September 17, USA TODAY – (International) Drug-resistant ‘superbugs’ hit 35 states, spread worldwide. Bacteria that are able to survive every modern antibiotic are cropping up in many U.S. hospitals and are spreading outside the country, public health officials said. The bugs, reported by hospitals in more than 35 states, typically strike the critically ill and are fatal in 30 percent to 60 percent of cases. Israeli doctors are battling an outbreak in Tel Aviv that has been traced to a patient from northern New Jersey, said the director of infection control and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists. The bacteria are equipped with a gene that enables them to produce an enzyme that disables antibiotics. The enzyme is called Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenamase. It disables carbapenam antibiotics, last-ditch treatments for infections that don’t respond to other drugs. “We’ve lost our drug of last resort,” he said. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/2010-09-17-1Asuperbug17_ST_N.htm

Susan Walsh / Associated Press
An insurance company "is supposed to honor its commitments and stand by you in your time of need," Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said.
Lawmakers ask three executives if they'll stop dropping customers except where they can show "intentional fraud." All say no.

By Lisa Girion
June 17, 2009

Dear Friend,

I recently began work as the Director of the HHS Office of Health Reform, and I wanted to share President Obama's weekly address with all of you.

This weekend the President's address focuses on the urgent need for comprehensive health reform. The President noted:
"...We know that our families, our economy, and our nation itself will not succeed in the 21st century if we continue to be held down by the weight of rapidly rising health care costs and a broken health care system."

You can watch the President's address now by visiting www.whitehouse.gov.