http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Policymakers have an important role in limiting obesity because the policies and laws they set can be catalysts for significant change, according to Kansas State University researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-policymakers-knowledge-obesity-related-factors.html Health Mon, 30 May 2011 11:50:04 EST news225974988 If internal and international migrants comprised a nation, it would be the third most populous country in the world, just after China and India. Thus, there can be little doubt that population mobility is among the leading policy issues of the 21st century. However, policies to protect migrants and global health have so far been hampered by inadequate policy attention and poor international coordination. This is the conclusion of a new article in PLoS Medicine arguing that current policy-making on migration and health has been conducted within sector silos, which frequently have different goals. Yet, population mobility is wholly compatible with health-promoting strategies for migrants if decision-makers coordinate across borders and policy sectors, say the authors, who are also serving as guest editors of a new series in PLoS Medicine on migration & health that launches this week. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-migration-overlooked-health-policy-issue.html Health Tue, 24 May 2011 17:55:28 EST news225478514 Modifications to current policies could help ensure that health insurance coverage and subsidies provided under the Affordable Care Act remain stable even through major life changes, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report released today. At least 34 million people will gain new coverage under the law, and the report's authors say that it will be important to ensure that life changes like fluctuations in income and job transitions don't cause abrupt changes in people's health insurance coverage or financial responsibilities for their premiums or care. Uncertainty about how life changes could affect their health insurance and premium costs might lead people to delay signing up for coverage through the exchanges and Medicaid, and could cause people who have received premium subsidies to have to pay money back if their incomes are higher than expected. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-health-reform-access-coverage.html Health Thu, 19 May 2011 04:07:06 EST news224996814 According to a new study released online today, a majority of Americans, including most African Americans, stand together in support of banning menthol in cigarettes just as other cigarette flavorings have now been banned by the FDA. According to established reports, 83 percent of African American smokers and 24 percent of white smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-african-americans-menthol-cigarettes.html Health Thu, 12 May 2011 14:26:24 EST news224429164 According to two new policy briefs from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the majority of state residents likely to be eligible for federally mandated health insurance coverage initiatives in California in 2014 are also those who may be least likely to excessively use costly health services: men, singles and those of working age. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-beneficiaries-health-reform-california.html Health Tue, 10 May 2011 13:17:05 EST news224252198