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As Senate debate approaches, partisans step up political high jinks

Volleys of rhetoric, attack advertisements and procedural parries are echoing through Congress's health care debate. Here's a look at some of the latest political jabs.

17 Nov 2009

Wisconsin town has highest rate of living wills, lowest cost of care

NPR reports on a town in Wisconsin with the highest rates of living wills in the country.

17 Nov 2009

Liberals push Reid to stand by public option in health bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to hold together members of his caucus to vote for a government-run public option for health insurance that would allow states to opt-out of the plan — a plan that is getting an icy reception, even among Democrats, Bloomberg reports. Reid's "version … probably won't require employers to cover workers and will be funded through a tax on high-end insurance plans, which would put him at odds with House Democrats.

17 Nov 2009

Omega Healthcare Investors signs securities purchase agreement with CapitalSource

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE: OHI) today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with CapitalSource Inc. and several of its affiliates to purchase entities owning 80 long term care facilities (“Facilities”) for approximately $565 million. The purchase price includes a purchase option (“Option”) to acquire entities owning an additional 63 Facilities for approximately $295 million.

17 Nov 2009

Health Net’s MA product portfolio offers budget-friendly health plan choices to beneficiaries for 2010

With the kick-off of the Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) this week, Health Net, Inc. reminds those eligible for Medicare that Health Net’s Medicare Advantage (MA) product portfolio offers a comprehensive range of budget-friendly health plan choices to beneficiaries for 2010.

17 Nov 2009

CMS policy changes to drive the sleep management devices market

According to Millennium Research Group (MRG), the global authority on medical technology market intelligence, policy changes made by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will cause a surge in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) diagnostic testing and treatment. MRG's new US Market Opportunities for Respiratory and Sleep Management Devices 2010 report finds that increasing reimbursement opportunities for OSA diagnosis and treatment will drive the OSA market to $1.5 billion by 2014.

17 Nov 2009

Illinois AARP members support health care reform plan

A new poll of Illinois AARP members released today finds strong support across party and ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives.

17 Nov 2009

Employers have serious concerns about healthcare reform, indicates PSG survey

Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG), the nation's largest independent pharmacy benefit consulting firm, released today the results of a national survey of companies focused on their views of proposed healthcare reform legislation.

17 Nov 2009

USPSTF recommendations against regular mammography screening can result in unnecessary breast cancer deaths

If cost-cutting U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) mammography recommendations are adopted as policy, two decades of decline in breast cancer mortality could be reversed and countless American women may die needlessly from breast cancer each year.

17 Nov 2009

Meaningful legislation required to control biotech medicine cost, says PCMA

“Today’s New York Times’ article exposes the short-comings of the ‘pharma deal’ and how it gives with one hand while taking with the other. Rather than relying on ‘shell games’ to lower prescription drug costs, policymakers should return this debate to the need for more competition in the form of real biogenerics reform.

17 Nov 2009

HealthSouth initiates cash tender offer to purchase floating rate senior notes

HealthSouth Corporation today announced that the Company has commenced a tender offer to purchase for cash any and all of its outstanding floating rate senior notes due 2014.

17 Nov 2009

Reorganizing the FDA could save Americans trillions of dollars over the next decade, says legal expert

While Congress and the rest of the nation turn the battle over healthcare reform into a pro-wrestling-style steel cage death match with enough rhetoric to choke an English professor, at least one expert is looking beyond the bills on the table for a different solution.

17 Nov 2009

Strong support from AARP members for Affordable Health Care for America Act

A new poll of AARP members released today finds strong support across party and ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives. The AARP-backed bill limits how much more insurance companies can charge based on age and will close the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole.

16 Nov 2009

CMS report: House bill will raise health care costs, affect seniors' benefits

A new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finds that the health overhaul bill passed by the House will raise health costs by approximately $289 billion in the next ten years. The report was requested by House Republicans and compiled by CMS' chief actuary, Richard Foster.

16 Nov 2009

SynerMed and L.A. Care team up to launch e-consult program

SynerMed, Inc., the largest Medicaid managed service organization (MSO) in the country, in collaboration with L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest public health plan, announced today the launch of an e-consult pilot program.

16 Nov 2009

Amid health bill delays and snags, lawmakers target issues

The wait for the Congressional Budget Office score on the Senate health care reform bill has left Senators with time to carefully consider all the angles on reform, The New York Times reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "has already received some substantial analysis of his measure, and if the numbers had been what he wanted, he would have released a bill by now.

16 Nov 2009

Bravo Health to open its first Advanced Care Center in Philadelphia

Bravo Health today announced that the first Bravo Health Advanced Care Center (the Center) will open in Philadelphia in January 2010. The Center, an innovative, state-of-the-art outpatient physician practice designed to meet the health care needs of Bravo Health members, will be located in a new building being constructed at 1010 W. Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia.

16 Nov 2009

Both sides puzzle over abortion amendment in House health bill

Newspapers continue to report on the Stupak amendment to the House health bill and how it will affect access to abortion.

16 Nov 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Many liberals remain angry and disappointed that single-payer legislation never stood a chance in Washington. To them, a government-run health-care system seemed an obvious way to put patients ahead of profits. But a single-payer system would have put us at the mercy of whomever happened to take control of Washington (Maggie Mahar, 11/15).

16 Nov 2009

2009 report: False Medicare claims cost government more than $47 billion

The Associated Press: "The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient's condition, wasting taxpayer dollars at a rate nearly three times the previous year.

16 Nov 2009