Physical Therapists Unite To Support The Uninsured 10 Mar 2010The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is urging residents across the country to contact their local elected officials and members of the media to draw attention to the problem of the nation's uninsured during "Cover the Uninsured Week," March 14-20...Senate Test Vote Today On Bill To Extend COBRA Subsidy, Doc Fix And State Medicaid Funding 10 Mar 2010The Senate is poised to consider a measure today that would include extending subsidies for COBRA benefits and unemployment insurance, prevent the Medicare payment cut for doctors and provide additional funding to state Medicaid programs...Health Overhaul Policy Tidbits 10 Mar 2010NPR: For those who have forgotten what the Senate's bill would actually do as the debate has turned to politics and procedure, "a short refresher" may come in handy...Administration, Health Insurers Point Fingers At Each Other In Premium Hike Dust-Up 10 Mar 2010The Obama administration and insurance industry executives are continuing their battle over rate increases. Politico: "Insurance industry executives sat down with administration officials in the White House last week to justify their rising premium costs, attributing them to increasing medical costs. But it's an answer President Barack Obama apparently wasn't buying...Stupak Indicates Abortion Compromise Possible For Health Bill 10 Mar 2010Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who is leading a coalition of anti-abortion Democrats standing in the way of party leadership efforts to pass a health bill, signaled Monday that the impasse may be close to resolution...GOP Candidate For Calif. Gov. Switches Positions On Abortion-Related Issues 10 Mar 2010California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, took liberal positions on abortion-rights issues when he unsuccessfully ran for state Assembly in 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports. Poizner's past statements supporting abortion-right issues contradict the conservative stance he has taken in his current campaign...Today's Opinions And Editorials 10 Mar 2010The Emotion of Reform The New York Times For the Democrats, expanding health care coverage is an emotional hot spot. Over the past year, Democrats have fought passionately for universal coverage (and) there is something morally impressive in the Democrats' passion on this issue...Cornyn And Boehner Sharpen Criticism Of Obama Health Proposal 10 Mar 2010News outlets report on health care remarks from GOP leaders. "National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn said Monday that if some type of health care legislation is able to limp its way out of Congress, GOP candidates across the country are poised to make it the premiere issue of the fall campaign," Politico reports...Obama Attacks Insurers, Rallies Public To Press Congress To Approve Health Reform 10 Mar 2010"The White House is mounting a stinging, sustained broadside against health insurance rate increases," The Washington Post reports, adding that President Obama "and his health secretary staged a two-pronged attack Monday in a stern letter to health insurance chief executives and a speech in which the president castigated insurance companies 22 times...Reconciliation Roundup: Process Stands Between Democrats And Legislative Victory 10 Mar 2010Politico: Process is principle in Washington right now, as parliamentary procedure attorneys "clash" over the legal designations and wording of various bills and provisions in the lead up to an attempt to pass health legislation under filibuster-avoiding reconciliation rules...States Struggle With Strapped Budgets, Cuts To Health Programs 10 Mar 2010The Dallas Morning News: "Lawmakers have been thinking ahead to a massive shortfall, topping $10 billion, that's probably coming when they write the next budget in 2011. But state officials told them Monday that they'll have to fix a hole in the current budget, too. Rising health care costs have dug a hole of about $1.7 billion, the officials said...Obama Steps Up Health Reform Message As Stupak Defends Efforts To Tighten Abortion-Coverage Restrictions 10 Mar 2010As Democratic leaders attempt to resolve differences between the House (HR 3962) and Senate (HR 3590) health reform bills, President Obama on Monday held a rally in Pennsylvania to urge members of his party not to waver in their fight to enact the overhaul, the New York Times reports...Blogs Comment On Abortion Coverage In Health Reform, International Women's Day, Other Topics 10 Mar 2010The following summarizes selected women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Stupak's Abortion Argument: Still More About Class Than Choice": Washington Post's "Ezra Klein": The "practical effect" of Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich...Virginia Bill May Prompt State-Federal Fight Over Insurance Mandate 9 Mar 2010A bill in the Virginia state legislature could upend a critical provision of the Democrats' health overhaul and open the door for a fresh battle over the federal government's power over states, The Boston Globe reports. "The