Health Care

President Barack Obama’s controversial health care law or ObamaCare was upheld as constitutional by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati Wednesday but it paved the way for critics to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We find that the minimum coverage provision is a valid exercise of legislative power by Congress under the Commerce Clause,” two of the three judges on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded, rejecting a challenge by the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center.

But the law center’s attorney, David Yerushalmi, says his client was likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Clearly our case won’t resolve all the issues, because we don’t raise the state rights issue, but we are the only one that is currently ripe for Supreme Court review that raises the challenge on behalf of an individual,” he told The Washington Post. more >>

The number of diabetes cases in adults has more than doubled in the past three decades to 347 million, a study has revealed.

The number is far higher than previously estimated, and could have serious repercussions on the costs of treatment for those with diabetes.

According to a study published in The Lancet, an international research team working in collaboration with The World Health Organization, found that diabetes rates have risen or stayed the same in almost all parts of the world over the past three decades. more >>

The U.S. FDA, Food and Drug Administration, announced on Tuesday that beginning September 2012 all cigarette labels would be required to display more prominent cigarette health warnings on all of their cigarette packaging and advertisements in the United States.

These 9 graphic warnings were released by the FDA both in English and Spanish, and the messages displayed range from “Warning: Cigarettes are addictive,” to “Warning: Cigarettes cause cancer”, to "Warning: Tobacco Smoke may harm your children", to “Warning: Smoking can kill you”.

A significant advancement in cigarette warnings in more than 25 years, the campaign expects to convey the dangers of smoking and create a significant impact on public health by not only lowering the number of smokers, saving lives, increasing life expectancy, but also lowering medical costs as well. Any cigarette brand that doesn't display these warnings that are half the size of the packaging on both front and back will not be allowed to sell their products in the U.S. more >>

Higher education appears to be a game changer when it comes to cancer, according to an American Cancer Society report released Friday.

The report shows that the gap in cancer death rates between college grads and those who only went to high school is widening.

Cancer death rates for those who didn’t finish high school are almost three times higher than those of college graduates. The gap was especially wide for lung cancer, but it was also markedly large for breast, colon, and prostate cancer. For lung cancer, the death rate was five times higher among the least educated Americans than the most educated. more >>

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty renewed his attack on Mitt Romney’s healthcare plan Thursday, acknowledging it was a blunder to avoid confronting him on the ObamneyCare and focus on President Barack Obama at the first GOP presidential debate.

“I should have been much more clear during the debate,” Pawlenty said during an interview on the Sean Hannity Show Thursday. “I don’t think we can have a nominee that was involved in the development and construction of Obamacare and continues to defend him,” Pawlenty added, referring to Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and leading candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Pawlenty admitted that CNN anchor and debate moderator John King gave him a chance to confront Romney over his healthcare policy. “That was the question; I should have answered it directly and instead I stayed focused on Obama. But the question really related to the contrast with Gov. Romney… I should have made the point that he was involved in developing and he laid the groundwork for Obamacare and continues to this day to defend him,” Pawlenty said. more >>

Religious groups and pro-life charities have condemned the BBC for broadcasting a documentary showing a man’s assisted suicide, Monday evening.

BBC’s controversial program called “Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die” has reignited a fierce euthanasia debate as critics say the program “romanticized” assisted suicide.

The chief executive of CARE, Nola Leach also said, “I rather thought that we had moved on from the days when people gathered in crowds to watch other people die. That the BBC should facilitate this is deeply disturbing. One wonders whether the BBC has any interest in treating this subject impartially. more >>