KHN Original Reporting & Guest Opinion
In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "One in 500 kids has an inherited disorder that causes high levels of LDL ('bad') cholesterol that may require medication to control. However, since the problem doesn't create observable symptoms, as many as half of these kids don't know they have the condition. To help identify these children, late last year an expert panel convened by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommended that all children be screened for high cholesterol, once between the ages of 9 and 11 and again between ages 17 and 21" (Andrews, 2/7). Read the column.
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Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Jordan Rau reports on a new Commonwealth Fund study: "In anticipation of the expansion of health insurance that will start in 2014 under the federal health care law, the Commonwealth Fund has begun tracking coverage of low-income Americans. The first of the surveys reconfirms what's already well-known: the poor are starting from a pretty bad place in terms of coverage" (Rau, 2/7).
Also on Capsules, Andrew Villegas checks in on the blogosphere where he found an "abundance of analysis and commentary on the decision last week by Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood for, among other things, giving low-income women breast exams" (Villegas, 2/6). Check out what else is on the blog.
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Kaiser Health News provides a fresh perspective on health policy developments with "Tripped Up?" by David Fitzsimmons.
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Capitol Hill Watch
The gridlock is over how to pay for the fix and could threaten the broader legislative package, which includes the payroll tax break extension. Meanwhile, lawmakers examine familiar offset possibilities, as well as some ideas from the private sector.
The New York Times: House And Senate At Impasse On Medicare Payments
House and Senate negotiators are deadlocked over how to prevent a deep cut in Medicare payments to doctors who treat millions of Medicare beneficiaries, an impasse that could threaten broader legislation on a payroll tax cut. Lawmakers in both parties said they wanted to give doctors a small increase, but could not agree on how to cover the cost (Pear, 2/6).
Los Angeles Times: Congress Starts New Duel Over Payroll Tax Break
The package would extend the payroll tax holiday — a 2-percentage-point reduction in the tax workers pay toward Social Security — through December. Offsetting the cost of the package would ensure the retirement funds are replenished. The legislation also would continue long-term unemployment benefits and prevent a pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients (Mascaro, 2/6).
Roll Call: Differences Remain On Paying For Payroll Tax Cut
The payroll tax cut conference committee is prepared this week to debate its most daunting difference: how to pay for the full-year bill. According to aides staffing the panel and Democratic lawmakers emerging from a meeting this evening, the conference committee will debate Tuesday how to offset a full-year extension of the payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits and lapsing Medicare doctor payments (Shiner, 2/6).
Politico Pro: Next Mix Of SGR Offsets Could Hit Hospitals
Lawmakers are assembling a mix of familiar offsets that could be quickly pulled together to pay for a short-term "doc fix," a strong signal that a campaign by provider groups to fully repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate using war savings has fizzled on Capitol Hill. The list includes several offsets that have been used before, including ones aimed squarely at the hospital sector, according to sources on and off Capitol Hill. Included in the mix is a measure that would allow Medicare to retroactively capture at least three years' worth of overpayments made to hospitals due to misaligned diagnosis codes — a provision strenuously opposed by the American Hospital Association (DoBias and Feder, 2/7).
CQ HealthBeat: Panel To Search Private Sector For Solutions To Medicare Fee Formula
As lawmakers work to again prevent Medicare payment cuts to physicians, a House panel will hold a hearing Tuesday to look at possible replacements for the government health program's reimbursement system. Members of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health are turning toward the private sector for inspiration as they consider ways to overhaul Medicare's fee-for-service reimbursement system — a shared goal among lawmakers and industry stakeholders (Ethridge, 2/6).
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Administration News
The Wall Street Journal: Budget Plan Has Familiar Ring
The president will propose cutting spending on Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, and Medicaid, the joint federal-state program for the poor and disabled. However, he isn't proposing the structural changes that experts say are needed to control spending in these programs over the long term. For instance, Mr. Obama won't suggest raising the Medicare eligibility age ... he again will put forward proposals to reduce spending by roughly $248 billion on Medicare and roughly $72 billion on Medicaid. The proposals include higher premiums and deductibles for many beneficiaries and lower payments to drug companies, hospitals and nursing homes (Meckler, 2/7).
