GAO: Many have pre-existing conditions that may prevent coverage
The Hill
Somewhere between 36 million and 112 million adults have pre-existing conditions, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report. President Barack Obama's healthcare law requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Insurers have historically been able to deny coverage to sick people or offer policies that don’t cover their pre-existing conditions.More

Kansas governor relents on managed healthcare for disabled
The Kansas City Star
In the face of hundreds of protesters outside the Capitol, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has agreed to delay plans to move thousands of developmentally disabled into a managed-care health plan. Brownback said they would agree to a legislative plan that would keep the developmentally disabled in the state Medicaid program for a year to give them more time to increase their comfort level.More

Millions expected to receive total $1.3 billion insurance rebates
Kaiser Health News
Millions of consumers and small businesses will receive an estimated $1.3 billion in rebates from their health plans this summer under a provision of the healthcare law that effectively limits what insurers can charge for administration and profits, a new study projects. More

FDA warns against mixing HVC pill with HIV drugs
Reuters
U.S. drug regulators are changing the label for Merck's Victrelis treatment for hepatitis C to show it should not be taken with some widely used HIV medicines. "Co-administration (of the two drugs) ... is not recommended at this time because of the possibility of reducing the effectiveness of the medicines, permitting the amount of HCV or HIV ... in the blood to increase," the Food and Drug Administration said.More

FDA approves GSK cancer drug Votrient for soft-tissue sarcoma
The Wall Street Journal
The Food and Drug Administration approved GlaxoSmithKline's cancer drug Votrient for use in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma, making it the first new treatment for the rare type of cancer in decades. Votrient, a tablet taken orally, is already on the U.S. market to treat advanced kidney cancer. It was approved to treat several subtypes of advanced soft-tissue sarcoma, after prior chemotherapy.More

FDA rejects Amgen's application for Xgeva
Reuters
U.S. health regulators rejected the application by Amgen, the world's biggest biotechnology company, to expand the use of the drug Xgeva to delay the spread of tumors to the bone in patients suffering from advanced prostate cancer. Xgeva and a related osteoporosis drug Prolia are seen as among the most important growth drivers for Amgen and may help offset declining sales of anemia drugs, analysts say.More

Cancer survivors urged to eat better, exercise
The Associated Press via USA Today
The American Cancer Society is recommending that cancer survivors exercise more and improve their diets to help prevent the disease from coming back. The cancer society released new guidelines, saying there's now enough evidence to strongly recommend physical activity and better nutrition for survivors. More

Mobile phones: 'Still no evidence of harm to health'
BBC News
There is still no evidence mobile phones harm human health, says a major safety review for the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency. Scientists looked at hundreds of studies of mobile exposure and found no conclusive links to cancer risk, brain function or infertility.More

Sutdy: Aspirin tied to lower lung cancer risk in women
Reuters
Women who took aspirin at least a couple of times a week had a much lower risk of developing lung cancer, whether or not they ever smoked, according to a study of more than a thousand Asian women. The findings linked regularly taking aspirin to a risk reduction of 50 percent or more, although researchers cautioned that they did not prove aspirin directly protects against lung cancer.More

Measles deaths are declining globally
TIME
While measles is still a present risk and traveling Americans are contracting it increasingly, the World Health Organization recently announced that worldwide, measles deaths have actually dropped about three-quarters over the past decade. In a study published in the Lancet, the WHO reported that due to major vaccination initiatives, an estimated 9.6 million children were saved from measles between 2000 to 2010.More

Lowering cholesterol in childhood pays off later
Family Practice News
Lowering LDL cholesterol early in life would prevent three times more cardiovascular events per unit of LDL-reduction compared to the current practice of initiating LDL-lowering statin therapy decades later, based on the findings of a novel genomic analysis known as a mendelian randomized controlled trial. More

Berries may reduce brain decline
United Press International
Blueberries and strawberries may reduce brain decline in older adults, U.S. researchers say. Researchers used data from the Nurses' Health Study — 121,700 female registered nurses ages 30-55 who completed health and lifestyle questionnaires beginning in 1976. Since 1980, participants were surveyed every four years regarding their frequency of food consumption.More

Violence ages children's DNA, shortens their chromosomes
USA Today
Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence leaves long-term scars on children's bodies — not just in bruises on the skin, but also altering their DNA, causing changes that are equivalent to seven to 10 years of premature aging. More

Urine test detected some autism
The Columbus Dispatch
A simple urine test identified one-third of the children with autism spectrum disorder in a new study, and researchers say that could lead to earlier diagnoses. This kind of work could lead to better-tailored treatments for a subset of children with elevated levels of certain compounds in their urine, said James Woods, a researcher at the University of Washington.More

Fruit, vegetables tied to lower diabetes risk
Reuters
People who get a range of fruits and vegetables in their diets may have a somewhat decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests. The findings, reported in the journal Diabetes Care, do not prove that eating your fruits and veggies will ward off type 2 diabetes — a disease closely associated with obesity and old age.More