Uninsured RX

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, will exhibit a new spectrophotometer that offers unique benefits for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing laboratories dealing with donor tissue matching. The Thermo Scientific NanoDrop™ 1000 represents the growing trend of successful genome research tools finding their way to the clinical research setting.

Cross-country tour is chronicling Americans' anxiety over health care as debate over reform heats up

Summaries of a recent editorial and opinion piece that addressed health care issues in the presidential election appear below.San Francisco Chronicle: The estimated $482 billion federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 is a "numbing number" because neither presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen.

"Does Enrollment in a CDHP Stimulate Cost-Effective Utilization?" Medical Care Research and Review: The study -- by Judith H. Hibbard, Jessica Greene and Martin Tusler of the

Preferred Health Systems, Kansas' largest health insurer, announced last week that it will stop reimbursing hospitals for costs related to avoidable medical complications, the Wichita Eagle reports. Beginning Oct.

Cigna and Express Scripts have agreed to a $27 million settlement in a 2004 lawsuit by New York State accusing Express Scripts of persuading physicians to switch prescriptions to drugs for which larger rebates could be obtained from manufacturers without informing patients of the change, the

Sedgwick County, Kan., District Judge Clark Owens on Monday ruled that a state law requiring an independent, consulting physician to approve some abortions after 21 weeks' gestation does not violate the U.S. Constitution or the Kansas Constitution, the AP/Wichita Eagle reports. Subsequently, Owens also denied a motion to dismiss a criminal case against abortion provider George Tiller.

CMS on Monday announced that it has granted Massachusetts a third extension on a Medicaid waiver that would allow the state to divert $385 million in federal funds for the program towards funding for the state's new health care law, the AP/Boston Globe reports.

The Drug Information Association (DIA) and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) will co-sponsor Immunogenicity of Therapeutic Proteins (September 10 -12; Bethesda, MD).

AARP issued a statement commemorating the 43rd anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. The statement, from AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond, follows: "The passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 was an important event in America's history. Congress and the Administration worked together to solve a national crisis by providing health care to the most vulnerable among us.