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Bipartisan health care summit: NSBA pleads with lawmakers to move beyond rhetoric

Following today's bipartisan health care summit, NSBA is pleading with lawmakers to move beyond the rhetoric. Small-business owners across the U.S. have been struggling for years with the rising cost of health care, and need Congress to act now. For small businesses, the bottom line is addressing health care costs—not the intentions, not the proposals and most certainly not the debates.

26 Feb 2010

AAJ says healthcare reform should improve safety, not restrict rights of patients

As President Obama and Congressional leaders prepare for tomorrow's health care summit, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) is today reminding lawmakers to remember the 98,000 patients killed every year by preventable medical errors and how restricting their legal rights will not fix America's broken health care system.

25 Feb 2010

House votes to strip insurers' antitrust exemption

The House voted Wednesday - by a broad bipartisan majority of 406-19 - to repeal health insurers' exemption from federal antitrust laws, the Associated Press/Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. Despite siding with Democrats, "Republican lawmakers complained … that the legislation passed Wednesday was largely symbolic and would have little real impact since states already regulate health insurers." Democrats have argued that repealing the exemption would make the industry more competitive (Werner 2/24).

25 Feb 2010

Abortion, public option questions remain

The Wall Street Journal: "Abortion was one of the final matters to be resolved in December when the Senate created its version of the health-care bill, with a carefully crafted compromise that left neither side in the debate happy.

24 Feb 2010

PIA hails the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from draft of bill

The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents is hailing the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from the draft of a bill restricting the limited federal insurance antitrust exemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act.

24 Feb 2010

House antitrust bill will keep exemption for med-mal insurers

A House bill would revoke the antitrust exemption from health insurers but keep the exemption for medical malpractice insurers.

24 Feb 2010

KHN column - Malpractice Reform: A test case for bipartisanship at the health summit

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "Ever since President Barack Obama announced he'd be having a bipartisan meeting to talk about health care reform, Republicans have been denouncing it as a charade.

23 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 22, 2010

Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, tells POLITICO that it is "absolutely" still possible to pass a comprehensive health reform bill, insisting that "to really reform the health care system" would be "best for the economy and the American public" (Politico).

22 Feb 2010

New IPI publication outlines effective healthcare reform plan

President Obama's call during the State of the Union address for a better approach to health care reform is answered today with the release of a new publication from the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) entitled, "Health Care Reform: What Now?"

18 Feb 2010

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

The Salt Lake Tribune: "State health reform got a boost Tuesday with House passage of a fix-it bill to improve the Utah Health Exchange, an online tool for purchasing health insurance. Pitched as a free-market approach to lowering costs for small businesses, the exchange has had limited success. Only 400 people are receiving health insurance in its experimental first stage. And some of its 66 plans are up to 130 percent more expensive than what some companies were already paying. That's because insurers are calculating premiums differently 'inside' and 'outside' the exchange, said House Speaker Dave Clark" (Stewart, 2/16).

17 Feb 2010

Health reform pressure points: Excise tax, individual mandate, antitrust legislation

"An agreement to tax high-cost, employer-sponsored health insurance plans, announced with fanfare by the White House and labor unions last month, is losing support from labor leaders, who say the proposal is too high a price to pay for the limited health care package they expect to emerge from Congress," The New York Times reports.

16 Feb 2010

Biden promises to listen to GOP's health care ideas, but some Republicans are not convinced

The health care reform legislation may have been eclipsed recently by the jobs bill and the war in Afghanistan for top billing on the Sunday morning news shows. But Democrats and Republicans still found time to push their positions on health policy Sunday.

14 Feb 2010

Survivors of medical malpractice oppose additional "tort reforms" in health insurance reform bill

A group of medical malpractice survivors, many with family members who have died or were severely injured as a result of medical negligence, today sent letters to President Obama and the Congressional leadership urging them to keep additional "tort reforms" out of the health insurance reform bill. They said that responding to pressure from the insurance and medical lobbies to limit patients' legal rights would be a "tragic mistake."

12 Feb 2010

In White House meeting, Obama and GOP discuss partisan divide

The Washington Post: "Obama outlined issues that could bridge the divide, including job creation, health-care reform, energy and trade. But he extracted few concrete commitments from his GOP visitors." In the meantime, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll reports that 57 percent of Americans view the loss of Senate Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the upper chamber as a good thing.

11 Feb 2010

Obama: No 'short cut' to deal with health reform issues

President Barack Obama surprised reporters by coming into the White House briefing Tuesday afternoon following a meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

10 Feb 2010

GOP wary of talks while both sides express low expectations for health care summit

News outlets are focusing on political reaction to President Obama's Feb. 25 bipartisan summit on health care reform.

9 Feb 2010

State health policy developments: Doctor shortages, hospital taxes, California insurance crackdown

The Los Angeles Times: "At a time when nearly 7 million Californians are uninsured, state regulators are trying to rein in discount health and dental plans that officials say frequently overstate benefits, offer little if any savings and promise access to doctors who aren't part of the system. Some of the discounters fraudulently market themselves as insurance, while preying on the poor, the elderly and others who urgently need care, officials say. ... Plan executives bristle at such criticism. They say a few bad apples have tarnished an industry that offers reliable -- and relatively inexpensive -- services.

9 Feb 2010

Health reform big week ahead: Insurance antitrust exemption, COBRA, Obama's bipartisan meeting

While the talk in the Senate will largely be about jobs, both houses of Congress are expected to take some action on health reform.

7 Feb 2010

Illinois high court rules medical malpractice caps are unconstitutional

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a medical malpractice law enacted in 2005 that limited monetary damages to $1 million from hospitals and $500,000 from doctors for pain and suffering, the Chicago Tribune reports. "The much-anticipated ruling deals a blow to doctors and hospital officials who say caps on damages are a way to tame rising health care costs. … The court said the law violates the state's separation-of-powers clause between the branches of government by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a jury's right to determine damages."

6 Feb 2010

IntegraMed America reports solid revenue growth for fourth-quarter and full-year 2009

IntegraMed America, Inc., the nation’s leading manager of specialty outpatient healthcare facilities in the emerging, technology-focused medical niches of fertility and vein care, today announced improved results for the fourth quarter and full-year periods ended December 31, 2009.

5 Feb 2010

Medical Malpractice News and Research

Bipartisan health care summit: NSBA pleads with lawmakers to move beyond rhetoric

AAJ says healthcare reform should improve safety, not restrict rights of patients

House votes to strip insurers' antitrust exemption

Abortion, public option questions remain

PIA hails the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from draft of bill

House antitrust bill will keep exemption for med-mal insurers

KHN column - Malpractice Reform: A test case for bipartisanship at the health summit

First Edition: February 22, 2010

New IPI publication outlines effective healthcare reform plan

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

Health reform pressure points: Excise tax, individual mandate, antitrust legislation

Biden promises to listen to GOP's health care ideas, but some Republicans are not convinced

Survivors of medical malpractice oppose additional "tort reforms" in health insurance reform bill

In White House meeting, Obama and GOP discuss partisan divide

Obama: No 'short cut' to deal with health reform issues

GOP wary of talks while both sides express low expectations for health care summit

State health policy developments: Doctor shortages, hospital taxes, California insurance crackdown

Health reform big week ahead: Insurance antitrust exemption, COBRA, Obama's bipartisan meeting

Illinois high court rules medical malpractice caps are unconstitutional

IntegraMed America reports solid revenue growth for fourth-quarter and full-year 2009

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