Kaiser Health News - Medicare

Health Care Politics: Romney's 'Day One Repeal' Pledge Lacks Specifics, Michelle Obama Steers Clear Of Some Health Issues

Sun, 20 May 2012 16:36:00 GMT

News coverage of politics centered around the significant differences between Mitt Romney and other Republicans and the Obama administration.

National Journal: Campaigns Clash Over Economic Policy, Jobs
Surrogates for the Obama and Romney campaigns traded barbs over fundamental differences in economic policy and job creation on Sunday. Former Council of Economic Advisers chairman Austan Goolsbee said the Obama administration did not want a “government-directed approach.” ... Goolsbee said Mitt Romney, in contrast, wants to cut high income earners’ taxes and “crush Social Security and Medicare" (McCarthy, 5/20).

Politico: Goolsbee Defensive On Obama Deficits
Goolsbee quibbled with Fox host Chris Wallace’s statement that Obama did not embrace the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission’s recommendations, saying that the president did not accept the whole plan but “embraced the central idea” of three dollars in spending cuts for every one new dollar of revenue. ... [Republican Rep. Paul] Ryan said he opposed Bowles-Simpson because it did not deal with health care costs related to the federal overhaul, but he noted that he put out his alternative budget (Hohmann, 5/20).

MSNBC: Romney's 'Day One': What Do We Know About His Plan?
Romney's new ad calls for not just the repeal of "ObamaCare," but its replacement, as well. If part or all of the law were allowed to stand following the Supreme Court's ruling next month, Romney would have some options to undo the law on his first day in office, but they would be limited. ... Romney repeated his promise to issue a waiver to states, allowing them to duck some of the requirements of health care reform that conservatives find most onerous. But many other parts of the law would remain in effect (O'Brien, 5/18).

The Associated Press: Romney, US Sen. Brown Play Down Past Connections
Massachusetts Republicans Mitt Romney and Scott Brown have a history of supporting each other throughout their political careers. But with each facing a tough election, neither the presidential candidate nor the U.S. senator is playing up that history ... Romney has said Roe v. Wade should be reversed. Brown says a woman should have the right to an abortion, although he opposes federal money for the procedure. ... Democrats note that Romney and Brown both supported an amendment in the U.S. Senate this year that would have allowed employers or health insurers to deny coverage for services they said violated their moral or religious beliefs, including birth control. The amendment failed (LeBlanc, 5/20).

The Washington Post: Michelle Obama’s Campaign Strategy: Steering Clear Of The Hot Issues
Despite a fierce national debate over policies affecting women, with the Obama campaign driving a conversation on issues such as abortion rights and renewing the Violence Against Women Act, Michelle Obama has been quiet on these divisive subjects. A Harvard-educated lawyer and one-time executive at the University of Chicago Hospitals, she has largely sidestepped the pending Supreme Court decision on health care, instead focusing on the importance of seeing three women on the court’s bench and the benefits of the law to American families (Thompson, 5/19).

Geithner Pushes Back Against GOP Calls For Long-Term Cuts To Medicare, Social Security

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:35:11 GMT

The Wall Street Journal: Geithner Says Austerity Alone Won't Work
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sharpened the Obama administration's criticism of Republican fiscal policy in a speech Thursday, pushing back against the GOP on calls for immediate spending cuts and long-term plans for Social Security and Medicare. Geithner offered a broad-based critique of what he called an "economic agenda of severe, immediate austerity, combined with deep, permanent cuts in education and the safety net for retirees" (Crittenden, 5/17).

First Edition: May 18, 2012

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:28:20 GMT

Today's headlines include a report that congressional conservatives are fighting amongst themselves over health law strategies.

Kaiser Health News: Innovation Grants: Adding Resources To Ideas To Improve Health Care Delivery
Kaiser Health News staff writer Christian Torres reports: "To save on health care, you have to invest in it. At least that's the thinking of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Last week, the CMS innovation center awarded 26 grants – worth a total of $122.6 million – to a variety of health care organizations. If these plans for better patient care pan out, the programs estimate they could reap about $254 million in savings over three years" (Torres, 5/17). Read the story.

Politico: Right Infighting Over Health Care
Thirty minutes. That's the roughly time it took for conservatives to jump all over Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team after the GOP's game plan for dealing with President Barack Obama’s health care law leaked to the media. … The behind-the-scenes fight among Republicans richly illustrates why House GOP leadership is so cautious, sensitive and calculating when it comes to dealing with the conservative right. POLITICO obtained the email chain, the contents of which show that health care reform remains just as emotional an issue as ever (Sherman, 5/17).

The Associated Press: Nearly 62,000 'Uninsurable' Patients Could Lose Coverage If The Health Care Law Is Overturned
Cancer patient Kathy Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she'd be dead if it weren’t for President Barack Obama’s health care law. Now the Florida small businesswoman is worried the Supreme Court will strike down her lifeline. Under the law, Watson and nearly 62,000 other “uninsurable” patients are getting coverage through a little-known program for people who have been turned away by insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions. … State officials who administer the federal pre-existing condition plan in 27 states are trying to make fallback arrangements in case the law is invalidated and coverage suddenly terminates (5/17).

Politico: User Fee Bill May Hinge On Drug Tracking System
Perhaps the biggest piece of unsettled business in the massive Food and Drug Administration user fee bill is whether it will include a national system for tracking drugs — an effort to combat the menace of counterfeit medications (Norman, 5/17).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: FDA Approves Sales Of Generic Versions Of Blood Thinner By Multiple Companies
Patients taking the popular blood thinner Plavix now have the option of getting a less-expensive pill, following the approval Thursday of the first generic versions in the U.S. That's because the patent for Plavix, the world's second-best-selling medicine, just expired. Plavix is taken by millions of people every day to prevent heart attacks and strokes, by preventing platelets in the blood from clumping together (5/17).

The Hill’s Healthwatch Blog: Fury Over Birth-Control Mandate Trails HHS Sec. Sebelius To Georgetown
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will visit Georgetown University on Friday for a speech that has raised Catholic ire in light of the Obama administration's birth-control coverage mandate. … Leaders in the U.S. Catholic Church have loudly called on the administration to repeal the mandate, and as recently as this week threatened to sue the government barring "prompt" action on the issue by Congress (Viebeck, 5/17).