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News outlets report on the clash between the Obama administration and Catholic leaders.
Politico Pro: Birth Control Mandate Faces Legal Challenges
The courts will be the next battleground for the fight over the health care reform requirement that employers include free birth control in employee health plans. Two federal suits have already been filed by religious universities — one in D.C., the other in Colorado — contending that the rule violates their religious liberties (Feder, 2/7).
The Hill: Obama Administration Faces Backlash Over Rule Ordering Birth Control Coverage
GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney launched a petition on Monday against the mandate, arguing it was an attack by Obama on "religious liberty." Conservatives, including Catholics such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), are attacking the administration for the decision. And now, nine months before the presidential election, the backlash is growing even among Obama supporters, who say the move was politically tone-deaf (Parnes, 2/6).
McClatchy / The Kansas City Star: Catholic Leaders Speak Out Against New Contraception Regulations
Lawmakers and politicians scrambled Monday to respond to a growing furor over the Obama administration's decision to require no-cost contraceptive insurance coverage — even in policies offered by religious employers. Over the weekend hundreds of thousands of Catholics, including many in the Kansas City area, heard church leaders denounce the plan revealed in late January by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas governor (Helling and Kraske, 2/7).
Newshour (video and script): Obama Administration, Catholic Leaders Clash Over Contraception Mandate
The new rule grew out of an IOM report last year that recommended a major expansion of birth control services to women. ... The IOM also said, expanded birth control services to women will cut down on the number of abortions and make women healthier. The Obama administration says 28 states already have similar mandates requiring contraceptive coverage. But some Catholic leaders say the states have broader exemptions than the new federal mandate (Bowser, 2/6).
WBUR: Following Rule, Boston Archdiocese Warns It May Drop Employee Health Coverage
[T]he Obama ruling would exempt churches, but Catholic schools, hospitals and organizations, such as Catholic Charities, would, after one year, have to cover many types of birth control, tubal ligations and medications that end pregnancies. ... Charlie McKinney is vice president at Thomas Moore, a Catholic college in Merrimack, N.H., with less than 100 students. McKinney says Catholics are focused now on reversing the ruling. But if the ruling stands, the college will consider dropping health insurance (Bebinger, 2/6).
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The Associated Press: Obama To Seek More Alzheimer's Research Money
The Obama administration wants to spend just over half a billion dollars on Alzheimer's research next year, hoping to battle back against what could become the defining disease of the aging baby-boom generation. ... The move is part of the administration's development of the first National Alzheimer's Plan, a congressionally-ordered strategy that will combine research toward better dementia treatments with steps to help overwhelmed families to better cope today. ... the administration said it will propose spending $26 million for other goals of the still-to-be-finalized plan, including caregiver support (Neergaard, 2/7).
Related, earlier feature from KHN: Different Takes: The National Plan To Address Alzheimer's Disease (1/31)
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Health Reform
Briefs filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business argue that Congress overstepped its constitutional authority when it mandated that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
Reuters: Opponents: Congress Went Too Far In Obama Healthcare Law
Congress went beyond its powers by requiring Americans to buy insurance under President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul, opponents told the Supreme Court on Monday in arguing the law's centerpiece provision should be struck down. In separate written briefs, 26 states and an independent business group argued Congress overstepped its authority under the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce by mandating that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty by 2014 (Vicini, 2/6).
CQ HealthBeat: Health Care Law 'Harmful' For The Uninsured But Aids Insurers, NFIB Tells High Court
Lawyers for the National Federation of Independent Business told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the health care law's requirement that all Americans have health insurance would compel the uninsured to engage in economic activity that harms them but benefits insurance companies. In their brief, the lawyers for the law’s opponents said that the "harmful" activity is making healthy people buy something they don’t believe they need: health insurance from a commercial firm. "Never before has Congress enacted such a regulatory mandate," says the brief (Norman, 2/6).
