No one expecting an insurance rush.
Byline: John J. Monahan BOSTON - State officials looking at a Sunday start date for the state's new mandatory health insurance program said yesterday they are not expecting hundreds of thousands of uninsured residents to immediately snap up new health insurance plans. Rather, said state...

Rural children's need for SCHIP outweighs urban counterparts'.
Rural children are much more dependent on the State Children's Health Insurance Program than are urban children and also have less of a safety net to fall back on if the popular public insurance program is cut, a new study found. The study, by the Carsey Institute...

State's infertility mandate is friendly toward family values.
Byline: Terri Davidson COLUMN: AS I SEE IT Can the bluest of blue states be a family values state too? You'd get a resounding "yes" from the legions of men and women in Massachusetts who have achieved their cherished dreams of having a family here,...

Wal-Mart to open 2,000 RediClinics.
WASHINGTON -- Welcome to health reform, Wal-Mart style. In the past 2 years, Wal-Mart has established on-site medical clinics in 76 of its stores, and plans to open several thousand more clinics over the next 5 years. Last year, the company began offering $4 generic prescriptions, a...

An enduring role: the continuing need for a robust family planning clinic system.
Since the 1970s, publicly subsidized, specialized clinics have played a critical role in providing family planning counseling, contraceptive services and closely related preventive health care to young and low-income women at risk of unintended pregnancy. Currently, nearly 7,700 family planning clinics serve about seven million women annually. Taken together,...

Bill would help troubled kids get health services.
Byline: Richard Nangle The ascendancy of children's mental health service delivery from back-burner issue to legislative priority was evident yesterday, as 250 people jammed a Statehouse hearing on a bill that would force the Patrick administration to reorganize the state's system of care. Lt. Gov....

1 M bets in barangay, SK polls; Comelec now preparing for Oct. 29 elections 671,552 posts at stake in RP's 41,972 villages.
Byline: E. T. SUAREZ The Commission on Elections (Comelec) projects that the total number of candidates in this year's barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections can easily surpass the million mark. It said more than 600,000 positions are at stake and the privileges and benefits...

Ailing system in line for cure-all.
Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard H e a l t h c a r e SALEM - When her blood sugar level plunged, Springfield resident Cathy Henretty just wanted to sleep. A more sensible move might have been to head for an urgent...

Sen. Clinton urges bigger role for nonphysicians.
WASHINGTON -- According to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), primary care physicians don't get enough pay or respect, and there aren't enough of them. Her response to the problem? The federal government should try to help increase the supply of primary care doctors, but in the meantime nurses, pharmacists,...

Teachers to receive P260-M compensation for election services.
Byline: SHIANEE MAMANGLU Public school teachers who will serve as election inspectors in the May 14 national polls will receive P260 million in additional compensation from the government, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) revealed yesterday. ACT Chairman Antonio Tinio said this development came after...