Jobs, Debt And, Yes, Health Care Still, Top An American To-Do List On Eve Of Obama Speech
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-state-of-union-what-people-want,0,5975677.story
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care is Shannon Taylor's "big, big hot button" and no wonder. She is a nurse in Tennessee who examines hospital bills for a health insurance company, and a mother who saw President Barack Obama's health care law come just in time for her family.
In the State of the Union speech Tuesday night, she will be looking for Obama to stand firm against Republicans who want to take the law apart. Health insurance for her daughter, who has lifetime medical problems, could hang in the balance
Verbal Sparring Over Potential Senate Vote on Health Care
By EDWARD WYATT
WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans in the Senate waged a war of words on Sunday over efforts to force what would most likely be a symbolic vote on repealing the Obama administration’s health care law.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, repeated his promise to bring the repeal measure up for a vote. He first made the pledge on Wednesday after the House voted 245 to 189 to repeal the law.
Heart Doctor Group Cooperating in Federal Investigation
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leading professional group for doctors who implant defibrillators said it was cooperating in a Justice Department investigation into proper use of the devices.
The Heart Rhythm Society said in a statement on Friday that it was providing expertise to officials conducting a civil investigation into implanted defibrillators, which correct dangerous heart rhythms using electrical shocks. A spokeswoman for the group declined to give details.
Reforming the Reform
By ROSS DOUTHAT
Last week, the Republican Party proved that it has the votes to repeal health care reform — but only in the House of Representatives. (Unfortunately for conservatives, the Senate and the White House also have a say in the matter.) The House vote on Wednesday may be remembered as a first step toward actual repeal, or as a futile exercise in fist-shaking. It all depends on whether Republicans can find a strategy for undoing the health care legislation that doesn’t involve an immediate frontal assault.
Can Wal-Mart Make Us Healthier? - Room For Debate
Arizona Tries New Approach To Get By Federal Medicaid Rules
Health-care law: Arizona tries new approach to get by federal Medicaid rules
By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2011; 10:58 PM
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2011; 10:58 PM
Republican efforts to repeal or limit the reach of the new health-care law took a new direction last week when Arizona lawmakers approved a novel and controversial attempt to cut Medicaid for 280,000 of the state's poor.
The bill, requested and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers her to make a formal request, most likely this week, for a federal waiver to avoid complying with provisions of the law that prohibit states from tightening their eligibility requirements for Medicaid.
Burlington’s PKC Is Plotting A Diagnosis Revolution | The Burlington Free Press
From its offices in Burlington’s Chace Mill building on the Winooski River, PKC Corp. is waiting for the medical profession to catch up with it.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110124/NEWS01/110122014/Burlington-s-PKC-is-plotting-a-diagnosis-revolution?GID=LZZpQKfERLvhgo4ZfiDg8Zn8CYbENG5m01z6h/Zf+yI%3D
What Comes After No?
The Republicans have vowed to “repeal and replace” President Obama’s historic health care reform law. Now that House Republicans have muscled through a symbolic repeal bill, they will have to deliver their own alternative plan. Don’t expect much.
Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim Explore Merger
The state’s second- and third-largest health plans, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan, are set to tell their employees today that they are exploring a merger that would reshape the region’s health insurance landscape.
Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts are close to signing a memorandum of understanding that would combine their operations in four New England states and make them a stronger competitor to the market leader, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, in their home state, according to several people who have been briefed on the transaction. They asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the deal.
Insurers are scouring social media for evidence of fraud
If someone receiving disability benefits for a bad back brags on Facebook or Twitter about finishing a marathon, chances are their insurance company will find out and stop the checks.
By Shan Li
6:40 AM PST, January 25, 2011
Now there's another reason to be careful about what you post on Facebook: Your insurance company may be watching.
Medicare Fraud: Tiny Pharmacy Turns Whistle-Blower
Reporting from Washington —
Last December, a specialty pharmacy in Florida enjoyed its best month ever — posting a hefty $168.7 million in revenues.
But it wasn't filling prescriptions that made Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys Inc. such a success.
Tiny Ven-A-Care has developed a lucrative niche market: blowing the whistle on drug companies that overcharge Medicare and Medicaid — and collecting tens of millions of dollars in reward money.
‘Overdiagnosed’
Introduction
Our Enthusiasm for Diagnosis
My first car was a ’65 Ford Fairlane wagon. It was a fairly simple—albeit large—vehicle. I could even do some of the work on it myself. There was a lot of room under the hood and few electronics. The only engine sensors were a temperature gauge and an oil-pressure gauge.
Things are very different with my ’99 Volvo. There’s no extra room under the hood—and there are lots of electronics. And then there are all those little warning lights sensing so many different aspects o
Health care mandates everlasting
Posted Jan. 24, 2011, at 9:50 p.m.
Having happily snoozed through constitutional law classes in college, I am now conditioned to do likewise whenever the words “Constitution” and “law” appear in the same sentence. That makes it tough for me to stay awake long enough to contemplate recent news that 25 American states are suing the federal government on the grounds that the new health care reform law is unconstitutional.
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