Georgia Health News: Small Firms Not Unanimous On Health Reform
Jackie Garson Howard started her fine-stationery business out of her Atlanta home almost 40 years ago. ... Unlike many small business owners, Howard supports the 2010 health care reform law. "I'm very much in favor of it,"’ she says."Morally, I think everybody needs coverage." ... [Meanwhile, a] national organization representing small firms, citing the insurance requirement, has filed a lawsuit opposing the reform law. The National Federation of Independent Business says the coverage mandate will prevent firms from creating jobs. Surveys by NFIB over the years have repeatedly shown health costs being the No. 1 concern of small businesses (Miller and Patel, 2/6).
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These House Democratic lawmakers are concerned that the Department of Health and Human Services is allowing states significant latitude in determining the definition of "essential benefits." Also in the news, the Office of Management and Budget has begun its review of the long-awaited final regulations for the establishment of state exchanges.
Modern Healthcare: Dems Press For Openness On Essential Benefits
A small group of House Democrats expressed concern about HHS allowing states to determine the definition of essential health benefit packages. ... The lawmakers contend that when they wrote the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the essential health benefits package was intended as a federal decision, and that one of the primary goals of the health care reform law was to create a consistent and comprehensive level of coverage for Americans nationwide (Zigmond, 2/6).
CQ HealthBeat: Exchange Regs Slip Into The Doors Of OMB
The White House Office of Management and Budget posted a notice Monday saying that it has begun reviewing a long-awaited final regulation governing the establishment of state insurance exchanges under the health care law. It arrived at OMB on February 3. But when it will emerge and be released publicly via Federal Register publication is anybody's guess. Review times range from days to weeks to months. The regulation is one of several proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last August. Also at OMB undergoing review is a final regulation on reinsurance and risk adjustment in exchanges, which arrived there Jan. 23 (2/6).
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Campaign 2012
Romney and GOP presidential primary rival Rick Santorum also trade barbs, while the Associated Press takes a look at Newt Gingrich's ties to lobbying.
Politico: Mitt Romney Attacks Obama On Contraception
Mitt Romney is charging the Obama administration with seeking to curtail religious freedom at the same time it's defending its decision to require religious employers to cover birth control in employee health plans (Epstein, 2/6).
Reuters: Romney Goes After Obama On Healthcare, Contraception
Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Monday joined a battle over a part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law that has outraged Catholic bishops. ... Romney told a large crowd in Centennial, Colorado: "Think what that does to people who are in faiths that do no share those views. This is a violation of conscience. We must have a president who is willing to protect America's first right, our right to worship God" (Holland, 2/6).
CNN: Romney Urges Supporters To Protest Birth Control Rule
Mitt Romney on Monday became the latest GOP presidential candidate to blast the Obama administration for new rules that would force all hospitals – including those run by the Catholic church – to provide workers health insurance that covers contraception, including sterilization. A page on Romney's website asks supporters to sign a petition protesting "the Obama administration's attacks on religious liberty," saying the new rules amounted to an assault on personal rights (Liptak, 2/6).
ABC: Romney Calls Morning After Pills 'Abortive,' Says 'Right To Worship God' Is Necessity
Employing some of his most conservative rhetoric to date, Mitt Romney referred to morning after pills as "abortive pills" during a speech at a rally in Colorado where he told the crowd about the importance of electing a president who will protect the "right to worship God" (Friedman, 2/6).
Boston Globe: Romney, Santorum Campaigns Trade Barbs
On NBC's "Meet the Press"’ Sunday, Santorum said Romney "sided with big government’" on issues including health care and cap and trade emission rules as a response to global warming. Romney's health care overhaul included an individual mandate, similar to President Obama's national plan. ... Romney responded yesterday with a press release chronicling Santorum's "false attacks on Massachusetts health care," citing several stories on the independent fact-checking websites (Schoenberg, 2/7).
Politico: Rick Santorum Hits Even Popular Parts Of The ACA
How much does Rick Santorum hate President Barack Obama's health care law? So much that he even opposes the parts a lot of Republicans like. The Republican presidential candidate, talking health care across the street from Minnesota's Mayo Clinic Monday morning, blasted parts of the Affordable Care Act that poll well even among Republican voters — like guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and making health insurers cover preventive care (Millman, 2/6).
