Cruise, Holmes reach settlement in divorce case

NEW YORK (AP) ? Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reached a settlement on Monday, legally sorting out their divorce with the same speed that kicked off their much-scrutinized romance seven years ago.

Just as Hollywood was settling in for what was expected to be a long and nasty separation, lawyers for the couple said the pair settled less than two weeks after Holmes unexpectedly filed for divorce.

"The case has been settled and the agreement has been signed," Holmes attorney Jonathan Wolfe said in a statement. Cruise's rep Amanda Lundberg confirmed the settlement.

Representatives for Holmes and Cruise declined to elaborate on the agreement.

"We are thrilled for Katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life," the statement from Holmes' attorney said. "We thank Tom's counsel for their professionalism and diligence that helped bring about this speedy resolution."

In a joint statement, Cruise, 50, and Holmes, 33, asked for privacy for their family with 6-year-old daughter Suri.

"We are committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri's best interests. We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents," read the statement from Lundberg and Holmes representative Nanci Ryder.

The resolution was notably quick, particularly in Hollywood terms. By way of comparison, Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are still negotiating a divorce for an August 2011 marriage that lasted less than three months.

"A quick settlement indicates that they were able to agree that they'll both do some co-parenting," said Steve Mindel, a managing partner in the Los Angeles firm Feinberg, Mindel, Brandt and Klein who has handled bi-coastal divorce cases.

Mindel said the next step would be for Holmes or Cruise to file to have their status changed to divorced, but that the actual financial and child custody details won't get filed in court unless there's some later dispute.

The rapid settlement saves the couple from a public battle that was sure to be covered vigorously by the celebrity news media, which had already shifted into hyper-drive.

In the already voluminous tabloid reporting, Holmes had been portrayed with overwhelmingly more sympathy. The emerging narrative, whether true or not, was of a locked-away Holmes breaking free from the servitude of a strange, corrupting marriage.

Us Weekly reported that the couple "fought viciously" over Scientology parenting. The Daily News trumpeted Holmes entering "a new phase." A TMZ headline blared "Tom treated me like a robot."

That may also be the most convenient view of a relationship that even at its start spawned "Free Katie!" T-shirts. In 2005, the couple publically announced their relationship in Rome, famously celebrated it on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and got engaged on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They were wed in Nov. 2006 at a castle in Bracciano, Italy.

Cruise's lawyer Bert Fields has said they were letting "the other side play the media until they wear everyone out." The Church of Scientology, too, didn't want to be portrayed as the schism between the couple.

The quick settlement and joint statement may put out some of that fire.

"I don't think either of these high-profile celebrities want their dirty laundry aired in technically a public forum," said Russell I. Marnell, an East Meadow, N.Y.-based divorce lawyer who's also licensed in California. "Those kind of factors certainly would lend themselves to try to encourage a resolution."

Cruise has two children with his previous wife, Nicole Kidman. The actor was also previously married to Mimi Rogers. This was Holmes' first marriage.

Their divorce case lasted less than two weeks, but Mindel said that's not uncommon for high-profile breakups: "There's too many incentives on both sides of the equation for settlement."

When actress-singer LeAnn Rimes' husband filed for divorce in December 2009, it only took a day before the couple filed a judgment. Actor-comedian Russell Brand's divorce from singer Katy Perry took a little over a month to resolve, while director Cameron Crowe and singer-guitarist Nancy Wilson resolved their 2010 divorce in less than three months.

Cruise and Holmes may have saved more than just their dignity by not fighting out their divorce in court. A drawn-out custody battle would have likely cost more than a million dollars in legal fees.

"What jumps out at me is how quickly they were able to resolve a multi-million dollar (financial case) and custody issues," likely to be particularly complicated for a couple whose work can take them all over the world, said Paul Talbert, a partner in a New York City matrimonial-law firm that isn't involved in the case.

