Ideas for Covering Healthcare Costs: As the cost of healthcare continues to rise, the Congressional Budget Office tackles the question of how to pay for it. It could become a major problem—CBO figures show that if there are no changes to federal law, healthcare spending will make up a quarter of the United States' GDP by 2025. In a new report, the CBO describes 115 potential scenarios for possible changes to healthcare and insurance programs. While the report does not make recommendations, it estimates the costs of each scenario and summarizes the arguments for and against each proposal. The ideas discussed include changing eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid, imposing excise taxes, and altering healthcare services for veterans and federal employees.
Combating Infectious Diseases: The United States should position itself as a leader in infectious disease research, but instead, its commitment is "heading in the wrong direction," one advocacy group warns. Families USA, a nonprofit organization, encourages U.S. policymakers to devote more resources to research and prevention of "neglected infectious diseases" such as malaria and tuberculosis. These illnesses affect millions worldwide but often don't get much attention from those doing research and development. In a newly released study, the group looked at spending by four U.S. agencies. The National Institutes of Health, by far the biggest spender of the four, used about $285 million to research the eight diseases included in the study—less than 1 percent of its overall research dollars. The group warns that it would be "tragic" to allow the current economic slowdown to cut funding for these conditions even further, adding that research is a "good investment" that "can make a real difference in people's lives." As a national policy, the report argues, "investing in neglected infectious disease research makes sense. It advances our public health and economic interests, and it strengthens our standing in the world."
State of America's Children 2008: Millions of American children live in "extreme poverty," and many more struggle with inadequate medical care and educational opportunities. A new report from the Children's Defense Fund, a private, nonprofit group, paints an alarming picture of the grim conditions many American youths face. The group asks how the next generation will be "ready to compete in the global arena" when "children in America lag behind almost all industrialized nations on key child indicators" such as poverty, teen pregnancy, and gun violence. It calculates that about 1 in 6 children lives in poverty and that statistically, African-American and Latino children are the most likely to be affected. The report also tracks how individual states measure up by comparing their statistics on juvenile healthcare, education, and crime.
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