The Hill: Santorum Ties Romney And Obama Together On Healthcare
Rick Santorum delivered a scathing critique of Mitt Romney and President Obama's healthcare reform laws on Monday. In a speech billed as a major address on the issue, Santorum said there was virtually no daylight between Obama's healthcare reform law and the law Romney signed as Massachusetts governor. "I really don't find any legitimate reason why [Romney] would oppose [Obamacare], because the plan he put together in Massachusetts is in fact Obamacare on the state level," Santorum said Monday in Rochester, Minn., according to CNN (Strauss, 2/6).
The Associated Press: Gingrich Shunned Lobbying, But Hired Lobbyists
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says his consulting group never lobbied for clients. But his business hired state and federal lobbyists to work with clients, and some staff left to take lobbying jobs, according to lobbying disclosures and corporate reports. Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation hired a former Georgia lobbyist to help develop business in that state; a former Missouri state agency director who was a registered lobbyist before joining Gingrich's group; and a Washington lobbyist hired from a firm led by former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, a Gingrich supporter (Blackledge, 2/6).
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Coverage & Access
According to the Commonwealth Fund, low-income adults who were surveyed were less likely to have insurance and to receive medical care including preventive screenings.
Modern Healthcare: Survey Highlights Gaps In Care Faced By Poor
Low-income adults surveyed by the Commonwealth Fund last summer were less likely to have insurance and receive needed medical care than adults with higher incomes, newly released results show. Low-income adults were less likely to receive preventive screening and more likely to visit the emergency room at night or on weekends than those with higher incomes, the survey found (Evans, 2/7).
Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Nowhere To Go But Up For The Poor Lacking Health Insurance, Says Study
In anticipation of the expansion of health insurance that will start in 2014 under the federal health care law, the Commonwealth Fund has begun tracking coverage of low-income Americans. .. A third of low-income Americans (under 133 percent of poverty, or $29,726 for a family of four) have lacked insurance for at least two years–10 times the rate of higher earners (Rau, 2/7).
National Journal: Survey Documents Uninsured Families—And Offers Hope
The Commonwealth report says the expansion of Medicaid and other provisions of the health reform law will help connect low- and moderate-income Americans with a regular source of health care. Adults with moderate household incomes—between 133 and 249 percent of the poverty level— also lacked health insurance coverage last year, the survey found: 36 percent of adults with family incomes at that level didn’t have health insurance in 2011 (Quinton, 2/7).
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Health Care Marketplace
Humana met analyst projections for the quarter and HCA stock shares are rebounding.
The Wall Street Journal: Humana Net Up 86%; Outlook Raised
Humana's earnings met analyst expectations for the quarter, although revenue was softer than expected. The Louisville, Ky., firm's full-year guidance also remains below analyst expectations, even though Humana raised its forecast based on stronger-than-expected enrollment increases for Medicare Advantage plans. After a string of strong reports that helped push Humana shares to an all-time peak last month, expectations were running high (Kamp, 2/7).
Reuters: Humana Forecast Is Below Street View; Shares Fall
Health insurers had performed well beyond expectations for most of 2011, benefiting from lower medical claims costs as a weak economy kept more Americans out of the doctor's office. But their financial results have been more tepid in the latest quarter, and some are expecting those claims costs to pick up this year. Besides Humana, Cigna and UnitedHealth Group Inc also forecast 2012 profit that fell short of Wall Street targets (Krauskopf, 2/6).
The Wall Street Journal: HCA Earnings Soar On Gain
HCA Holdings Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings soared behind a big acquisition-related gain, plus help from continued growth in patient volumes and the hospital operator's cost-cutting efforts. ... HCA shares still trade at a discount to the $30 IPO after a turbulent first year, beset by concerns about patients avoiding medical visits because of the soft economy and pressure on reimbursement from government health plans. But its shares have been rebounding lately (Kamp, 2/7).
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The Washington Post: Why Do Cardiologists Often Pass Up Safe, Low-Tech Treatments For Chest Pain?
The affordability of American medical care in the future will depend, in part, on the ability of physicians to simplify and economize, which are two things they've never been good at. With national health expenditures amounting to $2.6 trillion a year — 45 percent of it paid by government — prosperity and political stability may also be at stake (Brown, 2/6).
