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(US) Aging inmates straining prison systems
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Ballard rides a motorized wheelchair around his prison ward, which happens to be the new assisted living unit — a place of many windows and no visible steel bars — at Washington's Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. A stroke left Ballard unable to walk. He's also had a heart attack and he underwent a procedure to remove skin cancer from his neck. At 77, he's been in prison since 1993 for murder. He has 14 years left on his sentence. Ballard is among the national surge in elderly inmates whose medical expenses are straining cash-strapped states and have officials looking for solutions, including early release, some possibly to nursing homes. Ballard says he's fine where he is. That burden is becoming greater as the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that elderly prisoners — the fastest growing segment of the prison population, largely because of tough sentencing laws — are three times more expensive to incarcerate than younger inmates.
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(US) Report: Cancer is the world's costliest disease
The Oklahoman
Cancer is the world's top “economic killer” as well as its likely leading cause of death, the American Cancer Society contends in a new report it will present at a global cancer conference in China this week. Cancer costs more in productivity and lost life than AIDS, malaria, the flu and other diseases that spread person-to-person, the report concludes. Chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes account for more than 60 percent of deaths worldwide but less than 3 percent of public and private funding for global health, said Rachel Nugent of the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based policy research group.
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(AL) Alabama infant mortality rate hits new low
The Birmingham News
Alabama's infant mortality rate has dropped to a record low, welcomed news for a state that traditionally ranks among nation's worst, state health officials said Wednesday. In 2009 the state had 513 infant deaths for a rate of 8.2 deaths per 1000 live births. That's the lowest rate since record keeping began more than a century ago. While national rankings won't be out until later this year, Alabama's infant mortality rate is now closer to that of many other states.
(GA) Egg recall tied to salmonella grows to 380 million
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hundreds of people have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to eggs in four states and possibly more, health officials said Wednesday as a company dramatically expanded a recall to 380 million eggs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with state health departments to investigate the illnesses. No deaths have been reported, said Dr. Christopher Braden, a CDC epidemiologist involved in the investigation. Initially, 228 million eggs, or the equivalent of 19 million dozen-egg cartons, were recalled by the company Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa. But that number was increased to nearly 32 million dozen-egg cartons.
(MO) Missouri health agency to publish older infection data
The News-Tribune
Missouri health officials say they will start publishing hospital infection rates from previous years. The Department of Health and Senior Services since 2006 has provided the data on a website. But as it added new quarterly data, the agency purged the oldest quarter. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday that the health agency plans to start providing older data through the website. The decision to provide older information came after the newspaper reported that health officials said data was removed because a state law required infection data to be available for 12 months.
(MS) Mississippi Dept. of Health raises awareness of tobacco risks
Memphis Commercial Appeal
This fall, the Mississippi Department of Health will begin airing television and radio spots about the dangers of secondhand smoke, months before lawmakers likely file bills related to the issue. State Health Officer Dr. Mary Currier said "as a public health agency we would support a policy to protect Mississippians from the very real dangers of secondhand smoke." She said her agency is currently focused on the awareness campaign -- Smokefree Air Mississippi. The state is using $1.8 million in funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an educational campaign, said Liz Sharlot, a spokesman for the agency.
(SC) S.C. health plan will cover obesity surgery for 100 people statewide
The Charlotte Observer
Obese government workers in South Carolina can get stomach-shrinking surgery through the state health plan under a pilot program that starts in January. The state's employee insurance plan will cover gastric-bypass or Lap-Band surgery costs for 100 people statewide on a first-come, first-serve basis, said Stephen VanCamp, director of the employee insurance program. The surgeries - which involve either surgically creating a smaller stomach or shrinking intake with a belt-like, adjustable device - cost about $24,000 each. Lawmakers required the test program in the 2010-11 budget as a way to address the state's growing obesity problem. The Budget and Control Board was directed to create it as part of workers' benefits plan for 2011, which it approved Thursday.
(TN) Lack of funding hurts TN cancer prevention
The Tennessean
Tennessee's failure to tighten loopholes in its restaurant smoking law, raise taxes on cigarettes and launch programs for the uninsured landed it near the bottom of the nation for cancer prevention once again. Each year, the American Cancer Society rates states based on what lawmakers have done to prevent cancer. Tennessee rises above the lowest level in one of six measures: its free screening and treatment program for breast and cervical cancer. Otherwise, the state hasn't gone far enough to keep its residents healthy by covering the uninsured and discouraging smoking, the July rankings conclude. In Tennessee this year, an estimated 33,070 people will be diagnosed with cancer, and 13,600 will die of the disease.
(VA) High-risk insurance pools will help some, not all
The Times-Dispatch
As part of federal health-care reform, $5 billion was set aside to set up temporary high-risk insurance pools that would operate until 2014, when state-run health-insurance exchanges are available. But as plans have rolled out, higher-than-expected premiums, deductibles and eligibility criteria are emerging as barriers. For Virginians, premiums range from $289 per month for people up to age 34, to $616 per month for anyone over 55. There also is the $2,500 deductible and 20 percent co-insurance.
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(AL) Alabama sex offenders lawsuit reinstated
The Montgomery Advertiser
A federal appeals court has reversed a U.S. District Court judge's decision and reinstated a lawsuit filed by four sex offenders. The sex offenders say Jefferson County's sheriff should not be allowed to keep them in jail after they finish their sentences just because they don't have a place to call home. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to a lower court for reconsideration. Alabama's Community Notification Act requires that before convicted sex offenders can be freed, they must provide an address where they will live after their release. If an inmate completes a sentence but cannot provide an approved address, he or she can be kept in jail.
