Space station at risk of debris hit

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The International Space Station is in danger of being hit by two pieces of debris from an old Russian satellite that had previously hit a US craft in 2009, a news report says.

The space station will encounter pieces of the Kosmos 2251 military spy orbiter in the next few days, the Interfax news agency quoted a source at Russian Mission Control as saying.

"Two fragments of the Kosmos 2251 craft may pose a danger to the station," the unnamed source was quoted as saying.

The source added that the station may now have to manoeuvre out of the path of the approaching debris in a special operation tentatively planned for Thursday.

The Kosmos 2251 satellite was launched by Russia in 1993 and decommissioned just two years later.

The satellite crashed into a US Iridium-33 satellite in February 2009 in the first such space accident of its kind. The collision created hundreds of smaller fragments that pose a danger to both the station and other satellites.

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Space station at risk of debris hit

New Marshall Space Flight Center Director Introduces Himself, Vision For Marshall

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Posted on: 5:09 pm, September 26, 2012, by David Kumbroch, updated on: 05:49pm, September 26, 2012

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (WHNT) The Marshall Space Flight Center finds itself under new leadership again.

New Director Patrick Scheuermann faced the media and the microphones, giving him a chance to speak about himself.

Scheuermann says, I am a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Ive been a Marshall Space Flight Center employee before as a Chief Operating Officer running the Michoud Assembly Facility.

In fact, Marshall made it through turbulent times with Scheuermanns help.

He explains, I started as a Marshall employee the Monday before Hurricane Katrina hit, and so that Monday was an interesting meeting. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Hurricane Katrina was coming, so I said let me see the emergency plan. The next two years was a blur.

But Scheuerman worked his way up in the rocket business the hard way, and now hes here at the top of Marshall Space Flight Center.

Scheuermann remembers, When I started in 1986 as a test conductor for testing space shuttle main engines, sort of like my predecessor Robert Lightfoot, he got his same start testing space shuttle engines too. For me now to go from that position to every opportunity that Ive had in the past has been just tremendous opportunity for me.

Right next to the elevators at Marshall, you find the stated goals. Even though the center has new leadership, the mission stays the same.

Scheuermann describes, The Marshall mission is strong. We look forward to having a great future here at Marshall Space Flight Center. The Space Launch System, were well on our way of design and looking forward to a first flight soon for it. Experimental flight test number one [is] coming up here in December.

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New Marshall Space Flight Center Director Introduces Himself, Vision For Marshall

NASA's Hurricane Mission A Reality Due To Cutting-Edge Technology

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Image Caption: Photo of the new purple CPL with the Global Hawk. Credit: NASA

Cutting-edge NASA technology has made this years NASA Hurricane mission a reality. NASA and other scientists are currently flying a suite of state-of-the-art, autonomously operated instruments that are gathering difficult-to-obtain measurements of wind speeds, precipitation, and cloud structures in and around tropical storms.

Making these measurements possible is the platform on which the instruments are flying, said Paul Newman, the deputy principal investigator of NASAs Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3), managed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. HS3 will use NASAs unmanned Global Hawks, which are capable of flying at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet with flight durations of up to 28 hours capabilities that increase the amount of data scientists can collect. Its a brand-new way to do science, Newman said.

The month-long HS3 mission, which began in early September, is actually a more robust follow-on to NASAs Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment that scientists executed in 2010. Often referred to as GRIP on steroids, HS3 is currently deploying one instrument-laden Global Hawk from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Virginias Eastern Shore to look at the environment of tropical storms. In 2013 and 2014, a second Global Hawk will be added that will focus on getting detailed measurements of the inner core of hurricanes.

Without this new aircraft, developed originally for the U.S. Air Force to gather intelligence and surveillance data, the team says the mission wouldnt be possible.

The Global Hawks ability to fly for a much longer period of time than manned aircraft will allow it to obtain previously difficult-to-get data. Scientists hope to use that data to gain new insights into how tropical storms form, and more importantly, how they intensify into major Atlantic hurricanes information that forecasters need to make better storm predictions, save lives, and ultimately prevent costly coastal evacuations if a storm doesnt warrant them.

