and that despite effective treatments, there are long delays --...
June 06, 2005
Fitter by degress? Higher education no panacea for adult health
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Poor education may be linked to bad health, but simply putting more of us through university will not ensure adults are fit and well, according to new research sponsored by the ESRC. Read more from...
High school start times deprive teens of sleep, affect academic performance
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Current high school start times deprive adolescents of sleep and force students to perform academically in the early morning, a time of day when they are at their worst, according to a study in the...
Housing subsidies may help prevent children's undernutrition
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The children of low-income families who receive public housing rent subsidies had greater weight for age, an indicator of better nutrition, than children whose families did not receive rent subsidies, according to a study in...
Overly tired teen? Sleepiness may signal serious health problem
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a major new report in Pediatrics, doctors who care for young adults are warned that computer games and caffeine may not be the only sources of teen sleep deprivation. Sleep apnea, depression and other...
Children and adolescents incorporate brands into their self-concepts
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: An article in the June 2005 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research reports on findings from a series of studies into the development of self-brand connections in children and young adults. The findings suggest...
June 03, 2005
Sector Skills Academy's Marano Fellows Selected
Sector Skills Academy The Sector Skills Academy is pleased to announce the first class of Marano Fellows. From an outstanding group of applicants, we have selected a diverse group of exceptional leaders. The Marano Fellows come from organizations representing a...
Study is First to Reserach Spirituality in Youth-Serving Agencies
From: New England Network for Child, Youth & Family Services Burlington, VT - June 2, 2005 - In Adolescent Heart & Soul, the first-ever study of spiritual programming in youth-service agencies, researchers studied the practice and potential of spiritual interventions...
Office for Victims of Crime - Call for Concept Papers
Discretionary Grant Applications, FY 2005 (OVC) Call for Concept Papers on National Scope Training, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects—OVC is now accepting concept papers on innovative and replicable initiatives that improve the delivery of crime victim services and support the...
New Report Explains Medical Malpractice Law and Trends
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: In recent years, medical malpractice law and insurance have become popular topics for debate in Washington, DC and around the country. This report provides an overview of the issues surrounding medical malpractice law, including the...
June 02, 2005
FORUM ON ENROLLING LOW-INCOME PEOPLE WITH MEDICARE FOR ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE UNDER NEW DRUG BENEFIT
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: The Kaiser Family Foundation will host a policy workshop on reaching and enrolling the 14.4 million low-income people with Medicare potentially eligible for additional assistance with premiums and cost-sharing as part of the new Medicare...
Understanding the Social Security Debate: A No-Cost, Half-Day Seminar for Journalists
From U.S. Newswire Releases: The nation is now launched on the most important domestic debate in decades: whether to change Social Security. Designed to inform in a balanced and interesting way, but not to advocate any specific viewpoint, the seminar...
10 School Districts Sue State of California for Unfair Testing of English Learners
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Ten California school districts, along with three statewide non-profit professional, parent and civil rights advocacy organizations and two individuals, filed suit today in Superior Court in San Francisco against the state of California over the federal...
U.S. Student Population Soars to Record (AP)
From Yahoo! News: Top Stories: AP - A record 49.6 million students filled U.S. schools in 2003, breaking a mark set by their baby boomer parents and giving educators a new generation of challenges. Read more from this post....
New NHLBI-sponsored study shows programs can teach children to eat healthier
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Parents, take heart: You can teach your child to eat healthier. A study of preadolescent children found that those who attended a behaviorally oriented nutrition education program and were taught to follow a diet low...
High cost of malpractice insurance threatens supply of ob/gyns, especially in some urban areas
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The high cost of malpractice insurance for some medical specialties affects not only how many doctors are entering the field of obstetrics and gynecology, but also where they offer their widely needed obstetric, prenatal and...
New study has surprise findings on childhood depression
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A child's social environment may have only a modest effect on whether very young children become depressed, according to new Australian research. "Our study found that even dysfunctional family relationships and poor communication styles have...
Better screening for sexual and physical abuse could improve the health of minority adolescent women
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Minority adolescent women have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases which places them at higher risk of pelvic inflammatory disease and HIV/STD, a recent study shows. Read more from this post....
Drug to block mother-to-child HIV transmission induces resistance more often than previously thought
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The incidence of drug resistance associated with single-dose nevirapine, a drug used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1, may be substantially higher than previously thought and of particular risk for those infected with HIV-1 subtype...
CDC Issues Recommendations for Lead Poisoning Prevention in Newly Arrived Refugee Children
From U.S. Newswire Releases: Although blood lead levels (BLLs) in children aged 1 to 5 years are decreasing in the United States, the prevalence of elevated BLLs among newly resettled refugee children is substantially higher than children born in the...
June 01, 2005
New Brief Summarizes Findings on the Impact of Recent State Activity Increasing Out-of-Pocket Costs on Medicaid and SCHIP Beneficiaries
From The Kaiser Family Foundation: A new Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured brief reviews the impact of increasing premiums and cost sharing on Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries, including the impact on enrollment in public coverage programs, access to...
Recommendations Regarding the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act
From Center for Law and Social Policy: by Julie Strawn and Amy-Ellen Duke. These recommendations were submitted to Chairman Mike Enzi of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on May 28, 2005. They recommend changes to the...
The Effect Of Increased Cost-Sharing In Medicaid: A Summary Of Research Findings
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Recent policy discussions concerning ways to change Medicaid often include the idea of letting states increase the amounts that low-income beneficiaries are charged in the form of cost-sharing (i.e., in premiums, deductibles, co-insurance,...
Out-Of-Pocket Medical Expenses For Medicaid Beneficiaries Are Substantial And Growing
From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Many assume that because cost-sharing in Medicaid is limited, low-income Medicaid beneficiaries pay almost nothing and bear little financial responsibility for their health care. The analysis presented here shows, however, that the amounts...
Choices, Challenges, and Options: Child SSI Recipients Preparing for the Transition to Adult Life
From The Urban Institute: This paper examines the transition experiences of child Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients just prior to and after age 18. We find that only a minority of pre-transition SSI recipients, ages 14 to 17, participated in...