NPR Shots Blog: Embattled Hospital Debt Collector Taps Politicians For Defense
So what do you do when you're accused of hitting up sick patients in the hospital to pay their bills — sometimes even before they get treatment? Well, if you're Chicago-based Accretive Health, under fire by not only the Minnesota Attorney General but key members of Congress and possibly the Obama Administration, you fight fire with fire. You line up your own set of political defenders (Rovner, 5/17).

The New York Times: Report Details Medicaid Overpayments To New York State
The federal government paid New York State $700 million more in 2009 than the state needed to care for residents with developmental disabilities who lived in its institutions, according to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington (Hakim, 5/18).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Ethics Panel Debates How To Develop Child Protections Against Anthrax, Other Bioterror Threats
Controversy over whether to open pediatric studies of the anthrax vaccine led Sebelius to ask the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to tackle the question. The commission began its deliberations Thursday; recommendations are expected by year's end. Sebelius made clear that the question is far broader than anthrax. "There are serious ethical issues around the development of medical countermeasures for children" in general, she said (5/17).

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Budget Politics And Posturing Continues At Both Ends Of Pennsylvania Avenue

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:36:00 GMT

Even as congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama on budget matters, the Senate voted on -- and rejected -- a series of budget proposals. Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner draws a line in the sand regarding the next vote to raise the federal debt limit.

Los Angeles Times: Congress' Partisan Fight Persists Despite High-Level Overture
As President Obama welcomed congressional leaders for a White House chat over hoagies about setting aside differences to improve the economy, a far different scenario was unfolding at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Republicans in the House and Senate were conducting a series of partisan maneuvers Wednesday on legislation that has no chance of reaching the president's desk. The votes in the Senate on budget measures, which would slash social programs and revamp Medicare, were designed to underscore the GOP's alternatives to Obama's policies in advance of the November election (Mascaro, 5/16).

The Fiscal Times: Boehner to Dems: We Won't Blink First on Debt Deal
The political fault lines and tensions between the two parties heading into the crucial fall presidential and congressional elections were on full display yesterday during the third annual fiscal summit sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. "When the time comes, I will again insist on my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase," [House Speaker John] Boehner said in the closing speech of the day (Pianin, 3/16).

The Washington Post: Senate Rejects Obama Budget, Republican Alternatives
Among the Republican plans advanced on the floor was the spending plan authored by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). It would balance the budget over the next three decades, in part by cutting deeply into social safety network spending and revamping Medicare. Like Obama’s budget, it failed to garner adequate votes to continue to a full debate. Republicans forced the series of budget votes to highlight Democrats' failure to advance their own plan. The Senate rejected Obama’s budget on a 0 to 99 vote (Helderman, 5/16).

The New York Times' The Caucus: Senate Republicans Engineer Rebuke On Budget
Republicans charged that Democrats have been derelict in their statutory duty to bring forward a budget. No long-term solution to the nation's fiscal problems can be reached, they say, unless both parties are willing to agree on their visions for spending and taxes, then go to the table to negotiate. Democratic leaders have made it clear that they do not want to subject their members to the politically difficult votes Republicans would spring on them if they brought a budget to the floor (Weisman, 5/16).

The Associated Press: Senate Democrats Reject House GOP Budget Plan
Democrats controlling the Senate rejected for the second year in a row Wednesday a budget plan passed by House Republicans. The 58-41 vote against the GOP budget came after a daylong debate in which Democrats blasted Republicans for refusing to consider tax increases as part of a solution to trillion-dollar deficits, and Republicans in turn attacked Democrats for not offering a budget at all (Taylor, 5/16).

First Edition: May 17, 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:45:21 GMT

Today's headlines includes reports about the deadline set by the federal government regarding the creation of state-based health insurance exchanges.

Kaiser Health News: Can I Pay Negotiated Rates When I Pay Out Of Pocket? (Video)
Kaiser Health News’ Insuring Your Health columnist Michelle Andrews responds to a readers question about how to get the negotiated rates insurers pay even when paying for a medical procedure directly (5/16). Watch the video.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Senate Panel Looks At Innovative Health Care Strategies; States Must Submit Plans For Insurance Marketplaces By Nov. 16; Targeting Diabetes Prevention Among Medicare Beneficiaries; D.C. Health Program For Illegal Immigrants Avoids Cuts
Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Mary Agnes Carey reports on Wednesday's Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing: "No matter how the Supreme Court rules next month on the challenges to the 2010 health care law, there will be a continued focus on making the health care system more efficient, and senators looked at some promising options Wednesday" (Carey, 5/17).

Julie Appleby reports: "States must provide details to the federal government by Nov. 16 – just 10 days after the presidential election – on how they will run online insurance marketplaces, according to guidance released Wednesday" (Appleby, 5/16). In addition, Shefali S. Kulkarni reports on diabetes prevention efforts: "Recent studies might suggest an increase of Type 2 diabetes among children and young adults, but the real low hanging fruit, according to diabetes and policy experts, may be among the Medicare population" (Kulkarni, 5/16).

Also on the blog, Sarah Barr reports on a D.C. health program for illegal immigrants: "A public health insurance program that primarily serves illegal immigrants in the District of Columbia avoided the chopping block Tuesday under a budget compromise approved by the D.C. Council" (Barr, 5/16). Check out what else is on the blog.

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Senate Democrats Reject House GOP Budget Plan But Don't Offer Alternative
Each GOP measure, though, would sharply cut domestic programs and called for a dramatic transformation of Medicare that would turn it into a voucher-like program in which future beneficiaries, those presently under the age of 55, would have to buy health insurance on the open market rather than have the government pay hospital and doctor bills. Democrats called for a "balanced" solution blending tax increases on wealthier people with less severe spending cuts (5/16).

Reuters/Chicago Tribune: Taxes Lurk Behind Court Test Of Obama Health Law
While Supreme Court watchers focus on the controversial insurance requirement in President Barack Obama's healthcare law, lesser known is that the court's ruling next month will also decide the fate of billions of dollars in new taxes. The 2010 law includes a 3.8-percent boost in taxes on investment income and a 0.9-percent increase in the Medicare payroll tax, both hitting people who earn more than $200,000 a year (Dixon, 5/16).

The Wall Street Journal: Bid To Coax States On Health Exchanges
The Obama administration on Wednesday made a fresh bid to coax reluctant governors to work with the federal government to help enact the health-overhaul law. The move centers on new marketplaces that sell health insurance, a key plank of the law that states are supposed to open by 2014. Republican governors, who lead 29 of the 50 states, are divided over whether to set up the exchanges, which would allow consumers to shop for insurance plans if they don't receive affordable coverage through an employer (Radnofsky, 5/16).

