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The Baucus health care plan covers elective abortions

Today U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced a detailed summary of his "America's Health Future Act of 2009" that will be marked-up in the Senate Financial Services Committee next week.

17 Sep 2009

The Baucus health overhaul measure receives a 'luke-warm' greeting, but termed by the White House to be a 'building block' to reform

The Wall Street Journal: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus formally unveiled a 10-year, $856 billion bill that would extend health insurance to tens of millions of Americans but that found lukewarm support among other key senators, indicating changes to the measure are in store."

17 Sep 2009

Today's selection of opinions and editorials

Health care is a complicated and deeply personal issue; it takes time and effort to get reform right. Legislating every piece of this puzzle would be impossible and counterproductive.

17 Sep 2009

Melbourne's national approach for managing chronic pain

An unprecedented gathering of some of Australia's leading authorities in pain medicine, together with consumer groups representing chronic pain sufferers, will meet in Melbourne today to work towards a national, coordinated approach to managing chronic pain.

17 Sep 2009

Congressional townhall panel to discuss the economic and moral implications of health care reform

This Friday, September 18th at 9:50 am, FRC Action will host a Congressional townhall panel that will discuss the economic and moral implications of health care reform. The panel will be a part of the fourth annual Values Voter Summit and will feature Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). The panel will also take questions from the audience.

17 Sep 2009

State News Round-up: States trim budgets, experiment with reform ideas

News outlets report on a variety of state health stories including the Connector in Massachusetts, mental health care in Texas, hospital payments in Vermont, increased health insurance coverage in California and Republican efforts with employer insurance in Florida.

17 Sep 2009

Expo East 2009 conference to focus on integrative cancer care model

People diagnosed with cancer have a number of treatment options to choose from and increasingly, alternative and complementary therapies such as yoga, meditation, healing touch, music therapy, and nutritional supplementation are among them.

17 Sep 2009

NCSBN's new book examines instances of nursing practice breakdown

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) announces the release of "Nursing Pathways for Patient Safety," a new book which advocates an innovative approach to examining instances of nursing practice breakdown.

17 Sep 2009

Speaker Pelosi remarks on benefits for children in health insurance reform

Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks at an event for the Children's Health Fund this afternoon on the West Front Lawn of the Capitol to raise awareness for the more than 21 million children who will benefit from health insurance reform.

17 Sep 2009

Health plans will continue working with members of Congress to enact bipartisan legislation: AHIP

"Senator Max Baucus has led an unprecedented and rigorous bipartisan process to enact health care reform this year and challenged all stakeholders to contribute to this process. The introduction of legislation in the Finance Committee is a very important step in the health care reform process.

17 Sep 2009

Survey: Average cost of employer health plan up 5%

The average cost of an employer-provided family plan is now $13,375, up 5 percent from 2008, according to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust.

17 Sep 2009

Lawmakers may wage jurisdiction fight over medical malpractice reform

Roll Call reports that the Senate Finance Committee could clash with the Senate Judiciary Committee if they try to amend their health reform bill to scale back medical malpractice lawsuits.

17 Sep 2009

News outlets examine West Africa floods

The torrential rains that began in June in West Africa and subsequent floods have forced an estimated 150,000 people from their homes and claimed the lives of 160, VOA News reports. The worst affected countries include Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Sierra Leone (Schlein, 9/13).

17 Sep 2009

Young adults have more to gain, and pay, in health reform

Young adults - a key constituency in President Obama's election - are likely to be major beneficiaries of health reform, as well as major contributors to funding it, the Washington Post reports.

17 Sep 2009

Insurers say seniors in Medicare Advantage spend less time in hospital

Insurers say seniors in Medicare Advantage spend less time in the hospital. CQ HealthBeat reports: "A new study issued Tuesday by the health insurance industry touts the benefits offered by Medicare Advantage, just as Congress contemplates slashing bonus payments to the managed-care program to help pay for the health care overhaul."

17 Sep 2009

HMS to provide third-party liability services to Medicaid agencies

HMS today announced that it had been awarded a contract by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide additional third-party liability services. With the addition of Minnesota, HMS now provides third party liability services to 39 state Medicaid agencies.

17 Sep 2009

AFSCME issues statement on health care reform bill

"The Senate Finance Committee health care bill is deeply flawed. It does not come close to meeting the needs of America's working families. Nor does it meet the standards President Obama laid out in his address last week to Congress.

17 Sep 2009

Affinion Security Center announces availability of new features in its IdentitySecure service

Affinion Security Center, a leading provider of identity theft protection services, today announced the availability of new features in its IdentitySecure service to help members detect and resolve one of the most damaging types of identity theft: medical identity theft.

17 Sep 2009

Funding, health professional shortage could prevent South Africa from reaching 2011 ARV target, Health Minister says

South Africa's shortage of health professionals combined with a budget shortfall of over $130 million for the government's HIV programs could keep the country from reaching its goal of providing 80 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS in need of treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) by 2011.

17 Sep 2009

Congressmen eye Caremark, CVS for inquiry

"Eight U.S. congressmen joined a push for the Federal Trade Commission to re-examine CVS Corp.'s acquisition of Caremark Rx, Inc. in 2007," Bloomberg reports.

17 Sep 2009