Because you can get to Africa from Wallops, well be able to study developing systems way out into the Atlantic, Newman explained. Normal planes, which can fly for no more than about 10 hours, often miss the points where storms intensify, added Gerry Heymsfield, a Goddard scientist who used NASA Research and Development funding to create one of the missions six instruments, the High-altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP). With the Global Hawks, we have a much higher chance of capturing these events. Furthermore, we can sit on targets for a long time.

Just as important as the aircraft are the new or enhanced instruments designed to gather critical wind, temperature, humidity, and aerosol measurements in the environment surrounding the storm and the rain and wind patterns occurring inside their inner cores, they added. The instruments bring it all together, Newman said. We didnt have these instruments 10 years ago.

The Global Hawk currently on deployment at Wallops is known as the environmental aircraft because it samples the environment in which hurricanes are embedded. It carries three instruments.

A Goddard-provided laser system called the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) is located in the nose. CPL measures cloud structures and aerosols, such as dust, sea salt particles, and smoke particles, by bouncing laser light off these elements. An infrared instrument called the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS), provided by the University of Wisconsin in Madison, sits in the belly of the aircraft. It measures the vertical profile of temperature and water vapor.

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NASA's Hurricane Mission A Reality Due To Cutting-Edge Technology

NASA's new goal: Returning samples from Mars

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(SPACE.com) The next steps in NASA's Mars exploration strategy should build toward returning Martian rocks and dirt to Earth to search for signs of past life, a new report by the space agency's Red Planet planning group finds.

The report, released today (Sept. 25) by the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG), lays out a series of options that NASA could employ to get pieces of the Red Planet in scientists' hands here on Earth. The space agency is now mulling those options and could announce its chosen path by early next year, when the White House releases its proposed budget for fiscal year 2014.

"The first public release of what plans, you know, we definitively have would not be until the president presents that budget to Congress in February of 2013," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, told reporters today.

NASA put together the MPPG this past March to help restructure its Mars strategy in the wake of cuts to the space agency's robotic exploration program.

The MPPG was instructed to consider NASA's newly constrained fiscal situation and the priorities laid out by the U.S. National Research Council's Planetary Science Decadal Survey, which was released last year. President Barack Obama's directive that the agency get astronauts to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s was another factor, NASA officials said.

The MPPG's focus on sample-return should thus come as no surprise. It was a top priority of the Decadal Survey, and sample-return could help spur and work in concert with NASA's plans for human exploration of Mars, Grunsfeld said. [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars]

"Sample-return represents the best opportunity to find symmetry technologically between the programs," he said. "Sending a mission to go to Mars and return a sample looks a lot like sending a crew to Mars and returning them safely."

Humans could even be involved in the sample-return process, according to the MPPG report. Astronauts aboard NASA's Orion capsule, which is currently under development, could intercept the Martian sample in deep space, secure it in a contained environment, and bring it safely down to Earth.

"It is taking advantage of the human architecture, because we anticipate it will be there," Grunsfeld said. "And it potentially solves an issue of, when we return samples, somewhere we have to make sure that the samples are completely contained so there's no chance -- remote as it may be -- that there is something on Mars that could contaminate Earth."

Exactly when a Martian sample could come down to Earth remains up in the air. But NASA is considering launching the first enabling mission along this path in 2018, or perhaps 2020, Grunsfeld said. A complicating factor is that NASA has just $800 million or so to work with for the project through 2018.

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Nanotechnology device aims to prevent malaria deaths through rapid diagnosis

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ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) A pioneering mobile device using cutting-edge nanotechnology to rapidly detect malaria infection and drug resistance could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated.

Around 800,000 people die from malaria each year after being bitten by mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites. Signs that the parasite is developing resistance to the most powerful anti-malarial drugs in south-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa mean scientists are working to prevent the drugs becoming ineffective.

The 5.2million (4million) Nanomal project -- launched September 26-- is planning to provide an affordable hand-held diagnostic device to swiftly detect malaria infection and parasites' drug resistance. It will allow healthcare workers in remote rural areas to deliver effective drug treatments to counter resistance more quickly, potentially saving lives.

The device -- the size and shape of a mobile phone -- will use a range of latest proven nanotechnologies to rapidly analyse the parasite DNA from a blood sample. It will then provide a malaria diagnosis and comprehensive screening for drug susceptibility in less than 20 minutes, while the patient waits. With immediately available information about the species of parasite and its potential for drug resistance, a course of treatment personally tailored to counter resistance can be given.

