News bites: Republican lambasts Dems’ Medicare ‘scare tactics’

{mosads}Kaiser Health News also offers two perspectives on the fight over municipal healthcare benefits.

Inside Health Policy reviews the executive tools a Republican president could use to undermine Democrats’ healthcare reform law (subscription required).

Heart disease was the top killer of Americans in 2007, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reports. The next nine leading causes of death were, in rank order: malignant neoplasms; cerebrovascular diseases; chronic lower respiratory diseases; accidents (uninten­tional injuries); Alzheimer’s disease; diabetes mellitus; influenza and pneumonia; nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis; and septicemia.

New York City hospitals have begun assessing Hurricane Irene’s damage, Modern Healthcare reports.

Health insurers’ profits are expected to shrink as a result of the healthcare law, MedPage Today reports.

The FDA has approved a new Pfizer cancer drug, the latest example of a molecularly targeted therapy to win rapid approval from the agency, The Wall Street Journal reports.

California Healthline asks whether proposed cuts to adult day healthcare services will really save the state any money.

Tennis star’s Novak Djokovic’s secret to success? Sitting in a pressurized egg, The Wall Street Journal reports.