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The statehouse in Concord will face a full roster of health care issues in the coming year. The debate over changes in the Medicaid program are already in the headlines. The state's insurance law, known as SB one-ten, was brought up often during the gubernatorial race and could be replaced. But some issues that have been less prominent are also likely to come up. New Hampshire Public Radio's Kerry Grens has this look at what lies ahead and the context for the coming debates.

Time is running out for low income seniors in New Hampshire to get hundreds of dollars of federal money to help pay for prescription drugs. The federal government estimates nearly 30,000 seniors in the state may be eligible for the money, but few have signed up. Federal and state officials are pushing hard to get seniors enrolled before the end of the year.

New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.

For information on how to enroll, call 1-800-852-3388. Or you can try ServiceLink at 866-634-9412.

Eight women, all breast cancer survivors put the stories of their disease on paper. Each wrote about the sickness of chemotherapy, the shame of losing your hair, the fears of death, the support of family, and a new look on life now that their cancer is in remission. Now they've presenting their words on stage in an eight woman show called Bosom Buddies. We'll look at the personal side of breast cancer and see how writing and performing has helped these women in the healing process. Laura's guests are Leah Carey, Director of Bosom Buddies. Jodi Picoult, New York Times best selling author and co-facilitator of the Bosom Buddies project. We'll also be joined by Kathy McGovern and P.J. Hamel, two of the women performers of Bosom Buddies.

It's World AIDS Day and while the focus on the disease is increasingly international, US rates of infection are on the rise. We'll look at AIDS services, treatments, prevention, and the reality of living with HIV in our region.
Our guests are Wendy Furnari, Director of Client Services with Southern NH HIV/AIDS Task Force , Betsy Eccles, Infectious Disease Clinical Nurse specialist with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Hank, a Granite Stater living with AIDS for ten years.

New Hampshire's Health and Human Service Commissioner joins us in the studio. Stephen has been making waves as of late with his plans to overhaul the state's Medicaid program. The Legislative fiscal committee voted recently to approve preliminary talks with federal officials on his plan. We'll talk with Commissioner Stephen about his plan as well as his other goals for the state's largest department. Laura's guest is John Stephen, New Hampshire's Health and Human Service Commissioner.