Insurance spreads, costs rise

Another 12,000 people signed up for state-subsidized health insurance in September, pushing the total to 127,000, state officials said. And the state this month is sending out notices to about 45,000 people it believes are eligible, but who haven't yet enrolled.

Of the total enrolled, about 79,000 are getting full subsidies, far more than the 60,000 the state expected.

All that growth could put unexpected pressure on the state budget, a point a board member made at last week's meeting of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector.

Leslie Kirwan, chairman of the connector's board and state secretary of administration and finance, acknowledged that the state hadn't budgeted for that success. "We're still evaluating the impact," she said.

ALICE DEMBNER

Four Boston researchers are among 15 nationwide chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in an effort to promote patient-oriented research.

Those chosen: Dr. George Daley,of Chidren's Hospital Boston, a world leader in hematopoetic and embryonic stem cell research; Dr. Elizabeth Engle,also of Children's, who has identified genetic factors behind disorders that limit patients' control over their eye movements; Dr. Daniel Haber of Massachusetts General Hospital, who studies how individuals' genetic mutations affect their response to cancer drugs; and Dr. S. Ananth Karumanchi, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who has identified the soluble proteins produced by the placenta that can trigger pre-eclampsia in a pregnant mother.

Two local researchers have received federalgrants to explore the organization and function of the human genome, part of an expansion of a project that already has shown the genome to be far more complex than previously thought.

Dr. Bradley Bernstein, of the Broad Institute, will receive $4.8 million over four years, and Zhiping Weng of Boston University will get $1.5 million over three years.

Five Boston researchers have been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious group established by the National Academies of Science to analyze health issues and make recommendations on policy.

Among the 65 new US members, five are from Massachusetts (four from Harvard, one from MIT), three are from Connecticut (all from Yale) and one is from New Hampshire (Dartmouth). The current 1,538 active members chose new members from candidates nominated for achievement and commitment to service, the IOM said in its announcement of new members today.

The Massachusetts members are: Dr. Emery N. Brown, an anesthesiologist of Massachusetts General Hospital and MIT; Dr. William G. Kaelin Jr., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Dr. David T. Scadden, of Mass. General and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute; Jonathan G. Seidman, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School; and B. Katherine Swartz, professor of health economics and policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The IOM also presented its 2007 Gustav O. Lienhard Award to Dr. Howard H. Hiatt. Hiatt, former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and a senior physician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, was recognized for his contributions to improving the performance of personal health services in the United States and around the world.

ELIZABETH COONEY

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