Currently for malaria diagnosis, blood samples are sent to a central referral laboratory for drug resistance analysis, requiring time as well as specialised and expensive tests by skilled scientists. Additionally, confirmation of malaria is often not available where patients present with fever. Very often, drug treatments are prescribed before the diagnosis and drug resistance are confirmed, and may not be effective. Being able to treat effectively and immediately will prevent severe illness and save lives.

The Nanomal consortium is being led by St George's, University of London, which is working with UK handheld diagnostics and DNA sequencing specialist QuantuMDx Group and teams at the University of Tuebingen in Germany and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. It was set up in response to increasing signs that the malaria parasite is mutating to resist the most powerful class of anti-malaria drugs, artemisinins. The European Commission has awarded 4million (3.1million) to the project.

Nanomal lead Professor Sanjeev Krishna, from St George's, said: "Recent research suggests there's a real danger that artemisinins could eventually become obsolete, in the same way as other anti-malarials. New drug treatments take many years to develop, so the quickest and cheapest alternative is to optimise the use of current drugs. The huge advances in technology are now giving us a tremendous opportunity to do that and to avoid people falling seriously ill or dying unnecessarily."

QuantuMDx's CEO Elaine Warburton said: "Placing a full malaria screen with drug resistance status in the palm of a health professional's hand will allow instant prescribing of the most effective anti-malaria medication for that patient. Nanomal's rapid, low-cost test will further support the global health challenge to eradicate malaria."

The handheld device will take a finger prick of blood, extract the malarial DNA and then detect and sequence the specific mutations linked to drug resistance, using a nanowire biosensor. The chip electrically detects the DNA sequences and converts them directly into binary code, the universal language of computers. The binary code can then be readily analysed and even shared, via wireless or mobile networks, with scientists for real-time monitoring of disease patterns.

The device should provide the same quality of result as a referral laboratory, at a fraction of the time and cost. Each device could cost about the price of a smart phone initially, but may be issued for free in developing countries. A single-test cartridge will be around 13 (10) initially, but the aim is to reduce this cost to ensure affordability in resource-limited settings.

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Nanotechnology device aims to prevent malaria deaths through rapid diagnosis

Penn Medicine Receives $7.7 Million Grant from Department of Defense to Help Determine Most Effective Strategies for …

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PHILADELPHIA Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (www.med.upenn.edu) have been awarded a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a new translational interdisciplinary research center to explore the role of sex and gender in behavioral health.

The new Center for the Study of Sex and Gender in Behavioral Health will be led by C. Neill Epperson, MD, associate professor of Psychiatry and founder and director of the Penn Center for Women's Behavioral Wellness, as principal investigator, along with Tracy L. Bale, PhD, Center co-director and associate professor of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine and director, Neuroscience Center at the University of Pennsylvania School Of Veterinary Medicine.

It is well established that sex and gender are critical determinants of mental health and mental illness. But what isnt clear is how hormonal developmental milestones such as puberty and early life traumatic events interact to impact neuropsychiatric health in women across the lifespan, said Dr. Epperson. Using behavioral and molecular models of stress and reproductive neuroendocrinology, psychophysiology, and neuroimaging, the new Center for the Study of Sex and Gender in Behavioral Health will investigate the unique mechanisms at play in womens behavioral health.

Studies have found that gender differences occur particularly in the rates of common mental disorders - depression, anxiety and somatic complaints. These disorders, in which women predominate, affect approximately 1 in 3 people in the community and constitute a serious public health problem.

This new Center provides a powerful mechanism by which we can translate results from an animal model examining early life stress directly to human studies, bench to bedside and back again, said Dr. Bale. Our frequent interactions as a research team mean that we can discuss our results as they are obtained, immediately implementing important new directions and outcomes.

The new Centers research projects will focus on how the experience of early childhood adversity in womens lives reprograms the brain toward stress dysregulation, and how this intersects with periods of dynamic hormonal flux across the life span, including pregnancy and aging. While the Centers present studies will focus primarily in the translational neuroscience of the sex bias for affective disturbances in females, Drs. Epperson and Bale will promote the inclusion of sex and gender as factors in research across all Schools, Centers and Institutes at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Perelman School of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854 million to benefit our community.

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Penn Medicine Receives $7.7 Million Grant from Department of Defense to Help Determine Most Effective Strategies for ...

