First Edition: April 19, 2010

Today's headlines continue to explore and analyze the implementation and impact of the health reform law.  

KHN Column -- Report From Michigan: What State Residents Stand To Gain From Health Reform In his latest column for Kaiser Health News, Jonathan Cohn writes: "On their way to Washington last week, Tea Party activists stopped in Lansing, Michigan. And among the officials who addressed them was Mike Cox, the state's Republican attorney general. Cox recently announced he would be among more than a dozen state officials filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health care reform. And, at the rally, he whipped the conservative crowd into a frenzy: 'Can't you just see them running around (Washington) D.C. saying, 'So much to spend, so much to spend, so little time to spend it?'" (Kaiser Health News).

Obama Health Team Turns To Carrying Out New Law The success of the new health care law depends to a large degree on a handful of Obama administration officials, who are scrambling to make the transition from waging political war on Capitol Hill to managing one of the most profound changes in social policy in generations (The New York Times).

Health Insurers Weighing Options To Get Ahead Of Reform The idea was simple enough: Make sure that health insurers spend the vast majority of their revenue on patient care, instead of using it for things such as advertising, profits and executive pay (The Washington Post).

The Influence Game: Health Care Fight Still Rages On The fight over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul hasn't ended, it's simply shifted to a wider arena (The Associated Press).

Doctors Pursue House, Senate Seats In an election year dominated by health care, dozens of candidates for Congress have a catchy campaign slogan at their disposal: Send a doctor to the House. Forty-seven physicians — 41 Republicans and six Democrats — are running for the House or Senate this year, three times the number of doctors serving in Congress today, according to a USA TODAY review (USA Today).

Healthcare Law Hits Home In Complex Ways The health insurance overhaul signed into law last month has been billed as the most sweeping reform in generations. And it is (Los Angeles Times).

Healthcare Perks May Be Harder To Come By Does your company pay your gym membership? Better start using it. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who get their health insurance through their employers have gotten used to company perks such as reduced-cost gym memberships, free weight-loss or smoking-cessation programs, or getting cash back for filling out health-assessment profiles (Los Angeles Times).

Doctors Hear Many Questions About Health Law Dr. Roger W. Evans, a cardiologist in Wichita, Kan., is used to answering patients' questions about their hearts. But lately, he said, he has spent half his time answering a succession of different questions — about the health care law (The New York Times).

Legal Fights Await Abortion Law It has been called a groundbreaking law, but a measure approved in Nebraska last week that changes the rationale for abortion bans probably will not go into effect anytime soon (The Associated Press/Boston Globe).

Commissioner To AP: NY Hospitals 'Weakest' In US The state's money for health care is spread so thin among its "too many hospitals" that its medical facilities are financially among the weakest in the nation, the health commissioner said (The Associated Press).

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