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Long-Term Care Program Would Provide Revenue - At First
A long-term care program could produce some needed dollars, at least in the short range, CQ Politics reports: "A new insurance program for long-term care that Democrats have included in a Senate health overhaul bill would produce about $58 billion in revenue for the government over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, helping to offset the cost of the legislation. Democrats acknowledge that spending in the long-term care program would increase after 10 years and that it likely would not remain a very profitable enterprise for the government. It is even possible, they say, that the program could become insolvent; in that case, the secretary of Health and Human Services would be authorized to close its enrollment. "The CBO says that premiums would have to rise significantly higher than Democrats have assumed for the program to remain financially sound."
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Massive Medicaid Fraud Exposed: PsychRights Calls On Members Of Congress For Assistance
In letters to Senators Charles Grassley and Herb Kohl, and Representatives Henry Waxman, Bart Stupak , John Dingell & Barney Frank, the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) has exposed massive Medicaid Fraud. While working on PsychRights v. Alaska , its lawsuit to prohibit the State of Alaska from the largely ineffective and always harmful psychiatric drugging of children and youth, PsychRights "discovered that it is illegal for the vast bulk of these prescriptions to be reimbursed by Medicaid." Drugshop to buy zoloft online and other pills.
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This Time Around, Debate Much Different
Insurance companies, "the industry that gets credit for helping to kill the Clinton administration"s health care overhaul 15 years ago," are now "striking a conciliatory tone as it faces the most serious attempt to overhaul the system since that effort collapsed," CQ Politics reports. With low favorability ratings and Democrats in control of the federal government, "insurers know they aren"t in a good bargaining position" this time around. They have already offered concessions, including providing "insurance in the individual markets to everyone, without regard to who is sick," and not "charging people who are ill higher rates and cut health care costs." But they"ve also been ""careful to structure their offers in such a way that appears significant but does not overpromise." An individual mandate for all Americans and an end to health screening for applicants could offer "a win-win outcome, one that will benefit not just patients but potentially the profits of the industry as well." But "perhaps the biggest motivation for insurers to deal now is that they fear what might happen if they don"t" - the "creation of a government-run plan that would be more attractive to the public and siphon off customers" (Adams, 6/1).
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Promising Biomarker And Candidate Tumor Suppressor Gene Identified For Colorectal Cancer

Researchers have identified a new candidate tumor suppressor gene in colorectal cancer and examined its use as a potential biomarker in stool samples, according to a new study published online June 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In the study, Manon van Engeland, Ph.D., of the Department of Pathology at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues examined N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 4 (NDRG4) as a novel tumor suppressor and biomarker. The researchers analyzed NDRG4 promoter methylation and expression in human colorectal cancer cell lines, noncancerous colon mucosa, and colorectal cancer tissue. Quantitative methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction was used to examine NDRG4 promoter methylation as a biomarker in fecal DNA from 75 colorectal cancer patients and 75 control subjects. The researchers found that NDRG4 promoter methylation was more prevalent in colorectal cancers than in noncancerous colon mucosa. Its mRNA and protein expression were decreased in colorectal cancer tissue compared with noncancerous colon mucosa. A methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assay for NDRG4 promoter methylation in stool identified the presence of colorectal cancer in 53% of colorectal cancer cases and correctly categorized a subject as cancer free 100% of the time. "In conclusion, to our knowledge, this is the first study to describe a tumor suppressor role for NDRG4 in cancer," the authors write. "Our data indicate that NDRG4 promoter methylation is potentially useful as a sensitive and specific noninvasive pre-selection modality for identifying individuals at risk for colorectal cancer for whom colonoscopy is recommended." In an accompanying editorial, Gad Rennert, M.D., Ph.D., of the Carmel Medical Center and Technion in Haifa, Israel, discusses the concept of molecular testing of stool for early detection of colorectal cancer and where such testing stands today. "Genetic diagnosis of colorectal cancers and meaningful adenomas has now reached a new phase that, when further fine-tuned, may carry the promise of becoming a suitable and affordable means of prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer in the general population," he writes. Citations: Article: "N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 4 (NDRG4): a candidate tumor suppressor gene and potential biomarker for colorectal cancer." Melotte et al. J Natl Cancer Inst 2009, 101: 916-927. Editorial: "Are We Getting Closer to Molecular Population Screening for Colorectal Cancer?" Rennet G. J Natl Cancer Inst 2009, 101: 902-903. Journal of the National Cancer Institute


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