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Vote count: Obama's lobbying convinces some holdouts to back overhaul, but others still resist

The Washington Post: "President Obama claimed his first convert" - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, - "on health-care reform Wednesday, as senior Democrats, labor unions and an array of interest groups intensified their efforts to sway wavering lawmakers before a climactic vote in the House this weekend" (Montgomery and Kane, 3/18).

19 Mar 2010

Governor Rendell kicks off 18th birthday celebration for CHIP

Governor Edward G. Rendell today kicked off the 18th birthday celebration for CHIP, Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program.

19 Mar 2010

Coercing Congress members to vote for healthcare plan: Physicians' file lawsuit

On Thursday, March 18, lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice will appear in Federal District Court for oral argument in opposition to a request by physicians opposed to President Barack Obama's healthcare bill for an injunction barring his Administration "from undertaking in the future to intimidate or coerce any member of Congress" to vote for the plan.

19 Mar 2010

House Democrats continue push for weekend House vote on health reform measure

House Democratic leaders continued efforts to pick-up support for health reform in the House while also tinkering around the edges of the overhaul legislative package -- all in anticipation of a Sunday vote in the House.

19 Mar 2010

Downsizing and demotions at workplace can be a health hazard for older people

Downsizing and demotions at the workplace can be a health hazard for people over age 50, according to research reported in a recent issue of the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences (Volume 65B, Number 1).

19 Mar 2010

HealthCorps, California Walnut Board form new partnership

The California Walnut Board's commitment to nutrition education continues through a new partnership with HealthCorps®, a proactive health movement founded and chaired by Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University Medical Center.

19 Mar 2010

Members of IAM strongly oppose key provisions of health care reform

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) delivered a bipartisan thumping to both political parties as well as the White House in an online survey of workers' attitudes. But there can be no mistaking their strong opposition to key provisions of health care reform.

19 Mar 2010

CBO finds heath overhaul will cost $940 billion over 10 years but trim deficit

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., says the Congressional Budget Office has finished its analysis of the latest Democratic health overhaul bill, Politico is reporting. According to Hoyer, the plan will cost $940 billion over 10 years and will trim the federal deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years (Budoff-Brown, 3/18).

19 Mar 2010

AAO-HNS urges Congress to pass meaningful healthcare reform

The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, the nation’s largest organization representing ear, nose, and throat surgeons, urges Congress to address several critical issues in the pending healthcare reform legislation before a final vote is held.

19 Mar 2010

Pediatricians warn payment system may force them to stop accepting Medicaid patients

Doctors are increasingly turning away from accepting Medicaid patients as the payment system — and an increasing number of Medicaid patients — means they're losing money treating patients. In the Atlanta area, this is evidenced by the closing of two pediatric clinics.

19 Mar 2010

Tri-City Medical Center receives $71M senior loan from CapitalSource

CapitalSource, one of the leading commercial lenders in the United States, said today it is providing a $71 million senior loan to Tri-City Medical Center, a 397-bed, acute care hospital serving the North Coastal San Diego region of California.

19 Mar 2010

Pelosi, Obama defend procedure to pass reform

Roll Call: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed as a 'nonissue' a procedural maneuver House Democrats are eyeing to pass their health care overhaul in the wake of comments by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) that the move would be 'disingenuous' and harm Congressional credibility. House Democrats are considering a process that would allow them to avoid a separate vote on the unpopular Senate version of reform by deeming that measure passed once they approve a package of changes to it.

19 Mar 2010

Report cites rise in uninsured middle-class Americans

A report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at the rise in the level of uninsured middle-class people in the last eight years.

19 Mar 2010

GOP strategy: Delay, block, repeal

As Democrats focus on advancing health overhaul legislation in the House, Senate Republicans are plotting ways to delay or block the effort, Politico reports. "Republican aides have been mining the Senate's arcane parliamentary rules for an attack that aims at striking elements both broad and narrow from the bill, weakening the measure and ultimately defeating it."

19 Mar 2010

CDIs are becoming significant issue in healthcare institutions: Study

Clostridium difficile infections are quickly becoming a significant issue in healthcare based upon recent studies. Preliminary data collected from nursing homes and highlighted in a Supplementary Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory shows that almost 40 percent of gastrointestinal infections reported are CDIs.

19 Mar 2010

Advertising, fundraising money talks in health care debate

NPR's Julie Rovner fact-checked several of the television ads being run about the health care debate. She found fault with several major ads, including ones sponsored by American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the liberal group Americans United for Change, National Republican Campaign Committee, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

19 Mar 2010

As reform hangs in balance, policy benefits continue to be discussed

NPR reports on the immediate effects of the proposed health care bill, and that Congressional Democrats are focusing on those benefits in messages to constituents. "The White House is trying to shift the conversation away from the messy legislative process — which Republicans are keying on — and instead focus on what the health care overhaul would do for families and businesses."

19 Mar 2010

Wellpoint draws flak for infulfilled promise to help uninsured

The health insurance company WellPoint delivered on only about one-fifth of a $30-million pledge to help the uninsured, the Los Angeles Times reports.

19 Mar 2010

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health awarded $15 million for lab renovation

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will receive nearly $15 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for renovation and modernization of laboratory space at its main facility at 615 N. Wolfe Street in Baltimore, Md.

18 Mar 2010

A right to health care? wrong!

Years of debating liberal friends and colleagues has brought me to an understanding: This question is at the core of the debate. The absurd notion of a “right” to health care underlies the movement towards socialized medicine. If this right does exist, it becomes a moral imperative to guarantee it for all, i.e. “universal coverage.”

18 Mar 2010