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State Watch
Vermont may for the short term allow small businesses to offer low-premium, "bronze" insurance plans. In other news, a N.J. legislative committee approved a bill to establish a state health insurance exchange, and a California plan to move 875,000 children to Medicaid raises concerns.
CBS/Associated Press: Vt. Would Allow 'Bronze Plan' To Encourage Health
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and legislative leaders said Monday they wanted to make it possible for more of the state's small businesses to offer lower premium health insurance plans sometimes known as "bronze plans" until the state can implement its single payer health care system. Speaking Monday in Montpelier, Shumlin and leaders from the House and Senate, all Democrats, said they would also allow businesses with more than 50 employees to remain outside the federally-mandated health care exchange until 2016 (2/6).
MSNBC: Assembly Panel Moves Forward With Key Component Of Health Care Reform
[New Jersey] lawmakers took a step toward implementing a major component of President Barack Obama's health care reform law Monday as an Assembly panel moved legislation to establish a New Jersey health insurance exchange. The Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee, which is chaired by Burlington County Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-7th of Delanco, voted 8-2 with one abstention to approve the measure, which would establish the exchange, described as a user-friendly, one-stop online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy approved health insurance plans (Levinsky, 2/6).
California Healthline: New Report Offers Healthy Families Alternatives
The state wants to shift 875,000 children in the Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal over a nine-month period, beginning in October. The state estimates the move will save $156 million over the next two fiscal years. But according to a soon-to-be-released study, that plan could limit access to care for California's children, and the state might be better served to move more slowly (Gorn, 2/6).
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The Obama administration said "no" Monday to a California proposal designed to help close a budget gap. Elsewhere, Texas is planning a change to how it pays for charity care in its Medicaid program.
The Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle: Obama Administration Rejects Medi-Cal Copayments Federal health officials on Monday said California cannot force Medi-Cal recipients to make a co-pay for doctor visits and prescription drugs, a decision that brings relief to low-income patients but complicates the state's effort to close a $9.2 billion budget deficit. A letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said agency officials were "unable to identify the legal and policy support" for the state's request (Lin, 2/6).
Bloomberg: Obama Blocks California From Charging For Care In Medicaid
California’s co-payments would have ranged from $3 to $5 for drugs to $100 per day for hospital stays. Doctor visits would have been $5, and emergency room treatment $50. Medicaid, the U.S. health insurance program for the poor, is run by states and the federal government, with the U.S. approving changes in eligibility standards by granting waivers from national law. The program is among the biggest expenses for states (Wayne, 2/6).
The Sacramento Bee: Federal Officials Reject California's Plan To Charge Medi-Cal Co-Payments
Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers relied on mandatory Medi-Cal co-payments to save $511 million in last year's state budget and presumed that the state would continue saving in future years. The plan to charge low-income Medi-Cal patients and let doctors refuse care for nonpayment was unprecedented for a state on such a wide scale (Yamamura, 2/7).
Houston Chronicle: Medicaid Changes Challenge Hospitals To Do Things Differently
The goal is lofty: improve and expand health care for millions of Texans. But with billions of dollars at stake and the new project under way before the rules are even written, decisions made over the next few months are causing anxiety in many Harris County hospitals. The new rules - part of a complicated, first-of-its-kind project approved by the federal government - will determine who gets paid for providing charity care, and how much (Kever and Ackerman, 2/6).
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A U.S. District Court judge says that he can't stop the law from taking effect.
Houston Chronicle: Texas Sonogram Law Goes Into Effect Today
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said in a ruling Monday that he cannot stop a new sonogram law from taking effect and pointedly suggested that three appellate court judges who overruled him last month had misapplied an earlier U.S. Court decision involving abortion. The state of Texas will begin enforcing the law Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the Texas Health Services Commission (Scharrer, 2/6).
The Dallas Morning News: Judge Lifts Ban On Texas' Abortion Sonogram Law
A federal judge lifted the ban on the state’s new sonogram law Monday but warned in unusually harsh language that he believes that the abortion statute eventually will be seen as trampling on the rights of doctors to speak freely to their patients. The state is still drawing up forms and rules on the law, but many doctors and clinics have anticipated the ruling and already have begun complying with it (Hoppe, 2/6).
