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Obama: Government 'will go bankrupt' without health reform

ABC News: "President Obama told ABC News' Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government 'will go bankrupt.'"

16 Dec 2009

Obama 'cautiously optimistic' on reform after meeting with Senate Democrats

President Obama told Senate Democrats Tuesday in an hour-long meeting that they are on the "precipice" of health reform and said that he was "cautiously optimistic" that health reform would get done, the Los Angeles Times reports. "President Obama, acknowledging that he will have to accept serious compromises in the passage of a healthcare overhaul, insisted today that he would not let the public down on an issue that he had made the centerpiece of his first-year domestic agenda."

16 Dec 2009

Hospital, physician lobbyists fought Medicare buy-in proposal

The Washington Post offers a look at how hospital and physician lobbyists adamantly fought the Medicare buy-in proposal, which would have allowed people age 55 to 64 to buy Medicare coverage. Such efforts led to the proposal's disappearance within six days.

16 Dec 2009

Major Medicare fraud crackdown in 3 states

The Associated Press: "Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams. Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.

16 Dec 2009

On and off Capitol Hill, politicians are taking positions on health bill

Roll Call: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Tuesday said she does not believe that the Senate Democratic health care reform bill will garner her vote, despite significant changes that are likely to be made to rid the bill of a public insurance option and an expansion of Medicare. Democrats have regarded Collins, along with fellow moderate Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, as potentially persuadable on the bill.

16 Dec 2009

Senate Democrats trying to push health reform bill ahead

The Associated Press: "History may be calling but time's running out to act by Christmas, so Senate Democrats are coming to terms with the idea they won't get everything they want from health care overhaul. ... The public plan liberals hoped for appeared dead in the Senate, as did a Medicare buy-in scheme offered as a fallback."

16 Dec 2009

Reid assures Medicare Part D 'doughnut hole' will be closed

CBS News: "With the clock ticking on Senate Democrats' efforts to draw up a health care bill they all can agree on before the end of the year, Senate leaders on Monday said they would commit to providing seniors with better prescription drug coverage through Medicare." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pledged to close a gap -- known as the "doughnut hole" -- in Medicare's drug coverage.

16 Dec 2009

Lieberman assures Democrats of his support but ties with party are fraying

The Wall Street Journal reports that Lieberman's "use of his swing vote to help quash a proposed expansion of Medicare marked the latest act in his deteriorating relationship with the Democratic Party. Cheered nine years ago by Democrats as their vice-presidential nominee, Mr. Lieberman later left the party and now is an object of vilification among many in the party's base because of his positions on health care."

16 Dec 2009

ACI survey: 48% of Americans oppose the Senate bill

Consumers oppose the current Senate Healthcare legislation by a two-to-one margin. In a nationwide survey conducted by the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI), 48% of Americans oppose the Senate bill, while 24% support it.

16 Dec 2009

Liberals agitated by compromise, but appear to back health reform

Politico reports that liberals are accruing a long list of reasons to be upset about the health reform negotiations: "A single-payer plan, a public option, a state 'opt-out' of the public option, a trigger and a Medicare buy-in — all ideas pushed by Democrats and blessed by [President] Obama at various times but now gone from the bill."

16 Dec 2009

Poll: Public cooling to health reform as debate drags on

"As the Senate struggles to meet a self-imposed, year-end deadline to complete work on legislation to overhaul the nation's health-care system, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the public generally fearful that a revamped system would bring higher costs while worsening the quality of their care," The Washington Post reports. "A bare majority of Americans still believe government action is needed to control runaway health-care costs and expand coverage to the roughly 46 million people without insurance."

16 Dec 2009

Amendment to allow drug importation fails in Senate

A bipartisan plan to allow Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from suppliers in other countries, such as Canada, failed Tuesday in the Senate. The Wall Street Journal reports the two top supporters of the plan, Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and John McCain, R-Ariz., said shopping overseas via the Internet and mail-order companies could save consumers up to $80 billion over a decade if their amendment were added to the health overhaul legislation.

16 Dec 2009

Cost-effective alternative to original Medicare or Medicare supplement plan for Syracuse-area residents

At a time when many people with Medicare in Syracuse are increasingly concerned about finding affordable health insurance, they now have a new Medicare Advantage option for 2010.

16 Dec 2009

Walgreens offers H1N1 vaccine in 27 states

Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain and an industry leader with more than 17,000 certified or licensed immunizers, today announced it is offering H1N1 vaccine at more than 1,500 Walgreens pharmacies and select Take Care Clinics in 27 states, as well as the District of Columbia.

16 Dec 2009

Thomson Reuters delivers a comprehensive HIE technology platform with analytic capabilities

State government leaders, Medicaid agencies, hospital and physician associations, and other entities are formulating strategies for tapping federal stimulus money to create interoperable health information exchanges (HIEs).

16 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 16, 2009

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey explores some of the key issues within current health reform proposals related to Medicare and cost. "In an effort to rein in health costs, Senate Democrats are proposing steps that would give federal agencies more power to overhaul how Medicare pays for medical care - and thus reduce Congress' own role in running the giant program for the elderly" (Kaiser Health News).

16 Dec 2009

Pharmacy directors willing to cover tanezumab at lower prices

HealthLeaders-InterStudy and Fingertip Formulary find that 70 percent of surveyed pharmacy directors expect to cover Pfizer's tanezumab if it is approved for the treatment of chronic pain. Tanezumab, which is expected to be the first biologic approved for chronic pain and is administered intravenously under medical supervision, will likely be covered as a medical benefit rather than a pharmacy benefit according to surveyed pharmacy directors.

16 Dec 2009

Consumer Watchdog calls for preserving state authority, ban on annual benefit limits and effective rate regulation

Consumer Watchdog condemned the removal of the Medicare buy-in provision for those over 55 and the public option from the U.S. Senate health reform bill. But the group said that the Senate must still make three essential fixes to the greatly weakened bill to prevent ceding the entire health care system to the insurance industry.

16 Dec 2009

Challenges U.S. and U.K. cancer patients face in gaining access to expensive treatments

Cancer patients in both the United States and the United Kingdom face challenges in gaining access to expensive treatments, according to research published in the December issue of The Milbank Quarterly.

16 Dec 2009

New York Times highlights shortfalls in transplant patient immunosuppressive drug coverage

Today's New York Times article by Kevin Sack, "Plan for Kidney Drugs Spurs Division," illustrates an internal renal community reimbursement debate that may result in kidney patients continuing to be deprived of their life-saving immunosuppressive medications beyond the current 36-month Medicare program limit.

16 Dec 2009