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Roundup: Maryland long term care costs examined; federal judge declines to bar implementation of abortion law

A controversial new Indiana law limiting access to abortion services remains in effect after a federal judge Wednesday denied a request for a restraining order from Planned Parenthood. The brief ruling from Judge Tanya Walton Pratt in Indianapolis means the law signed hours earlier by Gov. Mitch Daniels, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, can continue to be enforced.

13 May 2011

First Edition: May 12, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the upcoming speech by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, during which he is expected to confront what many say is his main vulnerability: his home state's health reform.

12 May 2011

With today's speech, Romney hopes to inoculate himself on health care issues

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a likely GOP presidential hopeful, will deliver a speech today in which he will confront his biggest political vulnerability — the fact that the state health reform he signed into law as governor is often considered a prototype for the federal health law.

12 May 2011

Florida's largest insurer enters Medicaid system; Texas may ask feds for block grant

In a potentially huge change, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida plans to enter the Medicaid program and compete in what likely will become a statewide managed-care system. Blue Cross, the state's largest health insurer, has stayed out of Medicaid in the past. But its new stance comes as Florida lawmakers seek to enroll almost all Medicaid beneficiaries in managed-care plans -- and as last year's federal health law prepares to funnel more people into the system.

12 May 2011

Appeals Court judges appear skeptical of health law arguments, pepper lawyers with frequent questions

The first federal appeals court hearing related to the health overhaul offered a preview of how the Obama administration will likely approach the case before the Supreme Court, which is expected to be its final destination.

12 May 2011

Next stop for health law appeal includes two GOP-appointed judges

As news outlets were chewing over Tuesday's hearing on the health law, the next appeal panel, with two Republican-nominated judges, was announced.

12 May 2011

Viewpoints: Tea Party on entitlement reform; Boehner's 'trillions' demand; California's silver tsunami

In a speech on Monday, the speaker of the House said that Republicans would insist on trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for votes to raise the debt limit. He did not mention a time frame. He also did not offer specifics on how he planned to make those cuts. After the beating Republicans took for their plan to slash Medicare, he clearly decided generalities were politically safer. There is no way to solve the country's fiscal ills without an accurate diagnosis and rigorous prescriptions for a cure. Mr. Boehner's speech was devoid of both.

12 May 2011

Mitt Romney to give 'big' health care speech

The address, which will be given in Michigan on Thursday, is seen as the GOP presidential hopeful's effort to confront what is seen as his key vulnerability - health reform. It will include his own plan to replace the new health law with more targeted changes that give states more responsibility in caring for the poor, elderly and ill.

11 May 2011

Analysis: Ryan's GOP budget plan would cause deep reductions in Medicaid coverage

The analysis, advanced by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute, could lead to as many as 44 million people being cut from the rolls in the next decade. Meanwhile, Politico reports that, in the background, some states are fast-tracking their efforts to expand coverage — in keeping with the requirements of the health law.

11 May 2011

Two new policy briefs on California health reform law

According to two new policy briefs from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the majority of state residents likely to be eligible for federally mandated health insurance coverage initiatives in California in 2014 are also those who may be least likely to excessively use costly health services: men, singles and those of working age.

11 May 2011

Georgia to review Medicaid changes; Calif. judge rules against freeze on payments for disability services

In any other year, a historic overhaul of the Medicaid system would have overshadowed every health issue in the Legislature. But when lawmakers went home early Saturday morning, Medicaid might not have even been the noisiest health-related debate of the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers passed a nearly $70 billion budget that included deep cuts to hospitals, nursing homes and dozens of other health programs.

11 May 2011

New health reform law to make insurance more affordable for women by 2014

The new health reform law will expand health insurance coverage to nearly all uninsured women and will make health care more affordable for millions of women through premium subsidies beginning in 2014 and new rules, some already in place, that will protect women from high costs, according to a Commonwealth Fund report released today.

11 May 2011

George Washington University hosts panel on future of nursing

The George Washington University will celebrate the first anniversary of its School of Nursing by hosting a panel on the future of nursing, followed by a reception with remarks from Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Dr. William A. Hazel, Jr. and Executive Director of the American Nurses Credentialing Center, Dr. Karen Drenkard.

10 May 2011

RWJF offers health law implementation assistance to states

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will offer states assistance in implementing elements of the health law that involve expanding access to the uninsured.

9 May 2011

Calif. health exchange effort slows; Sebelius: Health law is state friendly

"We want to be the lead car," California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley told POLITICO in January, shortly after the state became the first in the nation to pass legislation allowing it to set up a health exchange. But four months later, it's hard not to question whether California's lead is slipping. Gov. Jerry Brown is more focused on filling a $25 billion hole in California's budget than setting up the health reform's new programs (Kliff, 5/9).

9 May 2011

Appeals Court set to hear arguments Tuesday in health law challenge

Arguments in the two cases, which are the first two challenges to the Obama administration's health overhaul to advance from the federal to appellate level, mark the beginning in what some say is a race to the Supreme Court.

9 May 2011

Administration's top lawyer to argue for health law at appeals court hearing

The government's top lawyer will handle the first appeals court arguments on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law - a sign of how seriously the administration takes lower court proceedings in a case with huge ramifications not only for the healthcare system, but for the 2012 election.

9 May 2011

IPAB claims a friend within the GOP

During a break in a Thursday House subcommittee hearing on elements of the health law, Mark McClellan offered positive views of IPAB. Also during the hearing, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius commented on how the reform law assists entitlement reform and gave her views on the measure's pre-existing condition program.

7 May 2011

Vermont legislature passes bill to establish single payer health plan

The Vermont House has given final approval to an ambitious plan to move Vermont toward a universal, publicly funded health care system. The next stop for the legislation is the desk of Gov. Peter Shumlin, a strong supporter. The bill would set up a new Green Mountain Care health insurance program under which every Vermont resident would be eligible for coverage.

7 May 2011

AGA's cutting-edge research on GI disorders to be presented at DDW 2011

Clinicians, researchers and scientists from around the world will gather for Digestive Disease Week- 2011, the largest and most prestigious gastroenterology meeting, from May 7-10, 2011, at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

7 May 2011