Health Care Tuesday

• Measles? Yes, measles. Refusing vaccinations has consequences.

  World health authorities have said measles deaths have dropped significantly world-wide. But federal health officials say the disease has been resurgent in the U.S., with nearly half of those involving children whose parents refuse vaccination.

  Recent cases in California, Pennsylvania, Iowa and now the Washington region show that as long as measles exists somewhere in the world, it's still a threat, said Athalia Christie, senior technical adviser with the American Red Cross and member of the Measles Initiative, a global group.

• Your Great Recession health report:

  Twenty percent of Americans say they have delayed or postponed medical care, mostly doctor visits, and many said cost was the main reason, according to a survey released on Monday.

  The Thomson Reuters survey found 21 percent of U.S. adults expected to have difficulty paying for health insurance or healthcare services in the next three months.

• On reform from WaPo:

  As Congress returns to begin an intense debate over reshaping the nation's $2.2 trillion health-care system, prominent left-leaning organizations and liberal House members are issuing a warning to their Democratic allies: Don't cave on us.

• Reuters with a health reform status report:

  The chairmen of two Senate committees drafting legislation to overhaul healthcare told President Barack Obama on Monday they were working together to have bills ready by early June.

  Senator Max Baucus, who heads the Finance Committee, and Senator Edward Kennedy, who heads the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a letter they will ensure that compatible bills emerge from their panels.

• So why should health care reform be different than anything else?

  Republicans look across the health reform battlefield and see the Democrats organized, energized and flush with cash — with several groups lined up to promote the president’s plan, and a message honed by years of preparation.

  Then they look into their own camp — and get nervous.

  There’s no Republican plan yet. No Republicans leading the charge who have coalesced the party behind them. Their message is still vague and unformed. Their natural allies among insurers, drug makers and doctors remain at the negotiating table with the Democrats.

  So Republicans now worry the party has waited so long to figure out where it stands that it will make it harder to block what President Barack Obama is trying to do...

  But a Republican consultant said the party needs to present its vision quickly -- while Democrats are still debating.

  "I am shocked they haven’t to this point. This has been out there for so many years," the consultant said. "There is a genuine mixture of fear and reluctance and indifference on the part of many Republicans towards the issue of health care, and they better get over it fast."

• Apartments in NYC ain't cheap, but still...

  How high is the cost of health care in New York City?

  According to a New York Post analysis of new data from the state Insurance Department, it now costs more to buy health insurance than it does to rent a two-bedroom apartment.

• And even more...

  Shortly after Congress returns from recess Monday, lawmakers will have to choose which Obama promise to make a higher priority -- overhauling the health-care system or addressing climate change.

  A growing number of Democratic lawmakers prefer health care, saying that has a far greater chance of producing consensus than climate change, inside the party and across party lines. And they argue that it would be a more tangible accomplishment to present to financially stressed voters heading into the 2010 midterm elections.

• Medicare helps but doesn't eliminate disparities:

  Racial and socioeconomic gaps in chronic disease control persist in the Medicare population, although some of the most important are narrower than in the general population, researchers found.

• Good avian flu summary in NY Times by Donald McNeil:

  An unusual pattern of avian flu cases in Egypt — almost all are in toddlers, all of whom have survived — has led some flu-tracking Web sites [see Flu Wiki Forum] to speculate that dozens of silent cases are circulating there.

  That would be an alarming development, but other experts, including those at the World Health Organization, say such fears are exaggerated. Although thousands of Egyptians have rushed their children to hospitals this flu season, there is no evidence yet of asymptomatic avian flu cases or any significant mutation in the H5N1 virus.

  "Right now, it’s all hot air," said Dr. Robert G. Webster, a flu expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. "I hope to hell it’s not happening, because it would mean the virus is adapting to humans. But there’s not a shred of data."

  Flu tracking sites are asking the right questions, and not panicking over the speculation. But it is notable that the pattern has shifted in Egypt this year. Like Bob Webster, we all hope it's hot air. We'll keep watching until we're sure.