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Daily Rounds: Illegals' Medical Bills; Mass. Psych Wards Turn Away Kids; Warning On Four Loko Drink; Breast Pumps And New Health Law; Survey: Salaries For All Doctors

Illegals’ medical bills top $35.7M - BostonHerald.com "Beleaguered Bay State and U.S. taxpayers coughed up a staggering $35.7 million this year in free emergency health care for more than 52,000 illegal aliens in Massachusetts, sparking outrage from candidates and critics who back a tougher line on immigration." (Boston Herald)

Hospitals turn away troubled youths - The Boston Globe "Children who are hallucinating, feeling suicidal, or suffering other acute mental health problems are increasingly being turned away from some Massachusetts hospitals’ psychiatric wards, a problem the hospital industry acknowledges and blames on insufficient insurance payments to cover treatment of such sick children." (Boston Globe)

Four Loko Alcoholic Energy Drinks Blamed For Sickening College Students : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR "Drinks that mix alcohol and caffeine are under scrutiny once again after dozens of Central Washington University students got sick and nine were hospitalized after admitting they had been drinking Four Loko." (npr.org)

Breast Pumps Lack Tax-Sheltered Status in Health Law - NYTimes.com "With all the changes the health care overhaul will bring in the coming years, it nonetheless will leave those regulations intact when new rules for flexible spending accounts go into effect in January. Those allow millions of Americans to set aside part of their pretax earnings to pay for unreimbursed medical expenses. While breast-feeding supplies weren’t allowed under the old regulations either, one major goal of the health care overhaul was to control medical costs by encouraging preventive procedures like immunizations and screenings." (The New York Times)

Medical News: Put Doctors on Salary, Survey Says - in Public Health & Policy, Health Policy from MedPage Today "The healthcare system would be much improved if physicians were all on salary, according to results from a survey by the Commonwealth Fund. "The way we currently pay for healthcare leads to unnecessary confusion and wide variation, and sometimes borders on chaotic," said Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, PhD." (medpagetoday.com)

This program aired on October 27, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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