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First Edition: June 23, 2011

In today's headlines, reports that the Department of Health and Human Services will scale back the health law's rules on patient health care appeals.

23 Jun 2011

State roundup: Okla. caps 'non-economic damages' in lawsuits

With Republicans in control of the Oklahoma governorship and the Legislature for the first time ever, they swiftly passed a series of changes to the civil justice system. Lawmakers put a cap of $350,000 on the amount of money that plaintiffs can recoup for so-called "non-economic damages," such as the pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice, faulty products or other forms of professional negligence.

23 Jun 2011

Indiana Planned Parenthood to stop taking Medicaid patients

The state cut funding in May but the clinics had been using $100,000 in contributions to help defray costs of seeing Medicaid patients.

22 Jun 2011

GOP fight against Planned Parenthood expands as Wis. prepares to cut funding

What started out as an amendment on the House floor to defund Planned Parenthood has made its way to key battleground states in the 2012 presidential election, with Wisconsin poised to become the fourth state to choke off funding for the women's health provider.

20 Jun 2011

Health care politics: Anti-abortion group attacks Romney; Axelrod claims Huntsman supported Obama plan; Bachmann vows repeal

"President Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist is dismissive of the Republicans who want his boss' job, saying they are eager to criticize the Democratic incumbent without offering substantive ways to help the country. ... Axelrod said that when he was in China in the fall of 2009, he had a chance to talk with [former Utah Gov. John] Huntsman. "He was very effusive about what the president was doing. He was encouraging on health care".

20 Jun 2011

Justice Department sides with Planned Parenthood in Indiana case

The U.S. Justice Department entered the court battle over a tough new Indiana abortion law that disqualifies Planned Parenthood of Indiana from the Medicaid program, siding with the organization in its request Thursday for a court order blocking the statute as unconstitutional.

18 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 17, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about how health entitlement programs are faring in the ongoing deficit-reduction negotiations.

17 Jun 2011

Roundup: Few states raise taxes to ease budgets; Ala. Gov. signs abortion law; Texas House advances bill to turn Medicaid, Medicare into block grants

As 2011 began, the budget situation in state capitals looked more dire than just about anybody could remember. ... With Medicaid, the states had their hands tied. The new federal health care law prohibits states from cutting eligibility or making it harder for people to apply for coverage. So states had to find other ways to control costs. Idaho reduced the amount paid to hospitals and doctors to treat Medicaid patients, an idea that some 30 governors proposed this year.

17 Jun 2011

State roundup: Mass. health spending's rise; huge Ky. hospital merger

A new report from the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy shows that: ... "Spending per member on privately insured people grew 6 percent from 2007 to 2008 and another 10 percent from 2008 to 2009. This rate of growth was substantially higher than the increase in national personal health care expenditures per capita of 4.6 percent from 2008 to 2009. Spending by private payers also grew faster than spending by public payers".

16 Jun 2011

GOP presidential candidates touch on the health overhaul, Medicare plans in first major meeting of 2012 contest

The spotlight was trained squarely on Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, who has come under withering attack for the health care plan he signed into law that resembles the plan Mr. Obama pushed through Congress. But his rivals treaded lightly, and he relentlessly turned the conversation back to Mr. Obama, emerging unscathed from his return to the debate stage four years after losing his first bid for the party's nomination.

15 Jun 2011

Roundup: Conn.'s 'moderate' Medicaid cuts; Calif. adult day care threatened; disabled face 'unclear futures'

The national Center for Reproductive Rights filed a federal lawsuit Monday to halt implementation of the requirements that women wanting an abortion must have a sonogram and hear a detailed description of the fetus. The group called the mandates patronizing and an intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship.

15 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Romney and 'Obamneycare'; 'fundamental constitutional flaws'; leading vs. following in Md.

Hence the young campaign's most unfortunate new coinage, courtesy of Tim Pawlenty: "Obamneycare." That's the word Pawlenty used Sunday to describe President Obama's health-care law, which borrowed ideas from the reform package Romney devised and implemented when he was governor of Massachusetts. Obamacare plus Romneycare equals . . . Okay, we get it, we get it.

15 Jun 2011

Sociologist studies why families in China choose to abort girls

Why are female foetuses aborted in China? Boys are considered a greater asset for farming, but why has the number of families in the cities who want a boy at any cost doubled? Sociologist Lisa Eklund from Lund University in Sweden has studied why families in China choose to abort girls.

14 Jun 2011

Roundup: States controlled by GOP pass sweeping changes; state budgets still very lean from recession; La. Gov. wrestling with legislature over spending

Republicans controlled all the levers of government in a staggering number of states this year — and it showed. Holding a lock on the governorship and both houses of the legislature in 20 states, GOP conservatives advanced an agenda that may change the face of state government for decades. They honored pledges not to raise taxes by enacting huge spending cuts to balance budgets in Florida and Texas.

14 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 13, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Washington Post, Lawrence Lindner writes: "The Obama administration's bid to slash funding for training pediatricians at children's hospitals is provoking intense protests from medical educators and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle".

13 Jun 2011

GOP senators ask HHS to let Indiana cut Planned Parenthood funding

Twenty-eight Republican senators said Thursday that the Obama administration should not stop the state of Indiana from implementing a new law designed to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Earlier this month, the federal Medicaid agency denied Indiana's proposal to prevent state residents from using Medicaid at any entity that provides abortions.

10 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 10, 2011

Today's health policy headlines include reports about health law funding and policy particulars, as well as Dems' push to protect Medicaid.

10 Jun 2011

Longer looks: Dr. Oz as patient; Utah puts Medicaid enrollees to work

As a federal judge considers whether to block the implementation of a recently-passed law that defunds Planned Parenthood of Indiana, more than 20,000 low-income patients are on the verge of losing their primary health care provider.

10 Jun 2011

Several state legislatures debate abortion restrictions

State legislatures around the country are looking at a variety of measures dealing with abortion.

9 Jun 2011

Women who receive intrauterine device after abortion less likely to have unintended pregnancy

Women who receive a contraceptive known as an intrauterine device or IUD immediately following a first trimester abortion experience few complications and are less likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who delay getting an IUD by several weeks, according to a new study at Oregon Health & Science University.

9 Jun 2011