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The "little-known but fast-growing field" of palliative care, which seeks to treat symptoms and improve the quality of life in patients with cancer and other serious illnesses, likely will continue to become more important as the U.S. population ages and develops more illnesses, according to experts, USA Today reports. [click link for full article]

MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Prime Minster of Denmark and current President of the Party of European Socialists, describes his highly successful "flexicurity" labor policy.

House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) on Wednesday announced that by July he plans to introduce legislation to reduce Medicare reimbursements for private Medicare Advantage plans to help fund other health care proposals, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

While 95 percent of age 18 to 64 Wisconsinites in this March 2007 AARP telephone survey consider themselves to be in relatively good health, 49 percent feel the stateÂ’s health care system isnÂ’t, and 13 percent say itÂ’s in critical condition and needs intensive care. (22 pages)

A succinct summary of the similarly titled AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper by Bernadette Wright about the experiences of Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina with a new services model in which assisted living services are provided in unlicensed housing and its implications for consumers. (2 pages)

The need for long-term care among older women, their ability to pay for care, and the special challenges they face in their roles as caregivers are reviewed in this AARP Public Policy Institute Fact Sheet by Ari Houser. (2 pages)

How government income assistance, health, education and other forms of aid to individuals and households were distributed among American families in 2004 through work-related and need-related (or means-tested) programs is analyzed in this AARP Public Policy Institute Data Digest by Ke Bin Wu. (8 pages)

The concerns, priorities and interests of Texas Hispanic and non-Hispanic AARP members are explored and compared in this late 2006 mail survey of 1,153 Lone Star State AARP members which also defines their awareness of AARP. (57 pages)

One in five of the UK population will develop long-term care needs, yet the care system is still not fit for future generations of pensioners, says a new 15-strong coalition, which launched a major public debate on the future of long- term care funding on 26 April. [click link for full article]

Two newspapers on Thursday published editorials related to a study released Monday by the board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security that found the Medicare hospital trust fund will become insolvent by 2019, one year later than estimated in 2006. According to the report, Medicare expenditures in 2006 totaled $408 billion and accounted for about 3.1% of U.S. gross domestic product and by 2030 will account for more than 6.5% of GDP. [click link for full article]