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UnitedHealth Group invests $5.4M in The Help Group’s tax-exempt revenue bonds

The Help Group received $5,395,000 in capital that will support development of its newest campus serving Los Angeles-area children, adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

10 Dec 2009

Many questions remain on Medicare expansion proposal

The proposal to expand Medicare to include people aged 55 and older as part of an alternative to creating the public option may have expanded support for the Senate version of the overhaul bill, the Los Angeles Times reports.

10 Dec 2009

Medicare Advantage plans waste billions, report finds

Health insurance companies that offer private alternative Medicare plans, called Medicare Advantage, put billions of dollars toward profits and marketing rather than patient care, according to a report released Wednesday by House Democrats.

10 Dec 2009

Ford may use stocks to pay for retiree health fund

"The Labor Department said Wednesday that it would let the Ford Motor Company use stock instead of cash to pay some of the $13.1 billion that it owed to a new retiree health care fund, pending a period of public comment," The New York Times reports.

10 Dec 2009

Hospitals, insurers oppose health bill compromise on Medicare buy-in

Groups representing doctors and hospitals are coming out against the inclusion of a Medicare "buy-in" in the Senate health bill, The Washington Post reports. The groups joined Republicans in arguing "that a plan by liberal Democrats to allow uninsured individuals as young as 55 to buy into Medicare would be financially untenable and would jeopardize access to health-care services for millions of Americans."

10 Dec 2009

Senate Democrats express 'guarded optimism,' wariness on public option compromise

The New York Times: "Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that they were not sure exactly what was in a deal that the majority leader said would surmount a disagreement over a proposed government-run health plan. But they voiced guarded optimism that it would ultimately help them pass major health care legislation."

10 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials: Public option, Catholic Bishops, nurses, Medicare

If we are to move forward, we must do a better job of providing policymakers, health care leaders and the public with the evidence showing the link between nursing care and patient safety. Any health care reform legislation must support the role of nurses in building a better system that provides the highest standard of care that is not only safer but is also likely to save money (Mary Nailer and Mark Paly, 12/10).

10 Dec 2009

Experts begin calculating Senate health bill impact on consumers

The Washington Post: "While confusion reigned on Capitol Hill on Wednesday over the prospects and details of a Senate deal to replace a government-run insurance plan with other measures, it is not too soon to ask what the proposal would mean for regular people."

10 Dec 2009

Drug importation takes center stage on Senate floor

Debate on a proposal that would make it easier to bring prescription drugs into the country from abroad is taking center stage on the Senate floor as part of the health care reform debate.

10 Dec 2009

Differences between Senate and House health bills increase

CNN reports that the Senate's public option "compromise appears to be a far cry from the government-backed public health care option offered in the House bill. The Senate's original health care bill included a public option similar to that of the House version.

10 Dec 2009

Health IT investments continue as security experts express concern

As the federal government prepares to invest up to $34 billion in health information technology and develop a plan to oversee it that includes special measures to protect privacy, a rash of news stories about e-health security breaches has raised questions, Modern Healthcare reports.

10 Dec 2009

Eli Lilly provides financial guidance for 2010

At its annual meeting today with the investment community, Eli Lilly and Company highlighted how its innovation-based strategy will enable it to better serve patients and compete effectively in a challenging health care environment. The company also detailed the progress being made in its labs and across its five new business units on an expanding pipeline of innovative molecules and marketed medicines, and provided investors with the company's financial guidance for 2010.

10 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 10, 2006

Today's headlines reflect Democrats' optimism surrounding the tentative agreement reached in the Senate just as questions about its specifics emerge.

10 Dec 2009

Decade of the Mind: A multidisciplinary effort to understand the phenomenon of mind

As we seek a better understanding of the workings of the human mind, we are continually confronted by fresh ethical, legal, and social questions. Now, researchers are increasingly emphasizing the role of a new discipline, neuroethics, to guide the search for answers to those questions.

10 Dec 2009

McMaster University launches first online interactive educational program on bleeding disorders

McMaster University, in partnership with the Canadian Hemophilia Society and Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, has launched Canada's first online, interactive educational program on bleeding disorders. The program, Emergency Management of Bleeding Disorders, is available free to all Canadian health professionals to learn about the signs, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of bleeding disorders.

10 Dec 2009

Gap between Medicaid and quality care spells trouble for America's elderly and disabled citizens

A new Eljay LLC analysis of the nation's Medicaid financing system projecting states will cumulatively underfund the actual cost of providing quality long term care by nearly $4.7 billion for 2009, and finds seniors in the states of New York, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, California and Wisconsin will bear the brunt of the underfunding burden at a time when these states and many others are already suffering from rising pressure on state Medicaid budgets.

10 Dec 2009

eHealth data identifies average premiums for non-group family health insurance plans in 46 states

eHealth, Inc., the leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses, today released data from approximately 84,000 individually purchased, non-group, major medical family health insurance policies that were active in February of 2009.

10 Dec 2009

New healthcare reform bill can undermine physician-owned hospitals, says PHA

Both the U.S. House passed health care reform bill and the new bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate spell economic trouble for nearly all of the state and local economies where hospitals owned by physicians are located.

10 Dec 2009

Despite worldwide outbreak of H1N1 virus, American adults not eager to get vaccinated

American adults are not being vaccinated against the seasonal flu any more often than they were last year, despite increased public discussion of the importance of influenza vaccines resulting from the worldwide outbreak of the H1N1 virus, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

10 Dec 2009

Tobacco prevention and cessation programs: States cut funding by more than 15%

The states are collecting record amounts of revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but have cut funding for programs to reduce tobacco use by more than 15 percent in the past year, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

10 Dec 2009