Daily Rounds: Saving Medicaid; Haitian Clinics Overrun; Love Hormones On The Brain; Female Vets And Suicide; Another Win For Allergan

How to Save Medicaid - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com "With federal stimulus money drying up soon, states are desperate to find ways to cut their Medicaid costs. Some analysts have pointed to changes in Tennessee and a number of other states as proof that the nation's health care program for the poor can be maintained while being made more cost-effective. In New York, Andrew Cuomo, the governor-elect, is already in talks with the health care union over reining in Medicaid's costs, which have tripled in the last decade. In some states, cuts have caused an uproar, as in Arizona, which eliminated some high-risk transplants from coverage." (The New York Times)

Cholera epidemic in Haiti overwhelming rural clinics - The Boston Globe "So far, it is the countryside seeing the worst of an epidemic that has killed nearly 1,900 people since erupting less than two months ago. Rural clinics are overrun by the sick, straining staff and supplies at medical outposts that could barely handle their needs before the epidemic. At the three-room clinic near Limbe, in northern Haiti, a handful of doctors and nurses are treating 120 people packed into three rooms. (Boston Globe)

'Love Hormone' could help treat severe mental illness - Health - Mental health - msnbc.com "Researchers are now trying to apply these findings, and are investigating oxytocin as a treatment for psychiatric illnesses. They say its unique ability to adjust our wiring could remedy symptoms of schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and anxiety, and improve social abilities among those with autism." (MSNBC)

Study: Female Vets Especially Vulnerable To Suicide : NPR "Around 32,000 people commit suicide in the U.S. each year; 20 percent of those suicides are veterans. Traditionally, when we think of suicide among vets, we think of men. But this week, for the first time, a sizable study was published that looked specifically at female veterans and suicide." (npr.org)

F.D.A. Panel Votes to Expand Surgery for Less Obese - NYTimes.com "A federal advisory panel Friday endorsed an expansion of the use of Allergan’s Lap-Band stomach-restricting device to patients who are less than severely obese. The vote could pave the way to double the number of Americans who qualify for weight-loss surgery. And it could eventually lead to making other types of weight-loss surgery available to those who are not quite as heavy." (The New York Times)