The Texas Tribune: State Health Department Now Enforcing Sonogram Law
According to DSHS memos sent to women's health clinics on Monday: As of October, the abortion doctor, not an ultrasound technician, had to meet the woman seeking an abortion at least 24 hours ahead of the procedure to perform a sonogram, describe the medical risks of an abortion and determine the gestational age of the fetus. ... Starting last month, the abortion provider had to begin displaying the sonogram images, making the heartbeat audible, and providing a verbal explanation of the sonogram results to the woman (Ramshaw, 2/6).
The Associated Press: US Judge Says He Can't Block Texas Sonogram Law
Doctors who do not comply with the law could lose their medical license, be charged with a misdemeanor and face fines of up to $10,000. In 2011, Sparks struck down provisions that requiring doctors to describe the images and others that required victims of sexual assault or incest to sign statements attesting to that fact. The judge said the state was trying to "permanently brand" those women (Vertuno, 2/6).
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News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Los Angeles Times: Detained Immigrants With Mental Illnesses Face Barriers In Court
Immigrant advocates say there are hundreds of mentally ill immigration defendants such as [Ever Martinez Rivas], left to fend for themselves without any meaningful protections in court. As with Martinez, their cases are delayed repeatedly while immigration judges struggle to deal with them fairly. A recently certified federal class action suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Los Angeles-based pro bono law firm Public Counsel and other advocacy groups, seeks to address the issue by compelling the government to provide competency hearings, lawyers and bond hearings for defendants such as Martinez (Esquivel, 2/7).
New Orleans Times Picayune: Louisiana Health Secretary Pledges To Help New Orleans Maintain Mental Health Services Amid Cuts
State Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein, in a Monday letter to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, pledged that his agency will work to mitigate the effects of cuts to mental health services at Louisiana State University's New Orleans hospital. ... The closures at Interim LSU Public Hospital and the DePaul mental health campus include about 10 percent of emergency room general beds and inpatient/surgical beds; half of the emergency mental health beds; nine out of 38 mental health inpatient beds; and all chemical detox beds (Barrow, 2/6).
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Hahnemann Boosts Use Of Registered Nurses In Bid To Improve Care
In a move that defies conventional wisdom, Hahnemann University Hospital is replacing less expensive workers with people who are paid more. Michael Halter, the hospital's chief executive officer, believes that ultimately the change will earn Hahnemann more money and customers, and create a more loyal staff when the labor market becomes competitive again. Halter said a pilot study done on one nursing unit found that using all registered nurses to care for patients instead of a combination of nurses and nursing assistants led to higher-quality care, and greater patient and nurse satisfaction. As a result, the entire hospital is transforming to the all-RN model (Burling, 2/7).
The Baltimore Sun: UM Medical School Program Aimed At Increasing Primary Care Physicians
The University of Maryland School of Medicine will use a five-year $877,000 grant on a program to increase the number of students who enter primary care fields. The school said Monday it will create a primary care track that will allow students to work one-on-one with faculty from family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and other primary care specialties. The new program is being developed as health care reform is expected to put further pressure on primary care doctors (Walker, 2/6).
Boston Globe: Health Firms Boost Patrick
Governor Deval Patrick's federal political action committee collected at least $52,250 from health care interests from July through December, just as Beacon Hill was gearing up for a major fight over how to overhaul payments in the multibillion-dollar industry. The total was collected from just 18 donors and committees and makes up a significant portion of the PAC's overall fund-raising tally for the latest sixth-month reporting period, which totaled $301,561 (Bierman, 2/7).
The Dallas Morning News: Dallas' Parkland Hospital Withholds Critical Patient Safety Report For Fear Of Lawsuits
Parkland Memorial Hospital's governing board refused Monday to release a federally mandated report on patient safety, citing a fear that it could be used against the embattled public facility in court. Dr. Lauren McDonald, Parkland's longtime chairwoman, announced the decision after board members met privately with their top lawyer for 4 1/2 hours (Egerton, 2/6).
California Watch: Prime Healthcare Drops Bid For N.J. Hospital
Prime Healthcare Services pulled its bid to buy a New Jersey hospital last week, saying it was deferring to the wishes of local elected officials who wanted to see the hospital remain a locally operated nonprofit. The proposed deal met strong resistance from a health workers union and a community group that aired concerns over Prime's business model. Prime leaders and Christ Hospital attorneys also faced tough questions from health regulators (Jewett and Williams, 2/7).
