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Insurer allegedly, automatically denies request for liver transplant: Trial commences on 22nd Feb

A trial beginning Monday targeting the nation's largest health insurer, WellPoint Inc., and its California subsidiary, Anthem Blue Cross, for allegedly automatically denying requests for out-of-network liver transplants will help shed light on the need for stronger health reform than is currently being considered, according to Consumer Watchdog. The group urged President Obama, White House representatives, and the national news media to follow the trial.

22 Feb 2010

Democrats, GOP plot health reform strategy for Obama 'summit'

News organizations focused on the president, his fellow Democrats and Republicans as they steel themselves for Thursday's health reform summit.

21 Feb 2010

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

President Obama will offer "comprehensive" health reform legislation in advance of next week's planned summit with Republicans, The New York Times reports. "Democratic officials said the president's proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority."

20 Feb 2010

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Some analysts expect an increase in hospital mergers if health care overhaul remains stalled and the head of the Cleveland Clinic discusses why he thinks an overhaul won't lower health costs.

20 Feb 2010

Express Scripts turning prescription discount business into nonprofit

Anticipating "more people will need access to discount prescriptions no matter what ultimately happens in Washington" with health reform, Express Scripts' Rx Outreach program will become a nonprofit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

19 Feb 2010

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

All of us who have been at this task before understand three important realities: One, no president who has launched such an effort unsuccessfully has ever been able to relaunch; two, the Senate legislation, at least, has been the product of much bipartisan effort over the last several years, even though no Republican senators voted for it, and three, the status quo costs and quality of this country's health care system are totally unacceptable -- to the health care industry and to those who depend on it (Dave Durenberger, 2/18).

19 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 19, 2010

Today's headlines highlight a White House plan to "get specific" on health reform, an analysis showing a nationwide jump in Medicaid enrollment and more on the firestorm surrounding health insurance premium increases.

19 Feb 2010

HHS releases report highlighting health insurance premium increases

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today unveiled a new report, Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System. The report highlights health insurance premium increases in states across the country and comes shortly after Anthem Blue Cross announced plans to raise rates on its California customers by as much as 39 percent, even after its parent company took in a profit of $2.7 billion in the previous quarter. The complete report is available at www.HealthReform.gov.

19 Feb 2010

Sens. Gregg, Baucus and Rep. Braley: Health care reform should happen

News outlets reports on the health care opinions of several lawmakers, including Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa.

19 Feb 2010

Some Dems say single health reform bill is close, GOP settles on summit strategy

News outlets report on party politics in advance of the president's health care summit.

19 Feb 2010

Nearly 3.3M more people enrolled in state Medicaid programs in June 2009: New analysis

With the country mired in a deep recession, nearly 3.3 million more people were enrolled in state Medicaid programs in June 2009 compared to the previous June, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. It was the biggest ever one-year increase in terms of absolute numbers, and boosted the June monthly Medicaid enrollment by 7.5 percent to 46.9 million people nationally.

19 Feb 2010

GOP, Democrats staking out reform positions, strategies in advance of health summit

The Associated Press: The White House is preparing a bill "designed to win passage without Republican support if GOP lawmakers fail to embrace bipartisan compromises" during next weeek's White House health summit.

18 Feb 2010

'Cadillac' tax would have non-union impact, analysis finds

"A proposed tax on high-cost ['Cadillac'] health insurance plans, an element of Democratic health-care legislation that has been strongly opposed by organized labor, would actually fall equally on nonunion plans, according to a new analysis. ... at least 80 percent of the workers whose plans would be subject to the tax in 2019 would be in nonunion jobs," according to Ken Jacobs of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center and William H. Dow, professor of health economics at Berkeley and a member of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

18 Feb 2010

Dartmouth Atlas hospital ratings could be misleading, says former CMS Senior Policy Advisor

A "Perspective" piece in today's New England Journal of Medicine by Peter B. Bach, MD, MAPP, points out that policy makers are relying on hospital ratings from the Dartmouth Atlas that could be misleading.

18 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 18, 2010

Today's headlines focus on continuing hopes for health reform as well as various health industry developments.

18 Feb 2010

Congressional Republicans remain skeptical of health summit, but Pawlenty asks for governor inclusion

Although Congressional Republicans continue their dismissal of President Obama's health care summit slated for next week, they are still planning to attend, Roll Call reports. "On Wednesday, the GOP responded contemptuously to Sebelius' declaration" that the already-passed Senate and House bills would be the starting point for the summit negotiations. An aide to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) "referred to a television interview in which his boss made clear the GOP planned to participate in the event" (Drucker, 2/17).

18 Feb 2010

Hot button health reform issues: The individual mandate and selling insurance across state lines

News outlets report on several of the hot button issues in the health care debate, including the individual mandate and selling insurance across state lines.

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

ACP urges Congress and Obama to enact comprehensive health care reform

"The unfortunate truth is that by many measures, the State of America's health care is in decline," Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), reported today at ACP's annual State of the Nation's Health Care briefing. "We have too many uninsured, too few primary care physicians, and the cost of health care is rising faster than we can afford."

17 Feb 2010

Imposing tax on health benefits likely to cause major cuts in health benefits

Since the vast majority of Americans who have health coverage get it through their jobs, one obvious question raised by the health reform legislation pending in Congress is: How might it affect the U.S. employment-based health benefits system?

17 Feb 2010

Health Reform News and Research

Insurer allegedly, automatically denies request for liver transplant: Trial commences on 22nd Feb

Democrats, GOP plot health reform strategy for Obama 'summit'

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Express Scripts turning prescription discount business into nonprofit

A selection of today's opinions and editorials

First Edition: February 19, 2010

HHS releases report highlighting health insurance premium increases

Sens. Gregg, Baucus and Rep. Braley: Health care reform should happen

Some Dems say single health reform bill is close, GOP settles on summit strategy

Nearly 3.3M more people enrolled in state Medicaid programs in June 2009: New analysis

GOP, Democrats staking out reform positions, strategies in advance of health summit

'Cadillac' tax would have non-union impact, analysis finds

Dartmouth Atlas hospital ratings could be misleading, says former CMS Senior Policy Advisor

First Edition: February 18, 2010

Congressional Republicans remain skeptical of health summit, but Pawlenty asks for governor inclusion

Hot button health reform issues: The individual mandate and selling insurance across state lines

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

ACP urges Congress and Obama to enact comprehensive health care reform

Imposing tax on health benefits likely to cause major cuts in health benefits

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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