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In health care debate, small businesses are key

"As they work to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, President Obama and his congressional allies have pledged to help small-business owners such as Rhonda Ealy and Kelli Glasser," The Los Angeles Times reports.

5 Aug 2009

Obama administration takes on opposition attacks, rallies Senate Democrats

President Obama and his Administration launched "a coordinated effort Tuesday to combat what it calls a 'viral whisper campaign' against health reform, Politico reports.

5 Aug 2009

Medicare proposes capping home health care agency payments

The Miami Herald reports: "Fueled by massive fraud, home healthcare providers in Miami-Dade County are raking in more Medicare money than their colleagues in the rest of the country combined -- thanks to bogus billings for patients with diabetes, authorities say.

5 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

States confront budget pressure, anticipate reform

States are grappling with budget cuts, trying to anticipate the effects of Washington's health system overhaul and rejiggering Medicaid programs.

5 Aug 2009

Plans to control doctors' pay big in Massachusetts, not so much in Washington

Massachusetts officials are proud of their low rate of uninsured people, but the state also hosts the highest health care costs in the country, a problem that jeopardizes their achievement in expanding coverage, NPR's Morning Edition reports.

5 Aug 2009

Less is more when it comes to blood transfusions

A new study suggests that blood transfusions for hospitalized cardiac patients should be a last resort because they double the risk of infection and increase by four times the risk of death.

5 Aug 2009

Health care reform must avoid conflicts-of-interest

As President Obama and Congress weigh changes in the nation’s health care system they must avoid creating a system where physicians are financially motivated to pressure patients into mandated treatments that conflict with their values and needs, two Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center physicians warn.

5 Aug 2009

Poll numbers show public wary of health reform legislation

"A Quinnipiac University poll released today suggests the public continues to be wary of health care legislation as members of Congress work through the August recess to sell President Obama's plan to voters," USA Today's On Politics blog reports (Fritze, 8/5).

5 Aug 2009

Baucus: Bipartisan group of finance committee members reach Medpac agreement

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said that a bipartisan group of six Finance Committee senators have "coalesced" around language "that would give new weight to the recommendations of an entity currently known as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC," Dow Jones reports.

5 Aug 2009

Obama: Healthcare reform bill to be passed by year end

During an Indiana speech on Wednesday, President Barack Obama said "there will be an overhaul of the health care system before the end of the year and said it doesn't have to be a bipartisan effort," according to The Associated Press. He also pledged that "successful conclusion of an ambitious health care overhaul that he has argued would stabilize the nation's fiscal health."

5 Aug 2009

Insurance agents look into the future and see uncertainty and "opportunity"

For the tens of thousands of individual insurance agents nationwide, the idea of a health system overhaul hits close to home – and work. The changes currently under consideration could radically alter how they do business. For example, there could be requirements that all individuals have coverage, that employers provide insurance for their workers and that insurers cover anyone - regardless of preexisting conditions. In addition, there could be a government-run public plan that might compete with insurance companies.

5 Aug 2009

Are insurers' profits as low as they Claim?

As the health care overhaul battle moves out of Washington and onto the airwaves and Main Streets during the August recess, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade association for the nation's health insurers, is fighting a familiar battle.

5 Aug 2009

President Obama to Senate Democrats: let's do lunch

"With Congressional recess protests against his health-care agenda ramping up and other pressing business to attend to, President Barack Obama summoned the Senate's Democrats to the White House today for a high-stakes working lunch," according to Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire.

4 Aug 2009

Senate Dems prepare contingency plans as finance negotiators grapple for a deal

"Senate Democrats may decide to pass a U.S. health-care overhaul without Republican support if some opposition lawmakers don't agree to a plan by mid-September," Senator Charles Schumer[ D-N.Y.] said" according to Bloomberg. Schumer said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., set a self-imposed deadline of Sept. 15 to lead a negotiating team, composed of three Republicans and three Democrats within his Finance Committee, to a bipartisan compromise.

4 Aug 2009

No recess rest in health reform ad wars

Major groups are promising that the August recess will be filled with advertising wars trying to manage the message of the health care reform debate, Politico reports.

4 Aug 2009

Health insurance chief lobbyist says "villain" comments hurt process

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, said the "Washington politics of 'find an enemy and go to war' is a major step backward," damaging the possibility of building consensus on health reform.

4 Aug 2009

Louisiana cuts rates for Medicaid providers

"Louisiana will start paying less money Tuesday to many private health care providers for taking care of Medicaid patients, a move the state health department estimates will save $86 million this year," The Associated Press/The Advocate reports.

4 Aug 2009

Many Americans find themselves flummoxed by health care reform

As legislators seek to sell what has so far been a largely Washington insider effort, many Americans are confused about what health care reform actually entails.

4 Aug 2009

Lobbyists play ball, flex muscles on health care reform

The Associated Press reports on lobbying around biotechnology legislation. A letter urging the protection of biotech drug makers from generics from "the private National Health Council, sent to House leaders drafting health overhaul legislation, said the plea was on behalf of 'the more than 133 million Americans living with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers.'

4 Aug 2009