Reuters/Chicago Tribune: U.S. Sets Deadline For Proposals On State Healthcare Exchanges
The Department for Health and Human Services released a detailed blueprint of the legal and operational requirements states must meet in their proposals if they expect to win federal approval to begin operating regulated insurance markets, in whole or in part, by January 1, 2014, when the 2010 law is scheduled to come into full force (5/16).

Politico: Health Care Reform: GOP Preps Plan For Ruling On Law
House Republican leaders are quietly hatching a plan of attack as they await a historic Supreme Court ruling on President Barack Obama's health care law. If the law is upheld, Republicans will take to the floor to tear out its most controversial pieces, such as the individual mandate and requirements that employers provide insurance or face fines (Sherman and Haberkorn, 5/16).

Los Angeles Times: Crossroads GPS Fires Back At Obama With $25-Million Ad Buy
The 2012 campaign air battle grew more intense Wednesday with the news that Crossroads GPS, the cash-flush conservative advocacy group, is pouring another $25 million into television ads castigating President Obama for "broken" promises. The massive ad buy matches the $25 million that Obama's reelection campaign announced last week it would be spending on a month of TV airtime. … The commercial charges Obama with, among other items, raising taxes through his health care reform plan and failing to meet his pledge to cut the deficit in half (Gold, 5/16).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Ad By Outside Group Accuses Obama Of Broken Promises On Health Care, Taxes And Deficit
The ad is from Crossroads GPS, the sister group of American Crossroads, a super PAC that has promised to raise millions of dollars to defeat Obama. A 30-second abridged version of the ad is also airing. The two ads are the latest in the intensifying TV ad war focusing on 10 presidential battleground states about six months before the fall election. The $8 million dollar buy for the two spots is part of a monthlong $25 million ad campaign by Crossroads GPS (5/16).

The Washington Post's The Fact Checker: Obama: Broken Promises On Taxes And Health Care?
The Republican-aligned Crossroads GPS has scheduled a massive $25 million ad buy, starting with this hard-hitting ad that purports to list a bunch of "broken promises" by President Obama. We are not going to quibble with some of these claims. The president, for instance, certainly has not met his pledge to cut the budget deficit in half. But we were interested in exploring more carefully the two health care-related items (Kessler, 5/17).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius To Address Georgetown Grads, Despite Church Criticism
A planned graduation speech by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Georgetown University is going forward, despite criticism from the Archdiocese of Washington that Sebelius is an inappropriate choice for the Jesuit school (5/16).

The Wall Street Journal: Georgetown Defends Sebelius Invitation
Georgetown University is defending an invitation for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to address its graduate students Friday amid criticism from Catholics angry with the Obama administration's health policies. Ms. Sebelius is set to speak at an awards ceremony at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute immediately after its commencement event (Radnofsky, 5/17).

The New York Times: New Fight On A Speaker At A Catholic University
As a two-term governor of Kansas, Ms. Sebelius was told by her bishop that she should be denied communion at Mass because of her support for abortion rights. As health secretary, she has been vilified for upholding the mandate in the health care overhaul that requires even religiously affiliated institutions to provide birth control coverage to their employees (Goodstein, 5/16).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Doctors Ditching The Prescription Pad As More Than A Third Of Prescriptions Now Are Electronic
Doctors increasingly are ditching the prescription pad: More than a third of the nation's prescriptions now are electronic, according to the latest count. The government has been pushing doctors to e-prescribe, in part because it can be safer for patients. This year, holdouts will start to see cuts in their Medicare payments (5/17).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Protestors Seeking More Political Disclosure Disrupt Insurer WellPoint's Annual Meeting
WellPoint Inc. shareholders rejected a call for more disclosure about the health insurer's political contributions Wednesday during a shout-filled, contentious annual meeting. Union representatives and other protesters repeatedly interrupted Chairwoman and CEO Angela Braly after she opened the meeting and introduced proposals for shareholder voting (5/16).

The New York Times: Senate Passes Bill Creating Monitor For Disabled Care
The State Senate unanimously passed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's legislation to protect developmentally disabled and mentally ill New Yorkers on Wednesday, but some high-profile advocates have been unnerved by what they perceive as flaws in the bill. Assembly Democrats have said that they intend to pass the bill, but will negotiate some changes before the legislative session ends on June 21 (Hakim, 5/16).

The New York Times: U.S. Expected To Retry Ex-Senator On 4 Unresolved Charges
Federal prosecutors will try to recover nearly $500,000 that Pedro Espada Jr., a former Democratic state senator from the Bronx, was convicted this week of stealing from a nonprofit health care network, as they seek a retrial for Mr. Espada and his son, according to a person familiar with the case (Hu, 5/16).

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Republicans Set Up Election-Year Showdown On Budget

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:32:00 GMT

As the Senate prepares to vote today on four separate budget plans -- all of which will likely be rejected -- House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says he will use the next go-round over the debt limit to force Democrats to make deeper cuts to federal health and safety-net programs, including Medicare.

The New York Times: Republicans Pledge New Standoff On Debt Limit
But Republicans have not been able to unify around an alternative. Instead, they will bring forward four different budgets for the 2013 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1 — with a budget passed by House Republicans viewed as the most liberal of the lot. One by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky would eliminate the Departments of Education, Commerce and Energy; cut the National Park Service by 30 percent and NASA by a quarter; and end Medicare in 2014. Senator Mike Lee of Utah proposes a budget that would raise the retirement age to 68, cut the size of government in half over 25 years, and end the payroll tax as well as all taxes on savings and investment and replace them with a 25 percent flat tax (Weisman, 5/15).

Politico: Moderate Dems Frustrated By No Budget
The Democratic-led Senate on Wednesday is expected to reject all four GOP budget plans, including the contentious House-passed proposal authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). A fifth budget, offered by Republicans and based on President Barack Obama 2013 spending blueprint, also will likely fall short of the 50 votes needed to pass, dealing the White House an embarrassing election-year blow. But Democratic leaders have defiantly refused to lay out their own vision for how to deal with federal debt and spending, arguing that last summer’s debt-ceiling deal essentially serves as an actual budget (Wong, 5/15).

The Washington Post: Boehner Threatens Another Debt-Ceiling Fight
Boehner, meanwhile, made it clear that he is ready to use the debt limit as a cudgel to force Democrats to compromise, particularly on a strategy for restraining spending on Medicare and other federal health programs, which are the biggest drivers of future borrowing (Montgomery, 5/15).

