Labor News and Research

RSS

Ratio of health lobbyists to lawmakers tops 6:1

"If there is any doubt that President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue," Bloomberg reports, noting that the number amounts to six lobbyists for each member of Congress.

16 Aug 2009

Grassley: No end-of-life counseling provision in Senate finance plan

Congress Daily reports that the Senate Finance Committee will not include in its version of health overhaul legislation House-backed provisions aimed at helping people plan for end-of-life care.

13 Aug 2009

Jobless, uninsured seek health care from COBRA and free clinics

Many people are going without health care in the current economy, but COBRA and free clinics can provide relief.

12 Aug 2009

Research looks at drop in delivery-related rate of death for infants born at term

During about the last 20 years, the risk of delivery-related death at birth or shortly thereafter for term infants has decreased nearly 40 percent in Scotland, with the largest contributing factor being a decrease in the number of deaths caused by a lack of oxygen for the baby during the childbirth process, according to a study in the August 12 issue of JAMA.

12 Aug 2009

comScore releases new study on online health insurance industry

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), has released a study of the online health insurance industry, which showed the effects of increasing U.S. unemployment on online consumer activity. While the number of visitors to health insurance provider sites has seen substantial declines, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of searches related to obtaining health coverage during the past year.

11 Aug 2009

An analysis of key provisions in health care legislation released to-date

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) today released a side-by-side comparison of chronic care provisions contained within health reform legislation passed out of committee.

11 Aug 2009

Drug industry to spend $150 million to support Obama in health overhaul efforts

According to Associated Press sources, "The nation's drugmakers stand ready to spend $150 million to help President Barack Obama overhaul health care this fall, according to numerous officials, a staggering sum that could dwarf attempts to derail his chief domestic priority ...

9 Aug 2009

Reform could strain community health centers

While the health care reform debate rages on Capitol Hill, sitting just a mile away is the Walker-Jones Health Center in Northeast Washington, one of about 1,200 federally-qualified community health centers across the country that provide free and reduced-cost care to millions of Americans.

7 Aug 2009

Senators move closer to centrist health reform bill

Lawmakers working on a bipartisan health care reform bill in the Senate Wednesday signed on some centrist Democrats who believe they could support the reform and sell it to constituents back home over the recess, The New York Times reports.

6 Aug 2009

Huge cost of scaling up entire health system in Sub-Saharan Africa

Hiring the nearly 800,000 workers needed to eliminate the staggering shortage of health care professionals in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015 will cost $2.6 billion a year, or 2.5 times the annual funds currently allocated for health worker wages in the region, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and collaborators from the World Health Organization (WHO) and The World Bank.

6 Aug 2009

Baucus/Grassley relationship challenged, other Senators weigh in on Rreform

The old reliable relationship between Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) continues to "bedevil" their Senate colleagues as the Finance Committee nears a deal on health care reform, Roll Call reports.

6 Aug 2009

House left unfinished business when it left for August break

House members left Washington last week with some unfinished business: 55 to 60 pending amendments in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which became the last of three House panels to report its version of the health care overhaul late Friday night, Congress Daily reports.

6 Aug 2009

Importance of increased funding for molecular diagnostics

On July 9, 2009, the Society for Women’s Health Research convened experts on Capitol Hill to educate lawmakers on the importance of increased funding for new medical tests, called molecular diagnostics.

6 Aug 2009

Insurers say Democratic 'villain' comments on reform hurtful to process

Karen Ignagni, the health industry's chief lobbyist, said Tuesday that insurers were being singled out and vilified for their role in health care reform when they are the ones trying to reform the system, The New York Times reports.

6 Aug 2009

Even while considering major overhaul, Democrats expand government role in public health

"As if hedging their bets on health reform, Democrats are emphasizing smaller but still significant health-related investments this year, from food safety and community health centers to a greater emphasis on rooting out abuses in Medicare and Medicaid," Politico reports.

6 Aug 2009

Comprehensive health reform proposals could help 13 million uninsured young adults gain coverage

Comprehensive health reform proposals now before Congress could help the more than 13 million uninsured young adults ages 19-29 gain coverage, and such reforms would also help ensure that those who now have coverage would not lose it, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report.

6 Aug 2009

Interest groups crowd airwaves, pursue lawmakers

"The increasingly heated fight over health-care legislation is saturating the summer airwaves, with groups on all sides of the debate pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising campaigns designed to push the cause of reform forward, slow it down or stop it in its tracks," the Washington Post reports.

5 Aug 2009

White House: 'No middle class tax hike'

"The White House tried Monday to douse speculation that it might raise taxes on the middle class in violation of President Obama's campaign promise, just a day after two of his top economic advisers left the door open to such a move to rein in spiraling deficits," The New York Times reports. "Mr. Obama told his economic team in a meeting at the White House that he intended to stand by his promise not to increase taxes on families making less than $250,000, aides said."

4 Aug 2009

Public baffled by health care arguments

As members of Congress head home for the summer recess, they will use the time to either sell to their constituents the national health care and insurance overhaul being fiercely debated in Washington, or deep-six it.

4 Aug 2009

Will emphasis on prevention bring health costs down?

If there is one thing that both parties can agree on in the health overhaul debate, it’s the need to build a health system that promotes prevention rather than just manages disease.

4 Aug 2009