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Medical industry showers Department of Defense with free travel

The health care industry funded "8,700 trips by Department of Defense personnel" from 1998 to 2007, at a cost of more than $10 million, the Center for Public Integrity reports.

10 Jun 2009

Kennedy plan skips contentious issues, still angers GOP

The first detailed health reform proposal "got off to a rocky start Tuesday," as "even moderate Republicans" attacked a draft bill by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democrats from his Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Los Angeles Times reports.

10 Jun 2009

Baucus expects new taxes on worker's benefits to be part of reform

Senators will likely pay for at least a portion of the expected $1 trillion-plus health reform price tag by taxing employer-provided health benefits that are significantly more expensive than the basic plan for federal employees, which costs $13,000 a year for a family, the Washington Post reports.

10 Jun 2009

The personalities making news around health reform

Sen. Chris Dodd has taken the reins on health care reform while he juggles other bills and a tough re-election campaign, Roll Call reports.

10 Jun 2009

Consensus forming among most Democrats on health reform

Democratic leaders have begun moving the rank and file closer to acceptance of basic tenets of health reform proposals, but concerns remain among the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats on how it will be paid for, Politico reports.

10 Jun 2009

Provisions for young, old in Kennedy bill; Senate leaders eye July for bill

Sen. Edward Kennedy's health care reform bill includes provisions to allow elderly people remain in their homes and the young to stay on their parents health insurance until age 26, according to The Associated Press.

10 Jun 2009

Women of color more likely to have major health care problems than white women

Women of color in America are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to contract AIDS, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

10 Jun 2009

Spike in Australian H1N1 cases could lead WHO to declare pandemic

The H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak could soon be declared the first flu pandemic in 41 years after a recent jump in the number of confirmed cases in Australia, WHO officials said Tuesday, the AP/Google.com reports (Jordans, AP/Google.com, 6/9).

10 Jun 2009

GlaxoSmithKline opens pneumonia vaccine plant In Singapore

Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Tuesday opened a $600 million plant in Singapore that is slated to begin producing vaccines to fight pneumonia-causing bacteria in 2011, Reuters reports.

10 Jun 2009

Global AIDS coordinator nominee Goosby testifies before Senate committee

President Obama's choice for the State Department's global AIDS coordinator position, Eric Goosby, testified on Tuesday at a confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, VOA News reports. Goosby would work to continue PEPFAR's success, and "says he will emphasize prevention if he is confirmed by the Senate," VOA News writes.

10 Jun 2009

Philippines Health Secretary warns of impending Dengue threat

With the start of the rainy season, Francisco Duque III, health secretary in the Philippines, on Tuesday emphasized a continued government commitment to controlling and preventing dengue - a disease for which there is currently no vaccine or specific drug, the Manila Times reports.

10 Jun 2009

Disease control expert urges health workers to clean hands and save lives

Australia's World Health Organization infectious disease expert and Director of Hand Hygiene Australia has urged all health professionals to improve infection control and save lives by adopting the new National Hand Hygiene Initiative.

9 Jun 2009

Seniors seek help with Medicare's 'doughnut hole'

Senior and elderly advocate groups are calling on Congress to get rid of the "doughnut hole" in Medicare's drug benefit as part of the larger efforts to reform health care, according to The Dallas Morning News.

9 Jun 2009

Washington's basic health plan raises rates to compensate for budget cuts

Washington state's cash-strapped health insurance program, Basic Health Plan, "is resorting to steep premium increases to achieve what [its officials] were loath to do on their own - expel thousands of working-class people," the Seattle Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

Senate could vote today on tougher tobacco legislation

The Senate could vote today on tougher tobacco laws that would give the Food and Drug Adminstration power to regulate tobacco.

9 Jun 2009

Kennedy's absence felt as health reform push intensifies

Congressional Democrats seeking leadership are feeling Sen. Edward Kennedy's absence in the looming health care reform debate as he continues his battle with brain cancer, and struggles to return to Washington, The New York Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

House health bill to include public plan, insurers resisting

On Monday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D- N.Y., told reporters that the House bill will include a new public insurance plan, Reuters/The Boston Globe reports.

9 Jun 2009

Reform debate circles back to costs, and how to pay for them

In the White House's pitches for health care reform, controlling costs has replaced universal coverage as the leading imperative to overhaul the system. A top White House economist, Christina Romer, said in a public appearance Monday, "Good health care reform is good economic policy," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve – it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer" (Abate, 6/9).

9 Jun 2009

California Restaurant Association asks U.S. Supreme Court to weigh employer mandate question

A California Restaurant Association has asked the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of San Francisco's mandate that employers pay for health care coverage for employees, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

9 Jun 2009

Health reform plans grab spotlight as specifics emerge

President Obama's carefully worded health care reform letter to key Senate Democrats last week highlighted the growing role the president is taking in overhaul efforts, Politico reports.

9 Jun 2009