Med students’ biggest challenges: educational costs, workload

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The cost of medical education poses the biggest challenge for medical students, according to a national survey of students released Sept. 13.

Theyre really seeing the bills piling up as the costs for medical school go up year after year, said Erica Sniad Morgenstern, spokeswoman for the health information technology company Epocrates.

The company surveyed 1,015 students in August who use its drug reference tool at more than 160 medical schools nationwide. Medical school costs have been an increasing challenge for students in the seven years the company has been conducting the survey, she said.

The average student debt is $162,000 for allopathic students and $205,674 for osteopathic medicine students, according to the latest data from the Assn. of American Medical Colleges and the American Assn. of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. Eighty-six percent of allopathic medical school graduates and 91% of osteopathic medicine college graduates had educational debt in 2011.

Milla Kviatkovsky, a third-year medical student at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said she wishes she had taken cost more into consideration when deciding where to go. Depending on the school, tuition and other expenses can range from $20,000 to $60,000 a year, she said.

I think the cost of medical education has become one of the biggest factors, said Kviatkovsky, one of the surveyed students.

The cost of medical education was cited as the top challenge by 45% of surveyed students. The second-biggest challenge cited by 22% of respondents was the sheer volume of information that students must learn.

In a separate question, students were asked about their concerns as future physicians. Fifty-three percent cited being a good physician as among their biggest concerns, 47% mentioned balancing work and personal life, and 30% said they were worried about paying off student loans.

Overall, students ranked their medical school experiences as positive, but many said they would like to have more direct contact with patients and more education about the business side of medicine, Morgenstern said.

The majority of students were satisfied with their training in areas such as bedside manner, patient safety and infection prevention and control. Students indicated that they were less satisfied with other aspects of their education, including billing and coding, practice management and interaction with hospital administration (epocrates.com/who/media/mediaresources/statistics).

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Liberty notes: Flames welcome bye week

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When Liberty was trying to put together its football schedule last winter, the original plan was to schedule a game for Sept. 29 and leave Oct. 20 as an open date, giving the Flames a bye week in the middle of their conference schedule.

Athletics director Jeff Barber struggled to find a taker for a Sept. 29 home game, though, and eventually, the school scheduled Division II Concord on Oct. 20 and moved the open date to the end of September.

After the four-week gauntlet Liberty has faced out of the gates, featuring an FBS opponent, three teams ranked in the various FCS polls and a 2,300-mile road trip to Montana, the schedule change could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

I think so, Liberty coach Turner Gill said. It works out pretty well.

Both the Flames and Gardner-Webb, Libertys opponent for its Big South opener on Oct. 6, will have next week off after facing an extremely difficult four-game non-league stretch. GWU opened with games against Wofford, Richmond, Samford and Pittsburgh.

Its going to work out well for us, Gill said. Every team has bumps and bruises, and its going to be a good time for us to regroup after this ballgame and be ready to go in conference play.

Hall of Fame

Liberty inducted its fourth Athletics Hall of Fame class this weekend, and the five members of the 2012 class were honored at halftime of the Flames game with Lehigh.

This years class:

* Jesse Castro, who wrestled at Liberty from 1977-81 and resurrected the schools dormant wrestling program, coaching it from 2006-10. Under Castro, 24 individual wrestlers qualified for the NCAA championships.

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Liberty notes: Flames welcome bye week

Liberty City Village plans need revamping

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When first hearing about the Liberty City Transit Hub (now Village), there was anticipation that the site where this project is to be placed would potentially showcase a unique mix of increased commercial activity coupled with public transportation and other amenities.

Yet, even against the focused opposition of local business owners and community residents, county officials are still pushing what is essentially just another mega housing project that is sorely inappropriate for this specific commercial location.

Whats still very curious is that the word transit is still featured as part of this projects name.

And the Carver signage featured in the rendering, which may or may not be included in the final product, doesnt disguise what is really being proposed.

What county officials continue to ignore, with specific disregard to socially sensitive areas like Liberty City, is the direct correlation between how the built environment is developed and its longstanding impact on the areas social and resultant economic potential.

The social aspects the much too frequent and severe criminal behavior have a clear, yet unspoken, psychological root.

Unemployment issues arent lost in this equation as these issues have a direct bearing on the communitys psyche as well.

