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First Edition: June 1, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Trying to spur enrollment in a key new benefit of the 2010 health law, the Obama administration announced today it is slashing premiums for new high-risk insurance plans and no longer requiring applicants to submit a rejection letter from private insurers".

1 Jun 2011

Many consumers opt for high-deductible coverage despite risks

Last year, Tina Holwin Hodges' healthy family switched to a high-deductible health insurance plan and were able to save $100 a month on their monthly premiums, which seemed like a bargain. Then her daughter Cailee spent three days in the hospital with a viral infection, her daughter Heather went in for a cardiac workup, her husband had hand surgery after being out of work for a year, and she injured her back and couldn't work for three months.

1 Jun 2011

Dems, GOP continue heavyweight fight over Medicare proposals

Democrats and Republicans are looking for their next messaging steps on proposals to slow the growth of Medicare costs in the wake of a congressional election and talks to tackle to mounting debt.

1 Jun 2011

Scans, hospital infections at heart of new quality issues

A new diagnostic imaging test that can detect plaque in the arteries of the heart is not an efficient tool for screening people not experiencing symptoms of heart disease, a recent study found.

1 Jun 2011

Health law implementation issues: Challenges with exchanges, doc-owned hospitals

A small but growing number of prominent, Republican governors — including Mitch Daniels and Haley Barbour — are taking the lead to shape a key component of the health care overhaul their party fought so hard to kill. It's a delicate balancing act for Republicans who, on the one hand, oppose federal health reform, even challenging its constitutionality in federal court, and, on the other hand, are pragmatically trying to control as much of the implementation process as they can.

1 Jun 2011

Hospitals facing pressure to hold down costs and cut infections; drug shortages reported

For the first time in its history, Medicare will soon track spending on millions of individual beneficiaries, reward hospitals that hold down costs and penalize those whose patients prove most expensive. The administration plans to establish "Medicare spending per beneficiary" as a new measure of hospital performance, just like the mortality rate for heart attack patients and the infection rate for surgery patients.

1 Jun 2011

Pawlenty outlines plans for Medicare

The former Minnesota governor discusses his plans for the entitlement program on ABC's "This Week" and on the campaign trail in Iowa.

1 Jun 2011

State roundup: Texas budget cuts; Florida's 'F' in kids' teeth; new insurance programs for Conn., Maine

Texas lawmakers adopted a state budget Saturday night ... Facing a massive revenue shortfall, lawmakers crafted the $172 billion budget by making cuts and using deferrals rather than raising taxes or dipping into the $10 billion reserve fund.

1 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Political impact of Ryan plan; would VA health system work for all?; Calif. insurance rates

Representative Paul Ryan is rebutting critics of his plan to turn Medicare into a "premium support" program, pointing to two existing programs that he says prove his approach would be better for beneficiaries. Don't believe it. The two programs he cites as prototypes — the insurance program for members of Congress and the Medicare prescription drug program — differ in critical respects from his proposal to sharply limit federal spending. The losers will be the beneficiaries who have to pay more.

1 Jun 2011

First Edition: May 31, 2011

Today's headlines include articles on the federal efforts to improve hospital quality, the politics of Medicare and the move by some GOP governors to set up health exchanges.

31 May 2011

Takeda, Affymax submit peginesatide NDA to FDA for treatment of anemia linked with chronic renal failure

Affymax, Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced the submission of a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the investigational agent peginesatide for the treatment of anemia associated with chronic renal failure in adult patients on dialysis.

31 May 2011

Some Veterans' health jeopardized due to poor infection control

Herman Williams came home safely after fighting in the jungles of Vietnam as a Marine. He was shocked to learn four decades later that his military service had again placed him in jeopardy — this time, because he got a tooth pulled. Williams is among 13,000 U.S. veterans who have been warned in the last two years that their blood should be tested for potentially fatal infections after possible exposures by improper hygiene practices at five VA hospitals in Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee.

31 May 2011

Improvements to Medicare prescription drug program benefit MS patients in the 'donut hole'

As the average cost of MS in the United States is nearly $70,000 a year, with the overall annual economic cost of MS being an estimated $28 billion, people living with MS face high out-of-pocket costs even when covered by health insurance.

30 May 2011

Medicare beneficiaries who receive higher medical spending have better health outcomes

A new study from George Mason University and the Urban Institute reveals that greater spending on medical services means better overall health for Medicare participants.

30 May 2011

Politics of Medicare making Democrats, Republicans testy and disputatious

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that he supports the controversial plan by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system in which future beneficiaries — those 54 and younger — would get subsidies to buy health insurance rather than have the government directly pay their doctor and hospital bills.

30 May 2011

McConnell, Romney, freshmen Republicans face tough questions on GOP Medicare plan

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that Medicare reform must be part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, despite indications that changing the entitlement will be politically unpopular. Democrats made Medicare reforms pushed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan a central issue in a special election in upstate New York they won last week.

30 May 2011

Doctor rating website upsets medical groups

Australian doctors are miffed about a website that will for the first time publicly rank the performance of the nation's medical practitioners. The Newcastle-based health fund NIB will launch a website - whitecoat.com.au next month which will compare dentists, physiotherapists and other health providers on the internet. But the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says it is certain to make unfair comparisons.

29 May 2011

Parties craft strategies, Medicare spin in aftermath of NY-26 special election results

Because the of what many view as the vote-changing impact that Medicare had on this congressional contest, Democrats and Republicans are considering how to advance their positions toward 2012.

27 May 2011

Research Roundup: Medicaid co-payments, access to docs causes worse health

Disparities In Child Access To Emergency Care For Acute Oral Injury -- This study looked at the "impact of insurance status on dental practices' willingness to schedule an appointment for a child with a symptomatic fractured permanent front tooth." Six researchers posed as mothers of 10-year-old boys who all had the same injury but different coverage: Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or private Blue Cross dental insurance.

27 May 2011

Viewpoints: Medicare controversy continues to raise outrage, prescriptions, vivid prose

The key to any reform is tackling the whole problem, not just one piece — like health care spending by the federal government, for example, or even the public sector as a whole. Unless spending on health care is curbed systemwide, federal reforms run the risk of just shifting skyrocketing costs to those least able to handle this added burden.

27 May 2011

Medicare News and Research

First Edition: June 1, 2011

Many consumers opt for high-deductible coverage despite risks

Dems, GOP continue heavyweight fight over Medicare proposals

Scans, hospital infections at heart of new quality issues

Health law implementation issues: Challenges with exchanges, doc-owned hospitals

Hospitals facing pressure to hold down costs and cut infections; drug shortages reported

Pawlenty outlines plans for Medicare

State roundup: Texas budget cuts; Florida's 'F' in kids' teeth; new insurance programs for Conn., Maine

Viewpoints: Political impact of Ryan plan; would VA health system work for all?; Calif. insurance rates

First Edition: May 31, 2011

Takeda, Affymax submit peginesatide NDA to FDA for treatment of anemia linked with chronic renal failure

Some Veterans' health jeopardized due to poor infection control

Improvements to Medicare prescription drug program benefit MS patients in the 'donut hole'

Medicare beneficiaries who receive higher medical spending have better health outcomes

Politics of Medicare making Democrats, Republicans testy and disputatious

McConnell, Romney, freshmen Republicans face tough questions on GOP Medicare plan

Doctor rating website upsets medical groups

Parties craft strategies, Medicare spin in aftermath of NY-26 special election results

Research Roundup: Medicaid co-payments, access to docs causes worse health

Viewpoints: Medicare controversy continues to raise outrage, prescriptions, vivid prose

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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