Said Mindel: "The question's going to be did they have enough time to flesh out how they're going to resolve future disputes."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cruise-holmes-reach-settlement-divorce-case-172807094.html

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Asian stocks inch higher on Europe optimism

SINGAPORE (AP) ? Asian stock markets inched higher Monday amid continued optimism over Europe's moves to ease its debt crisis and economic malaise.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 percent to 9,020.93 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2 percent to 1,857.26. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index added 1.1 percent to 4,140. China's Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3 percent to 2,218.14.

Markets in Hong Kong were closed Monday to commemorate the hand-over of the territory to China in 1997.

Leaders of the 27 European Union countries said after a meeting Friday that they would seek to centralize regulation of European banks and, if necessary, bail them out directly, instead of funneling loans through governments that already have too much debt.

The EU said it also plans to ease borrowing costs for Italy and Spain, the euro region's third- and fourth-largest economies, stop mandating painful budget cuts to every country in need of emergency financial aid and tie their budgets, currency and governments more tightly.

Investors will be closely watching as EU finance ministers hash out the details of these plans over the next two weeks.

Some analysts expect the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to cut lending rates this week in a bid to spur economic growth.

"We look this week for renewed easing by the ECB and BoE in an environment of very soft business confidence," Barclays said in a report. "The primary factor behind weak global confidence is weakness in EU demand."

Trading volume in the U.S. will likely be light this week amid the Independence Day holiday on Wednesday.

Global stock and commodity markets soared Friday amid EU optimism. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 2.2 percent at 12,880.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.5 percent to 1,362.16. The Nasdaq composite average jumped 3 percent to 2,935.05.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was down $1.26 to $83.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract soared $7.27 to close at $84.96 in New York on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2632 from $1.2646 Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 79.85 yen from 79.82 yen.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-01-World%20Markets/id-df3859840af84b4c9b2faa947a0f425f

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Rare leukemia-causing protein discovered

ScienceDaily (July 2, 2012) ? Researchers at the University of Cincinnati Hoxworth Blood Center have discovered a new gene target for leukemia therapy.

These findings, slated for the July 26, 2012 print issue of Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology, could lead to cellular targets for a patient population that otherwise may not have desirable outcomes and could potentially stop the onset of leukemia before it begins.

A team led by Jose Cancelas, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pediatrics at the UC College of Medicine and director of the research division at Hoxworth Blood Center, found that by inhibiting in animal models the protein Vav3, which controls cell signaling, the development of this leukemia -- known as BCR-ABL lymphoid leukemia -- is delayed.

"Despite advances in the treatment of this disease, the outcome of patients with this type of leukemia is very poor because it develops resistance to standard therapies," he says. "We found that the genetic deficiency of Vav3 delays the formation of leukemia by impairing the signals from BCR-ABL and the overproduction of leukemic cells. In doing this, it also allows the standardized therapies, or BCR-ABL inhibitors, to work."

Cancelas says this finding could lead to new multi-targeted therapies where Vav3 activity is related to the formation of leukemia.

"In collaboration with Dr. Nicolas Nassar, associate professor of pediatrics at UC and a physician in the division of experimental hematology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, we are now trying to find chemicals with Vav3 inhibitory activity," he says. "With this knowledge, we may be able to develop a therapy that can greatly improve the lives of patients facing leukemia."

Other authors of this multinational study are Kyung Hee Chang and Susan Dunn from Hoxworth Blood Center; and Yi Zheng, John Perentesis, Abel Sanchez-Aguilera, Amitava Sengupta, Malav Madhu, Ashley Ficker, Rebecca Santho and Ashley Kuenzi from Cincinnati Children's. Collaborators also include David Williams (Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School), Michael Deininger (University of Utah), Xose Bustelo (University of Salamanca, Spain) and Xabier Agirre (University of Navarra, Spain).

This study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Defense, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and Cancer Free Kids Foundation.

