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Chamber of Commerce says health fight over -- but sees room to maneuver

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports on the Chamber's latest take on the next steps in health reform. "Despite unleashing a new round of TV spots last week that blasts congressional Democrats' health overhaul, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce acknowledged at a media briefing Tuesday that the fight is just about over.

18 Jan 2010

Republicans hint at strategy to defeat health bill

Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., speaks as Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and John Fleming, R-La., listen during a news conference. Shadegg held the news conference to discuss the costs of health care reform.

18 Jan 2010

Health care fraud is big business

Health care fraud has become a multi-billion dollar industry - up to $100 billion a year, according to estimates - for scammers and organized crime gangs, CNNMoney reports. In recent months health care identity theft has topped the list of crimes, a con in which criminals to tap real patient information to rack up fake charges.

18 Jan 2010

Minnesota County says state plan to cover costs of health care for the needy is unfair

In Minnesota, Hennepin County officials are saying a plan to charge counties extra to "cover health care for their neediest residents would have an unfair impact on the state's largest county and biggest public hospital."

18 Jan 2010

Geisinger CEO wins 2010 TRUST Award

The Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), an affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA), has selected Glenn D. Steele Jr., MD, PhD president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Health System, as the recipient of the 2010 TRUST Award.

18 Jan 2010

Federal survey shows more than 6.7 million children in the United States have no health insurance

A recent federal survey of children's health shows more than 6.7 million children in the United States don't have health insurance, and nearly 1 in 4 insured children lack adequate insurance coverage.

18 Jan 2010

Atlantic examines drug-resistant TB control worldwide

The Atlantic examines the emergence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis around the world, with a look at the situation in South Africa. "[T]he resurgence of tuberculosis is not limited to South Africa. India and China have the largest numbers of tuberculosis cases, and multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has been found in nearly every country, with XDR [extensively drug resistant]-TB in at least 57 countries," according to the article.

18 Jan 2010

Mass. Senate election could play role in health reform endgame

The Associated Press: "Like a roller-coaster ride on its last twisting turns, President Barack Obama's campaign to remake health care is barreling into final days of breathless suspense and headlong momentum." President Obama and other Democrats are focusing this weekend on "an unpredictable Senate race in Massachusetts, while senior White House and congressional staffers" hurry to complete work on the health bill's "cost and coverage options."

18 Jan 2010

'Cadillac' tax deal in the works

"Unions tentatively struck a deal Tuesday to exempt collectively bargained healthcare plans from a tax on high-cost plans expected to be used to help raise revenue for the healthcare overhaul," CongressDaily reports.

18 Jan 2010

Republicans decry Dems' deal with labor

Democrats' breakthrough deal with labor groups on the health overhaul yesterday is now attracting criticism as a handout to special interests, FOX News reports.

18 Jan 2010

Sen. Feingold asks Democratic leaders to remove special deals from health bill

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) on Thursday called on Democratic leaders to strip special deals awarded to his colleagues from the final, negotiated health care reform package, although he stopped short of saying he would vote against the bill if his demands were not met.

18 Jan 2010

CKD patients do not receive adequate end-of-life care

Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) often do not receive adequate end-of-life care and are unhappy with the medical decisions made as their conditions worsen, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The findings indicate that end-of-life care should be improved to meet the needs of CKD patients.

18 Jan 2010

AP examines Clinton's emphasis on women's empowerment, trip to PNG

As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Rodham Clinton travels to Papua New Guinea Wednesday, the Associated Press examines how she will continue to press for "'women empowerment,' a signature issue of her nearly one-year tenure as top U.S. diplomat.'"

18 Jan 2010

Aflac becomes the most preferred carrier for voluntary insurance among brokers

A survey of 358 brokers by business intelligence consulting firm Personified, finds Aflac is the number one preferred carrier for voluntary insurance among brokers.

18 Jan 2010

Obama rallies House Democrats during Caucus retreat

President Barack Obama promised to wage "a great campaign" in support of health reform, and he praised lawmakers who made "tough choices" with possible electoral consequences during the House Democrats' annual retreat Thursday on Capitol Hill, The Washington Post reports (Bacon, 1/15).

18 Jan 2010

Democrats reportedly settle key issues on health bill but no final accord yet

Politico reports: "President Barack Obama and senior Democratic lawmakers closed in Friday on a final health care reform package, finishing a week of intensive negotiations on tax and coverage issues that had once threatened to derail the bill.

18 Jan 2010

U.S., World mount response to Haiti 7.0 earthquake

Rescue teams and aid groups headed to Haiti on Wednesday to offer help and "assess damage from a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake that crippled the island nation, severing communications with the outside world and crumbling countless buildings," the Miami Herald reports (Charles et al., 1/13). Tuesday's "earthquake was the worst in the region in more than 200 years and left the country in a shambles," according to the New York Times (Romero/Lacy, 1/13).

18 Jan 2010

Major insurers funded Chamber of Commerce ads attacking health bills

"Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation's biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress," The National Journal reports.

18 Jan 2010

GOP governors say health 'deals' are being cut without their input

"Twenty Republican governors and governors-elect are accusing the White House of providing too little transparency on health care, causing worry that 'deals' are being cut without their input," Politico reports. "In a letter sent Wednesday to the Congressional leaders of both parties, the governors wrote that they are 'disappointed with the lack of transparency' as health care moves forward. … The letter comes, in part, as a response to the Obama administration's move to bring in Democratic governors to stump for the bill ahead of its expected passage" (Barr, 1/14).

18 Jan 2010

McConnell hopes Democrats see unpopularity of health bill and change course

Roll Call reports that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday "appeared to concede that there was little Republicans could do to block passage of health care reform" but said he hopes Democrats change their course on the reform bill.

18 Jan 2010