SPRINGFIELD–(ENEWSPF)–January 6, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today issued a statement on the General Assembly’s passage of Medicaid reform legislation. “Today is an important day for our state. For too long we have simply talked about Medicaid reform; today we are following through with legislation that will help stabilize our budget[Read More…]
Health and Fitness
Flu Activity in Illinois Increasing
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.–(ENEWSPF)–January 7, 2011. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reporting flu activity has increased to the “regional level”, meaning many regions in Illinois are reporting recent laboratory confirmed influenza. The most recent surveillance data shows an increase in influenza activity in Illinois, but the flu is not yet[Read More…]
EPA and HHS Announce New Scientific Assessments and Actions on Fluoride
WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–January 7, 2011. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today are announcing important steps to ensure that standards and guidelines on fluoride in drinking water continue to provide the maximum protection to the American people to support good dental health, especially[Read More…]
Illnesses Linked To BP Oil Disaster
By Dahr Jamail Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist. Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP’s oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it –[Read More…]
Statement from Illinois Department of Insurance on Interpretation of Federal Mental Health Parity Law
CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–January 5, 2011. In 2008, Congress passed and then-President George W. Bush signed into law the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA” or “Wellstone-Domenici”), which provides “parity,” or equivalence, of coverage for mental health or substance use disorder benefits and coverage for medical or surgical benefits. Group[Read More…]
Statement by President Obama on Signing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act
Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–January 2, 2011 “I was honored to sign the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to ensure that rescue and recovery workers, residents, students, and others suffering from health consequences related to the World Trade Center disaster have access to the medical monitoring and treatment they need. We[Read More…]
IDNR Reminds Snowmobile Operators to be Cautious this Winter
SPRINGFIELD–(ENEWSPF)–December 29, 2010. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reminding snowmobile operators and riders to take extra caution this year as the snow begins to fall in Illinois. Every year throughout the state, people are seriously injured or lose their lives on snowmobiles. Many of these accidents could have[Read More…]
Researchers: Pay more attention to epilepsy
ST. PAUL, Minn.-(ENEWSPF)- Epilepsy, a common and serious neurologic disorder that affects millions of people, is not getting the public attention and funding for research it deserves, according to an editorial on a study published in the January 4, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of[Read More…]
Newborns with low vitamin D levels at increased risk for respiratory infections
Boston MA -(ENEWSPF)- The vitamin D levels of newborn babies appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections during infancy and the occurrence of wheezing during early childhood, but not the risk of developing asthma. Results of a study in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics support the theory that widespread vitamin[Read More…]
NYTimes: Daily Pill Greatly Lowers AIDS Risk, Study Finds
From the New York Times: Healthy gay men who took an anti-AIDS pill every day were well protected against contracting H.I.V. in a study suggesting that a new weapon against the epidemic has emerged. In the study, published Tuesday by theNew England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that the men taking Truvada,[Read More…]
