U.S. Census Bureau Overestimated Uninsured
The U.S. Census Bureau said Friday that it overestimated by 1.8 million the number of people who did not have health insurance in 2005. Instead of 46.6 million people (15.9 percent of the population), the actual number was 44.8 million (15.3 percent), the Associated Press reported.
In fact, for the last decade, the bureau said it has overstated the number of people without health insurance. That's because some residents who reported having insurance were counted as having no coverage.
The errors were discovered while the bureau was updating the computer system for its Current Population Survey, according to a press release. The bureau plans to issue new figures in August for every year going back to 1995, the AP reported.
There were no problems with any other questions in the survey, the bureau said.
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Japan Launching New Tamiflu Inquiry
Japanese officials said Friday they're going to begin a new inquiry into a possible connection between the anti-flu drug Tamiflu and reports of abnormal behavior and deaths among users.
Previously, the country's health ministry said there was no clear evidence of a causal link between Tamiflu and the incidents. The ministry now wants experts to review past cases, Agence France Presse reported.
Since 2004, the health ministry has received 22 reports of abnormal behavior (15 teenagers and seven adults), including four deaths. Earlier this week, government officials ordered the Japanese importer of Tamiflu to warn doctors not to prescribe the antiviral drug to teens, AFP reported.
There have been more than a dozen reported cases of young people taking Tamiflu who fell or jumped from buildings, the news service said.
Tamiflu is made by the Swiss drug company Roche, which has denied that there's any link between the drug and abnormal behavior. Tamiflu, often prescribed to treat people with seasonal flu, is also considered a frontline drug against a potential flu pandemic.
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U.S. College Students Face Price Increases for Birth Control Pills
Steep increases in the price of birth control pills for U.S. college students has health officials worried that some students will switch to less effective methods or use no birth control at all, the Associated Press reported.
The cost of birth control pills at student health centers is doubling or tripling due to a change in the Medicaid rebate law that abolishes an incentive for drug makers to offer significant discounts to colleges. At some colleges, students may have to pay several hundred dollars more per year for birth control pills.
"It's terrible, because these are students who are working very hard to pay for their tuition and books at a time when tuition costs are edging up as well," Linda Lekawski, director of the university health center at Texas A&'M, told the AP.
At Texas A&M, it's expected that the old price of $15 a month for birth control pills will triple.
About 39 percent of undergraduate women use birth control pills, according to the American College Health Association, which is lobbying the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to alter the new Medicaid rebate law to keep birth control pill prices low for college students, the AP reported.
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Alcohol, Tobacco Bigger Threats Than Marijuana, Ecstasy: Study
Alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs, such as marijuana or Ecstasy, and need to be reclassified to reflect the threat they pose to society, says a British study published Saturday in The Lancet medical journal.
Using three factors to determine the harm they cause, Professor David Nutt of Bristol University and his colleagues concluded that alcohol and tobacco were among the top 10 most dangerous substances, the Associated Press reported.
The three factors used to determine the rankings of 20 substances were: physical harm to the user; potential for addiction; and impact on society. Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was ranked number five and marijuana number nine. Ecstasy was near the bottom of the list.
Nutt noted that alcohol and tobacco are legal in the United States, Britain and most other countries, while marijuana and Ecstasy are illegal. He questioned the scientific rationale for this kind of approach to drug classification, calling it ill thought-out and arbitrary, the AP reported.
Alcohol is associated with more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms and tobacco causes 40 percent of all illnesses that require hospitalization. Both substances have other negative effects on society, such as harming families and using up police resources, the study said.
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Tourist States Would be Hardest Hit in Flu Pandemic: Report
Nevada, Hawaii and other states whose economies rely on tourism and entertainment would probably be hit hardest if there was a severe influenza pandemic, according to a report released Thursday by the Trust for America's Health.
The report estimated that Nevada's economy would suffer a decline of more than 8 percent, while Hawaii would feel about a 6.6 percent economic hit, the Associated Press reported.
The gross domestic product in four other states -- Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska and Wyoming -- would also decrease by more than 6 percent. And while the economies of Virginia and Maryland would likely fare the best during a pandemic, they would still suffer major declines of 5.13 percent and 5.06 percent, respectively, the AP reported.
"In a pandemic, we will see people avoiding discretionary travel and avoiding large gatherings for the legitimate fear of contagion. It's a natural reaction not to want to be in large groups when there is an easily transmittable disease afoot," said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, which conducts research and lobbies for measures to improve public health.
Overall, the United States would experience a $683 billion (5.5 percent) economic loss during a pandemic, the report predicted.
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