Continuation of this study has been recently funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of North America.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. K. H. Chang, A. Sanchez-Aguilera, S. Shen, A. Sengupta, M. N. Madhu, A. M. Ficker, S. K. Dunn, A. M. Kuenzi, J. L. Arnett, R. A. Santho, X. Agirre, J. P. Perentesis, M. W. Deininger, Y. Zheng, X. R. Bustelo, D. A. Williams, J. A. Cancelas. Vav3 collaborates with p190-BCR-ABL in lymphoid progenitor leukemogenesis, proliferation and survival. Blood, 2012; DOI: 10.1182/blood-2011-06-361709

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/_SpjPl3c0Os/120702172815.htm

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Republicans to press "Fast and Furious" suit (reuters)

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APNewsBreak: Evidence of 'God particle' found

FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows how the long-presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows how the long-presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a wall painting by artist Josef Kristofoletti is seen at the Atlas experiment site at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The painting shows how a Higgs boson may look. On Wednesday, July 4, 2012, CERN plans to announce the status of their long-running hunt for the elusive subatomic particle, whose existence has only been presumed until now. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

GENEVA (AP) ? Scientists believe the "God particle" that might explain the underpinnings of the universe is real, and they are about to present their evidence to the world.

Physicists at the world's biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have nearly confirmed the primary plank of a theory that could shape the scientific understanding of all matter.

The idea is much like gravity and Isaac Newton's discovery: It was there all the time before Newton explained it. But now scientists know what it is and can put that knowledge to further use.

The focus of the excitement is the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that, if confirmed, could help explain why matter has mass, which combines with gravity to give an object weight.

Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, say that they have compiled vast amounts of data that show the footprint and shadow of the particle ? all but proving it exists, even though it has never actually been glimpsed.

But two independent teams of physicists are cautious after decades of work and billions of dollars spent. They don't plan to use the word "discovery." They say they will come as close as possible to a "eureka" announcement without uttering a pronouncement as if from the scientific mountaintop.

"I agree that any reasonable outside observer would say, 'It looks like a discovery,'" said British theoretical physicist John Ellis, a professor at King's College London who has worked at CERN since the 1970s. "We've discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs."

CERN's atom smasher, the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border, has been creating high-energy collisions of protons to investigate dark matter, antimatter and the creation of the universe, which many theorize occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang.

The phrase "God particle," coined by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman, is used by laymen, not physicists, more as an explanation for how the subatomic universe works than how it all started.

Rob Roser, who leads the search for the Higgs boson at the Fermilab in Chicago, said: "Particle physicists have a very high standard for what it takes to be a discovery," and he thinks it is a hair's breadth away. Roser compared the results that scientists will announce Wednesday to finding the fossilized imprint of a dinosaur: "You see the footprints and the shadow of the object, but you don't actually see it."

Fermilab, whose competing atom smasher reported its final results Monday after shutting down last year, said its data doesn't settle the question of the Higgs boson, but it came tantalizingly close.

"It's a real cliffhanger," said Gregorio Bernardi, a physicist at the University of Paris who helped lead one of the main experiments at Fermilab. He cited "strong indications of the production and decay of Higgs bosons" in some of their observations.

Fermilab theorist Joseph Lykken said the Higgs boson "gets at the center, for some physicists, of why the universe is here in the first place."

Though an impenetrable concept to many, the Higgs boson has until now been just that ? a concept intended to explain a riddle: How were subatomic particles, such as electrons, protons and neutrons, themselves formed? What gives them their mass?

The answer came in a theory first proposed by Scottish physicist Peter Higgs and others in the 1960s. It envisioned an energy field where particles interact with a key particle, the Higgs boson.

The idea is that other particles attract Higgs bosons and the more they attract, the bigger their mass will be. Some liken the effect to a ubiquitous Higgs snowfield that affects other particles traveling through it depending on whether they are wearing, metaphorically speaking, skis, snowshoes or just shoes.

Officially, CERN is presenting its evidence this week at a physics conference in Australia but plans to accompany the announcement with meetings in Geneva. The two teams, ATLAS and CMS, then plan to publicly unveil more data on the Higgs boson at physics meetings in October and December. Each of the teams involves thousands of people working independently to ensure accuracy.