The degree of sensitivity to which the built environment is developed can assist in foundationally remedying many of these ills, if given proper exploration.

Given the complexity of this sites context, the tangible and intangible issues surrounding this site and area, housing shouldnt be its focus.

Housing projects, new and not so new, are already peppered in abundance throughout the area with no real balance of creative amenity that the overall area beckons.

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Liberty City Village plans need revamping

Liberty University removes old bridge from James River near Treasure Island

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Liberty University is responding to concerns near its Treasure Island property on the James River by removing the old bridge that was once the main access from the city to the 28-acre island.Lynchburg, Va. (PRWEB) September 26, 2012 Liberty University is responding to concerns near its Treasure Island property on the James River by removing the old bridge that was once the main access from the ...

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Liberty University removes old bridge from James River near Treasure Island

Japan Won’t Compromise With China on Claim to Islands, Noda Says

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By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Stuart Biggs - 2012-09-26T23:17:41Z

Japan will never budge on its sacred ownership claim to islands in the East China Sea also claimed by China, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said, doing little to ease tensions with Asias top economic power.

While Japan isnt seeking a military confrontation with China and wants to keep talking calmly, the disputed islands are an inherent part of our territory in light of history and also under international law, Noda told reporters in New York today in comments translated into English by an interpreter.

Tensions over the islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, have spilled over onto the sidelines of an annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. The foreign ministers of China and Japan yesterday held talks at a hotel in New York that revealed no room for compromise.

Nodas words came amid the worst diplomatic crisis between the two nations since 2005. A first round of talks yesterday did not go well. China will not tolerate Japans claims to islands in the East China Sea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said after its minister, Yang Jiechi, met with his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba.

Japans Gemba described the atmosphere at the meeting as severe and emphasized Japans maximum restraint over the dispute, Kyodo News reported yesterday.

There was agreement to maintain lines of communication through working-level talks, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters today in Tokyo, adding that the meeting lasted about an hour. There are no magic tricks in diplomacy. It all comes down to holding talks through various channels and at various levels.

The crisis sparked protests in China that have damaged operations for Japanese companies. Reservations for more than 40,000 seats on All Nippon Airways (9202) flights were canceled from September to November, Executive Vice President Osamu Shinobe told reporters in Tokyo today. Japan Airlines Co. (9201) had 15,500 cancellations as of Sept. 24. Nissan Motor Co. (7201) said its halting production in China to reflect falling demand,

Organizations in the two countries canceled or postponed a series of events, including plans to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations. China skipped an international disaster relief conference in Tokyo, Xinhua reported. It said Chinese leaders in the Japanese city of Yokohama announced they would cancel an annual National Day parade on Oct. 1.

Nissan, the top Japanese seller of vehicles in China, said today its August output in China fell by 8.9 percent from a year earlier to 86,488 units. Chinese production dropped 18 percent to 67,625 vehicles at Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and declined 10 percent at Honda Motor Co. (7267) Japanese autos will lose their lead this year over German nameplates for the first time since 2005, Chinas Passenger Car Association estimates.

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Japan Won’t Compromise With China on Claim to Islands, Noda Says

Noda vows no compromise as Japan, China dig in on islands row

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NEW YORK/BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan will not compromise on the islands at the heart of a dispute with China as Tokyo already has sovereignty over them, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Wednesday after China's foreign minister angrily declared the islets were "sacred territory." "As for the Senkakus, they are an inherent part of our territory in light of history and also under international ...

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Noda vows no compromise as Japan, China dig in on islands row

Aon Hewitt Survey Shows Most Employers Considering Move Towards Exchange-Based Individual Market Strategies for …

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LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Driven by changes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), most employers are reevaluating their retiree health care strategy and are considering implementing strategies that open access to the individual Medicare plan market through health care exchanges, according to a new survey by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources solutions business of Aon plc. (AON).

According to Aon Hewitt's 2012 survey of almost 450 private and public plan sponsors representing 5.8 million retirees, 6 in 10 employers have reviewed or are currently reviewing their retiree health care strategies and are considering alternatives in order to leverage opportunities created by the PPACA.

Of those employers planning changes,63 percent are currently implementing or are considering moving towards an individual market strategy, where they would leverage a health exchange partnership. Aon Hewitt estimates that approximately two-thirds of Medicare-eligible retirees in the U.S. are already enrolled in a Medicare plan through the individual market.

