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Cain offers up his views on health policy

In a short policy speech delivered on Capitol Hill, GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain expressed his support for repealing the 2010 health law and replacing it with market-based reforms.

4 Nov 2011

Viewpoints: The campaign against birth control; paying for N.Y.'s autism mandate

What if there were a solution to many of the global problems that confront us, from climate change to poverty to civil wars? There is, but it is starved of resources. It's called family planning, and it has been a victim of America's religious wars.

4 Nov 2011

Senate GOP attempts to officially undo CLASS Act

An attempt to bring up a bill to fast-track efforts to repeal the CLASS Act was beaten back by Democrats. But the AARP and 50 other advocacy groups sent a letter to lawmakers asking them not to touch the measure.

4 Nov 2011

Longer looks: A doctor's dilemma on C-sections; apology for a death sparked a hospital's change

I was the obstetrician on hospital duty that Sunday morning, so I introduced myself and learned that the patient, pregnant with her first child, wished to have as few interventions as possible. Respecting her desire, we decided to reevaluate her in a few hours to see how her labor had progressed. But would she get her wish? ... the odds were greater than 1 in 4 that this woman would end up not with the natural delivery she wanted, but with a surgical delivery in one of the two operating rooms down the hall.

4 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 3, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are urging the super committee to consider "all options."

3 Nov 2011

Analysis: How the health law shakes out if High Court overturns individual mandate

Politico examines this critical issue and offers various scenarios of what might happen if the mandate is struck down. Meanwhile, in other health law implementation news, media outlets offer a range of stories, including reports on health exchanges and association health plans.

3 Nov 2011

Viewpoints: GOP intransigence on super committee; taxing health benefits would backfire; the need for care in defining essential benefits

There may be logic to Speaker John Boehner's insidious intransigence. Republicans keep saying no and Democrats keep offering more concessions. Super committee Republicans suggested instead a package based largely on cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, combined with magical hundreds of billions they say would be produced by slashing assistance to the elderly and the vulnerable, by selling off government assets, and by the growth sparked by tax cuts.

3 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 2, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about Tuesday's super committee hearing and the message communicated by bipartisan budget hawks to the panel -- raise revenue and revamp health programs.

2 Nov 2011

Early retirees' health insurance fund running out

A federal report predicts this $5 billion account created as part of the health law will be drained by 2012. In related news, one senator criticizes the program's handling. Also drawing criticism are exchange regulations, which advocates say could undermine the law's goal of expanding health insurance. Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized standards - part of the administration's efforts to reduce health disparities - to track factors that affect people's health.

2 Nov 2011

Debating 'RomneyCare's' parenthood

The video is a lively - though civil - Republican-Democrat debate about whether it's fair to consider Massachusetts health reform as the "parent" of the federal health overhaul. As CommonWealth magazine executive editor Michael Jonas introduces it: Talking over the issue are Tim Murphy, who was Romney's secretary of health and human services and John McDonough, who was in the thick of the 2006 reform as director of Health Care for All.

2 Nov 2011

ACO rule revisions get nod from medical industry group

An influential medical group's change of heart is boosting President Barack Obama's plan to use Medicare to promote higher quality, less expensive care. The American Medical Group Association represents premier organizations like the Mayo Clinic, the models for the proposed "accountable care organizations" in Obama's health care overhaul law. The networks of doctors and hospitals will collaborate to keep patients healthier.

1 Nov 2011

State roundup: Public employee benefit controversy; Calif. hospital woes; Mass. medical homes

A centerpiece of Republican Gov. John Kasich's legislative agenda, the bill passed the Republican-dominated assembly in the spring. But opponents were able to gather 1.3 million signatures to halt the law's enactment and put it on the November 8 ballot for repeal. ... The bill allows bargaining on wages but bans it for health coverage, pensions or staffing levels. ... The law also requires firefighters, police officers and teachers to pay at least 15 percent of their health insurance premiums.

1 Nov 2011

Medicare costs rise as hospice use increases

The Orlando Sentinel reports that this increase tracks with other increases in costs from for-profit hospice organizations.

31 Oct 2011

State highlights: Wash. Gov. announces more budget cuts

For the fourth year in a row, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday outlined more than $1.5 billion in state cuts to health care, social services, prisons and education.The latest round would increase public-school class sizes, eliminate subsidized health care for the working poor and release hundreds of inmates early…. The state's Basic Health Plan would close, ending state-subsidized insurance for about 35,000 low-income people.

29 Oct 2011

New study highlights range of health law's Medicaid expansion estimates

The study, which was posted in Health Affairs online, makes clear the unknowns that surround this piece of the health law's implementation.

28 Oct 2011

Mass. health care costs could spell trouble for Romney

Mitt Romney's health care albatross isn't just the similarity between his Massachusetts health care overhaul and President Barack Obama's health reform law. It's also the fact that Massachusetts still has the highest health costs in the country - even after the reforms Romney signed into law as governor.

28 Oct 2011

Medicare Part B 2012 premiums lower than projected

The Obama administration today announced that premiums for Medicare Part B coverage in 2012 will be $99.90 a month for most beneficiaries, a smaller-than-expected increase over the $96.40 paid this year by a majority of elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Part B pays for physician visits, hospital outpatient costs and certain other services. A 3.6 percent Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, the first in three years, will more than make up for the small increase, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

28 Oct 2011

High Court justices could decide Nov. 10 which health law cases to hear

A closed-door meeting is on the justices' schedule during which they will review petitions regarding challenges to the health law. Their decision about how - and when - to proceed could be made public as soon as Nov. 14.

28 Oct 2011

Dems offer mixed views on CLASS Act's demise

But during a Wednesday congressional hearing, Department of Health and Human Services officials made clear that they really have stopped implementing the health law's long-term care insurance program, despite continuing pleas to give it another chance.

28 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 27, 2011

In today's news reports, details of the Super Committee's latest action -- the Dems' $3 Trillion Debt Deal, which includes a $400 Million Medicare Plan; and the GOP counter appoach.

27 Oct 2011