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Bush's efforts to rein in government spending places a dangerous target on health care

President George W. Bush today submitted his budget proposal to Congress for fiscal year 2009. In response Bruce Roberts, RPh, executive vice president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) issued the following statement:

4 Feb 2008

Massachusetts health care subsidy program cost, enrollment could double over three years

Commonwealth Care, Massachusetts' subsidized health insurance program, is expected to double in enrollment and cost by June 2011, which "would far outstrip the original plans" for the program "largely because state officials underestimated the number of uninsured residents," the Boston Globe reports.

4 Feb 2008

Florida Governor proposes $70B budget; includes $132M in cuts to Medicaid

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) on Thursday unveiled a $70 billion state budget for fiscal year 2009 that would reduce spending on health care by $132 million and that includes new initiatives to expand health coverage, the Orlando Sentinel reports (Kennedy/Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel, 2/1). Crist proposed reducing Medicaid reimbursements for HMOs by $60 million (Follick, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 2/1).

4 Feb 2008

Hillary Clinton discusses enforcement mechanism for health insurance mandate

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) on Sunday during an appearance on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" discussed her proposal to require all U.S. residents to obtain health insurance and "inched closer ... to explaining how she would enforce" the requirement but "declined to specify -- as she has throughout the campaign -- how she would penalize those who refuse," the New York Times reports.

4 Feb 2008

New analysis looks at how income affects the purchase of individual health coverage

With some federal and state policy makers considering ways to encourage more people to purchase non-group, or individual, health care coverage, a new analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers examines how often people at different income levels buy such coverage when they do not have access to employer coverage or do not obtain public coverage.

4 Feb 2008

BMA(NI) response to RPA announcement

Commenting on the Ministerial announcement today, 4 February 2008, on the Review of Public Administration, Dr Ailbe Beirne, Deputy Chairman of BMA(NI) said: "We are pleased to see the Minister continues to be committed to reform of the NHS here and we will be responding in full to the consultation, once it is in the public domain."

4 Feb 2008

New international task force to address health workforce financing

A new international task force was launched today to address how to finance the scaling up of the health workforce in the developing world.

31 Jan 2008

Cancer and end-of-life care research to receive boost from new Manchester Metropolitan University Professional Doctorate

Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has successfully launched a new part-time programme for experienced health and social care professionals to develop research skills without needing to step out of practice.

22 Jan 2008

NHPC tackles escalating health care costs, veterans health, comparative effectiveness research

Join experts from the Administration, Congress, and academia to discuss evidence-based solutions to the top health policy issues of 2008.

21 Jan 2008

British health service blamed for 17,000 unnecessary deaths each year

Campaigners in Britain say the National Health Service (NHS) is responsible for 17,000 unnecessary deaths each year because of poor performance.

20 Jan 2008

Hospitals commit to ambitious quality, safety and patient satisfaction goals

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Needham (BID-Needham) are taking unprecedented steps to commit each hospital to attain specific patient safety and satisfaction goals that would establish a new standard of care at each facility.

18 Jan 2008

Medical error reporting by doctors to hospitals seems underused

Actual medical error reporting by doctors to hospitals seems to occur less than it should when compared to physicians' views on whether they should report such errors, University of Iowa researchers said in the Jan. 14 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

15 Jan 2008