"With the Supreme Court ruling largely upholding the PPACA, plan sponsors have the opportunity to reassess their role as a provider of retiree health care benefits and consider changes that will better position their retiree health care programs for the future," said John Grosso, health care actuary and leader of the Aon Hewitt Retiree Health Care sub-practice. ""The combination of changes to the Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage programs, along with the choice, competition and generally favorable rating rules, have made the individual market very cost-effective compared to the group insurance program. We expect that there will be a similar opportunity for pre-Medicare retirees beginning in 2014."

Aon Hewitt's survey found that 65 percent of plan sponsors said they will at least consider leveraging an exchange strategy for their pre-Medicare retirees some time after 2013, with or without a subsidy, in order to take advantage of the opportunities created through new state-sponsored health care exchanges and additional PPACA market reforms.

In addition to an individual market strategy, Aon Hewitt's survey shows that employers are currently pursuing two other general retiree health care strategies in response to provisions under the PPACA:

Medicare Part D StrategiesPrompted by the elimination of the tax-favored status of the Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) under the PPACA, a majority of employers (61 percent) expect to change either their Medicare Part D or broader strategy for Medicare-eligible retirees. Of those plan sponsors, 17 percent made changes in 2011 or 2012, another 11 percent will make changes for 2013, and nearly three quarters (72 percent) are currently exploring what actions to take and when.

Of the employers who have already decided to make changes to their retiree drug program, 62 percent are moving forward with a group-based Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP/EGWP). Thirty-two percent are leveraging the individual Medicare-eligible health insurance market in some manner.

"Changes to the tax-favored status of the RDS, in conjunction with improvements to the Medicare Part D program over time, are driving significant change in the employer-sponsored retiree health care market," explained Grosso. "These enhancements allow for cost savings for both plan sponsors and retirees, while still preserving retiree benefits."

Excise Tax Mitigation StrategiesTo mitigate the cost of the excise tax on high-cost health plans in 2018, Aon Hewitt's research shows that 29 percent of plan sponsors anticipate changing plan features such as deductibles, copayments and coinsurance. Twenty-two percent would favor sourcing coverage through the state exchanges, and 18 percent favor changing retiree premium cost-sharing in some manner.

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Romney: Massachusetts health care law is proof of empathy

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By NBC's Garrett Haake

TOLEDO, OH -- Mitt Romney on Wednesday pointed to the health care reform law he enacted as governor of Massachusetts as proof of his empathy and care for the American people.

In an interview with NBC News, Romney referenced an element of his record he almost never invokes on the campaign trail to answer a question about how he can better connect with Americans and prove he understands the lives and trials of middle class Americans.

"I think throughout this campaign as well, we talked about my record in Massachusetts, don't forget -- I got everybody in my state insured," Romney told NBC's Ron Allen in an interview before his rally here tonight. "One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record."

Romney's health care law in Massachusetts has long been a lightning rod issue for conservatives, who unfavorably compare it to President Barack Obama's own federal law and as a damning reflection on Romney's conservative bonafides.

The former Massachusetts governor also touched on another portion of his biography that he seldom discusses to connect with average Americans: his time as a Mormon pastor.

"I think people have the chance, who watched our Republican convention, to see the lives that I've had a chance to touch during my life, to understand that as I served as a pastor of a congregation with people of all different backgrounds and economic circumstances that I care very deeply about the American people, people of different socio-economic circumstances," Romney told Allen.

Taking the stage for the final rally of his two-day Ohio bus tour moments later, Romney also spoke about the importance of compassion in his speech and said his interactions with Americans from all lots in life have shown him the greatness of America -- and that everyone has challenges of their own.

"You look around, you see everybody, they look happy, and you think everybody else is doing just fine, and you're the only one with problems. But the truth is, most people that you see have some real challenges in their life of one kind or another. I understand that," Romney said. "And I've seen that inside the heart of the American people, despite our challenges, is a conviction that this nation is the greatest nation in the history of the earth."

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Romney: Massachusetts health care law is proof of empathy

Health Care Equipment & Supplies: Global Industry Guide

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NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Health Care Equipment & Supplies: Global Industry Guide

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0138978/Health-Care-Equipment--Supplies-Global-Industry-Guide.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Caring_Services

Health Care Equipment & Supplies: Global Industry Guide is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Health Care Equipment & Supplies industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, textual analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, and profiles of the leading companies. This incisive report provides expert analysis on a global, regional and country basis.

