Hillary Rodham Clinton is on the attack against her main rival, charging that Barack Obama's health plan would leave millions of Americans without medical protection while hers provides coverage to all. The assertion, flatly rejected by the Obama campaign, rests on a pivotal difference between the two Democratic presidential candidates' health proposals. Clinton says she wants the government to require all citizens to buy insurance or face a penalty. Obama relies on a mandate for children only, and instead emphasizes ways to make coverage more affordable.
Despite an increasing number of free medical clinics, treatment is hard for the needy to track down. That's especially true for the nation's top health problems--high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol--that require ongoing care even when the person feels no symptoms if they're to avoid heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and amputations. Clinics require a special trip, a long wait, perhaps a baby sitter, annoyances for the well-to-do but huge obstacles for someone who must take three buses to reach the doctor or who loses a day of pay for the time off.
The spread of the MRSA superbug strikes fear in many. But for an entrepreneurial few, it's prompting a burst of marketing for products and services that they maintain can foil the scary drug-resistant staph bacteria. From disposable condom-like covers for stethoscopes to room-fogging that dispenses disinfectants originally created to fight bioterrorism, the MRSA fear factor is spurring an anti-MRSA industry.
The number of uninsured in Georgia has climbed steadily in the past decade, coinciding with the inexorable rise in health care costs. Politicians have pushed various solutions for the problems, as the state's medical safety net quietly tries to deal with a patient deluge. About two-thirds of the state's uninsured live in households headed by a full-time worker. But all too often, the employer doesn't provide health insurance, or if it's offered, the worker can't afford it.
A gene mutation strongly identified with Jewish breast cancer patients has also turned up in a small but significant percentage of Hispanic patients. In their study of more than 3,000 women with the disease, scientists also found a surprisingly high prevalence among young black women with breast cancer. The finding has led some oncologists to suggest genetic screening for patients of different ethnic groups, because carriers have a greater chance of recurrence and can pass that risk to their daughters.
Throughout South Florida, medicine was becoming a battle of conglomerates. The University of Miami bought the 560-bed Cedars Hospital, and raided top U.S. medical schools for talent to build a biotech research empire. Florida International University moved toward opening a medical school. Scripps Research Institute came closer to opening in Palm Beach County. Not everyone benefited from the medical advances. At least 47 million Americans had no health insurance, an increase of 2.2 million for the year--mostly from erosion of employer-paid insurance policies, according to U.S. Census data. In Florida, 3.6 million people, or 20.3 percent of the population, were uninsured, ranking the state behind only Texas and New Mexico.