Yemen's Parliament is expected to begin debating a law that aims to protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and address related stigma and discrimination, Yemen's The National reports. Abdulbari Daghish -- chair of the Parliamentarians Organization To Prevent HIV/AIDS, which drafted the law -- said that people living with HIV/AIDS face widespread and multiple forms of discrimination and that their rights should be protected.Daghish said that "there is a need for this law in order to protect the rights of the people living with HIV" and to "ensur[e] they get proper medication and care." According to Daghish, some HIV-positive people are fired from their jobs or find it difficult to receive treatment and care. He added that the "draft law addresses all these sorts of discrimination and outlaws them." Under the proposed law, people living with HIV/AIDS will have access to no-cost health care, public health facilities, financial support and no-cost psychological resources. The law also stipulates that a government fund be established in cooperation with the private sector to support people living with the disease and their families.According to Abdulhamid al Suhaibi, director of Yemen's National AIDS Programme, during the first three months of 2008, 47 new HIV cases were reported in the country, increasing the total number of recorded cases to 2,370. However, World Health Organization reports suggest that for every reported case of HIV, there are as many as 30 unreported cases. Khalid Abdulmajeed -- the AIDS program officer for the United Nations Development Programme in Sana'a, Yemen -- said, "People are afraid to talk about" living with the disease. He added, "There is no legal protection for such patients. There is no efficient health system to provide medicine and advisory. All these (factors) make the situation frightful and HIV/AIDS a silent disease." Abdulmajeed noted that officials from Yemen and UNDP signed a $10.6 million, three-year agreement to strengthen the fight against the disease in the country. However, "HIV/AIDS issues must be incorporated into government policy and legislation" to effectively address the disease, Abdulmajeed said, adding, "The work being done is less than what it should be due to lack of institutional work among government agencies" (Al Qadhi, The National, 7/7).

Doctors treating the patient said the man was resistant to three out of four classes of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS, a condition clinically called ...

... not been personally affected by AIDS in the same way that their older peers were," said Richard Wolitski, acting director of HIV/AIDS prevention at CDC. ...

Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) on Wednesday introduced a companion bill (HR 6444 ) to Senate legislation (S 334 ) that would establish a universal health insurance system in the U.S., the Salt Lake Tribune reports (Canham, Salt Lake Tribune, 7/10).The Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah), would effectively replace the employer-sponsored health care system with a system in which individuals would purchase private health insurance through state-administered purchasing pools. The legislation would require all residents to obtain health insurance. Wyden in April modified the bill to allow employers to continue to provide health insurance (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report , 7/9). The employer provision also was added to the House measure on Wednesday.The House bill has 19 supporters, two of whom are Republicans; the Senate legislation has 14 co-sponsors, seven of whom are Republicans. Bennett at a news conference said, "The heavy lifting is still ahead, but the fact that there are so many people here willing to participate in this gives me hope that we can get it done" (Salt Lake Tribune, 7/10).

The American Medical Association and America's Health Insurance Plans this week are launching "dueling advertising campaigns" over Senate votes on a House-passed bill (HR 6331 ) to avert a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees that was scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/1). In the Senate last week, the measure failed by one vote to receive the 60 votes required to gain cloture. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring up the measure again when the Senate returns from the Fourth of July recess. The House last month passed the measure by a veto-proof margin. The bill is similar to a measure (S 3101 ) proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), which also failed to receive enough votes for cloture (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report , 7/1). A temporary hold on the fee reduction will give the Senate another chance to vote on the measure, according to the Wall Street Journal (Goldstein, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 7/1). The hold will last until July 15.

Ads AMA's advertisements, which began running Tuesday, target by name 10 Republican senators who voted against the measure: John Cornyn (Texas), Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas), John Sununu (N.H.), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), Thad Cochran (Miss.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.). Seven of the senators face re-election this year (Wayne, CQ Today, 7/1). The television and radio ads, which are running in six states, reference the Fourth of July and say, "There's no celebrating for the millions of seniors, the disabled and military families who will lose their access to health care. A group of U.S. senators voted to protect the powerful insurance companies at the expense of Medicare patients' access to doctors" (Yen, AP/Tampa Tribune , 7/1). AHIP's ads say that reducing payments to Medicare Advantage plans to offset the reduction in physicians' fees will limit access and benefits for beneficiaries (CongressDaily, 7/1). The ads say, "Millions more will have to pay higher out-of-pocket costs for health care and lose important benefits they depend on" (AP/Tampa Tribune, 7/1). AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni said, "Congress needs to address the physician payment issue without putting seniors at risk." According to CongressDaily, AHIP and AMA officials did not disclose the amount of spending on their ad campaigns (CongressDaily, 7/1).

Specter Request Meanwhile, Specter on Saturday sent a letter to the White House requesting that President Bush order Congress back from its Fourth of July recess specifically to address the Medicare physician fee reduction, CQ Today reports. Specter wrote, "This is too important to the country to have this procedural morass affect medical care for our seniors" (CQ Today, 7/2). C-SPAN's "Washington Journal " on Tuesday reported on the Medicare physician fee reduction and the House bill that would delay it. The segment includes comments from AMA President Nancy Nielsen and calls from viewers (Brawner, "Washington Journal," C-SPAN, 7/1).

The United Nations Development Programme has launched a handbook to help Pacific MPs take leadership roles in the fight against HIV/AIDS. ...