The Wall Street Journal: Boehner Draws Line In Sand On Debt
Tuesday's salvos were the latest in the election-year debate over the size and scope of the federal government. Democrats have called for a mix of tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the deficit and Republicans have called for spending cuts and overhauls of entitlement programs like Medicare (Paletta, 5/15).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Clinton To Obama: Talk About Cuts
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that President Barack Obama should spend more time talking to the American people about his budget proposals to launch a national dialogue about the crucial issues. The "president should talk more about the Medicare cuts he has proposed” and the “defense cuts he has proposed," Mr. Clinton said. … "He is at least trying to honor the deal he made with Republicans, and I think he should talk more about it and I think they should talk more about it," he said during remarks at a "fiscal summit" held in Washington by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation (Paletta, 5/15).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: After Last Year's Budget Failures, Lawmakers Gather For Annual Deficit Pep Talk
Boehner made the top headline at this year's summit by declaring that when it comes time for Congress to raise the nation's borrowing cap he will again insist on spending cuts and budget reforms exceeding the amount of the debt increase to offset it. He also promised a vote on renewing trillions of dollars in tax cuts passed during the Bush administration, prompting a predictable response from top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California (5/16).

Modern Healthcare: Medicare, Medicaid Overhaul Deal Unlikely, Lawmakers Say
Congress is unlikely to reach a "grand bargain" to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid during the post-election lame duck session, according to two congressional budget leaders. In successive appearances Tuesday at a deficit-reduction summit sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the Budget Committee, and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the panel's ranking member, agreed that any deal to enact long-term changes to the federal healthcare programs is more likely in 2013 (Daly, 5/15).

NPR's Planet Money blog: 50 Years Of Government Spending, In 1 Graph
Medicaid, Medicare and other health services are the huge gainers here. Together, they make up a quarter of government spending. Fifty years ago Medicare and Medicaid didn't even exist, and federal spending on other health-related services made up a tiny sliver of the whole (Vo, 5/14).

For Same-Sex Couples, Medicare, Federal Health Programs Problematic

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:55:52 GMT

These couples still face hurdles created by the Defense of Marriage Act.

Reuters: Gay Couples Can't Bank Obama's Blessings Yet
Same-sex couples also face financial trouble with their healthcare when they are seniors. Eligibility for Medicare is based on the number of quarters in which you have paid payroll taxes into the system. At age 65, anyone with a work history of at least 40 quarters can enroll for Medicare Part A (hospitalization) without paying a premium. ... You can also enroll without paying a premium if a spouse qualifies. But [the Defense of Marriage Act] means that a legally married LGBT same-sex spouse lacking those 40 quarters must take the other route into Medicare -- buying into the system by paying a hefty Part A premium out of pocket. This year, the monthly Part A premium is $451 for those with less than 30 quarters in the system (Miller 5/15).

CQ HealthBeat: Benefits For Federal Workers' Domestic Partners Addressed In Senate Bill
A week after President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, a Senate panel will on Wednesday take up legislation that would extend benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., wasted no time in pushing his panel to mark up the bill he has introduced in each of the last four Congresses. The bill has never advanced to the full Senate, though the panel did approve it in 2009 (5/15).

Related KHN coverage: Many Businesses Offer Health Benefits To Same-Sex Couples Ahead Of Laws (Appleby, 5/14).

Viewpoints: Sen. Alexander Proposes A Medicaid-School Funding Swap; Doctors' Voices Missing In Abortion Debates

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:55:29 GMT

The Wall Street Journal: Time For A Medicaid-Education Grand Swap
When I was governor of Tennessee in the early 1980s, I traveled to meet with President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office and offer that Grand Swap: Medicaid for K-12 education. The federal government would take over 100% of Medicaid, the federal health-care program mainly for low-income Americans, and states would assume all responsibility for the nation's 100,000 public schools. Reagan liked the idea, but it went nowhere (Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., 5/15).

USA Today: Where Are The Doctors?
But there is now an unprecedented and sweeping legal assault on women's reproductive rights. New legislation is being introduced, and sometimes passed, in state after state that would roll back access to abortion and contraception, mainly by intruding on the relationship between doctor and patient (Marcia Angell and Michael Greene, 5/15).

Los Angeles Times: It's Time To Serve Up Some Big Incentives To Curb Obesity
To combat the alarming obesity rate, the Institute of Medicine says the U.S. needs to overhaul everything from farm policies to zoning laws. Clearly, doing nothing isn't an option. At the risk of being criticized (and I know I will be) for advocating draconian measures, I think it's time that food and drink received the same level of regulatory oversight as tobacco and alcohol (David Lazarus, 5/14).

The New York Times: When Competitive Bidding Hurts Patients
Last month, the Obama administration announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would make much greater use of competitive bidding to buy medical equipment for Medicare patients. Because of Medicare's size and position in the health care market, it is likely that this policy will be quickly adopted by Medicaid and private insurers. On the face of it, competitive bidding sounds like a very good idea. ... But as a doctor working with patients on the ground, I have doubts (Dr. Dennis Rosen, 5/15).

Los Angeles Times: Brown's Bloody Budget
Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision leaves blood all over the Capitol walls. The era when California governors could make their cuts with a scalpel ended before Brown took office, so he does his trimming with a chain saw. The results are cuts in Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and nursing homes, cuts to those who care for the disabled, cuts to state courts and cuts in hours and pay for state employees. So far schools have been largely spared from this grisly exercise, but that will probably change in November if voters fail to approve a tax-hike initiative (5/15).

Boston Globe: On Health Care, State Doesn't Know Best
Which brings us to the "Health Care Quality Improvement and Cost Reduction Act of 2012," a 178-page bill introduced in the Massachusetts House this month amid jaunty predictions of cheaper insurance premiums for Bay State families and tens of billions of dollars in medical savings over the next 15 years. An even longer bill — 235 pages — has been introduced in the state Senate. These bills aren't written in Latin and they don't impose the death penalty, but their core principle is not much different from Diocletian's: The state knows best (Jeff Jacoby, 5/16).

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Health Care Losing To Politics
Burnishing his political credentials among the Republican right wing may be the only logical explanation for Gov. Christie's blocking the creation of state health-insurance exchanges, which would aid not only the 1.3 million New Jerseyans without coverage, but also small businesses and people who don't have enough medical insurance. Choosing politics over policy, Christie has caved to party extremists who were calling the exchanges "Christiecare." The term served as a loosely veiled threat to a potential running mate for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney (5/16).

