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A recent poll from a non-profit healthcare think-tank, Kaiser Family Foundation surprised public opinion watchers. It showed that Americans are more concerned about healthcare coverage than they are about losing their jobs, paying rent, – even falling victim to a terrorist attack.
The Democratic primary candidates are picking up on those national worries, and promising to fix the nation’s broken healthcare system once and for all.
NHPR’s Raquel Maria Dillon has more.

The federal government says New England leads the nation in using drugs to treat children with Attention Deficit Disorder. Some people worry we’re overmedicating our kids, while many doctors say drugs like Ritalin are often a necessary part of a larger treatment process. Laura talks with Dr. Jory Goodman, Neuropsychiatrist in private practice www.jorygoodmanmd.com, and Dr. Joffree Barrnett, a child psychiatrist and director of training at the Philbrook Child Center of NH Hospital www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/NHH

This week, NHPR launches Project Health, a 3-year effort to follow developments in the debate over health care.
It is a debate dominated by concern that costs will continue to rise and quality will drop.
That fear assumes that spending more gets you more.
But recent work by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School throws that assumption into doubt.
Dr. Elliott Fisher led a 5-year study that found that in health care, more is not better.
In fact, Fisher estimates that as much at 30% of all treatment is unneeded.
He ranked every hospital center in the country from places with the lowest spending to those with the highest.
Speaking with NHPR’s Jon Greenberg, he says, the high spending areas all had one thing in common.

The complete report as published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
http://www.annals.org/issues/v138n4/toc.html

When Families First, a low-income health clinic on the Seacoast, opened a brand new dental facility in Portsmouth a month ago, they didn?t have a single patient. Today, they?re booked through April.
The demand for affordable dental care has drawn increasing attention around the state.
Recent efforts to collect and analyze data show that the lack of preventive care is costing the public hundreds of thousands of dollars.
NHPR?s Raquel Maria Dillon has more.

HOUSE LAWMAKERS ARE SCHEDULED TO HEAR TESTIMONY TODAY ON THE EFFECTS OF RAISING THE TOBACCO TAX.

A NEW STUDY HAS FOUND THAT RAISING THE TAX BY ONE DOLLAR WOULD RAISE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN STATE REVENUE.

IT WOULD DECREASE SMOKING.

AND IT WOULD HAVE NO EFFECT ON THE STATE’S ECONOMY.

BRIAN GOTTLOB (GOT-LOBB) OF POLECON (POLY-CONN) RESEARCH IS THE AUTHOR OF THE STUDY.

HE DESCRIBED HIS FINDINGS TO NHPR’S MARK BEVIS.