Emergency rooms are increasingly full of patients with severe illnesses. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that emergency room visits are increasing at a rate double that of the growth in population.

There were over 119 million emergency room visits in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thirteen percent of those visits resulted in the patient being admitted.

American College of Emergency Physicians president Dr. Angela Gardner believes that Medicaid patients in particular find themselves frequently going to the emergency room for care. She says that the poor compensation levels doctors receive for Medicaid patients forces them to limit the number of patients they care for.

Gardner asserts that the large number of emergency room closings is only making it more difficult for patients to seek care.

"This limits everyone's access to lifesaving emergency care. ERs are a critical, life or death part of our health care system that need help now. The crisis in emergency care is everyone's problem, because we are all only one step away from a medical emergency."

Consumer advocacy groups are calling for the government to look into premium hikes instituted by health insurance companies.

Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Media and Democracy assert that health insurance companies are jacking up their premiums before new legislation takes effect. A letter was sent to the Obama administration from the group asking them to look into the matter.

"Insurance companies appear to be making sure that when new federal rules for spending on health care kick in next year, they can keep their administrative bloat and profits intact," says Consumer Watchdog research director Judy Dugan.

Under healthcare reform, health insurance companies will be required to use a certain portion of premium money towards paying for care, rather than overhead costs. The watchdog group asserts that such a change is causing companies to raise prices.

Wendell Potter of the Center for Media and Democracy notes that recently Cigna reported spending 6.4 percent less on medical spending than they were before.

Earlier this year, a major health insurance company withdrew its proposal to significantly increase rates after it was determined that mathematical errors were made on the insurance agency's behalf.

Work is underway to see how humans respond to various infections and vaccines. The $100 million in funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases will help cover research expenses.

The studies being done at six Human Immune Phenotyping Centers on infections and vaccinations is different in that the research will be done on humans, rather than on animals.

West Nile is one of the viruses that will be researched. The Mayo Clinic says that most people don't become seriously ill with the virus. In most cases, mild symptoms include fever and headache.

Learning how different populations respond to various elements will greatly help doctors learn how to best treat patients. NIAID director of the Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation division Dr. Daniel Rotrosen says that the research will help broaden doctor's knowledge about how the human body works.

"The knowledge gained also will improve our understanding of the range of vaccine responses in particular subpopulations, including newborns, young children, the elderly, patients taking immunosuppressive medications and those with underlying diseases of the immune system, such as allergy and autoimmune diseases," Dr. Rotrosen said.