Virginia Legislature this week is poised to become the first state to pass legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance...Obama Taking To Road To Appeal To Skeptical Public, Skittish Lawmakers 9 Mar 2010The Associated Press: President Barack Obama will travel to Philadelphia today to "try to persuade the public to back his plan to remake the nation's health care system, while also urging uneasy lawmakers to cast a 'final vote' for a massive reform bill in an election year." Obama will then travel to St. Louis Wednesday...Today's OpEds: Positive And Negative Consequences Of Health Reform 9 Mar 2010If Reform Fails The New York Times Any change as big as this is bound to cause anxiety. Republicans have happily fanned those fears with talk of "dangerous experiments" on the "best health care system in the world." The fact is that the health care system is broken for far too many Americans. And the country cannot afford the status quo (3/6)...Democrats Pressure Stupak On Abortion; Split Threatening Health Bill 9 Mar 2010A split among Democrats on abortion is threatening to derail efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system. The Hill reports that "lawmakers took sides over whether the final health care bill contains language that would allow people receiving government subsidized health care to obtain an abortion and a White House official accused abortion opponent Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich...States Trying To Keep Health Care Systems Afloat 9 Mar 2010States are having to make budgetary decisions about their health care systems as federal legislation and funding continue to be tied up in Congress. Minnesota Daily: Lawmakers in Minnesota have revealed a plan to temporarily extend the General Assistance Medical Care plan before replacing it "with a trimmed-down delivery system managed largely by hospitals. ...White House Emphasizes Rising Health Insurance Costs As Reason For Reform 9 Mar 2010The Los Angeles Times analyzes how insurance costs became a focal point: "The Democrats' bill was in serious trouble when news broke of planned rate hikes by the California insurer. ... Anthem Blue Cross was seeking double-digit rate increases for many of its 800,000 individual policyholders. Company executives had little reason to worry...Sebelius, Van Hollen Criticize Stupak For Claims About Abortion Coverage In Health Reform 9 Mar 2010In appearances on several Sunday talk shows, Democratic officials continued to put pressure on Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) over his claims that the abortion-coverage provisions in the Senate health care reform bill (HR 3590) would allow federal funding to pay for the procedure, The Hill reports...Reconciliation Update: Some Dems, GOP And Industry Groups Wary Of Health Bill Strategy 9 Mar 2010The Los Angeles Times: "Obama's signature ability to inspire fellow Democrats and Pelosi's well-honed ability to read their parochial needs will be tested as they tackle the job of finding the last stubborn votes for the healthcare bill. ... "Under the Democrats' strategy, the House would pass the Senate's version of the bill...Sebelius Sends Letter To Insurance Company CEOs, Calls On Executives To Publicly Justify Premium Hikes 9 Mar 2010In a letter to the CEOs of UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Health Care Service Corporation and CIGNA HealthCare Inc., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called on the executives to publicly justify proposed health insurance premium increases. Sebelius' letter comes after a meeting last week with these executives at the White House...Democratic Division On Abortion Language In Health Overhaul Jeopardizes Chances For Passage 8 Mar 2010"Democratic leaders in Congress are embarking on a delicate strategy to win over abortion opponents, a gambit that could determine whether the legislation becomes law." The Washington Post reports. "The effort depends on convincing as many as a dozen anti-abortion Democrats in the House that abortion language in the Senate bill is more stringent than initially portrayed...Slate Column Refutes Stupak's Claim That Senate Health Reform Bill Includes Federal Abortion Funding 8 Mar 2010Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-Mich.) claim that the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590) would allow taxpayer dollars to be used to cover abortion services "concerns (or at least pretends to concern) matters of fact, not belief," Slate columnist Timothy Noah writes...Blogs Comment On Health Reform Abortion Language, Utah Antiabortion Bill, Other Topics 8 Mar 2010The following summarizes select women's health-related blog entries. ~ "Nelson Restrictions Most Likely Outcome of Reconciliation Process," Jodi Jacobson, RH Reality Check: While antiabortion-rights advocates "are ratcheting up pressure to completely eliminate" abortion coverage, "discriminatory restrictions contained in the Senate bill (HR 3590) ... are likely to become law," Jacobson writes...318 Plantation Street • Worcester, MA 01604 • 508-797-3417
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