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A selection of today's opinions and editorials

The epic of health care evolution is complex and is worth reviewing over the last five decades. Having practiced medicine in the same community in Southeast Missouri for more than 30 years, I have seen changes in health care beyond the scope of imagination (Dr. S.D. Madduri, 2/18).

18 Feb 2010

Humana schedules layoffs as insurers struggle to cut costs

Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports that Humana, one of the nation's largest health insurers, "said it will shed nearly 1,400 jobs, or 5% of its work force, this year" because of declines in enrollment. The company will cut a total of 2,500 jobs, but plans to hire 1,100 new employees to help with such issues as controlling medical costs and managing pharmacy benefits.

18 Feb 2010

'Cadillac' tax would have non-union impact, analysis finds

"A proposed tax on high-cost ['Cadillac'] health insurance plans, an element of Democratic health-care legislation that has been strongly opposed by organized labor, would actually fall equally on nonunion plans, according to a new analysis. ... at least 80 percent of the workers whose plans would be subject to the tax in 2019 would be in nonunion jobs," according to Ken Jacobs of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center and William H. Dow, professor of health economics at Berkeley and a member of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

18 Feb 2010

Centene to acquire Columbia-based Carolina Crescent Health Plan

Centene Corporation today announced that its South Carolina subsidiary, Absolute Total Care, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Columbia-based Carolina Crescent Health Plan (CCHP), the state's largest non-profit Medicaid managed care organization, from University Health Services, Inc. (UHS). CCHP serves more than 40,000 Medicaid members in 46 counties across the state.

18 Feb 2010

West Pharmaceutical Services reports 19.9% growth in consolidated fourth-quarter sales

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. today announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2009.

18 Feb 2010

HHS Secretary to address on health disparities at NABJ conference

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will deliver the keynote address at the National Association of Black Journalists annual conference on Health Disparities, March 4-6, 2010 at the Barbara Jordan Conference Center, Kaiser Family Foundation, 1330 G. Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

18 Feb 2010

LAAHU announces annual Health Insurance Awareness Week

Los Angeles Association of Health Underwriters announces its annual Health Insurance Awareness Week. This week is set aside to perform outreach to the community in the form of health awareness and to the importance of the role of the health insurance agent.

18 Feb 2010

Medication therapy management programs for Aetna Medicare members

Aetna today announced that members who enroll in its 2010 Medicare plans will have access to enhanced services called medication therapy management (MTM) aimed at helping them safely and effectively take medications prescribed by their physician. MTM, which will be delivered by Mirixa Corporation, brings together pharmacists, patients, physicians and other health care professionals to help patients with their medications.

18 Feb 2010

Pharmaceutical Institute launches Employers and Retail Pharmacy e-courses

Pharmaceutical Institute, a leading provider of specialized training solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, today announced the launch of two new e-courses, titled Employers and Retail Pharmacy.

18 Feb 2010

Researchers develop guidelines for assessment, treatment and management of lymphedema

Lymphedema, a chronic swelling condition that can appear after breast cancer surgery, is a risk for 1.3 million breast cancer survivors. Although lymphedema can cause lifelong swelling in the arms, back, neck and chest, there is no national standard of diagnosis or care.

18 Feb 2010

Additional 4M people in Asia could fall to 'extreme poverty' level this year, report says

While approximately 17 million Asians fell into "extreme poverty" due to the global economic situation in 2009, another four million in the region "could this year slip into the same situation due to the effects of the slump," according to a report released by representatives from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Manlia on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

18 Feb 2010

Hot button health reform issues: The individual mandate and selling insurance across state lines

News outlets report on several of the hot button issues in the health care debate, including the individual mandate and selling insurance across state lines.

18 Feb 2010

Insurance rates soar in various states

People who buy their own health insurance are seeing their premiums increases by 15 percent or more in four states, and those in others could be faced with the same, The Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.

18 Feb 2010

Utah tries to improve state health insurance exhange; Mich. plans for doctor shortage

The Salt Lake Tribune: "State health reform got a boost Tuesday with House passage of a fix-it bill to improve the Utah Health Exchange, an online tool for purchasing health insurance. Pitched as a free-market approach to lowering costs for small businesses, the exchange has had limited success. Only 400 people are receiving health insurance in its experimental first stage. And some of its 66 plans are up to 130 percent more expensive than what some companies were already paying. That's because insurers are calculating premiums differently 'inside' and 'outside' the exchange, said House Speaker Dave Clark" (Stewart, 2/16).

17 Feb 2010

Former Senate parliamentarian questions reconciliation, Senators want public option back

A former Senate parliamentarian said Tuesday that using reconciliation to pass health care reform will be difficult because the procedure wasn't meant to make policy, Politico's Live Pulse blog reports. The former parliamentarian, Robert Dove, who now teaches at George Washington University, said there are many things that cannot be put into the reconciliation bill. "Dove would know. In 1974, in the midst of his 36-year Senate career, he helped design the Congressional Budget Act, which first created the rules for reconciliation.

17 Feb 2010

Deficit panel to tackle worries of federal debt, including health spending

The New York Times reports that President Obama's appointment of a special panel to study the nation's debt will come "(a)fter decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning."

17 Feb 2010

White House hints at new health bill as GOP sees possible upside in summit

White House officials "hinted on Tuesday that President Obama might post his own [health care] bill on the Internet before the bipartisan health care summit he is planning" next week, The New York Times reports. "In the nearly a year since Congress began debating a health care overhaul, Mr. Obama has yet to make his own priorities explicit. He said at the outset that he would set broad parameters for the measure and leave the details to lawmakers." Obama said last week that hoped to post to the Internet a merged bill that would address costs and expand coverage.

17 Feb 2010

Imposing tax on health benefits likely to cause major cuts in health benefits

Since the vast majority of Americans who have health coverage get it through their jobs, one obvious question raised by the health reform legislation pending in Congress is: How might it affect the U.S. employment-based health benefits system?

17 Feb 2010

Idaho Health Freedom Act: Unproven, untried and vague, says AARP and urges Senate committee to reject bill

As Idaho families, businesses and retirees struggle with soaring health care costs, a vague bill aimed at tackling an issue in a non-existent federal health care law could make the crisis worse for many of the state's residents. The Idaho Health Freedom Act (HB 391) is set to be heard by Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee tomorrow morning, and AARP says the legislation is unproven, untried and vague and is urging them to reject the bill.

17 Feb 2010

4 Senate Democrats ask Reid to go back to public option

Four Senate Democrats are asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to revisit a plan for a government run health plan, or public option, in the health care overhaul legislation.

17 Feb 2010