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Renowned experts discuss key statistics of health care reform at 2010 Keenan Summit

Keenan & Associates, the largest privately-held insurance brokerage and consulting firm in California, convened its sixth annual Keenan Summit on March 3, 2010, in Pasadena, Calif., and on March 4, 2010, in Berkeley. The theme for this year's summit was "Navigating Through Unprecedented Times: Today's Challenges. Tomorrow's Solutions."

26 Mar 2010

Overhaul will affect other economic sectors, not just health care

Health-overhaul legislation signed into law this week will affect not only America's health care industry, but the broader economy, too, The Christian Science Monitor reports. The overhaul could help create jobs. "But the legislation also means tax hikes, mainly on the highest-income Americans. And provisions designed to curb healthcare costs probably aren't strong enough to put a big dent in medical inflation - or federal budget deficits" (Trumbull, 3/24).

26 Mar 2010

Obama's closed-door signing of executive order on abortion funding raises objections

President Barack Obama signed an executive order Wednesday pledging that no federal funding will be used for abortion under the new health bill.

26 Mar 2010

With reform, community health centers will see federal funds double

The Wall Street Journal reports that the health overhaul bill signed by President Barack Obama will increase spending "by $10 billion over five years for [some] clinics, known as community health centers. An additional $2.5 billion is included in a package of changes to that bill, which is expected to get final approval in Congress as soon as this week."

26 Mar 2010

Constitutional expert says new health reform law should stand up to legal court challenges

The newly signed health care reform law should stand up well to legal court challenges, says constitutional expert and political scientist Mark Graber of the University of Maryland.

26 Mar 2010

White House scrambles to fix health bill language on covering sick kids

The White House is seeking to nail down a provision in the new law it says bars insurers from denying coverage to sick kids starting this year.

26 Mar 2010

Health IT roundup: Fears of hackers, efforts at fraud prevention

Some privacy advocates say the government is seeking to move too quickly to digitize health records, and may risk exposing sensitive information to identity thieves and hackers. These privacy advocates appear to favor slow progress is spreading electronic records because - they hope - consumer safeguards can keep up with that pace.

26 Mar 2010

Coverage for sick kids under question in new law

Kaiser Health News staff writers Phil Galewitz and Andrew Villegas write that while Democrats have said that the new health law "would immediately stop insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions, ... health advocates and some insurers say the law does not clearly state that such protection starts this year.

26 Mar 2010

GOP forces second house vote on health reconciliation bill

Senate Republicans found a way to force a second House vote on a health reform reconciliation bill after identifying parliamentary flaws, including one in the calculation of a student loan provision.

26 Mar 2010

New interactive Web site for veterans and military family members

Geisinger recently launched www.PAVetFamilyWeb.com. This Web site is designed to serve Pennsylvania families who are coping with military separations and multiple deployments of a service member as well as caregivers, wounded warriors, service members and military veterans.

26 Mar 2010

Obama to pitch health care law in Iowa

President Obama Thursday will try to convince a wavering public that a new health care reform law will benefit their lives as he travels to Iowa City for a rally where he first called for health care legislation as a presidential candidate.

26 Mar 2010

Human rights organization calls for national action to combat rising pregnancy-related complications

Amnesty International today pointed to new government figures showing the highest-ever rate of Caesarean sections as more evidence the United States needs to adopt guidelines for the use of obstetric procedures to begin reversing rising pregnancy complications and maternal deaths.

26 Mar 2010

It's over: House passes last piece of landmark health reform, 220-207

Politico: "Congress completed its work Thursday night on the broadest social legislation in almost a half-century, as the House capped the year-long legislative saga over health reform by signing off on a package of fixes to the newly minted law. In the end, the titanic battle over remaking the American health care system drew to a close on a pair of votes drained of suspense - after the Senate approved the clean-up bill earlier Thursday. The House approved the clean-up bill, 220 to 207" (Budoff Brown, 3/25).

26 Mar 2010

Medicare Roundup: Changes from health reform, payments for HIV patients

USA Today: "Perhaps the biggest factor in whether your Medicare costs will rise or fall depends on your Medicare plan. There are two: a traditional Medicare plan run by the federal government and Medicare Advantage, which is run by private insurance companies. Medicare Advantage costs more than the traditional plan, but provides more generous benefits.

26 Mar 2010

Medicare pay cut for doctors still looms at end of month

"A health care overhaul may now be in place, but a pay cut for Medicare reimbursements to physicians looms again at the end of the month, and the president-elect of the American Medical Association said Wednesday that doctors are continuing to pursue a permanent fix for the system," CQ Health Beat reports.

26 Mar 2010

Comparative effectiveness research in reform legislation seeks to control health costs

Within the health bill is an element that "has generated far less attention and political heat than other parts of the White House's plan to expand medical coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.

26 Mar 2010

Lack of good health care curtails academic performance: Study

"Educationally relevant health disparities" are key drivers of the achievement gap, "but they are largely overlooked," said Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

25 Mar 2010

ASCO, ESMO and OECI endorse WIN Symposium's initiatives on improving outcomes of cancer

The WIN Consortium, supported by its media partner Nature Publishing Group, has opened registration for the second annual WIN Symposium, to be held in the Palais des Congrès, Paris, on the 7th to 9th of July 2010. The WIN Symposium is an open and interactive forum designed to promote rapid translation of ground-breaking personalized cancer medicine discoveries to clinical practice.

25 Mar 2010

Supporters, opponents plan new P.R. blitz

The health law is signed - though some changes are still pending - but the fight continues, The Washington Post reports. "Interest groups that spent the past year fighting over President Obama's health-care overhaul are quickly transforming themselves for battle in a new arena, working to sway the law to their benefit while helping the lawmakers who supported them during the bruising legislative debate. For instance, labor unions and industry lobbying groups will attempt to influence regulation writing. Progressives and unions will spend millions to sell the still-controversial plan to voters. Conservatives who opposed it are now retargeting their ire to vulnerable Democratic lawmakers who supported the legislation

25 Mar 2010

States begin legal challenge to new health law but experts raise doubts about their chances

Attorneys general from 13 states sued the federal government yesterday, arguing the landmark health care overhaul is unconstitutional just seven minutes after President Obama signed it into law.

25 Mar 2010