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State roundup: Florida awaits Medicaid waiver news

Now, nurses regularly do everything from give insulin shots to empty urinary catheter bags. At the same time, state budget cuts mean the number of school nurses in California is shrinking. As a result, nurses say, they are responsible for more students every year and are largely consumed with keeping "medically fragile" children in class.

16 Dec 2011

House vote scheduled on payroll tax reduction package

The bill, which also would extend a number of other expiring measures and includes "must-pass" provisions such as the Medicare "doc fix," has drawn opposition. Hospitals groups have blasted it because it includes billions of dollars in cuts to hospital payments.

14 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 13, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz talked with former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick, who defended these federal health programs, but said they are trapped in a U.S. health system that promotes wasteful spending and inefficient care.

13 Dec 2011

Retiree health funds run low, program to close early

A notice in Friday's Federal Register made clear that the fund designed to help cover health insurance for early retirees would stop taking claims for expenses incurred after Dec. 31.

13 Dec 2011

Roundup: Iowans question Wellmark premium hikes; Fla. Medicare audit; Mich. nursing home scandals

The Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield vice president faced dozens of angry customers and tried to explain why the health insurer wants to increase their premiums by 9.4 percent. ... Barbed questions flew throughout the hearing before the state insurance commissioner, who will decide whether to grant Wellmark's proposed increase for 86,000 Iowans who buy their own insurance policies.

13 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Blocking an abortion option for military women; Plan B pushback; Solving Wis. doc shortage

Republican Senate leaders have an odd way of showing gratitude for the dedication and sacrifices of the more than 200,000 women on active duty in the military. Late last month, they blocked consideration of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have lifted the statutory ban that denies female service members coverage for abortion care in cases of rape and incest.

13 Dec 2011

HHS released final rules on new health co-ops

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule Thursday to establish at least one health insurance cooperative in every state by providing loans from a $3.8 billion federal fund created by the health care law to provide start-up money and fund capital reserves.

9 Dec 2011

Medicaid news: Fla. Gov. Scott's budget tackles hospital reimbursements

Florida Gov. Rick Scott recommended cutting the state's Medicaid budget by $2.1 billion. Most of that savings, part of a $66.4 billion budget proposal, would come from changing the way hospitals are paid for treating Medicaid patients.

9 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Politics overtakes Plan B; Gingrich's entitlement plans; Cheeseburgers and death

Once again, the politics of birth control have trumped science and sound public policy. On Wednesday, the Obama administration overruled a carefully reasoned decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make the so-called morning-after pill available without prescription to adolescent girls below the age of 17.

9 Dec 2011

On the campaign trail, Obama to step up health law defense

Advisers expect that, while campaigning, President Barack Obama will talk about the law's specific benefits. In other news, a new ad by GOP hopeful Ron Paul that will run in Iowa targets fellow candidate Newt Gingrich. Health care policy issues are among the items the ad highlights.

8 Dec 2011

Multiple-employer health plans will be subject to quick enforcement procedures

Under a proposed rule stemming from the health law, the secretary of labor will have enforcement tools designed to protect employers, providers and workers from mismanaged or fraudulent multiple-employer welfare arrangements.

7 Dec 2011

Still on the Capitol Hill to-do list: Payroll tax holiday extension, Medicare doc fix

Reuters terms the tasks as "issues affecting Americans' pocketbook." The outstanding questions include how to pay for the payroll tax break extension - could Medicare offer some ideas? Also, could the doc fix fight spill over into January? One area where there appears to finally be a truce, though, is the fight over Tricare, the health insurance plan for the military. Meanwhile, Politico looks ahead to health policy issues in 2012.

7 Dec 2011

Roundup: Ariz. examines complaints of prisoners' medical health care; Calif. settles suit on kids' mental health services

To stave off a lawsuit, Arizona's Department of Corrections has agreed to investigate scores of complaints by inmates that they are routinely denied medical care for weeks or months even for severe, life-threatening conditions. Inmates who have lost sight, had body parts amputated or been severely disfigured, among other gruesome examples, say proper medical care could have prevented needless suffering.

6 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 6, 2011

In today's headlines, a story detailing how the health law is helping Medicare beneficiaries save money on their prescription drug costs.

6 Dec 2011

Cameron says all NHS patients should share their medical data for research

According to British Prime Minister David Cameron, every NHS patient should be a “research patient” with their medical details “opened up” to private healthcare firms. The PM announced that all those who use the NHS in England will be helping in the fight against disease by helping advance research. He hopes the result will be that patients get faster access to new treatments and Britain's life sciences sector will become a world leader.

6 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Premium support disadvantages; GOP candidates & the individual mandate; Stop fight over high court recusals?

Republican politicians are touting the virtues of market competition and calling for a "premium support" plan that would give beneficiaries a set amount of money to shop among private plans for their own insurance. What they do not say is that private plans have long been more costly than traditional Medicare and have shown far less ability to slow spending.

5 Dec 2011

Just a few days left for Medicare open enrollment

Seniors and persons with disabilities have only days left to enroll in or make changes to their Medicare coverage. Open enrollment, known as the Annual Election Period (AEP) began a month earlier this year, on October 15, and will end three weeks earlier than usual, on December 7. The open enrollment period is when recipients may change their Medicare health plan and/or make changes to Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.

5 Dec 2011

Research roundup: Recession's big impact on men's insurance coverage

Researchers examined three sets of surveillance data and found that of the estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus, 942,000 persons were aware of their infection. More than three-quarters of those were "linked to care" and among HIV-infected adults in care, "45 percent received prevention counseling, and 89 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy."

3 Dec 2011

IOM essential benefits recommendations draw criticism

A letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from more than 2,400 health care providers and advocates offered objections to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations regarding what benefits must be covered in state health insurance marketplaces. Additionally, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, offered a warning regarding an Internal Revenue Service proposal on premium assistance in the health law's insurance exchanges.

3 Dec 2011