• USDA: Hunger rises in U.S., By Alfred Lubrano, November 17, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “America is hungry and getting hungrier, with 49 million people - 17 million of them children - last year unable to consistently get enough food to eat, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These figures represent 14.6 percent of all households, a 3.5-percentage-point jump over 2007, and they are the largest recorded since the agency began measuring hunger in 1995. Of those 49 million, 12 million adults and 5.2 million children reported experiencing the country’s most severe hunger, possibly going days without eating. Among the children, nearly half a million in the developmentally critical years under age 6 were going hungry. That’s three times the number in 2006. The study documented both ‘low food security,’ which describes people unable to consistently get enough to eat, and ‘very low food security,’ in which people reported being hungry various times over the year but were unable to eat because there wasn’t enough money for food. The South reported the highest number of households in both categories, at 15.9 percent, followed by the West at 14.5 percent, the Midwest at 14 percent, and the Northeast at 12.8 percent…”
• Hungry U.S. households increased about 30% last year, By Tony Pugh, November 16, 2009, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The number of U.S. households that are struggling to feed their members jumped by 4 million to 17 million last year, as recession-driven job losses and increased poverty and unemployment fueled a surge in hunger, a government survey reported Monday. These ‘food insecure’ households represent about 49 million people and make up 14.6 percent, or more than one in seven, of all U.S. households. That’s the highest rate since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began monitoring the issue in 1995. Additionally, more than one-third of these struggling families — some 6.7 million households, or 17.2 million people last year — had ‘very low food security,’ in which food intake was reduced and eating patterns were disrupted for some family members because of a lack of food…”

• Uninsured trauma patients are much more likely to die, By Karen Kaplan, November 17, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “Patients who lack health insurance are more likely to die from car accidents and other traumatic injuries than people who belong to a health plan — even though emergency rooms are required to care for all comers regardless of ability to pay, according to a study published today. An analysis of 687,091 patients who visited trauma centers nationwide from 2002 to 2006 found that the odds of dying from injuries were almost twice as high for the uninsured than for patients with private insurance, researchers reported in Archives of Surgery. Trauma physicians said they were surprised by the findings, even though a slew of studies had previously documented the ill effects of going without health coverage. Uninsured patients are less likely to be screened for certain cancers or to be admitted to specialty hospitals for procedures such as heart bypass surgery. Overall, about 18,000 deaths each year have been traced to a lack of health insurance…”
• Study: Injured uninsured more likely to die in ER, By Carla K. Johnson (AP), November 16, 2009, Idaho Statesman: “Uninsured patients with traumatic injuries, such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds, were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance, according to a troubling new study. The findings by Harvard University researchers surprised doctors and health experts who have believed emergency room care was equitable. ‘This is another drop in a sea of evidence that the uninsured fare much worse in their health in the United States,’ said senior author Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard surgeon and medical journalist…”

House health bill includes Medicaid relief for states, By Aaron C. Davis, November 16, 2009, Washington Post: “Wedged in the House health-care bill is $23.5 billion that looks a lot more like new federal stimulus spending than anything to do with national health-care reform. The barely debated pot of money would allow Congress to continue pumping billions in new short-term aid to states to cover Medicaid costs that have increased with rising unemployment in the past year. The potential impact of the new spending became clear last week when giddy state budget officials in capitals from Annapolis to Sacramento penciled in the revenue, hoping that if health-care legislation survives in the Senate, the states’ bonus might squeak through. Medicaid relief for states comprised one of the biggest pieces of February’s $787 billion federal stimulus package, but that funding will run out next year, halfway through states’ next round of spending plans…”

• Agencies, governments to study who can best deliver social services, By Kevin Bonham, November 14, 2009, Grand Forks Herald: “The North Dakota County Commission Association wants the state to shoulder the responsibility - and a share of the financial burden - of delivering social services, such as federal Medicaid, food stamps and temporary assistance for needy families programs. The resolution, initiated by the nine-county Northeast North Dakota County Commission Association, asks the state Legislature to conduct an interim study of the proposal…”
• Counties propose state delivery of social services, Associated Press, November 16, 2009, Jamestown Sun: “North Dakota county officials want the state to take over the delivery of social services programs, including federal Medicaid and food stamps, saying counties can no longer afford to do it. The North Dakota County Commission Association is seeking a two-year study of the idea starting in 2011, the year of the next legislative session. Its resolution says counties would contribute up to 15 mills of property taxes each…”