Countries that have national health services easily accessible to people of all ages are more likely to have better survival rates for their teenagers and young adults (TYAs) with cancer, than are countries where individuals have to pay for their own m
A new £2m NHS training hub at Imperial College London will help health workers become skilled in using the latest medical technology. The new centre, named THOTH (The Training Hub for
A critical shortage of doctors and nurses is causing unnecessary disease and death across much of the developing world as rich nations poach health-care workers.Poorer nations such as Africa and Asia urgently need more than 4 million health pro
British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday met with the chief executives of sixteen Primary Care Trusts to discuss the financial crisis dogging the National Health Service (NHS).The health service bosses discussed their experience of financial
A British hospital has been fined £100,000 for failing to supervise doctors after a man died following routine knee surgery.The hospital trust was also ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trus
The crisis in the National Health Service in the UK deepened this week as four children's hospitals warned health ministers they will be forced to cut specialist services.The cuts are because of miscalculations in the new payments-by-results sy
The March issue of Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing is challenging nurses who care for pregnant and laboring women to reconsider family centered maternity care. In four arti
The New York State Health Department has announced the creation of six regional demonstration projects totaling $6.5 million in grant awards to help address the complex health care needs of Medi
They help keep our balance, get us to lunch at our favorite cafe and power the gas pedal as we zoom along the highway, however, we often take our feet for granted until they start to bother us.With the average person taking 9,000 steps per day
Many Hispanic farmworker families in North Carolina live in inadequate housing that puts them at higher risk of exposure to disease, toxins and overcrowding that can affect their psychological well-being, according to new research by
Date: Tuesday, 23-Jan-2007
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke on Thursday at a Senate Budget Committee hearing said that if "early and meaningful action is not taken" by Congress to address the rising costs of retirement and medical services for baby boomers, "the U.S. economy could be seriously weakened, with future generations bearing much of the cost," the AP/Bergen Record reports.According to the AP/Record, Bernanke's statements "marked the Fed chief's most forceful warning to date on the potential problems facing the United States with the looming retirement of 78 million baby boomers, the oldest of whom will start retiring next year" (Aversa, AP/Bergen Record, 1/19). His comments contribute to a debate leading up to President Bush's budget presentation on Feb. 5, which will include plans to balance the budget by 2012, according to Bloomberg/Boston Globe (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 1/19). Bernanke said that although figures show the federal deficit fell to $248 billion in fiscal year 2006 from $319 billion the previous year, "We are experiencing what seems likely to be the calm before the storm." He said that as more U.S. residents reach retirement age, combined spending on Social Security and Medicare is likely to increase from 7% of the U.S. economic output to nearly 13% by 2030 (Geewax, Cox/San Francisco Chronicle, 1/19). According to Congressional Budget Office projections, the ratio of federal debt held by the public to gross domestic product -- which today is 37% -- will rise to about 100% in 2030 and "grow exponentially after that," Bernanke said. He added that rising debt would increase spending on interest payments. "Thus, a vicious cycle may develop in which large deficits lead to rapid growth in debt and interest payments, which in turn adds to subsequent deficits," he said (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 1/19).
Bernanke said that when the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare run out -- projected to occur in 2018 for Medicare and 2040 for Social Security -- the government will have to cut benefits or use general revenues to make payments. "Unfortunately, economic growth alone is unlikely to solve the nation's impending fiscal problems," he said. Bernanke did not recommend specific reforms but cited experts' suggestions that include raising the retirement age, boosting payroll taxes or increasing the amount of income subject to payroll taxes. "The longer we wait, the more severe, the more draconian, the more difficult" the reform process will be, he said (Cox/San Francisco Chronicle, 1/19). Senate Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) called Bernanke's warning "right on, and a clarion call that I hope folks will listen to." Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-N.D) said, "We hope people are listening about the need for us to address these long-term imbalances, to take these challenges on, and the sooner we do so, the better" (AP/Bergen Record, 1/19).
This article is republished with kind permission from our friends at the The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Copyright 2007 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.