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Medicare Cheaters Are Soaking The Taxpayers
The bottom line is that Medicare and taxpayers are frequently charged for products and services that were never delivered. Stuck in the middle are elderly people who are intimidated into giving up personal information or enticed by deals that are too good to be true. If you or a loved one is covered by Medicare or Medicaid, you can prevent fraud by safeguarding personal beneficiary information just as you would your credit card information. A stolen Medicare number is like a stolen credit card number, except taxpayers are stuck with the fraudulent charges (Rebecca Nurick, 5/16).

Politico: In Budget Debate, 'Past Is Prologue'
[House Republicans are] pretending that the debt-limit crisis they brought about last August, and the subsequent bipartisan deal that kept us from going over the precipice, just never happened. But history matters. The bipartisan Budget Control Act that Republicans agreed to in the wake of their manufactured crisis is now the law of the land. In addition to nearly $1 trillion in budget cuts, this law includes automatic cuts, or sequestration, designed to cut half from defense spending and half from nondefense programs like Medicare, Head Start and other investments in families and communities (Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., 5/15).

Politico: GOP Is The Real Party Of American Women
For the past few months, the Democrats have been accusing Republicans of waging a "war on women" as if some honest disagreements between the parties — over matters like how an "Obamacare" mandate should affect religious institutions or the proper scope of federal law on tribal land — constitute a deliberate GOP campaign to take away women's rights. Nothing could be further from the truth, and Republican women have been at the forefront exposing these myths (Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Rep. Sandy Adams, et. al., 5/15).

The Dallas Morning News: Promoting The Business Of Cancer Research
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has perhaps been praised as much for the responsible way it hands out public funds as for its ambitious mission…. It was therefore a surprise when Dr. Alfred Gilman, the top scientific officer at the institute and the architect of the peer-review system, resigned last week in protest over recent funding decisions…. At issue is a $20 million grant given to a joint project between Rice University and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The one-year award, according to Gilman, was given after a cursory examination and based on a "non-scientific description of a plan to conduct early-stage, pre-clinical drug discovery"…. The lesson here is that promoting business, while a core and expanding mission of the institute, needs to be done in the most transparent manner possible (5/15).

Denver Post: A British Expatriate Weighs In On The Affordable Health Care Act
I had lived all my life in the United Kingdom, and took the National Health Care system for granted. ... I then discovered that no such things existed in this country. ... Yes, we had very good medical insurance through my husband's company, but that could be taken away from us at somebody's whim. ... When ACA became law it felt like a great victory for everyone. ... Isn't it time for us to put aside these divisions and work together to make this country a caring, prosperous society that helps people who are not living the American Dream? (Lesley Jackson, 5/16).

First Edition: May 16, 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:26:12 GMT

Today's headlines highlight the growing partisan faultlines regarding budget issues, including spending cuts and entitlement reforms.

Kaiser Health News: Attention Health Care Shoppers: Colorado's Price List For Procedures
Colorado Public Radio's Eric Whitney, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "Shopping for the best price for a given health care need is nearly impossible. Unlike shopping for other big ticket items, there's no place to compare prices. Providers often can't, or won't, quote a price for a given procedure - different people are charged different rates based on what kind of coverage they have, or whether they have coverage at all" (Whitney, 5/16). Read the story.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Obama Administration: A Plan To Prevent Alzheimer's By 2025
Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Christian Torres reports: "The Obama administration is moving forward with an ambitious, fast-moving agenda to improve the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and unlock a method to prevent it by 2025. The final draft of the plan, released today, also sets up a wide-ranging effort to improve the care that Alzheimer’s patients receive and support families" (Torres, 5/15). Check out what else is on the blog.

The Des Moines Register/USA Today: Romney Discuses Debt During Iowa Stop
Romney's ideas for cutting the $15.67 trillion national debt -- don't raise taxes, reform entitlement programs, limit spending -- were met with strong applause from the crowd of more than 300 people. An additional 100 people stood in an overflow area. On his first trip to Iowa since the caucuses when he was initially declared the winner, Romney didn't offer new proposals, but the way he framed his argument was fresh and probably telegraphs a strategy to chip away at Obama's credibility on his pledge to cut the deficit in half (Jacobs, 5/15).

Los Angeles Times: Average Annual Healthcare Cost For A Family Tops $20,000
Healthcare or a Hyundai? The average cost of healthcare for a family of four this year has increased nearly 7% to $20,728 annually, according to a new study by benefits consultant Milliman, or similar to the cost of a mid-size sedan (Terhune, 5/15).

Politico: Immigration Status Is A Health Policy Challenge
The Obama administration's drive to cut down on America’s uninsured is about to get multilingual. Come 2014, when core provisions of the Affordable Care Act kick in, millions of legal immigrants will have new options for gaining health coverage. And like U.S. citizens, most will be subject to the individual mandate, under which they will be required to get coverage to avoid a penalty (Cheney, 5/16).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Alzheimer's Focus Shifts To Testing Therapies Earlier, Before Patients Show Many Symptoms
Look for a fundamental shift in how scientists hunt ways to ward off the devastation of Alzheimer's disease — by testing possible therapies in people who don’t yet show many symptoms, before too much of the brain is destroyed (5/15).

NPR: Poll: Americans Show Support For Compensation Of Organ Donors
Federal law bans payments for organs. But given the need, we wondered what Americans thought about compensation for three kinds of donations that can be made while people are alive: kidneys, bone marrow and a portion of liver big enough to help someone whose liver is failing (Hensley, 5/16).

NPR: Medical Records Could Yield Answers On Fracking
A proposed study of people in northern Pennsylvania could help resolve a national debate about whether the natural gas boom is making people sick. The study would look at detailed health histories on hundreds of thousands of people who live near the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation in which energy companies have already drilled about 5,000 natural gas wells (Hamilton, 5/16).

Reuters/Chicago Tribune: In Abortion Move, Kansas Pharmacists Can Refuse Some Prescriptions
The Republican governor of Kansas has signed a law allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for drugs they believe may induce abortions, a move opponents said could hinder some women's access to birth control. Governor Sam Brownback's office said on Tuesday that the bill "gives more legal protection to Kansas health care providers who refuse to participate in abortions" based on their conscience (Murphy, 5/15).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Utah Technology Director Resigns In Wake Of Data Theft At State Health Department
Utah’s chief technology officer has resigned following the theft of hundreds of thousands of online medical records from state computers by unknown hackers (5/15).