The Baltimore Sun: Most Private Employers Providing Health Insurance To Workers
Just 17 percent of Maryland's adult private sector workers went without health insurance in 2010, compared with 22 percent nationally, according to a report put out by the Maryland Health Care Commission. The commission looks at private employers biennially, and found more private sector employees were getting their insurance through work in Maryland though the employers weren't offering insurance more often than the national average — about 88 percent of employers offer insurance (Cohn, 2/6).
Kansas Health Institute News: Governor Proposes Cuts In Children's Programs
Citing uncertainty in the amount of money Kansas will receive from major tobacco companies as part of a long-standing legal settlement, Gov. Sam Brownback has proposed cutting $16 million from programs that promote parenting skills and early childhood development. ... Brownback's proposal also calls for eliminating $5 million in Family Centered Systems of Care grants that community mental health centers use to support families with children who are mentally ill or emotionally disturbed (Ranney, 2/6).
California Healthline: Do Long-Term Care Patients Need a Stronger Advocate?
Sylvia Taylor-Stein runs a local ombudsman program in Ventura County, and she is frustrated. The state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman program is a network of local programs that use trained volunteers to investigate complaints and concerns in long-term care facilities and to make sure patients in those settings are treated properly. ... The issue, according to Taylor-Stein, is that the state ombudsman's office hasn't acted as an independent advocate for elders, but instead works in lock step with the governor, as management of the agency is a governor-appointed position (Gorn, 2/6).
The Lund Report: Electronic Health Records Face Rapidly Changing Technology
[2010] was the year that the Community Leadership Council of the Archimedes Movement made recommendations on the state's Strategic Plan for Health Information Exchange, which the federal government approved a few months later. The Oregon Health Authority, through the Office of Health IT, has been developing the necessary policy ... with a focus on provider-to-provider communication to launch this spring. ... [T]he Google product they referenced in recommendations went defunct (Rendleman, 2/6).
California Watch: Prime Healthcare Drops Bid For N.J. Hospital
Prime Healthcare Services pulled its bid to buy a New Jersey hospital last week, saying it was deferring to the wishes of local elected officials who wanted to see the hospital remain a locally operated nonprofit. The proposed deal met strong resistance from a health workers union and a community group that aired concerns over Prime’s business model. Prime leaders and Christ Hospital attorneys also faced tough questions from health regulators (Jewett and Williams, 2/7).
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Editorials and Opinions
The New York Times: The Payroll Tax Fight
Republicans in Congress seem to have forgotten the embarrassment they suffered late last year for trying to block a payroll tax cut for millions of wage-earners. The two-month extension they reluctantly approved will run out in three weeks, yet, again, they are stalling a full-year's tax cut with extraneous issues and political ploys. ... (The two sides have also failed to agree on how to prevent a cut in Medicare payments to doctors, which could drive many of them from the program) (2/6).
Los Angeles Times: For Many, Affordable Healthcare Hinges On Supreme Court Vote
It remains anyone's guess how the Supreme Court will vote this year on whether Congress can require people to buy insurance as part of President Obama's healthcare reform law. ... With this in mind, it's helpful to remember why this is even being discussed. ... It's because of people like Sharon Scott, a 47-year-old single mom in Anaheim who pays nearly half her $24,000 annual income to her insurer, Health Net, and is unable to shop around for a cheaper policy because she has cataracts (David Lazarus, 2/6).
The Wall Street Journal: Capital Journal: Misreading Catholic Barometer Is A Political Risk
The harshly negative reaction of the church's bishops—important allies of the president's on other matters, notably immigration reform—is one thing. The bigger question is whether rank-and-file Catholics, even the majority who tend to disagree with church teaching on contraception, will view the administration's actions as a case of overreach. As a result, the administration now faces a delicate question of whether to mend fences, seek a new compromise or assume the flap will blow over without affecting broader Catholic views (Gerald F. Seib, 2/7).
