Health Reform News and Research

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Town hall meetings continue to trigger unexpected events

The New York Times reports that conservatives are hungry for a real debate beyond the rhetoric at these events: "Far from embracing the attacks, many leading conservative health care policy experts said in recent interviews that the dynamic was precluding a more robust real-world debate while making it nearly impossible for them to inject their studied, free-market solutions into the discussion.

4 Sep 2009

Obama's health care dilemma evokes memories of 1974

Kaiser Health News reports on similarities between past and present health reform efforts.

4 Sep 2009

Expectations high for Obama's 'Major Address' to Congress on health reform

President Obama plans to address Congress on Wednesday, only a day after lawmakers return from their August break, to spell out in detail his vision for overhauling health care, The Associated Press reports. The move signals that "Democrats have all but given up hope for a bipartisan breakthrough by Senate Finance Committee negotiators," because that committee - the only one seeking across-the-aisle compromise - had been given a Sept. 15 deadline.

4 Sep 2009

A California consumer group says major insurers coerced employees to lobby

"The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday," the Los Angeles Times reports.

3 Sep 2009

Alliance for Health Reform to brief reporters on the hurdles to a meaningful health reform bill

This briefing, for reporters only, will look at some of the important issues that must be settled if President Obama is to sign a meaningful health reform bill this year.

3 Sep 2009

Health insurers ask employees to lobby Congress to weaken health reform

Consumer Watchdog today asked California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate major health insurers that have asked their workers to lobby Congress -- during business hours -- to weaken health reform. United Healthcare and Wellpoint have launched national campaigns to individually "assist" employees in writing and calling members of Congress.

3 Sep 2009

Obama to address Congress on health reform

The Washington Post reports: "President Obama will address a joint session of Congress next Wednesday about the nation's health-care system, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

3 Sep 2009

Small business, labor and insurance groups express opinions on health reform 'must-haves'

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a majority of small business owners in California support health reform. "A solid majority - 61 percent of 700 California small businesses that participated in a survey released Tuesday - said health care reform is needed now to get the economy on track.

3 Sep 2009

Bio-Reference Laboratories reports third-quarter fiscal 2009 revenues

Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRLI) (Except for Per Share Data or where otherwise noted, numbers are in thousands) announced that the Company recorded current quarter revenues of $97,424, the best ever quarter in terms of revenues in corporate history and an increase of more than 25% over the $77,776 recorded in the third quarter, fiscal year 2008.

3 Sep 2009

The AARP seeks a more neutral image after shedding thousands of members

AARP, the seniors' lobby, has shed as many as 60,000 members in two months over its implicit support for health reform that some members say could lead to Medicare cuts, USA Today reports. The group will launch a campaign next week in hopes of regaining ground with seniors and reestablishing a politically neutral image.

3 Sep 2009

Senate Republicans prepare robust objections to stall Democrat's health reform bill

Republicans are preparing a spate of procedural objections to use in the event Senate Democrats try to employ budget reconciliation rules to advance their health reform proposals.

3 Sep 2009

Obama set to reveal specific health reform details in strategy shift

After an August recess that saw Democrats take a beating on their message and calls from lawmakers to provide more leadership, President Obama is likely to change course on his approach to health reform legislation.

3 Sep 2009

Baucus-Grassley bipartisan partnership frays under health reform pressure

Kaiser Health News reports on the partnership between Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and how health reform has affected that dynamic.

2 Sep 2009

Wellpoint chief calls for reform, defends insurers

The top executive of Wellpoint, a major health insurer, called for health reform at a meeting of the Economic Club in Indianapolis Tuesday, WTHR, the local NBC affiliate, reports. "The high and rising cost of health care in America is just not sustainable …" said CEO Angela Braly. Those costs pose "a real threat to the social and fiscal obligations of the government and to the health and prosperity of the American people."

2 Sep 2009

Despite health reform efforts, Milwaukee clinic for low-income patients may close

A clinic in a low-income Milwaukee neighborhood has filled a need for 23 years, but people running it worry that it may not be helped by any changes to the health care system. The New York Times reports on the Milwaukee Immediate Care Center, a small nonprofit clinic, "which keeps hours at night and on weekends, [and] is the only full-time operation in the neighborhood that provides urgent care, luring patients with a sign that reads, 'When You Need a Doctor Today.'"

2 Sep 2009

First Edition: September 2, 2009

Baucus-Grassley Bipartisan Partnership Frays Under Health Reform Pressures For nearly a decade, the cross-aisle team of Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Charles Grassley has shaped dozens of tax cuts, trade measures and health bills on the Senate Finance Committee. That led many to predict that the partnership would be strong enough to broker bipartisan health care legislation this year (Kaiser Health News).

2 Sep 2009

AARP volunteers call on Sen. Durbin with Rx bottles containing constituents' health care stories

While Members of Congress may be taking a break from Washington, AARP is making sure they don't get a break from the need to fix the broken health care system. With a giant inflatable Rx bottle as a backdrop, armed with prescription bottles filled with constituents' personal health care stories, AARP members converged in Springfield today calling on Senator Durbin and the Springfield-area Congressmen (John Shimkus, Aaron Schock and Phil Hare) to tackle health care reform when they go back to the nation's Capitol in September.

2 Sep 2009

Research is active and diverse in U.S. academic medical centers

A survey indicates that research is active and diverse at U.S. academic medical centers and that a substantial proportion of faculty conduct research and publish without sponsorship, according to a study in the September 2 issue of JAMA.

2 Sep 2009

Expanding health centers to reach more patients will result in huge health care savings

Expanding health centers to reach an additional 20 million patients as part of national health reform would result in overall health care savings of $212 billion over the ten-year period 2010 to 2019, including federal Medicaid savings of $59 billion.

2 Sep 2009

Union leaders hope to restore relevance in push for health reform

"The man expected to become the AFL-CIO's next president said Monday that lawmakers would pay a political price if they abandon a government-run option in any health care overhaul. 'We need to be a labor movement that stands by our friends, punishes its enemies and challenges those who, well, can't seem to decide which side they're on,' said Richard Trumka, currently the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer."

2 Sep 2009