(FL) Targeting underage drinking shows success
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
A DeLand city ordinance passed a year ago targeting bartenders and bar owners has helped reduce underage drinking citywide, including at a downtown bar notorious for bar fights and underage arrests, officials said. The ordinance and a collaborative effort between business owners and Stetson University have made a difference in the number of cases where minors are caught consuming alcohol, said City Manager Michael Pleus. Even the number of Stetson students hospitalized for alcohol poisoning has gone down, a university official said. Cases of underage drinkers in downtown DeLand dropped a year after the ordinance went into effect, said DeLand police Deputy Chief Bill Ridgway.
(MO) Missouri auditor finds improvement in sex offender list
The Missourian
Missouri has done a better job getting sex offenders to register, but still has work to do to comply with federal requirements. Auditor Susan Montee found that 7 percent of Missouri sex offenders had not complied with state registration requirements through March. A state audit in 2002 found that 36 percent of sex offenders did not comply. Montee released her audit of the sex offender registration program on Wednesday. Generally, it found improvement from a review eight years ago. But the audit said Missouri — like most states — has not yet complied with federal sex offender requirements. Missouri's deadline is July 2011. Missouri started its sex offender registry in 1995. Since then, it has been expanded to cover more offenses and provide additional information.
(SC) SC officials discuss merging prisons, parole dept.
The State
Lawmakers are considering merging the agencies that operate South Carolina's prisons and the probation and parole functions. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported there are estimates the state could save $6 million by combining the Department of Corrections and the Probation, Parole and Pardon Services Department. A legislative committee plans to make recommendations to the General Assembly in January. Corrections Department director Jon Ozmint said Wednesday most other states have combined the functions. He says the biggest savings would come from combining administration functions, such as technical support and human services.
(TX) Texas faces rising cost for illegal immigrant care
The Austin American-Statesman
The cost of keeping illegal immigrants in prison and providing them with medical care exceeded $250 million last year in Texas, according to state health and corrections officials. The testimony before the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday came as lawmakers faced a projected state budget shortfall of up to $18 billion. Jerry McGinty, the Texas Department of Corrections' chief financial officer, said state prisons held 11,766 offenders who are foreign citizens in July. He said it costs the state about $171 million per year to hold them, although the federal government reimburses about 10 percent of that total.
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(CA) LA judge orders release of man sentenced to 25 years-to-life for stealing food from church
Fox News
After 13 years behind bars for trying to break in to a church kitchen to find something to eat, a man who became an example of the harsh sentences allowed by California's three-strikes law has been ordered released from prison. A Superior Court judge amended Gregory Taylor's sentence to eight years already served and the 47-year-old, who was sentenced in 1997 to 25 years to life, will be a free man in a few days.
(MA) Food stamp discount for buying produce
The Boston Globe
The Agriculture Department awarded $20 million to Massachusetts and a Cambridge-based research firm to test whether providing subsidies for buying produce will encourage food stamp recipients in Hampden County communities — including Springfield, Chicopee, and Holyoke — to eat more nutritious meals. Of the 50,000 households in Hampden County that rely on food stamps, several thousand will be offered a 30-cent discount for every dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables, while other families will continue to pay full price. Households will be tracked for 15 months to see whether their eating habits change and health outcomes, including obesity rates, improve. State officials hope to begin the program in fall 2011.
(OH) Ohio on 'Dirty Dozen' list for lax sex-trade laws
The Dayton Daily News
Ohio may be cracking down on the sex trade and slave labor, but the efforts fall far short of what’s needed, according to a national report released Wednesday, Aug. 18. State ratings from the Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project made Ohio part of the “Dirty Dozen” states that have failed to adequately address the growing crime of human trafficking. States in the “Dirty Dozen” either have failed to enact basic anti-trafficking provisions or the provisions they’ve adopted are inadequate, the report said.
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(US) Economy Led to Cuts in Use of Health Care
The New York Times
The economic crisis in the United States has reduced the use of routine medical care, and the cutbacks here are much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems, researchers say in a new report. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that “Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care” much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. Individuals and families in all five countries lost income because of unemployment and lost wealth because of steep declines in stock prices.
(US) Nearly 1 million ADHD misdiagnoses, study says
CNN
CNN recently reported that many psychologists are seeing a lot of misdiagnoses of ADHD. Now studies are backing up anecdotal evidence that ADHD gets inappropriately applied to many children. An analysis by economist Todd Elder at Michigan State University suggests that about 900,000 children who have been told they have ADHD in America may not have the condition at all. The study will appear in the Journal of Health Economics.
(US) Drug’s Failure Casts Doubt on a Tactic in Alzheimer’s Battle
The New York Times
The failure of a promising Alzheimer’s drug in clinical trials highlights the gap between diagnosis — where real progress has recently been made — and treatment of the disease. It was not just that the drug, made by Eli Lilly, did not work — maybe that could be explained by saying the patients’ illness was too far advanced when they received it. It was that the drug actually made them worse, the company said. And the larger the dose they took, the worse were patients’ symptoms of memory loss and inability to care for themselves. Not only that, the drug also increased the risk of skin cancer. So when Lilly announced on Tuesday that it was ending its large clinical trials of that drug, semagacestat, researchers were dismayed.
(US) More teens found to have hearing loss
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Teenagers aren't necessarily tuning out adults; they simply might not be able to hear them. The proportion of American teens with slight hearing loss has increased 30 percent in the past 15 years, and the number with mild or worse hearing loss has increased 70 percent, researchers said Tuesday. One in every five teens now has at least slight hearing loss, which can affect learning, speech perception, social skills development and self-image; one in every 20 has a more severe loss. The authors of the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association eliminated ear infections, gunshots and exposure to loud noises in the environment as causes for the hearing loss but could not identify a specific cause.
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