The Washington Post: Washington’s Catholic Archbishop, Georgetown President Spar Over Graduation Invitation To Kathleen Sebelius
Since Sebelius was announced earlier this month as one of the speakers for this week’s Georgetown graduation ceremonies, about 27,000 people have signed a petition, circulated by a conservative Catholic think tank, urging the university to withdraw the invitation. Sebelius was a key architect of the 2010 health-care law, and she authored the requirement that employers, including most religious ones, provide their employees with contraception coverage (Boorstein, 5/15).

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Health Programs At Risk In Gathering Budgetary Storm

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:04:00 GMT

Deep spending cuts, scheduled as part of last year's debt accord, are forcing lawmakers from across the political spectrum to consider difficult positions. Medicare and Medicaid will likely be on the table.

The Washington Post: Taxmageddon Sparks Rising Anxiety
The halls of the U.S. Capitol are already teeming with people warning of disaster if lawmakers fail to defuse a New Year's budget bomb scheduled to raise taxes for every American taxpayer and slash spending at the Pentagon and most other federal agencies. Last week, hospital executives came to complain about big scheduled cuts in Medicare payments. Next month, university presidents plan to raise the alarm about big scheduled cuts in federal research grants. And the chief executives of Lockheed Martin and other aerospace giants last Wednesday passed out digital countdown clocks ticking off the seconds until "over 1 million American jobs" will be lost to big scheduled cuts in defense (Montgomery and Helderman, 5/15).

The Washington Post: Boehner Sees Battle Over Debt Limit As 'Action-Forcing Event'
Republicans alarmed by the depth of cuts on tap for the Pentagon are scrambling to replace them, but Democrats say they will only agree to undo the defense cuts in exchange for higher taxes on the wealthy. Boehner's remarks suggest that Republicans believe they have leverage, too, and that they are willing to resist a needed increase in the debt limit unless Democrats agree to far-reaching changes to federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid (Montgomery, 5/15).

In other Capitol Hill news --

Politico: Bernie Sanders Floats Plan To Make HIV Drugs Less Costly
Why do American patients pay tens of thousands of dollars each year for HIV drugs that cost just hundreds in Africa? Drugmakers wave their patent rights in developing countries as part of the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief. But the higher cost of brand-name drugs in the United States makes it difficult for many HIV patients to stay on drug regimens that can cost as much as $30,000 a year (Feder, 5/14).

Heritage: Stop Subsidies For 'Multimillionaire Seniors' To Shore Up Medicare Program

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:32:28 GMT

A report by the conservative Heritage Foundation recommends making wealthier Medicare beneficiaries pay more to help get the program's "fiscal house in order." Also in the news, The Wall Street Journal reports that a judge who considers cases related to the Social Security Disability Insurance Program -- one of the federal governments most rapidly growing entitlement programs -- was placed on paid leave while complaints about his demeanor are probed.

National Journal: Conservatives Want Multimillionaire Seniors Off Medicare Handouts
Multimillionaire seniors are getting too much in government subsidies for their Medicare coverage, according to a report from the conservative Heritage Foundation. J.D. Foster, a senior economics fellow at Heritage, says making wealthier seniors pay more in Medicare premiums is just the reform the program needs to get its fiscal house in order. Using the Medicare Trustee's report, Foster calculated that taxpayers spend an extra $4,897 per Medicare beneficiary above what is collected in Medicare-specific taxes and premiums. Eliminating that subsidy, Foster says, "and Medicare's shortfall disappears now and forever" (McCarthy, 5/14).

The Wall Street Journal: Another Disability Judge Placed On Leave
The judges have wide discretion in how to decide cases, with Mr. Krafsur awarding benefits in virtually every case that crosses his desk. In the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, Mr. Krafsur awarded benefits in 338 of the 339 decisions he has reached. … The Social Security Disability Insurance program is one of the government's most rapidly growing entitlement programs, and it is projected to pay more than $130 billion in benefits to close to 11 million people in 2012. Those collecting benefits receive monthly payments from the government, and they also qualify for early Medicare benefits (Paletta, 5/14).

Romney, Obama Medicare Plans Trigger Analysis

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:27:00 GMT

The New York Times analyzes the specifics of the Medicare plans advanced by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Fla., is facing attack ads associated with his vote on the health law.

The New York Times: Romney Medicare Plan Draws A Stark Contrast
President Obama and Mitt Romney agree on one thing about Medicare: the differences between them are huge. Each man says his opponent's policies would end Medicare as it now exists, undermining the rock-solid guarantee of health care for older Americans (Pear, 5/15).

The Hill: Sen. Nelson Asks TV Stations To Pull Ads Attacking Him For Backing Health Care Law
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is asking Florida TV stations to pull an ad that attacks him for supporting President Obama's health care overhaul. Nelson is facing a tough reelection fight this fall -- he's one of three potentially vulnerable Senate Democrats targeted in the latest round of ads from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The ads sharply criticize Obama's health care law -- and the Senate Democrats who voted for it (Baker, 5/14).

First Edition: May 15, 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:30:57 GMT

Today's headlines include reports from Capitol Hill about the continuing pressures surrounding health care costs and deficit issues.

Kaiser Health News: Many Businesses Offer Health Benefits To Same-Sex Couples Ahead Of Laws
Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby reports: "President Obama's pronouncement last week in favor of same-sex marriage has no legal effect on employers' decisions on whether to offer benefits to workers' domestic partners, but some advocates believe it could reinforce a decade-long trend toward coverage" (Appleby, 5/14). Read the story.

Kaiser Health News: Insuring Your Health: Some States Mandate Better Coverage Of Oral Cancer Drugs
In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: “Health plans, however, have been slow to adjust to the change. People who get traditional IV chemotherapy on an outpatient basis often pay a flat co-payment that covers the drug as well as the cost of administering it. Annual out-of-pocket costs are also typically capped” (Andrews, 5/14). Read the column.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: How Much Do The Nation's Pre-Eminent Hospitals Cost Medicare?
Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Jordan Rau reports: "Can you cut health care spending without undermining the quality of care? It's a major concern as Medicare prepares to prod hospitals to provide medical care more efficiently by giving bonuses to those whose patients cost less and taking money away from places that send the government higher bills" (Rau, 5/14). Check out what else is on the blog.

