Uninsured RX

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority "is about to raise its rates on people who are living on limited incomes," but costs for coverage "should not be so high ... that they are a burden for people with chronic conditions or discourage them from getting necessary care," according to a

The "only major disagreement" between the health care proposals of Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) "appears to be whether to require uninsured people to buy coverage," Dow Jones reports. The Clinton proposal would require all U.S.

Humana last month launched a program, called "Healthy Returns," that provides its Medicare plan beneficiaries with gift cards to Macy's, CVS, Lowe's and

Private Medicare Advantage plans can cost beneficiaries more than traditional Medicare for home health care, nursing homes and certain hospital stays, according to a report released on Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, the New York Times reports.

The Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules on Tuesday voted 8-2 to reject, for the second time, an emergency order by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to expand the state's FamilyCare program, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have begun to change the way we see the world. Now, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student has developed a new type of LED that could allow for their widespread use as light sources for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) on everything from televisions and computers to cell phones and cameras.

Four companies that manufacture artificial hips and knees paid physicians more than $800 million in royalties and fees over four years to influence them to use their products, Gregory Demske, assistant inspector general of legal Affairs at the HHS Office of Inspector General said during a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on Wednesday,

Many of the greatest inventions in modern medicine were developed by physicists who imported technologies such as X rays, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound, particle accelerators and radioisotope tagging and detection techniques into the medical domain. There they became magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT) scanning, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and various radiotherapy treatment methods.

Alpharma Inc. (NYSE: ALO), a global specialty pharmaceutical company, announced that a New Drug Application (NDA) has been submitted for EMBEDA?, a pharmacological abuse-deterrent, extended-release morphine product candidate. "Today's announcement is an important one for all stakeholders in Alpharma," commented Dean Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer.

UT Southwestern Medical Center surgeons have removed a gallbladder through a unique operation requiring only a single incision in the bellybutton rather than the traditional four incisions in the abdomen. It is the first such operation in North Texas."It went better than we expected," said Dr. Homero Rivas, assistant professor of surgery, who completed the 80-minute procedure with Dr. J. Esteban Varela, assistant professor of surgery.