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Family planning will not be included in Canada's G8 maternal health initiative, Foreign Minister says

"Canada's 'signature' initiative at June's G8 summit - a strategy to improve the health of mothers and young children in poor countries" will not include family planning programs, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail reports. Cannon said the initiative "does not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning. Indeed, the purpose of this is to be able to save lives."

18 Mar 2010

Dems move forward with 'deem and pass' strategy; Some Dem. holdouts express support for reform

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room: "The House will have a clean up-or-down vote on the Senate's healthcare vote in the form of a rules vote, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday. As Democrats prepare to move forward with health reform efforts, Hoyer seemed to confirm the so-called 'deem and pass' strategy that would see the House indirectly approve the Senate's health bill through a vote on a rule making changes to it.

18 Mar 2010

Senate parliamentarian wields authority over Democrats' health care efforts

The Associated Press: "When Congress battles over thorny bills, parliamentarian Alan Frumin has been known to sleep in his office — on call 24/7 as the Senate's Solomon, divining the answers. Frumin's ability to review long-standing rules and centuries of precedent to resolve Senate questions makes the mustachioed parliamentarian something of a Washington rock star these days.

18 Mar 2010

House Democratic leader twisting arms of the rank-and-file; Tracking health reform vote tally

Democrats are pressuring fellow members to accept the health care reform legislation and are playing hardball to secure votes for the health reform package.

18 Mar 2010

House Democrats move health bill with controversial, complicated strategy

House Democrats have started the clock to a landmark vote on sweeping changes to America's health care system.

17 Mar 2010

Obama makes a final overhaul pitch in Ohio

With a possible deciding vote on health care overhaul legislation nearing, President Obama traveled Monday to Ohio to make a last-minute plea for political "courage" to pass the legislation, The Washington Post reports. "Making an impassioned pitch in a part of the country where unemployment runs high and insurance coverage is uncertain, Obama said in a speech at a senior center here, 'I don't know about the politics, but I know what's the right thing to do'" (Slevin and Branigin, 3/15).

17 Mar 2010

Democrats making final push for health reform votes

The Associated Press: As "Democratic leaders make a desperate scramble for votes," President Obama "is wooing freshman Democrats in the Oval Office, holding at least two one-on-one sessions in the past few days that never appeared on his official schedule, according to aides to two lawmakers invited, Reps. Scott Murphy, D-N.Y., and Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla.," who both voted no on a House health reform measure last year.

17 Mar 2010

Catholic Bishops oppose health bill, while other Catholic groups offer support

McClatchy: "The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Monday it opposes the Democratic health care plan heading for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives because of its language on abortion. The group noted that it liked the House health care bill because it would continue the strict ban on federal financing of abortion.

17 Mar 2010

Health ad campaigns emerge in final days of debate

As Congress approaches a possible finale to its year-long health debate, advertisements that attempt to influence the results have flooded airwaves, Time reports. "Across the country, groups on all sides of the health care reform debate have been targeting swing members of Congress with costly ad campaigns." Firms, industry groups, unions and advocacy organizations could spend $24 million this week alone, on top of $200 million already spent on health overhaul-related ads (Scherer, 3/16).

16 Mar 2010

Clinton delivers speech at U.N. women's meeting as conference closes

"Calling the subjugation of women a threat to American security, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary [Rodham] Clinton made a vibrant plea to give equal rights to women around the world," during a speech a the U.N. on Friday, Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Mar 2010

New guidelines to emphasize safety of dental treatment during pregnancy

Spotlighting the importance of oral health care for expectant mothers, the California Dental Association Foundation has released new guidelines designed to emphasize the safety of dental treatment during pregnancy and ensure women the services they need.

16 Mar 2010

Major Catholic health group support Democrats' health reform

Catholic World: ''Breaking with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the president of the Catholic Health Association has endorsed the Senate health care reform legislation that is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week."

16 Mar 2010

Issues over abortion, reconciliation rules remain in the path of health reform vote

A host of political challenges and possible pitfalls awaits lawmakers as they push toward a final vote on health reform -- among them, abortion, reconciliation rules and immigration.

15 Mar 2010

Health on The Hill: March 15, 2010

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with KFF's Jackie Judd and Edward Epstein from Congressional Quarterly about the weekend's health reform action on Capitol Hill.

15 Mar 2010

Today's Opinions and Editorials

After a year of national debate, a handful of House Democrats who oppose abortion may be the ones to decide whether health care reform goes forward or not. ... We are puzzled and dismayed that these legislators are willing to waste that opportunity because they say the onerous anti-abortion provisions in the Senate's bill are still not onerous enough (3/14).

15 Mar 2010

Insurers describe coverage of abortion in states with separate premiums

The Washington Post explores the use of riders on health insurance policies to cover abortion, a proposal that has sparked controversy in the national health overhaul debate. "In North Dakota, where insurers can cover abortions if customers pay a separate premium, the state's largest provider says it sells no abortion policies because no one has asked to buy one," The Post reports.

15 Mar 2010

Health bill update: Pelosi counting votes, Scott Brown lambastes Dems

News outlets reported that Democrats seeking to pass a health bill next week got a boost from a Cabinet official, a key senator and the Catholic Health Association, while newly-elected Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., attacked the Democrats' plans.

15 Mar 2010

Democrats look for consensus on final health overhaul package

Democrats Thursday looked for a way forward on a health reform bill as colleagues in the House worried about abortion, other provisions and Senate passage of a reconciliation measure.

12 Mar 2010

First Editon: March 12, 2010

Today's headlines focus on Democratic leaders' ongoing efforts to reach health care consensus and push a bill forward. Meanwhile, the GOP is ready to use the majority party's overhaul vote as a political tool in upcoming elections.

12 Mar 2010

Powerful Catholic quietly shaping abortion, health bill debate

Kaiser Health News reports on Richard Doerflinger, who doesn't look the part of a high-powered political strategist. Bearded and bespectacled, he works in a small, cluttered office out of one of Washington's less fashionable neighborhoods, far from the lobbying bastions of K Street.

12 Mar 2010