First Edition: May 12, 2010

Today's headlines include reports about new congressional budget office projections that increase the 10-year costs of the health overhaul law.

Medical Fraud: 'Unless You're Very, Very Aggressive, You're Going to Lose A Lot Of Money' Kaiser Health News staff writer Andrew Villegas reports that "every year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services loses an estimated $65 billion to criminals who defraud the health care system, according to Lou Saccoccio, executive director of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association. And it's his mission to stop it" (Kaiser Health News).

Washington Post Event: Health Reform And Its Implications In this video, Washington Post staff writers, David Hilzenrath, Amy Goldstein, Ceci Connolly, Alec MacGillis and David Brown, also contributors to the Post's new book, Landmark: The Inside Story Of America's New Health Care Law And What It Means For Us All, discuss the new health care law and its implications. The event was moderated by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Jackie Judd.

Health-Care Overhaul Is Up Against Long Campaign Across U.S. Efforts to block a key provision of the new health-care overhaul law are underway in 33 states, as a growing roster of mostly Republican officials have mounted legal and legislative challenges to an eventual requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty tax (The Washington Post).

Dems Sell Health Law Benefits The Obama administration Tuesday night gave more shape to its health reform selling strategy: focus on the early roll-out of tangible benefits and, if all goes as planned, win over a skeptical public more than any argument ever could (Politico).

Health Overhaul Law Potentially Costs $115B More President Barack Obama's new health care law could potentially add at least $115 billion more to government health care spending over the next 10 years, congressional budget referees said Tuesday (The Associated Press).

CBO Ups Health Care Cost Projections Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections (Politico).

Missouri To Vote In August On Health Insurance Mandate Missouri is poised to become the first state to put a new federal health insurance mandate to a vote of its residents (The Associated Press).

White House Obesity Plan Mixes Carrots With Sticks The White House is calling on food makers to curb marketing of unhealthy foods to children, part of a broad assault against childhood obesity.The recommendation is part of an 120-page report released Tuesday that outlines steps to fight the national epidemic. One in every three children ages 2-19 is overweight or obese, the report says. First Lady Michelle Obama has taken up childhood obesity as her signature cause (The Wall Street Journal).

Review Finds Missteps In Delaware Doctor Abuse Case The state of Delaware missed several red-flag warnings that could have led to an earlier arrest of pediatrician Earl Bradley, accused of raping or abusing more than 103 children since 1998, a four-month analysis of the case concluded Tuesday (The News Journal/USA Today).

Disabled Veterans Face A Faceless Bureaucracy The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to cope with tens of thousands of veterans filing for disability benefits. Because there are applicants from two current wars — plus a new wave from the first Gulf War and Vietnam — thousands are now stuck in the clogged pipeline. This is the second of a five-part series (NPR).

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