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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Health Care Reform Articles - April 28, 2011

Senate gives initial OK to single-payer health care bill
Posted By Anne Galloway On April 26, 2011
The spirit of order and compromise was upon them. The Vermont Senate passed the universal health care reform bill in a 21-8, largely along party lines on Monday, after just five hours in the Green Room. (Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, voted aye; Bobby Starr, D-North Troy, voted nay.The senators will take up the bill for third reading on Tuesday.
http://vtdigger.org/2011/04/26/senate-gives-initial-ok-to-single-payer-health-care-bill/print/



First Single-Payer System Advances in Vermont Legislature


Dukakis pushes health
care for all

The former Bay State governor and son of an immigrant doctor speaks at UNE's Portland campus.

PORTLAND - Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis kicked off his appearance Tuesday night at the University of New England with an apology.



Public hospital president's retirement pay spotlights issue of 'supplemental' pensions

The president and CEO of a Salinas, Calif.-area public hospital district will receive nearly $4 million in retirement pay on top of his $150,000 annual pension. Such 'supplemental' pensions are one focus of criticism over the way public officials are compensated in retirement.

By Sam Allen, Los Angeles Times
April 28, 2011
When he turned 65 two years ago, Samuel Downing received a $3-million retirement payment from a public hospital district in Salinas, Calif., where he serves as president and chief executive.

But Downing continued working at his $668,000-a-year job for another two years, and after he retires this week, he will receive another payment of nearly $900,000. That comes on top of his regular pension of $150,000 a year.

The payments amount to one of the more generous pension packages granted to a public official in California and come amid growing debate about "supplemental" pensions that some officials receive on top of their basic retirement benefits.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pensions-20110428,0,6979128,print.story



In Florida, H.M.O.’s Would Treat Medicaid Patients




DAVIE, Fla. — A crucial experiment in the future of Medicaid is playing out in Florida, where both houses of the Legislature are vying to find ways to drastically cut costs, manage care and reduce waste and fraud.
The cuts and changes being sought by the Republican-led Legislature and encouraged by the new Republican governor, Rick Scott, a wealthy former hospital company executive, are deeper than those in many other states.
In the past 11 years, the cost of Medicaid in Florida has grown to $21 billion from $9 billion and amounts to a third of the state budget. The federal government pays more than half the tab.
“There is a consensus that the Medicaid system is irretrievably broken,” said State Senator Joe Negron, a Republican who took the lead in writing the Senate bill, which is expected to come to a vote before the legislative session ends a week from Friday. The House approved its bill this month. The changes could go into effect as early as next year.




April 28, 2011

What's Behind Seniors' Fears of GOP Medicare Plan?




WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican plan to privatize Medicare wouldn't touch his benefits, but Walter Dotson still doesn't like the idea. He worries about the consequences long after he's gone, for the grandson he is raising.
"I'd certainly hate to see him without the benefits that I've got," said Dotson, 72, steering a high school sophomore toward adulthood.



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