Insurer in deal to curb rate hikes
Increase would slow in Partners, Blue Cross accord
September 13, 2011
Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
WASHINGTON — Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.
And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1997.
California poverty rate rises in 2010 for fourth year in a row
Six million residents last year had incomes below the federal poverty line of $22,113 for a family of four. Nearly 1 in 5 California residents lacked health insurance in 2010.
Census: 12.5 percent of Mainers live in poverty
By Glenn Adams, The Associated Press, The Associated Press
Posted Sept. 13, 2011, at 4:15 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — The ranks of the nation’s poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million — nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to a Census Bureau report released Tuesday. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in over two decades.
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/13/news/state/9-4-percent-of-mainers-lack-health-insurance/print/
California could pose problem for Obama's healthcare reform
California, a model for healthcare reform, is seeking to impose some of the toughest limits on government-subsidized coverage. If approved, the limits could herald deep Medicaid cuts nationwide.
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times
September 15, 2011
Campaign aims to sign up Americans for health insurance
Enroll America, a new nonprofit group, plans to publicize the expanded availability of health coverage under the new federal healthcare law and to help states make enrollment easier.
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011, 12:01 AM
Sharing the Stresses of Being a Doctor
By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D.Michael Nagle for The New York TimesDr. Edgar Lichstein, chairman of medicine at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, speaks during Schwartz Rounds there.
One afternoon, a doctor friend whose clinical skills and bedside manner I’ve long admired called wanting desperately to talk about her day. Exasperated, and feeling as if she had no one to turn to at work, she reached out to me, her friend.
Earlier that day, a transplant patient had threatened to stop taking one of his medications. Proud of his looks, he had become despondent when the drug made his gums swell. “He thought he looked like a freak,” my friend said.
Pay for Caritas chief rose $1m in ’09
Compensation was highest at city’s hospitals
Medicaid use grows, threatening budget
By Mal Leary, Capitol News Service
Posted Sept. 14, 2011, at 5:40 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine – The volume of claims under MaineCare, the Medicaid program, are above estimates so far this budget year, raising concerns the program will need more money than budgeted to get through the year.
“There is no doubt it is an alarming issue that warrants our full attention,” Mary Mayhew, commissioner of Health and Human Services, said in an interview. “We have put into place pretty close monitoring of our week-to-week experience with claims volume to get an explanation of what is happening, what is causing the increased volume.”
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