Democrats Plan Attack On Republican Repeal Effort
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press President Obama signing the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 last March.
Democratic leaders in Washington plan to spend the next week doing what they all but refused to do during the 2010 midterm elections: mount a vigorous defense of President Obama’s health care legislation.
The “all fronts” plan is a response to the decision by the new House speaker, John A. Boehner, to schedule a vote next Wednesday on a complete repeal of the health care law that Mr. Obama signed last March.
Health Spending Rose in ’09, but at Low Rate
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — Total national health spending grew by 4 percent in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on Wednesday.
Still, health care accounted for a larger share of a smaller economy — a record 17.6 percent of the total economic output in 2009, the report said. The economy contracted while health spending continued to grow.
The nation spent $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009, for an average of $8,086 a person, and the recession had a profound influence.
“Many consumers decreased their use of health care goods and services, partly because they had lost employer-based private health insurance coverage and partly because their household income had declined,” said Anne B. Martin, an economist and principal author of the report, issued by the office of the actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Prescription Drug Abuse Sends More People to the Hospital
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
The number of emergency room visits resulting from misuse or abuse of prescription drugs has nearly doubled over the last five years, according to new federal data, even as the number of visits because of illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin has barely changed.
Blue Shield Of California Seeks Rate Hikes Of As Much As 59% For Individuals
Another big California health insurer has stunned individual policyholders with huge rate increases — this time it's Blue Shield of California seeking cumulative hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1.
Cuomo Targeting Medicaid Spending - WSJ.com
By JACOB GERSHMAN
ALBANY—Gov. Andrew Cuomo is aiming to reduce the state's Medicaid spending by billions of dollars, exceeding the size of cuts to the program proposed in past years, according to individuals with knowledge of his budget.
The Cuomo administration is considering a cut of about $2.1 billion out of the state's projected spending on Medicaid in the upcoming fiscal year. With federal matching funds, the cut comes to more than $4 billion. That's close to twice the reduction in spending proposed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007.
Such a cut would effectively freeze Medicaid spending at the current year's level. But because the state is set to receive far less in federal funds, as the stimulus expires, its share of Medicaid costs would still grow by more than $3 billion, a 30% increase.
Brown To Propose Broad List Of Budget Cuts - Sacramento Politics - California Politics
The broad set of budget cuts that Gov.-elect Jerry Brown will propose in the coming days would touch nearly all Californians, eliminating local redevelopment agencies, shrinking social service benefits, shuttering parks and reducing library hours, according to a source familiar with his budget proposal.
Brown, to be sworn in this morning, wants to slash virtually every state-funded program to help balance California's massive deficit, in many cases resurrecting cuts sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but rejected by lawmakers. Brown would restrict Medi-Cal access, divert low-level offenders to county jails and cut deeply into California State University and the University of California.
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/03/3295079/brown-to-propose-broad-list-of.html#ixzz1AH2egG9F
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