AOA Blog

Health Policy Notes
The Congressional Budget Office released a "budget brief" on 9/7/06 asserting that increasing physician payment rates by 1% in 2007 would have a five-year cost of $13 billion. If physician payment rates increased at the rate of medical inflation, the five-year cost would be $58 billion and $218 billion over 10 years.
Researchers to date have identified over 200 of the genes that cause breast and colorectal cancers, which will most likely lead to new methods of diagnosing and treating such cancers, according to the 9/6/06 Chicago Sun-Times.
The 9/8-10/06 USA Today reported that American's use of illegal drugs rose overall between 2004-2005 to 8.1% of the population; however, adults aged 50-59 had the most dramatic rise, 63% from 2002 to 2005.