health care

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As Hearings Begin, Daschle Wary of Clinton Miscues

Obama health chief to push early, at grassroots, with congressional input

(Newser) - Tom Daschle, Barack Obama’s health-care honcho, saw the 1993 Clinton-care debacle up close; his strategy for passing reform this time around is basically Anything But Clinton, reports Politico. The Clinton push, Daschle thinks, came too far into the first term, and was too exclusive, presenting Congress a completed proposal...

Stimulus Widens Unemployment Coverage

Part-timers would be eligible; plan expands health-care options

(Newser) - The Obama stimulus plan will include a $7 billion provision intended to force states to extend unemployment insurance to part-time workers, reports the Wall Street Journal. A separate plan subsidizes COBRA payments and allows uninsured workers who get laid off to buy into Medicaid, and all three measures are riling...

Rich Foreigners Jump List for Brit Organs

Doctors outraged as a record 8,000 Britons await transplants

(Newser) - Despite dire organ shortages for ailing British patients, the livers of 50 UK donors were sold to foreigners for nearly $110,000 each, the Times of London reports. Forty patients from Greece and Cyprus—as well as others from non-EU nations including Libya, the UAE, China, and Israel—received liver...

Are Your Meds Working? Gene Tests Could Tell

Docs could eliminate half of drugs genetics prevent from working

(Newser) - The drugs you take may not actually be working. Experts say that, thanks to various genetic quirks, most drugs only work for about half the people who take them, meaning that much of the roughly $300 billion America spends on drugs each year is wasted. That’s why forward-looking doctors...

Docs Want Medical Devices That Talk to Each Other

(Newser) - Even as electronic consumer gadgets grow more sophisticated, medical technology lags, relying on wires that one doctor calls “malignant spaghetti,” the Boston Globe reports. Because devices such as heart monitors and IV drips can’t communicate easily, human error enters the equation. "My bank can notify me...

With Clinics, Bush Leaves Compassionate Mark

Federal funding has doubled for community health centers

(Newser) - One Bush project that President-elect Obama isn’t likely to overturn is the expansion of funding for nonprofit medical clinics in underserved areas. The push—unequalled since Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty—to provide accessible health care for the poor and uninsured was one of the campaign promises President...

Recession-Battered States Slash Medicaid

Governments lower payments, cut add-ons to health program

(Newser) - As states across the country struggle to cope with staggering budget shortfalls, 19 of them have cut back on Medicaid, reports the Washington Post. The states, along with DC, are lowering payments to hospitals and nursing homes, ending coverage for less common treatments, and booting some citizens out of the...

Daschle Will Play Hardball on Health Reform

Incoming HHS Secretary will avoid Hillary's pitfalls

(Newser) - Tom Daschle, Barack Obama's incoming Director of Health and Human Services, has an aggressive strategy for reforming health care, and no intentions of seeing it fizzle the way the Clintons' efforts did in 1993, reports the Los Angeles Times. The key will be reeling in major health-care interest groups, along...

Laid-Off Workers Stuck With Mega-Medical Bills

Abrupt loss of coverage leaves massive bills behind

(Newser) - As firms collapse and abruptly cut off insurance, some laid-off workers face staggering medical bills without any clear way to pay for them, the Wall Street Journal reports. In many cases, workers rush to take care of medical needs upon hearing their employers are going under, only to find those...

Daschle Begins Push to Reform Health Care

Would-be secretary will ask Americans to contribute ideas

(Newser) - Although his nomination as health secretary hasn't yet been announced, Tom Daschle is already beginning his push for a comprehensive overhaul of the system, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a speech today, Daschle will emphasize that the economic downturn makes it all the more important to lower health care...

US Health Ranking Puts Vermont First, Louisiana Last

Southern states plagued by high obesity, smoking rates

(Newser) - Move over, Mississippi: Louisiana is now America’s unhealthiest state, Reuters reports. An annual state-by-state report that measures factors like smoking, obesity, and health insurance coverage also put Vermont at the top for the second year in a row. The five healthiest states are:
  1. Vermont
  2. Hawaii
  3. New Hampshire
  4. Minnesota
  5. Utah
...

Now You Can Buy Insurance for Insurance

Think you'll lose health coverage? Firm will insure your right to it

(Newser) - Healthy and insured but afraid you might someday lose your medical coverage? UnitedHealth has just launched a new product that lets consumers pay now for the guarantee that they’ll be able to get insurance later—even if they get sick, the New York Times reports. Critics are skeptical of...

Signs of Consensus Emerge on Universal Health Care

Government action is needed, but plan details remain murky

(Newser) - Washington is approaching a broad consensus: It’s time for the government to step in to create universal health care, the Los Angeles Times reports. Both left and right have abandoned pet plans in favor of a middle ground that maintains the current employer-based system, while driving down costs and...

US Health Care Bleeds $1T, But Can Be Saved

Preventative model could save taxpayers billions

(Newser) - What America needs is another preemptive strike, executives say—in the world of health care. As Barack Obama gears up to reform the industry, several health care leaders say that up to half of the nation's $2.3 trillion health budget is wasted. In a broad consensus, they call for...

Obama's 'Macho' Stimulus Plan Forgets Women
Obama's 'Macho' Stimulus Plan Forgets Women
OPINION
Nov 28, 2008 4:10 PM CST

Obama's 'Macho' Stimulus Plan Forgets Women

Job creation would largely go to men

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s stimulus package calls for new jobs to fix roads and bridges, build solar panels and wind-power turbines, and create green cars. Sounds great, except for one thing: These are all fields that employ mostly men. "This might as well be called the macho stimulus package,"...

Next Stab at Health Reform Looks More Promising

Industry claims to be ready to compromise

(Newser) - If health care reform passes this time, a major factor will be that its erstwhile enemies are now rooting for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. An industry roadblock killed the Clinton administration’s attempt in the early 1990s, but this time, insurers are playing ball. “You see a...

Rahm to CEOs: Get on Board With Health Care

'We’re going to have to do big, serious things,' staff chief tells council

(Newser) - Rahm Emanuel has avoided the spotlight since accepting the White House chief of staff job, but he was anything but shy last night at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, challenging his high-powered audience to help on health care. “When it gets rough out there, a lot of business...

Kennedy Taps Clinton for Panel on Health Care

Despite lack of seniority, NY senator has long wanted job

(Newser) - It seems when it rains job offers for Hillary Clinton, it pours: Ted Kennedy has asked the New York senator to help lead a health care team, the Los Angeles Times reports. Clinton would lead a working group dealing with insurance coverage. Although health care is an issue near to...

Rule Protecting Anti-Abortion Staffers Sparks Furor

Obama, agencies protest Bush plan that gives more leeway to moral objections

(Newser) - A host of hospitals, pharmacists, state officials and lawmakers—including President-elect Barack Obama—have slammed a last-minute Bush administration rule to protect health care providers from having to perform procedures they find morally objectionable, the New York Times reports. The plan would block federally funded hospitals, drugstores, and other organizations...

Chronically Ill Worse Off in US Than Elsewhere: Study

Health costs, medical errors scare more than in other rich nations

(Newser) - Chronically ill Americans are more likely to forgo medical care because of high costs or bad experiences than counterparts in a number of other rich nations, a study finds. Researchers interviewed 7,500 adults with conditions like cancer, arthritis, depression, and diabetes, and the Americans led the complaints. Dutch patients...

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