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Lawmakers Seek Price Tag They Can Agree On
"Lawmakers working to overhaul the U.S. health-care system face a pressure-filled July after leaving town this week without resolving the biggest questions dividing Democrats and Republicans," Bloomberg reports. Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee - which observers deem most likely to come up with a passable, bipartisan bill - have been working to reduce the cost of the overhaul to gain Republican support, but had not yet released a proposal. Bloomberg adds: "While the Congressional Budget Office said options under consideration by the committee can keep the cost within Baucus"s goal of $1 trillion over 10 years, how to pay for the plan remains unsettled. So is structuring some kind of government-run competition for insurers. ... "Nothing has been set," Montana Democrat [Max] Baucus told reporters in the Capitol on June 25. The recess offers a chance for "taking stock," he said" (Jensen and Livkin, 6/29).

Shedding Light On Social Brain Development
The capacity to figure out what others are thinking and what they mean is an ability unique to people that"s central to our lives. A new study on the neural mechanisms that govern these abilities sheds light on the relation between how people and groups interact, on the one hand, and how the brain develops and functions, on the other.
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Experts Disagree On Whether Healthy People Should Take Brain Boosting Drugs
It is unethical to stop healthy people from taking methylphenidate (Ritalin) to enhance their mental performance, says John Harris, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Manchester, in an article published on bmj.com today. He adds that society "ought to want [enhancement]" and that "it is not rational to be against human enhancement."
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Opinion: Obama's Africa Policy; Maternal Health

President Obama is expected to arrive in Accra, Ghana, Friday night, the AP/Google.com reports. White House adviser Michelle Gavin said the president chose to travel to Ghana "because it"s such an admirable example of strong, democratic governance, vibrant civil society" (Babington, 7/10). The following are opinion pieces reflecting on his trip and Africa policy: Obama Can "Add Real Body" U.S. Africa Promises In a commentary piece appearing in New America Media author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson calls for President Obama to "add real body" to the big promises of former Presidents Bush and Clinton to "boost trade, business ties, aid dollars, and wage an aggressive battle against corruption and disease, and to promote democracy." The article notes, "African nations remain firmly locked in the grip of terrible poverty, disease, war and autocratic rule. The U.S. and wealthy nations can help lift that grip by massively increasing investment in African agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and technology; restructuring Africa"s crushing debt; encouraging greater regional integration and cooperation; condemning African nations" disastrous military arms race; and, most important, challenging African nations to establish real democratic rule" (7/10). U.S. Can Build On Ghana"s Success Bono, the humanitarian and musician, says in a New York Times column, "Ghana"s going about the business of rebranding a continent," pointing to the country"s governing success, economic stability and "steady progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goalṣ€¦ one of the few African nations that has a shot at getting there by 2015." While other G8 nations are falling short of their Africa pledges, the U.S. "is one of the countries on track to keep its promises, and Mr. Obama has already said he"ll more than build on the impressive Bush legacy," Bono writes, adding that U.S. "aid dollars increasingly go to countries that use them and don"t blow them. Ghana is one. There"s a growing number of others." Obama has "the chance to lead others in building - from the bottom up - on the successes of recent efforts within Africa and to learn from the failures," says Bono (7/10). U.S. Should Set An Example In Fight For Women Worldwide In an opinion piece appearing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, a global poverty-fighting organization, commends the recent decision by the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize maternal death as a human rights issue and the Obama administration"s commitment to women and girls. "Protecting the health and saving the lives of childbearing women requires significant res ̣€¦ an estimated global commitment of $39 billion over 10 years ̣€¦ to make significant progress," Gayle writes. "This is an investment in women, their families and the economic productivity of nations. It"s a lot but the cost of not investing is far greater." She concludes, "Women need more champions. The U.S. can spearhead a comprehensive maternal health action plan and, by doing so, set an example for world leaders to join and invest in" (7/10). This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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