The Washington Post: Taxmageddon Sparks Rising Anxiety
The halls of the U.S. Capitol are already teeming with people warning of disaster if lawmakers fail to defuse a New Year’s budget bomb scheduled to raise taxes for every American taxpayer and slash spending at the Pentagon and most other federal agencies. Last week, hospital executives came to complain about big scheduled cuts in Medicare payments. Next month, university presidents plan to raise the alarm about big scheduled cuts in federal research grants. And the chief executives of Lockheed Martin and other aerospace giants last Wednesday passed out digital countdown clocks ticking off the seconds until "over 1 million American jobs" will be lost to big scheduled cuts in defense (Montgomery and Helderman, 5/15).

The Washington Post: Boehner Sees Battle Over Debt Limit As 'Action-Forcing Event'
Republicans alarmed by the depth of cuts on tap for the Pentagon are scrambling to replace them, but Democrats say they will only agree to undo the defense cuts in exchange for higher taxes on the wealthy. Boehner’s remarks suggest that Republicans believe they have leverage, too, and that they are willing to resist a needed increase in the debt limit unless Democrats agree to far-reaching changes to federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid (Montgomery, 5/15).

The New York Times: Romney Medicare Plan Draws A Stark Contrast
President Obama and Mitt Romney agree on one thing about Medicare: the differences between them are huge. Each man says his opponent’s policies would end Medicare as it now exists, undermining the rock-solid guarantee of health care for older Americans (Pear, 5/15).

Politico: Gay Marriage Is One Thing, Benefits Another
President Barack Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage may have given the marriage equality movement a big morale boost. But it won't, on its own, give gay couples equality when it comes to health insurance. The Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids the federal government from recognizing any marriage not between a man and a woman, has hog-tied federal agencies when it comes to liberalizing gay Americans’ access to federal government benefits, from collecting their spouse’s Social Security benefits to marriage-related tax breaks (Norman, 5/14).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Clock Ticking As Alzheimer's Strategy Sets 2025 Goal For Better Ways To Treat, Stall, Disease
The clock is ticking: The first National Alzheimer's Plan sets a deadline of 2025 to finally find effective ways to treat, or at least stall, the mind-destroying disease. The Obama administration finalizes the landmark national strategy on Tuesday, laying out numerous steps the government and private partners can take over the coming years to fight what is poised to become a defining disease of the rapidly aging population (5/15).

NPR: Should Parents Be Able To Sue For 'Wrongful Birth'?
Several states, including Kansas and New Jersey, are debating so-called "wrongful birth" laws that would prevent parents from suing a doctor who fails to warn them about fetal problems. Abortion rights activists say the laws give doctors the right to withhold information so women don't have abortions (Lohr, 5/15).

NPR: Sick From Fracking? Doctors, Patients Seek Answers
The natural gas industry says there's no evidence the drilling is causing health problems. Public health experts say the only way anyone's going to really know whether the drilling is making people sick or not is to do some big studies (Stein, 5/15).

The Washington Post: Gray, Catania Face Off Over Health Funding
Mayor Vincent C. Gray is heading for a final showdown Tuesday with D.C. Council member David A. Catania over city funding for a health insurance program that pays for hospital care for thousands of undocumented immigrants (Craig, 5/14).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: California Gov. Jerry Brown Urges Austere Cuts, Tax Hikes To Tackle Reemerging Deficit
Brown said California's sputtering economic recovery is putting a heavier-than-expected drag on state tax revenue. The state has been blocked from making cuts to Medi-Cal and In-Home Supportive Services in court and by federal requirements. The revised budget deficit is $6.5 billion more than the $9.2 billion gap Brown anticipated in January (5/15).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: RI Governor Signs Order To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages Performed Out Of State
Rhode Island’s governor on Monday declared that the state will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual ones when it comes to health insurance and a slew of other benefits (5/14).

The Wall Street Journal: Espada Guilty Of Stealing Clinic's Funds
Former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., the flamboyant Bronx politician who claimed one of New York's most powerful offices only to quickly fall from power, was convicted Monday on federal charges of theft from a health clinic he founded (El-Ghobashy, 5/14).

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Professional Services Company To Buy Largest Private Medicare Exchange In U.S.

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:49:50 GMT

Reuters/Chicago Tribune: Towers Watson & Co To Buy Largest Private Medicare Exchange
Towers Watson & Co , a New York-headquartered professional services company, said on Sunday it would buy Extend Health Inc, operator of the largest private Medicare exchange in the United States, to boost its health benefits offering for employers (Roumeliotis, 5/13).

First Edition: May 14, 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:25:39 GMT

In today's headlines, a report about how the Ryan budget plan -- specifically, its Medicare changes -- is playing in congressional races.

Kaiser Health News: Doctors And Insurers Are Key To Fighting Obesity
Reporting for Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, Judith Graham writes: "Just over 40 percent of adult patients in commercial HMOs had documented BMI measurements in 2009 and 2010, according to a survey by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, an organization that evaluates health plans. That figure falls to 12 percent for patients in commercial PPOs, a more common type of plan" (Graham, 5/12). Read the story.

Kaiser Health News also tracked health policy headlines over the weekend, including reports about the Obama administration's final rule on health insurance rebates (5/12).

The Washington Post: Ryan Budget Still An Issue In Congressional Races
The issue in question is the budget proposal issued by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and what it does to Medicare in particular. More than a year after the proposal's initial release, Republican candidates continue to find themselves on the defensive about what the plan will actually do, and Democrats continue to make claims about the dire consequences if it were to become law (O’Keefe, 5/13).

The Wall Street Journal: Insurers Must Credit Rebates To Health Law
Health-insurance companies must tell customers who get a premium rebate this summer that the check is the result of the Obama administration's health-care law, according to federal guidelines released Friday. The move is the latest sign the Obama administration is trying to draw attention to the law's benefits before the fall elections, even though the law faces an uncertain future. The Supreme Court is expected to decide in June whether its central plank—a mandate that everyone carry insurance—violates the Constitution. Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, has pledged to wipe out the law if elected (Radnofsky, 5/11).

The Washington Post: Republican State Officials Stall On Setting Up Health Insurance Marketplaces
In about two dozen states across the country, the insurance marketplaces at the heart of the 2010 health-care law remain in limbo, with Republican governors or lawmakers who oppose the statute refusing to act until the Supreme Court decides its constitutionality (Aizenman, 5/12).

