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Preschoolers' Language Development Is Partly Tied To Their Classmates' Language Skills
Young children learn how to speak and understand language from the words parents speak at home and teachers speak in preschool. A new longitudinal study has found that their preschool classmates also play a part.

House Ways And Means Panel Rejects Amendments To Exclude Abortion Coverage From Health Reform
The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday voted 23-18 to approve its health care reform bill (HR 3200) after rejecting dozens of Republican amendments, including attempts to exclude abortion coverage from the essential benefit package created in the legislation, CQ Today reports. An amendment offered by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) was rejected in an 18-23 vote; Reps. Bill Pascrell (N.J.), Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) and John Tanner (Tenn.) were the only Democrats to support the amendment. The amendment included exceptions for abortion to save the woman"s life or in cases of rape or incest. Committee members voted 19-22 to reject a similar amendment by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).The House health reform bill would establish a panel to set a minimum benefits package that health insurers must offer. The bill aims to expand health insurance coverage by mandating that individuals obtain insurance, requiring employers to offer workers coverage or pay a fine, and establishing a health insurance exchange where people could compare and purchase plans. The exchange would include a government-run health insurance option that would compete with private plans (Rubin, CQ Today, 7/17).
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Sexual Health

Terminally Ill Patients And Their Physicians Delay Conversations About End-of-Life Choices, Study Finds

About half of terminally ill patients do not have discussions with their physicians regarding end-of-life choices, according to a Harvard Medical School study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the Boston Globe reports.The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, examined files on 1,517 patients in California, Iowa and Alabama with metastasized lung cancer. According to the Globe, a majority of patients diagnosed with metastasized lung cancer do not survive two years. Researchers asked the patients whether a physician or other health care provider had recommended hospice care or discussed end-of-life care preferences with them. According to the study, about 49% of blacks and 43% of Hispanics had discussed end-of-life care preferences with a physician or health care provider within four to seven months of their diagnosis, compared with 53% of whites and 57% of Asians. Lead study author Haiden Huskamp, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, said, "Patients who had unrealistic expectations about how long they had to live were much less likely to talk about hospice with their doctor." Huskamp theorized that patients who said they did not discuss end-of-life options with providers might not have completely understood their prognosis or chose to believe in a better outcome. Huskamp also said physicians typically are not well-trained to handle some delicate conversations (Lazar, Boston Globe, 5/26). An abstract of the study is available online. Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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