The office of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has begun to hold a series of meetings with a number of health care experts to "begin laying the groundwork for a new attempt to provide universal health care," the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, the "discussions signal that Kennedy, who instructed aides to begin holding the meetings while he is in Massachusetts undergoing treatment for brain cancer, intends to work vigorously to build bipartisan support for a major health care initiative when he returns to Washington in the fall." Earlier this year, Kennedy recruited John McDonough, executive director of Health Care for All in Massachusetts, to lead the effort, and Kennedy aides assembled a number of health care experts in the state to develop a national health care proposal, possibly based in part on the recently enacted state health insurance law. Kennedy aides have held two meetings to date, one with health care advocacy groups and one with physician groups, with eight more scheduled for this month.Participants in the meetings said that Kennedy believes there is a need to address major health care reform legislation early in the term of the next president. Staff members in the Senate office of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) have participated in the discussions. "If Obama is elected, Kennedy's effort to identify points of agreement among senators could smooth the way for the new administration to press ahead on universal health care, which Obama has promised to implement within four years," the Globe reports. Participants in the meetings also said that the discussions in part seek to educate Senate staff members on health care issues. Democratic and Republican Senate staff members have attended the meetings, according to Craig Orfield, a spokesperson for Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

Prospects According to the Globe, whether the "two parties and myriad interest groups can overcome their differences over the next year remains to be seen, but several of those participating in the discussions expressed optimism about that possibility." Orfield said, "There's been talk about the health care crisis for years, but I think in the last year-and-a-half, the system is failing so many people and becoming so costly that I don't think there's anybody who doesn't understand there's got to be fundamental changes to the system."Jay Himmelstein, a health policy specialist at University of Massachusetts Medical School who has participated in the meetings, said that Kennedy "is trying to learn from health reform attempts in the past and to build a fair amount of consensus among his Senate colleagues, House colleagues and the Obama campaign ... and find a strategy that could carry with some momentum into the new administration." John Rother -- policy director for AARP , which has participated in the meetings -- said, "You have got to think this will be the Ted Kennedy Health Reform Act, because he's a beloved figure and he's championed the issue for so long," adding, "There are a lot of unknowns right now, but what we do know obviously is he is very close to Obama, and he also has quite a network of health policy experts that he can draw from."Kennedy spokesperson Melissa Wagoner said, "Making sure each American has access to quality, affordable health care is the cause of Senator Kennedy's life" (Wangsness, Boston Globe, 7/2).

The article quotes Kevin de Cock, head of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organisation, saying, "It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic in ...

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US’ largest HIV/AIDS organization. AHF currently provides treatment, care and support services to more than 70000 ...

UnitedHealth Group on Wednesday lowered its earnings guidance because of reduced commercial businesses and higher-than-expected Medicare-related costs and said it would restructure the company with a greater focus on regional coverage, the Chicago Tribune reports (Chicago Tribune, 7/3). The insurer said that profits would drop about 16% from earlier estimates (Forster, St. Paul Pioneer Press , 7/2). Overall, the company expects earnings to be cut by about $1.1 billion, including $400 million related to problems in its commercial business and $500 million related to problems with its Medicare prescription drug benefit plan.UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said, "There are other elements which combined to negatively impact our earnings expectations by a further $200 million," adding, "Behavioral health utilization trends are up sharply this year due to the greater use of services directly related to the troubled economic environment as well as due to parity benefit changes in New York." UnitedHealth officials have said that in response to growing costs, more people are declining health care coverage or are enrolling in plans with lower premiums that have either fewer benefits or higher deductibles. In addition, the company expects to lose 800,000 people from fully insured plans this year. The company said it has been forced by competition to discount premiums more than expected for new and renewed customer accounts. UnitedHealth spokesperson Don Nathan said, "The current economic environment means that potential customers are much more price sensitive," adding, "The market for commercial employer-sponsored insurance has not been increasing, it's been contracting." In a note to investors on Wednesday, Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch wrote that UnitedHealth had been more direct that other insurers in acknowledging the effects of competition on earnings across the industry. Borsch wrote, "There is no easy fix here: We believe industry margins will move lower in 2009-2010" (Snowbeck, St. Paul Pioneer Press , 7/2). The company said it would cut 4,000 jobs as part of its restructuring plan (Dunbar, AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution , 7/2).

Settlement Also on Wednesday, the California Public Employees' Retirement System said that it and other pension funds have negotiated a $895 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit against UnitedHealth over stock-option backdating revealed in 2006, the Los Angeles Times reports (Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, 7/3). CalPERS sued UnitedHealth in 2006 after the Wall Street Journal listed the health insurer among companies likely involved in stock-option backdating (Forster, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 7/2). CalPERS has about 1.5 million members, and its investment portfolio is valued at about $240 billion (AP/San Francisco Chronicle , 7/3). The pension fund holds about 4.9 million UnitedHealth shares, which are valued at about $127 million (Los Angeles Times, 7/3).UnitedHealth agreed to the settlement to avoid "potentially costly and protracted litigation and allows us to continue to focus on providing Americans with high-quality, affordable health care solutions," Thomas Strickland, chief legal officer at UnitedHealth, said (Forster, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 7/2). The settlement, which also contains corporate governance provisions, must be approved by the CalPERS and UnitedHealth boards and the U.S. District Court in Minnesota where the lawsuit was filed (Los Angeles Times, 7/3). In addition to the large class-action settlement involving CalPERS, UnitedHealth also reached a proposed $17 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Forster, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 7/2).