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HealthCare.gov signs up 6 million for Jan. 1 insurance

About 6 million people have signed up for health insurance on the website HealthCare.gov, including 2.4 million new customers, for coverage effective Jan. 1, 2016, the U.S. government said on Friday. HealthCare.gov sells subsidized insurance plans created as part of President Barack Obama’s national healthcare reform, often called Obamacare. Last year at this time, about 3.4 million people had signed up for these plans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

South African authorities deny issuing arrest warrant for Pistorius

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African authorities on Friday denied issuing a warrant of arrest for Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted on appeal of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, rejecting an earlier report by a local television station. “It is not the case,” Luvuyo Mfaku told Reuters. “No such warrant has been issued.” The Supreme Court on Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete's sentence to murder from “culpable homicide”, South Africa's equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence. …

Outrage of the Month: Our Broken System for Protecting Human Research Subjects

Read more in Public Citizen's December Health LetterFrom 1946 to 1948, the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) conducted highly unethical medical research in Guatemala (1). Some of the research involved deliberately infecting people with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), such as syphilis and gonorrhea, without their consent (2). In 2011,…

Chipotle E. coli outbreak reaches six states, shares tumble

More than 40 people have fallen ill with E. coli food poisoning after eating at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in six different states, federal health officials said on Friday, sending shares of the burrito chain to an 18-month low. The outbreak spread with new Chipotle-linked E. coli cases reported in California, Ohio, New York and Minnesota, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said 45 people got sick from the E.

US man’s headache caused by tapeworm larvae

Doctors told local media that the pupal parasite burrowed in the brain of Luis Ortiz, 26, a student in Sacramento, came close to taking his life, news reports said Thursday. The worm was forming in a cyst that blocked the flow of water to chambers in Ortiz's brain, “like a cork in a bottle,” his neurosurgeon Dr. Soren Singel told the Napa Valley Register newspaper. Ortiz, who had gone to the hospital emergency room complaining of terrible headaches and nausea, eventually slipped into a coma, and required emergency surgery to remove the larvae.

Historic Pacific trade deal faces skeptics in Congress

By Krista Hughes and Kevin Krolicki ATLANTA (Reuters) – Twelve Pacific Rim countries on Monday reached the most ambitious trade pact in a generation, aiming to liberalize commerce in 40 percent of the world's economy in a deal that faces skepticism from U.S. lawmakers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact struck in Atlanta after marathon talks could reshape industries, change the cost of products from cheese to cancer treatments and have repercussions for drug companies and automakers. New Zealand's demand for greater access for its dairy exports was only settled at 5 a.m. EDT on Monday.

Australia detains U.S. anti-abortion activist

By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said it has detained an U.S. anti-abortion activist after he attempted to enter the country without a valid visa on Thursday, just days after permission for him travel to Australia for a series of talks was revoked. Troy Newman, a anti-abortion campaigner, was detained at Melbourne Airport after landing on a flight from the United States, a spokeswoman for Australian minister for Immigration Petter Dutton said. “Since does not hold a visa, he is unable to enter Australia and remains in the presence of Australian Border Force officials at the Melbourne Airport pending his removal,” the spokeswoman said.