The scientific threshold for discovery is high. Scientists have to show with complex formulas that there's a less than 1 in 1.7 million chance that the findings are a statistical fluke. With two independent experiments showing that there's less than 1 in 16,000 chance of being wrong, it's a matter of how their work is put together.

Scientists with access to the new CERN data say it shows with a high degree of certainty that the Higgs boson may already have been glimpsed, and that by unofficially combining the separate results from ATLAS and CMS it can be argued that a discovery is near. Ellis says at least one physicist-blogger has done just that in a credible way.

CERN spokesman James Gillies said Monday that he would be "very cautious" about unofficial combinations of ATLAS and CMS data.

"Combining the data from two experiments is a complex task, which is why it takes time, and why no combination will be presented on Wednesday." he said.

But if the calculations are indeed correct, said John Guinon, a longtime physics professor at the University of California at Davis and author of the book "The Higgs Hunter's Guide," then it is fair to say that "in some sense we have reached the mountaintop."

Sean M. Carroll, a California Institute of Technology physicist flying to Geneva for Wednesday's announcement, said that if both ATLAS and CMS have independently reached these high thresholds on the Higgs boson, then "only the most curmudgeonly will not believe that they have found it."

___

Borenstein reported from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-07-02-Switzerland-God%20Particle/id-dc61b576be91448eb77a0d640f0f919b

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Defected NKorea poet writes of hunger, desperation

LONDON (AP) ? He says he was one of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's favorite propaganda artists, singing the praises of the Dear Leader in dozens of poems. But these days Jang Jin-sung says he prefers to tell the truth about North Korea.

The former state poet, who defected to South Korea in 2004, now writes to tell the world about what he calls the brutality of everyday life in the North.

"North Korea has nuclear programs, but South Korea has the media," said Jang, who is in London for a global poetry festival involving poets from countries competing in the July 27 to Aug. 12 London Olympics. "Truth is the strongest weapon."

Jang's poems now tell of public executions, hunger and desperate lives. He said that the piece he chose to submit to London's Poetry Parnassus festival, "I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won," is based on one of his worst memories in North Korea - recollections of a mother trying to sell her daughter in the market place.

"The life of a North Korean is not about living, but about how to sustain life," he said through an interpreter. Jang, dressed in a loose white shirt and cream trousers, spoke quietly but accompanied most sentences with emphatic hand gestures.

Jang Jin-sung is not his real name, according to South Korean news reports.

The U.S. State Department says that North Korea "maintains a record of consistent, severe human rights violations," and the United Nations said in a recent update on the North's humanitarian situation that the food supply remains tenuous for two-thirds of the population.

Pyongyang denies abusing its citizens.

As one of Kim's top state poets, Jang, 40, said he was responsible for glorifying the leader in the poetry he published in the official Workers' Party newspaper. Poets had a special role among Kim's many propaganda artists, Jang said.

"Because of the paper shortage in North Korea, poems were the most efficient, economical way to spread propaganda," he said.

Jang said he led a privileged life in Pyongyang and once dined with Kim, when he found out that the leader was much shorter than he was led to believe because Kim didn't wear his normal high-heeled shoes indoors.

He also recalled being instructed to avoid looking into the leader's eyes and instead to stare at his second shirt button. After more contact with Kim, Jang said he soon stopped believing that he was "this godlike leader of this wonderful country."

Jang said his doubts solidified when, working in the propaganda ministry, he got hold of and read South Korean books. In 2004 he crossed the river to China, where he was wanted by Kim's men, but agents from South Korea found him first. He then worked for the South's intelligence agency for seven years before setting up his own online newspaper about North Korean issues earlier this year.

Jang said he believes the current regime in the North is bound to break down - not least because of the instability brought about by Kim's death in December.

He said the son and young successor, Kim Jong Un, lacks the power and experience of his father and is surrounded by his father's men. He did not elaborate on what serves as the basis for his beliefs on the current political situation in the North.

