health care

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Cut Down on C-Sections, Experts Tell US Women

Hospitals profit from unnecessary cesareans

(Newser) - American women are risking their health and driving up medical costs by having too many cesarean sections, the Los Angeles Times reports. The most common operation in the US, the C-section is used in 31% of births and accounts for 45% of rising birth costs. It can also lead to...

Pfizer Offers Free Lipitor, Viagra to Jobless

70 drugs available to those who lost jobs since Jan. 1

(Newser) - Pfizer is unveiling a new program that will let people who have lost their jobs and health insurance keep taking some of its medications—including Lipitor and Viagra—for free for up to a year. The world’s biggest drugmaker will provide more than 70 of its prescription drugs free...

Ex-CEO, Swift-Boaters Lead Attack on Health Reform

Rick Scott ties Democrats' plans to Canadian, British systems

(Newser) - As leading Democrats prepare for a health care overhaul, the loudest opposition isn’t coming from GOP leaders—it’s coming from investor and former hospital CEO Rick Scott, with the help of the team that “Swift-boated” John Kerry, the Washington Post reports. Scott is spending $5 million of...

6 Steps to Reform Health Care Now: Kennedy

Senator lists needed steps for system overhaul

(Newser) - This is the year to end an “American tragedy” and overhaul health care, Sen. Ted Kennedy writes in Politico. The Census Bureau said last year that 46 million Americans had no health insurance--and the economic crisis has added another 4 million to the ranks of the uninsured. It’s...

3 Million US Job Openings Isn't a Good Thing
3 Million US Job Openings Isn't
a Good Thing
ANALYSIS
May 1, 2009 2:26 PM CDT

3 Million US Job Openings Isn't a Good Thing

Figure shows troubling disconnect between employers, workers

(Newser) - Even with the unemployment rate shattering records, 3 million jobs nationwide remain unfilled. But the growing mismatch between employers and workers tarnishes that silver lining, Peter Coy argues in BusinessWeek. Untrained job-seekers often don’t have necessary skills to work in growing sectors like health care and accounting, and employers...

Doctor Shortage Could Hurt Obama Health Care Plans

More primary care physicians are needed to serve aging population, uninsured

(Newser) - President Obama's ambitious plants to expand health care for millions of currently uninsured Americans while simultaneously meeting the needs of aging boomers, may be stymied not only by politics-as-usual but a shortage of primary care physicians, the New York Times reports. Officials are weighing several options, including increasing Medicare payments...

GOP Lacks Focus, Leaders on Health Care
 GOP Lacks Focus, Leaders 
 on Health Care 


analysis
Apr 20, 2009 1:02 PM CDT

GOP Lacks Focus, Leaders on Health Care

Dems' organization on issue towers over Republicans'

(Newser) - While Democrats build up serious steam on health-care reform, the GOP has been left behind, with no firm message, no plan, little funding, and no clear leaders on the issue, writes Carrie Budoff Brown for Politico. Republicans fear the lag could make opposition to President Obama’s plans difficult. “...

Congress Will Likely Pass Up Climate Change for Health Care

Dems think health bill is easier to pass

(Newser) - Congress returns from recess today with both health care and climate change on its plate, and it’s looking increasingly likely that it will favor the former, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Health-care reform should be first among equals,” says one rep. Though he also expects to “...

India's Medical Innovators Have Much to Teach US

Experts search for better, cheaper methods

(Newser) - Sure, US hospitals lead the world in the latest technology—but they could learn a thing or two from India’s improving health care system, where pioneers are demonstrating how to give superior care without unnecessary costs, the Economist reports. “In our country’s patient-centric health system, you must...

Many Medicare Patients Leave Hospital, Then Quickly Return

Readmissions cost US billions a year

(Newser) - One-third of all Medicare patients hospitalized each year are readmitted within 90 days of being discharged, costing taxpayers billions of dollars annually, a new study found. Meanwhile, half of patients who went back in the first month after treatment had not seen a doctor in the interim. "Given the...

Testy McCain Grills Sebelius on Health Care Tax Credit

'Reform would be my mission' says nominee

(Newser) - Kathleen Sebelius got a chilly bout of questioning from John McCain during a Senate committee hearing, Ezra Klein writes for the American Prospect. His manner tense and confrontational, the Arizona senator asked Sebelius if she supported replacing the tax incentive for employer-based care with a $5000 tax credit—an idea...

Live Kidney Donors Should Be Encouraged, Not Doubted

Activist seeking organ gets help from friends

(Newser) - When Frances Kissling learned she needed a kidney transplant, she took a step most people in her situation never do: She asked dozens of friends and colleagues if they would be willing to donate. "I was bowled over by how people responded," the Catholic feminist activist writes for...

It's Now or Never for Health Care Reform: Grassley

Election politics will only make reform more difficult, Grassley says

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s promised health care reform must happen this year—or it won't happen at all in the next four years, says a key GOP senator. Charles Grassley—he'll play a major role in any new legislation as the ranking Republican on the finance panel—warns that election politics...

Nine Senators Hold Key to Health Reform

Baucus leads 'Board of Directors' in tough bipartisan negotiations

(Newser) - If Barack Obama succeeds in overhauling America's health care system by the end of 2009, he'll have to thank a bipartisan group of nine senators charged with developing a bill that can muster 60 votes. The "Board of Directors"—named by Max Baucus, Obama's go-to figure for health...

Senate Leaders Inch Closer to Health Care Bill

Bipartisan group hammering out guidelines of reform

(Newser) - After months of meetings, a bipartisan group of nine US senators is finalizing terms on what would be the major points of a health-care reform bill, Time reports. The progress of the Gang of Nine—which includes Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch—dovetails with efforts being made in the House,...

Now is Kennedy's Chance for Health Reform

'Stars are better aligned' with friendly president, business community

(Newser) - Recent praise of Ted Kennedy has “the feeling of a grand farewell,” but don't bury the cancer-stricken senator just yet, Eleanor Clift writes in Newsweek. Far from it—the liberal lion is "burning up the phone lines" as the third and best shot at enacting his cherished...

Earth to GOP: Obama's No Socialist
Earth to GOP: Obama's
No Socialist 

analysis
Mar 8, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

Earth to GOP: Obama's No Socialist

Obama favors free-market approach

(Newser) - Horrified by President Obama's stimulus plan, conservatives are calling him a European-style socialist—when in fact he's all-American, Jacob Weisberg writes in Newsweek. Obama envisions “cradle-to-grave opportunity, as opposed to the European model of cradle-to-grave security,” writes Weisberg, who explains that Obama’s plans to tackle hot issues...

Obama Open to Compromise on Health Care

He tells summit: 'I just want to figure out what works'

(Newser) - President Barack Obama said today's health care summit at the White House made clear the immediate need for reform, and he signaled he's open to compromise. Obama told participants at the end of the summit that although he offered a plan during last year's campaign, he isn't wedded to that...

At the Mall? Pick Up Some Health Care

Blue Cross sells coverage from a Fla. storefront

(Newser) - The nation's largest health provider is trying a new tack: selling insurance from a stripmall storefront. The suburban Florida Blue Cross shop hopes to attract some of the state's 4 million uninsured residents, and it's part of an "overall retail transformation" of the industry, a spokesman tells NPR. Consumers...

Hidden Health Care Crisis: The Underinsured

(Newser) - Health-care policy debate in America is usually framed around the 45 million (and rising) uninsured, but rarely do policymakers bring up the additional 25 million facing the “shadow problem” of under-insurance, Time reports. These people pay more than 10% of their income on out-of-pocket medical costs, often on flimsy...

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