Medicare News and Research

RSS

As Federal Gov't. hits debt limit, budget plans draw attention

Politico reports that a proposed cap on discretionary spending for labor, health and human services and education programs would be felt most acutely by poor people.

18 May 2011

Thirty years of AIDS

Thirty years ago next month, the CDC released the first report on a mysterious disease among gay men in Los Angeles. The AIDS epidemic had begun. It has since claimed the lives of an estimated 600,000 Americans and is currently ravaging Africa.

18 May 2011

State roundup: Gov. Brown offers revisions to health budget

A new state department would be formed to manage California's violence-plagued mental hospitals under a proposal in the governor's Monday budget revision. The push to create a Department of State Hospitals — and eventually do away with the Department of Mental Health, which now oversees the facilities — comes as lawmakers and employee unions press for changes to address increasing patient assaults on fellow patients and staff.

18 May 2011

Viewpoints: Gingrich fallout; Sebelius, Matsui on Medicare reform; physicians on their rights

The Republican Presidential campaign is off to a slow start, but judging by the last week not slow enough. First Mitt Romney defends his ObamaCare prototype in Massachusetts, and now Newt Gingrich has decided to run against House Republicans on Medicare. They must be loving this at the White House.

18 May 2011

First Edition: May 17, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, Guy Gugliotta writes: "Minnesota state Rep. Steve Gottwalt, a three-term Republican with 10 years experience in the health care industry, is no fan of last year's health care law -- or its requirement that states set up insurance exchanges. But as chairman of the Health and Human Services Reform Committee, he decided he needed to weigh in on the exchange.

17 May 2011

NY election may offer view of voters' take on GOP Medicare plan

Just as this New York special congressional election approaches, news outlets analyze how public opinion is breaking in regard to the plan, as included in the budget advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Other elected officials are also offering their own responses to the approach.

17 May 2011

Preliminary topline results from Teva, CureTech's CT-011 Phase II trial in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and CureTech, a portfolio company of Teva and Clal Biotechnology Industries announced today preliminary topline results for CT-011, an investigational anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody.

17 May 2011

Gingrich calls GOP Medicare voucher plan radical

Now that he is officially in the running to be the Republican nominee for president, Newt Gingrich made his opinions very clear while appearing on Sunday morning talk shows.

17 May 2011

Fits and starts continue for health law implementation

News outlets report on a variety of aspects of the health law ranging from the IPAB and ACOs to the two states to most recently gain waivers from the Department of Health and Human Services.

17 May 2011

Medicare trustees: Funds will run out sooner than expected

Last Friday, the Medicare trustees offered their annual take on the fiscal fitness of the health insurance program for senior citizens and the disabled. The reviews were worse than last year's projections.

17 May 2011

Viewpoints: Ryan on 'shared scarcity'; Romney fallout; Baltimore's ambitious health plan

Too many in Washington remain fixated on the next election, at the expense of the next generation. But there is a hidden cost to the shared scarcity mentality — a cost measured in lost prosperity and lost freedom. We face a choice between two futures. We can continue to go down the path toward shared scarcity, or we can choose the path of renewed prosperity.

17 May 2011

First Edition: May 16, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Florida wants to be the first state in the nation to charge most of its Medicaid recipients a monthly premium as well as $100 for using the ER for routine care. But even supporters acknowledge that the new fees, passed recently by the state legislature as part of a sweeping Medicaid measure, face long odds getting federal approval".

16 May 2011

Kindred Healthcare plans $550 million senior notes offering

Kindred Healthcare, Inc. today announced that it is planning to issue an aggregate principal amount of up to $550 million of senior notes due 2019 to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and to certain non-United States persons in offshore transactions in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.

16 May 2011

Study finds link between heart failure hospitalization and readmission rates

Researchers compared hospitalization rates and rehospitalization rates of patients admitted for heart attack and for heart failure. Heart attack admissions are considered non-discretionary, whereas, heart failure admissions are considered more discretionary.

16 May 2011

Gingrich criticizes Obama and GOP health plans; Medicare politics sway N.Y. race

News outlets today focused on newly-declared Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's vision on health reform and on the continuing political fallout of Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal.

16 May 2011

Romney's defense of Massachusetts health plan triggers political questions

In what was billed as a major health care speech, Mitt Romney defended his state's plan but distanced himself from the federal health law, despite many similarities to the law Mitt Romney signed while governor. The circumstances have him walking a political tightrope.

16 May 2011

With next election in mind, Medicare politics among the dynamics similar to 2010 congressional contests

Some news outlets report that "what goes around comes around" as many House Republicans are being reminded of the last election's raucous town hall meetings — this time, though, they are in the hot seat. Meanwhile, members of the GOP freshmen class have asked the White House to condemn liberal attacks on the Medicare proposal advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

16 May 2011

Loyola earns Joint Commission certification for heart pump therapy

Loyola University Hospital has been certified by the Joint Commission to begin implanting heart pumps known as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as permanent therapy for advanced heart failure.

16 May 2011

Alzheimer's Association commends U.S. House Representatives for new legislation

As the leading advocacy, research and support organization for Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association commends Representatives Christopher Smith and Edward Markey for their leadership in introducing the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act (H.R.1897) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

16 May 2011

Teva signs definitive agreement to acquire Taiyo

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 57% of the shares in privately-held Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. for $460 million in cash paid to private shareholders.

16 May 2011