"It's all about rivalries between the generations," he said. "They don't have the experience to deal with a situation like this, with so much power struggle. For Kim Jong Un to sustain himself he's got to have a strong rule, controlling his people through fear of punishment or fear of reprisal."

Jang is appearing at the Parnassus festival ? a gathering of poets that organizers claim is the largest poetry festival ever staged in the United Kingdom.

Other participants included Afghanistan's Reza Mohammadi, Kay Ryan from the United States and Karlo Mila from New Zealand.

__

Sylvia Hui can be reached at twitter.com/sylviahui

__

Online:

Jang's poetry, translated into English, can be read at

http://www.asialiteraryreview.com/web/article/en/337

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defected-nkorea-poet-writes-hunger-desperation-122319251.html

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The states that are dying for healthcare coverage

By Alexander E.M. Hess and Samuel Weigley, 24/7 Wall St.

The lack of medical coverage in America is a serious problem as approximately 50 million people were uninsured all through 2010. But the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed in 2010, was constitutional. The legislation, once implemented in its entirety, is expected to cover 30 million Americans currently lacking coverage.

The lack of medical insurance has had grave consequences for individuals and the nation. In 2010 alone, 26,100 people died because they had no health insurance ? that amounts to 502 preventable deaths a week. However, some states fared better than others. Based on the latest report by Families USA, a health care consumer advocacy group, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 states with the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people due to a lack of insurance.

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Not surprisingly, nearly all of the states with the most residents dying due to a lack of insurance also had high numbers of uninsured residents. Seven of the states on the list were among the 10 states with the highest percentage of people without health coverage. Seven of the states were also in the bottom 10 for the lowest rates of private insurance coverage.

People without health insurance often forgo medical treatment for different reasons. According to Families USA, a supporter of President Obama?s health care reform law, uninsured adults are nearly four times more likely than insured adults to delay or avoid preventive care screening due to cost. Uninsured adults are also nearly seven times more likely to go without needed care due to cost than privately insured adults.

?You still see a very, very strong correlation between uninsurance and poor health-care outcomes ? including mortality ? and [that is] because people aren?t getting the type of care that they need,? Kim Bailey, the research director for Families USA, told 24/7 Wall St.

Many of the states with high death rates due to a lack of insurance also were among the poorest states in the country. The top seven states on this list also are among the 10 states with the highest poverty rates. Every state on this list is in the top half.

Poor health also appears to play an important role. States with high death rates due to lack of insurance had a high percentage of people with lifestyle-related risk factors for poor health. Of the states on our list, five of them have among the 10 highest percentages of smokers and among the 10 lowest percentages of people who eat vegetables at least three times a day. Four have among the 10 highest proportions of overweight or obese adults. Seven states on the list were in the bottom 10 in terms of life expectancy.

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Based on Families USA?s report, ?Dying for Coverage: The Deadly Consequences of Being Uninsured,? 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 states with the highest number of deaths from being uninsured per 100,000 residents. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the methodology used by Families USA, first developed in 2002 by the Institute of Medicine, to determine?excess mortality from being uninsured. This method considers the proportion of?people who are insured and uninsured, the mortality risks for the uninsured and the number of expected deaths from a hypothetical fully insured population. 24/7 Wall St. also identified poverty rates and median income by state, provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Kaiser Family Foundation?s website ? Statehealthfacts.org ? provided health-related data, including life expectancy, obesity and diabetes rate.

These are the 10 states dying for health coverage.

1. Mississippi
? Excess deaths from a lack of insurance (per 100,000):?15.82
? Percent of population uninsured:?18.2 percent (ninth highest)
? Percent living below the poverty line:?22.4 percent (tied for the highest)
? Life expectancy at birth:?74.81 years (The lowest)

Many residents of Mississippi cannot afford insurance. The state has the lowest median income in the nation and the highest percentage of residents living below the poverty line. As a result, Mississippi has the second-lowest percentage of residents with private health insurance coverage, at 56.49 percent. Exacerbating the problem, residents are especially unhealthy. Among all states, Mississippi has the second-highest obesity rate, the second-highest percentage of adults with diabetes and the fifth-highest percentage of adult smokers in the nation. Probably on account of both high uninsurance rates and poor personal health, Mississippi is the only state where life expectancy was below 75 years at birth in 2010. Mississippi?s excess death rate was the highest among all states and twice that of 28 states in 2010.

