After Newspaper's Hospital Exposé, a Community Backlash

Health Reform: As the Republican-led debate on repealing health reform begins this week, federal officials estimate in a new report that as many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have preexisting medical conditions that could make their health insurance more expensive or even impossible to obtain, James Oliphant and Noam N. Levey report for the Los Angeles Times. A caveat: a good number of those folks – about 82 million – have employer-based group health insurance little affected by health reform or its repeal.

Watchdogging Hospitals: At the Neiman Watchdog site, Dallas Morning News Deputy Managing Editor Maud Beelman lays out the fascinating backstory of the newspaper's investigation into two venerable Dallas hospitals, which involved a community backlash and the taxpayer-funded hospitals' efforts to weaken the state's public records law. (Hat Tip: Health Beat).

Breast Cancer: Rebecca Plevin, one of our Fellows, reports movingly for Vida en la Valle on how one uninsured immigrant woman copes with breast cancer.

Biosecurity: In the Huffington Post, Jeffrey Levi of the Trust for America's Health examines why the country's ability to monitor potential public health emergencies is inadequate and advocates for a better biosurveillance system.

Placebos: Science doctor-blogger Ben Goldacre does a stand-up comedy routine about the placebo effect. NSFW; he has a potty mouth.