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Case Capped A Rough Year For Solicitor General
His worst moment came as he rose to defend President Obama's healthcare law and its requirement that all Americans have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. His voice sounding weak, Verrilli paused after his second sentence and coughed (Savage, 5/12).

The Washington Post: Nurse Practitioners Look To Fill Gap With Expected Spike In Demand For Health Services
President Obama's health-care law is expected to expand health insurance to 32 million Americans over the next decade. Health policy experts anticipate that the wave of new insurance subscribers will lead to a spike in demand for medical services (Kliff, 5/13).

Los Angeles Times: Hospital Ratings, Track Records Available Online
Using data from government agencies and private watchdogs, several websites provide consumer information on hospitals (Wilson, 5/13).

NPR: Alzheimer's Patients Turn To Stories Instead Of Memories
Storytelling is one of the most ancient forms of communication — it's how we learn about the world. It turns out that for people with dementia, storytelling can be therapeutic. It gives people who don't communicate well a chance to communicate. And you don't need any training to run a session (Silberner, 5/14).

NPR: Doctors' Due Diligence: Measuring Kids' Blood Pressure
There have been hints that the obesity epidemic's rise has slowed a bit among certain populations, but for the most part, it continues to dominate American health. One third of children and teenagers are now overweight or obese. And researchers forecast as many as half of our nation's population could be obese — not overweight but obese — by 2030 (Neighmond, 5/14).

Los Angeles Times: Global Push To Guarantee Health Coverage Leaves U.S. Behind
Even as Americans debate whether to scrap President Obama's healthcare law and its promise of guaranteed health coverage, many far less affluent nations are moving in the opposite direction — to provide medical insurance to all citizens. China, after years of underfunding healthcare, is on track to complete a three-year, $124-billion initiative projected to cover more than 90% of the nation's residents (Levey, 5/12).

The Washington Post: As Maryland Goes Full Steam Ahead On Health Reform Law, Virginia Takes Pragmatic Path
Maryland and Virginia were both out front — in very different ways — when the health-care overhaul became law in March 2010. The two states continue to approach the law in their distinct fashions in advance of its full implementation in January 2014 and in the face of doubts about whether it will survive Supreme Court review. But Maryland and Virginia are no longer at opposite ends of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act spectrum (Vozzella, 5/12).

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Jobs Fuel Revival In Pittsburgh
While most of the nation is still trying to claw its way out of the deep economic crater left by the recession, this onetime steel capital is already out — thanks largely to the relentless growth in healthcare jobs (Lee, 5/13).

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With Health Issues In Flux, Lawmakers And Lobbyists Struggle With Strategies

Fri, 11 May 2012 14:27:00 GMT

Six health care lobbyists told Politico Pro that much of their strategic planning depends on the Supreme Court's upcoming health law decision and the November elections. But some lawmakers are signaling hope that this is the year to address Medicare's "doc fix" problem.

Politico Pro: Provider Strategies Will Depend On Lame Duck
Interviews with half a dozen health care lobbyists reveal an unclear strategy for the remainder of the year. ... They didn’t have much to say about the reconciliation bill that passed the House Thursday ... Even if it’s an exercise on paper, lobbyists say they expect those legislative pieces to resurface later this year, during a frantic lame-duck session where Congress must also tackle a pending 31 percent cut in Medicare physician payments, extend a handful of expiring Medicare payment “extenders,” and potentially deal with the broader health reform issues that could surface in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision this summer (DoBias, 5/11).

Politico Pro: Baucus Wants 'Foot In The Door' For SGR
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are hoping that 2012 is finally the year that Congress starts to replace the Sustainable Growth Rate. But even a "start" is going to be a tough climb. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Thursday that he wants to consider options this year for a short-term SGR patch and long-term reforms. When asked if there is a chance of long-term replacements beginning this year, he left the door open — very slightly. "Maybe we can get a foot in the door, the beginnings, possibly," he told reporters (Haberkorn, 5/10).

Modern Healthcare: Former Medicare Administrators Asked To Offer Doc-Pay 'Fix'
The senior Democratic senator overseeing Medicare legislation directed four of the program's former administrators to develop within a month both a short-term and a long-term "fix" to the program's physician payment system, which faces a 30.9% cut in January. ... However, Baucus told reporters afterward that he was not committing to either introducing the former administrators' recommendations as legislation or introducing his own plan this year to overhaul the payment system (Daly, 5/10).

Kaiser Health News: Former CMS Chiefs: Medicare SGR Problem Can Be Fixed (Video)
Kaiser Health News offers video excerpts from yesterday's Senate Finance Committee, which featured a group of former Medicare administrators: Gail Wilensky (1990-92), Bruce Vladeck (1993-97), Thomas Scully (2001-2003) and Mark McClellan (2004-6). They discussed how they viewed the current crisis on physician fees and the sustainable growth rate formula (5/10).

Cigna To Increase Supplemental Health Insurance Offerings With Acquisition

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:49:34 GMT

Cigna plans to acquire a supplemental health insurance unit from American Financial Group for $295 million to increase its Medicare and other supplemental insurance offerings.

Reuters: Cigna To Acquire Great American Supplemental Benefits
Insurer Cigna Corp plans to acquire American Financial Group's supplemental health insurance unit for around $295 million in cash, the companies said on Thursday. ... Cigna said the deal to acquire Great American Supplemental Benefits provides significant opportunities for growth, including expanding Medicare and individual supplemental offerings to Cigna customers (5/10).

Fox News/Dow Jones: Cigna To Buy Great American Supplemental Benefits For $295 Million
Cigna Corp. (CI) has agreed to acquire American Financial Group Inc.'s (AFG) Medicare supplement and critical-illness businesses for approximately $295 million in cash, as the managed-care company looks to expand its presence in the individual and seniors markets. Cigna said its acquisition of Great American Supplemental Benefits Group, one of the largest manufacturers of supplemental health insurance products in the U.S., is expected to close in the second half of 2012. Great American generated approximately $325 million of revenue last year (5/10).

Rule Change Has Consequences For Dialysis Patients

Fri, 11 May 2012 13:47:16 GMT

The New York Times: Unintended Consequence For Dialysis Patients As Drug Rule Changes
A shift last year by the federal government in how it pays for drugs to treat dialysis patients may have had an unintended and potentially dire consequence, according to new research: a significant jump in blood transfusions for patients who now may not be getting enough of the medications (Sack, 5/11).