2. Louisiana
? Excess deaths from a lack of insurance (per 100,000):?14.94
? Percent of population uninsured:?17.8 percent (10th highest)
? Percent living below the poverty line:?18.7 percent (sixth highest)
? Life expectancy at birth:?75.39 years (fourth lowest)

Louisiana has one of the lowest life expectancies at birth in the U.S. at 75.4 years. Though much of this certainly can be attributed to poor health choices ? the state has a higher number of smokers and its residents eat comparatively little fruit or vegetables ? the inability of?many residents to receive proper care due to lack of insurance is also a contributing factor. In Louisiana, 17.8 percent of the population goes without health insurance, despite the fact that 21.9 percent of the population qualifies for Medicaid ? the fifth-highest proportion among all 50 states. The high uninsurance rate is partly due to the relative economic disadvantage of the state?s residents. With 18.7 percent of residents living below the poverty line ? the sixth-highest rate in the nation ? and a median income that is more than $5,000 lower than the U.S. average, just 58.39 percent of state residents have private insurance. That is the fourth-lowest such rate in the nation.

3. Arkansas
? Excess deaths from a lack of insurance (per 100,000):?13.49
? Percent of population uninsured:?17.5 percent (tied for 12th highest)
? Percent living below the poverty line:?18.8 percent (fifth highest)
? Life expectancy at birth:?76.09 years (sixth lowest)

According to the Council for Community and Economic Research?s ACCRA Cost of Living Index, Arkansas had the second-lowest cost of health care in the United States. However, with 18.8 percent of the population living below the poverty line and a median annual household income of just $38,307 ? both among the lowest figures for any state ? many Arkansans cannot afford private health coverage. As a result, just 58.78 percent of the population has private insurance, the sixth-lowest figure in the country.

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4. South Carolina
? Excess deaths from a lack of insurance (per 100,000):?13.48
? Percent of population uninsured:?17.5 percent (tied for 12th highest)
? Percent living below the poverty line:?18.2 percent (seventh highest)
? Life expectancy at birth:?76.57 years (ninth lowest)

South Carolina is not a particularly healthy state: 67.4 percent of the state?s residents are either overweight or obese, just 23.3 percent eat proper amounts of fruit, only 22.9 percent eat proper amounts of vegetables and 10.7 percent are diabetic. All of these are among the highest rates in the country. Meanwhile, much of the cost of health care falls to private individuals. The state spent about $6,300 per person on health care in 2009, among the lowest levels, and just 51.9 percent of residents have employer-based health coverage. Unfortunately, South Carolinians have trouble affording insurance on their own: Median income was just $42,000 in 2010, significantly lower than the $50,000 national average, 18.2 percent of residents live below the poverty line and the cost of health care is higher than is the case in many states.

5. New Mexico
? Excess deaths from a lack of insurance (per 100,000):?12.15
? Percent of population uninsured:?19.6 percent (sixth highest)
? Percent living below the poverty line:?20.4 percent (tied for the highest)
? Life expectancy at birth:?78.21 years (20th lowest)

New Mexico has a fairly healthy population, with relatively low heart disease and obesity rates. However, just 55.8 percent of residents have private health insurance ? the lowest rate of any state in the country. One possible reason is that few employers provide insurance ? just 45.6 percent of the population has employer-based health coverage. The relative poverty of the state also means many residents cannot afford medical coverage. The median income in the state was just above $42,000 in 2010, far below the national median of about $50,000, while 20.4 percent of people live below the poverty line ? the highest rate in the country.

Click here to read the rest of 24/7 Wall St.'s analysis of states' death rates

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/01/12419471-the-states-that-are-dying-for-healthcare-coverage?lite

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