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Industry leaders offer solutions for health care reform

The Chicago Tribune published a series of articles on industry's solutions for health care reform. The paper "turned to Chicago-area leaders in three key segments of the industry: insurers, medical providers and pharmacy," and presented their "thoughts on how best to expand medical-care coverage to all Americans."

5 Jun 2009

Debate over taxing health benefits picks up

"As the debate on how to fix health care picks up pace, so does discussion about one of the most lucrative ways to pay for it:" taxing employer-provided health benefits, CNN reports. The "tax-free arrangement" in which an employer's contribution to employee health benefit "is treated as tax-free to the employee in terms of income tax and payroll tax," was "born during the days of wage control in 1943."

5 Jun 2009

Key health IT definition expected soon

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's number-two man, Charles Friedman, told industry members that an official definition of the term "meaningful use" of health information technology is "in the works" and they should expect its release "in the not too distant future."

5 Jun 2009

With shrinking budgets, states cutting health services

As state revenues continue their downturn due to the recession, 16 states are trying to find ways to deal with increased health care costs, The New York Times reports: "The carnage in state budgets is getting worse, a report said Thursday, with places like Arizona being hurt by falling revenue on multiple fronts, like personal income and sales taxes. Other states are having mixed experiences, with some tax categories stable, or even rising, even as others fall off the map."

5 Jun 2009

Panel discusses health care issues in Black America

CNN's Soledad O'Brien hosted a panel discussion on health care issues facing African-Americans in preparation for "Black in America 2, a CNN investigation about the most challenging issues facing African-Americans that will premiere July 22 and 23. The video touches on health care disparities in the African-American community and concurrent social issues that affect care.

5 Jun 2009

Hoyer objects to Medicare cost control plan

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he disagrees with President Obama's support of transferring Congress's price-setting powers over Medicare to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which now acts as an advisory panel, USA Today reports.

5 Jun 2009

GOP balking at public plan in health care reform

Inclusion of a government-run public insurance plan to compete with private insurers could endanger bipartisan support of a health care reform bill as Republicans stand firm against it, The Associated Press reports.

5 Jun 2009

Senate Finance ‘Dems’ back public plan, ‘Blue Dogs’ back away

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee expects the Senate's health care overhaul proposal to include a public health insurance plan, Dow Jones Newswire reports, adding that Baucus was "following the lead of President Obama and drawing a line in the sand on the controversial issue." The President strongly supported the public option in a letter to senators Wednesday.

5 Jun 2009

Delays to seeing docs stretch on

A new study finds the average wait for a medical appointment has increased by more than a week since 2004, to 8.6 days, USA Today reports.

4 Jun 2009

Hackers going after medical records

Hackers raided a server at the University of California, Berkeley last fall, stealing everything from Social Security numbers to immunization records in an episode that highlights one danger of moving health information from file cabinets to cyberspace, Forbes reports in a first-person account by one of the 160,000 victims.

4 Jun 2009

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies

"Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, an increase of 50 percent in just six years, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday," according to Reuters.

4 Jun 2009

Dodd: HELP Committee to release reform bill within days

An initial version of health reform legislation could be available "in the next several days," Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told Dow Jones Newswires.

4 Jun 2009

New taxes could help pay for reform, but would cost political capital

The first, a possible new tax on at least some employer-sponsored health benefits, has support from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. But during last year's presidential campaign, President Obama spoke out strongly against just such a plan when his opponent, Sen. John McCain suggested it, Roll Call reports.

4 Jun 2009

Obama open to using MedPAC to set Medicare payment rates

As the administration searches for ways to pay for health care reform and restrain medical costs, President Obama suggested Wednesday that he would consider transferring the power to set Medicare reimbursement rates from Congress to the independent advisory agency known as MedPAC, MedPage Today reports.

4 Jun 2009

Government-run insurance program gets Presidential push

President Barack Obama yesterday detailed his support for "government-run insurance program that would compete with private insurers," CQ Politics reports.

4 Jun 2009

Indian Health Service loses equipment at alarming rate

The Associated Press reports that "the Indian Health Service is continuing to lose equipment at an alarming rate despite efforts to better account for the agency's property, according to congressional investigators.

4 Jun 2009

President Obama "open" to coverage mandate for all Americans

President Obama on Wednesday signaled in a letter to top Senate Democrats that he may be open to requiring all Americans to have health insurance coverage as part of health care reform.

4 Jun 2009

Health reform debate players weigh in on their roles

ABC News says Dr. Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel, special health adviser to the president's budget director, "has emerged as a key behind-the-scenes player for what could be the biggest overhaul of the nation's health care system in the past two decades." The brother of President Obama's chief of staff and is nervous that something could go wrong in the process.

4 Jun 2009

GOP: public plan option big obstacle to health reform

Democrats and Republicans moved further apart this afternoon over the possibility of including a public plan in any health care reform legislation.

4 Jun 2009

African health advocates meet in Kenya to discuss need for governments to improve basic healthcare services

Health advocates at a civil society meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, called for African governments to improve access to basic health care, IRIN reports. "African governments are failing to offer even the most basic healthcare that could save lives, speakers warned," writes IRIN.

4 Jun 2009