Healthcare-NOW

Push Renews for Vermont Health Reform

By Peter Hirschfeld – Vermont Press Bureau – MONTPELIER – Advocates for universal health care will descend on the Statehouse on Wednesday as they look to forge legislative support for broad reforms to the way Vermonters receive medical coverage. A rally being staged by the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign aims to draw hundreds…

Health-reform advocates have little to fear from judge’s ruling

By Ezra Klein, Washington Post Staff Writer – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee (and part-owner of a Republican campaign-consulting firm that fought the health-care overhaul legislation), has, as expected, ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional. So why are reform advocates so unexpectedly pleased? There are two reasons, but first, let’s…

42,000 Working Poor to Lose Insurance and Another 460,000 Out of Luck in PA

Expiration date for adultBasic? Funding source needed soon for subsidized state-run health insurance for the working poor By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – All last week, at vigils in Pittsburgh and street performances in Philadelphia, small groups of protesters all but begged incoming Gov. Tom Corbett to make his No. 1 priority the continued funding…

Medicaid Cuts Hurt At The State Level

From Huffington Post – CHICAGO — In Illinois, a pharmacist closes his business because of late Medicaid payments. In Arizona, a young father’s liver transplant is canceled because Medicaid suddenly won’t pay for it. In California, dentists pull teeth that could be saved because Medicaid doesn’t pay for root canals. Across the country, state lawmakers…

Opt-out bill could give states more flexibility on health reform

They would have to provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as the national law. From amednews.com – Washington — A bill to accelerate states’ ability to opt-out of parts of the national health reform law could give states more flexibility to continue working on their own brands of health system reform.…

House Passes Bill Averting Cut in Medicare Reimbursements

From the NY Times – The House gave final approval on Thursday to a bill that would avert a 25 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors by freezing reimbursement rates at current levels until the end of next year. The bill goes now to President Obama, who hailed the action by Congress and promised…

In Breakaway, Big Health Insurers Seek To Boost Washington Clout

By Bara Vaida for NPR – Five of the nation’s largest health insurance companies are looking to build their own inside-the-Beltway coalition to influence implementation of the new health law and congressional efforts to change it. The companies – Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and WellPoint — are shopping around Washington for a public relations firm…

Will the Wyden/Brown state waiver enable single payer?

By Don McCanne MD for PNHP – The initial reaction to S. 3958, The Empowering States to Innovate Act, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), is that the bill will enable states to bypass the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and set up their own…

Majority Of Deficit Commission Endorses Plan; Not Enough To Make It Automatic

From NPR – As expected, a majority of the bipartisan commission charged with crafting a plan to slash the nation’s soaring budget deficits and national debt, has endorsed a blueprint for how to tackle those daunting problems. But, also as expected, the plan did not get the super-super-majority 14 (out of 18) votes necessary to…

Deficit Commission Slashes Taxes For Wealthy, Corporations, While Raising Retirement Age And Cutting Spending

By Ryan Grim for Huffington Post – WASHINGTON — The president’s deficit commission report, scheduled for a vote by the full panel on Friday, proposes to slash tax rates for corporations and for high earners. The top tax rate is currently 35 percent and is scheduled to rise to 39.6 percent in 2011. The commission…