Scope of the Report

* Contains an executive summary and data on value, volume and segmentation

* Provides textual analysis of the industry's prospects, competitive landscape and profiles of the leading companies

* Incorporates in-depth five forces competitive environment analysis and scorecards

* Covers the Global, European and Asia-Pacific markets as well as individual chapters on 5 major markets (France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US).

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Health Care Equipment & Supplies: Global Industry Guide

Saving money with smart open enrollment changes

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers will soon be offering workers their yearly opportunity to make changes to their health care benefits. All too often this open-enrollment period has required combing through pages and pages of confusing insurance terms.

But this year workers will receive help translating that jargon thanks to a new requirement that insurers provide a user-friendly coverage summary of all health plans. Combined with innovative wellness plans that reward employees for staying health, experts say millions of workers should be able to make smarter benefit decision and save money in the process.

"There's a $5 or $10 bill just sitting there," says Jody Dietel, chief compliance officer with WageWorks. "They have to do a little bit of homework, but that $5 or $10 is theirs for the taking."

More than 55 percent of insured workers estimate they waste up to $750 each year because of mistakes during open enrollment, according to a recent survey by insurance provider Aflac. Those wasted dollars are more crucial than ever. Even three years after the recession ended, 62 percent of middle class Americans tell the Pew Research Center they have been forced to cut back on spending in the past year.

Here are ways to make sure you're getting every dollar's worth from your health benefits:

MAKE TIME

"I think people spend less than an hour on (open enrollment) not because they don't want to but because they feel it's overwhelming and complicated," says Rebecca Madsen, a senior vice president with UnitedHealth Group. Open enrollment generally starts in October or November for plans that begin Jan. 1.

Many insurers are trying to present benefit information in interesting, more user-friendly ways. UnitedHealth runs the website http://www.healthcarelane.com , which lets visitors explore a virtual town, where each person they encounter offers information and advice about a different health plan offering. The Department of Health and Human Services offers a more straightforward website designed to demystify health care topics: http://www.healthcare.gov .

This year's open enrollment should be easier to navigate even for those who get their information from paper and ink sources. Starting this month insurers are required to provide standardized 8-page summaries that explain key terms and cost details of their plans. The rule was passed as part of the Obama administration's health care overhaul and is intended to make it easier to compare policies and the costs and benefits of various plans.

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Health care law will be implemented, most say in poll

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President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in March 2010. (Photo by Charles Dharapak, The Associated Press)

It still divides us, but most Americans think President Barack Obama's health care law is here to stay. More than 7 in 10 say the law will fully go into effect with some changes, ranging from minor to major alterations, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds. Only 12 percent expect the Affordable Care Act "Obamacare" to dismissive opponents to be repealed completely.

The law covering 30 million uninsured, requiring virtually every legal U.S. resident to carry health insurance and forbidding insurers from turning away the sick remains as contentious as the day it passed more than two years ago. There's still more than another year before its major provisions go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Although the overhaul survived a Supreme Court challenge in June, the November election appears likely to settle its fate. Republican Mitt Romney vows to begin repealing it on Day One while Obama pledges to carry it out faithfully.

But the poll found that Americans are converging on the idea that the overhaul will be part of their lives, although probably not down to its last comma. They don't totally buy what either candidate is saying.

"People are sort of averaging out the candidates' positions," said Harvard School of Public Health professor Robert Blendon, who tracks polling on health care issues.

Forty-one percent said they expect the law to be fully implemented with minor changes, while 31 percent said they expect to see it take effect with major changes. Only 11 percent said they think it will be implemented as passed.

Americans also prefer that states have a strong say in carrying out the overhaul.

Sixty-three percent want states to run new health insurance markets called "exchanges." Open for business in 2014, exchanges would sign up individuals and small businesses for taxpayer-subsidized private coverage. With GOP governors still on the sidelines, the federal government may wind up operating the exchanges in half or more of the states, an outcome only 32 percent of Americans want to see, according to the poll.

Developed with researchers from Stanford University and the University of Michigan, the poll also found an enduring generation gap, with people 65 and older most likely to oppose the bill and those younger than 45 less likely to be against it.

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Health care law will be implemented, most say in poll