Chicago Tribune: State Must Remain Out Of Matters Of The Church
More recently, on Jan. 20, the Obama administration finalized regulations that force employers, including Catholic and other religious institutions, to provide insurance that covers birth control, without deductibles or co-pays, to its employees in hospitals, charitable organizations, social-service agencies and universities. Because prescription contraceptives, sterilization and abortifacients (chemicals that effectively kill a fertilized egg) violate their teachings and consciences, Catholic and other churches have loudly objected. Some declared they wouldn't comply, setting up a major constitutional fight (Dennis Byrne, 2/7).
The Washington Post: The Poor Pay The Price For Obama's Politics
In a variety of international settings, I have seen religious groups, with support from the U.S. government, engaged in AIDS treatment, fistula repair, malaria control, and the promotion of child and maternal health. ... Much of this good work — and similar work across the country — is now threatened. If federal policies make it impossible for religious nonprofits and hospitals to work in conjunction with federal, state and local agencies in providing social services, millions of poor and vulnerable Americans — Catholic and non-Catholic, religious and nonreligious — would suffer (Michael Gerson, 2/6).
The Wall Street Journal: Obama And The 'Bitter' Clingers – Round Two
Whatever else the controversial new contraceptive mandate may have done, already it has achieved the unthinkable: Joe Biden is now as silent and reclusive as a Trappist monk. Mr. Biden, of course, occupies a historic place as our first Catholic vice president and the country's most prominent Catholic layman. Never before has he been shy about talking about his faith. So it tells you something that two weeks after the Department of Health and Human Services issued this new rule, Mr. Biden has apparently taken a vow of silence (2/7).
Bloomberg: Health Rule An Affront To Religious Groups
It would be no great hardship for someone who has decided to work at a Catholic hospital to pay for contraception out of pocket. The only reasons to mandate coverage are essentially political, such as the desire to get society to regard abortion as basic health care. Whatever else one may think of this goal, it is not a justification for coercion (Ramesh Ponnuru, 2/6).
The Wall Street Journal: Planned Parenthood's Hostages
The Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organization dedicated since 1982 to fighting, and one day curing, breast cancer, decided to extricate itself from the culture wars by discontinuing grants to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions. The grants Komen had been making amounted to $650,000 last year, funding some 19 local Planned Parenthood programs that offered manual breast exams but only referrals for mammograms performed elsewhere. The reality is that Planned Parenthood—with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion—does little in the way of screening for breast cancer (Robert P. George and O. Carter Snead, 2/6).
San Jose Mercury News/McClatchy: Komen Turnabout Proves The Power Of Protest
The swift retreat of the Susan G. Komen foundation Friday from its assault on Planned Parenthood is a timely reminder of the power of protest, especially when its target and purpose are clear and its voices are not only strong but also credible (2/6).
Houston Chronicle: Medical Research Key To U.S. Health
NIH is the largest single funder of basic medical research in the U.S.; the research it supports provides the foundation of knowledge that drives innovation and improves health. But reaping the full benefits of medical discoveries can take many years, which is why a long-term, sustained investment in medical research is essential…. We all want to reduce the deficit. But let's not jeopardize the next generation of cures by cutting funding for medical research (Dr. Cary W. Coooper, 2/6).
The Dallas Morning News: The Mentally Ill Deserve Better Treatment
Through Medicaid, Washington offers a program to help people in Kajuana Mitchell's situation get better medical care. But our state must put up some of its own money to qualify for the federal initiative. So far, we haven't. We could by diverting some money from the state prison budget. In the end, that could keep people with deep mental illnesses out of our prisons. The city of Dallas also should adopt laws that require a decent level of care for the mentally ill who live in group homes. Some houses provide good care, but Dallas has no standards for all to meet (William McKenzie, 2/6).
New Orleans Times Picayune: Spare Mental Health Services In LSU Cuts
Most mental health patients at the hospital aren't covered by Medicaid or private insurance. So there are no alternatives for them if LSU reduces its services. And many people in our region are still dealing with behavioral issues that arose after Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. That's why mental health services are crucial here. That's why we hope Gov. Bobby Jindal and LSU System President John Lombardi will consider Mayor Landrieu's plea to work together to find other ways to address the shortfall (2/7).
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