Must Reads

• A July 28, 2013 Dallas Morning News (via the Columbus Dispatch) article reported on the rising cost of long-term care. According to the article, "In recent years, companies that sell the policies have seen their profits hurt by low interest rates. That’s because the companies invest policyholders’ premiums, and when rates are low, their investment returns are low...As a result, many companies that sold long-term insurance are no longer doing so. In the past five years, 14 companies have stopped selling new individual long-term-care insurance policies, according to LIMRA, an insurance-consulting firm. The insurers are honoring current policies, however."
• A July 27, 2013 NewsObserver.com article highlighted the negative impact of sequestration on medical research funding. According to the article, "Sequestration, the across-the-board spending cuts for federal agencies, is a self-inflicted wound on our country and the pain is acutely felt by patients who cannot afford unnecessary delays in the development of new therapies and cures for their illnesses.In short, the entire country is hurting and as much as we would like to believe medical progress will continue unabated, we must accept the inevitable consequence of sequestration and other federal actions that muzzle research and innovation – needless deaths, economic decline and challenges to our global competitiveness."
• A July 26, 2013 ScienceDaily.com article reported that "UCLA chemists and molecular biologists have for the first time used a "structure-based" approach to drug design to identify compounds with the potential to delay or treat Alzheimer's disease, and possibly Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease and other degenerative disorders."