Month: July 2014

Obviously, if you want a healthy, happy and successful life, ending stress belongs at the top of your to-do list. Yet 83 percent of us are doing nothing about it. Too often, the wake-up call comes on the gurney in the emergency room. Make no mistake, stress is life-threatening serious.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say a person from the Kansas City area has died of a rare infection caused by an amoeba that lives in freshwater lakes and rivers.

(Reuters) – Shire Plc on Friday confirmed it has held a meeting with U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc to discuss AbbVie's takeover bid for the Dublin-based maker of drugs for rare diseases. Shire, in a release, said it would provide a further update "when appropriate." It added there can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made nor as to the terms of any such offer. The meeting, between Shire Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov and AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez, took place Thursday in New York, according to a source familiar with the matter. AbbVie, which is based in suburban Chicago and makes top-selling arthritis drug Humira and other medicines, has offered $51 billion for Shire, hoping the deal would cut its tax bill and diversify its product line.

New enrollments in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and other healthcare programs for the poor have reached 6.7 million people since the launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms last year, the administration said on Friday. The figures, which include state Medicaid plans that existed before Obamacare and the Children's Health Insurance Program, show enrollment climbing by 920,000 people during May, the latest month for which data is available. Eight million Americans have also signed up for private health insurance through new state-based Obamacare insurance marketplaces. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not break out the number of people enrolled in states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which makes benefits available to most low-income people with annual earnings of up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada's main stock index was little changed on Friday as a rally in shares of gold miners helped overcome worries about the health of the labor market spurred by a sluggish jobs report. Government data showed that the Canadian economy unexpectedly shed 9,400 jobs in June and the unemployment rate rose to 7.1 percent from 7.0 percent in May, underlining how employment growth has stalled despite a recovery in the United States. The Toronto stock market appeared to be consolidating after concerns over whether Canadian and U.S. corporations will be able to meet earnings expectations had weighed on investor sentiment in recent days. “There is nothing fundamental that has changed here, at least not yet,” said Marcus Xu, portfolio manager at MY Capital Management Corp in Vancouver.

CDC shuts 2 labs, stops shipping highly dangerous germs after anthrax, bird flu lapses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by sticker shock, members of Congress are scrambling to lower the cost of a bill to fix veterans’ health care amid a growing uproar over long waits for appointments and falsification of records to cover up the delays at Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Access to care is an important element in the quality of both health care, and the overall public health. All too often small problems neglected for a while turn into larger problems. Barriers to care propagate just such costly misfortune.

Joe Pleban knew his leg had to go, so it went out in style.