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First Edition: December 5, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how President Barack Obama is trying to connect with young adults and urge them to sign up for health coverage.

5 Dec 2013

Viewpoints: Why can't health website be like Amazon?; debunking GOP's resistance to Medicaid

For an "Amazon-like" experience, it isn't enough to have a website that functions on the front end, the back end and in between. ... You also need an Amazon-like culture, which is the product of other Amazon-like realities.

5 Dec 2013

State highlights: Okla. gov. looks for cuts to cover $60M more in health care costs; Miss. gov. wants to offer hospitals money to offset health law

A selection of health policy stories from Oklahoma, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Delaware, Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia and California.

4 Dec 2013

Supreme Court to hear arguments on health law's contraceptive coverage mandate

The justices accepted a pair of cases that raise questions not just about religious freedom and equality for female employees, but whether the religious beliefs of the owners of secular corporations allows them to not comply with a law.

27 Nov 2013

First Edition: Nov. 27, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, in collaboration with McClatchy, reports: "Like half the states, South Carolina chose not to expand Medicaid under the federal health law next year, citing the program's high costs and inefficiency. Yet, state officials still forecast a 16 percent enrollment jump by the end of June, 2015, triple that of a typical year and even higher than the 12 percent average increase expected in states that are expanding eligibility.

27 Nov 2013

Medicaid expansion: Florida stalls; Ohio lawsuits; Kansas hospitals weigh in

States dominated by Republican governors and legislatures continue to wrestle with decisions about expanding Medicaid to poor people who don't currently qualify.

27 Nov 2013

High court's 'alarming' move on abortion; tragic attack in Virginia points to needs in mental health services; a better way to reduce hospital readmissions

In an alarming 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court turned away an emergency application to block a new Texas law that is impeding access to safe and legal abortion care in the state. The ruling leaves in place an order by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that allowed the law go into effect while it considers an appeal (11/20).

22 Nov 2013

State highlights: N.Y. hospitals scramble to sign uninsured up for care; N.C. lawmakers debate Medicaid; Ore. data questions immigrant 'burden' on Medicaid

Many of [New York City's] financially strapped hospitals are scrambling to sign up people for health coverage through New York state's exchange or through Medicaid as they brace for federal cuts to providers of so-called charity care for the uninsured. At Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, the staff is posting insurance information on social-networking websites and giving presentations at churches and mosques. At Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, officials have met with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce to ensure small businesses know their insurance options. Some hospitals are recruiting patients for coverage plans in emergency-room lobbies (Dawsey, 11/20).

22 Nov 2013

Supreme Court rejects bid to block Texas abortion law

In a 5-4 vote, the justices turned away an emergency application asking it to block a Texas law that opponents say prevents a third of the state's clinics from performing abortions. Meanwhile, Albuquerque voters defeated a proposal that would have outlawed most late-term abortions in New Mexico's largest city in the first municipal test of such a measure.

21 Nov 2013

Asthma prolongs time to pregnancy

Research shows that women with asthma take longer to conceive than women without the condition, an effect that grows stronger with age.

20 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 20, 2013

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that President Barack Obama places some of the blame for the health law's woes with Republicans, and details of comments by an Obama administration tech official that a large portion of the healthcare.gov 'back office' functions are yet to be built.

20 Nov 2013

Contraception coverage, abortion loom as issues for high court and advocacy groups

Advocacy groups are wondering about a future boomerang affect of the "nuclear option," which could keep Senate Republicans from filibustering judicial nominations.

20 Nov 2013

State highlights: Tenn. gov. hesitates on Medicaid expansion; Calif. primed for big 2014 health care ballot; abortion law fight in Texas rages on

Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee describes it as "trying to thread a needle from 80 yards." Mr. Haslam is only the latest Republican tailor trying to figure out whether to expand the state's Medicaid rolls as prescribed by President Obama's Affordable Care Act. In his case, it involves trying -- so far unsuccessfully -- to balance some sharply conflicting concerns: struggling hospitals, local business groups, dwindling state resources and fierce conservative opposition to the new health care law. And it has left him hanging out there, with no resolution in sight (Lyman, 11/16).

19 Nov 2013

State highlights: Dispute over what doctors can say at Catholic hospital

A dispute between a Colorado cardiologist and a Catholic hospital over what he says is a ban on discussing abortion with patients, even when a pregnancy threatens a woman's life, is part of today's health policy roundup from Colorado and California.

16 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Despite website woes, administration should be given more time; health law credibility 'going up in smoke'

The enrollment numbers are in, and as expected, they are well short of projections. Around 106,000 enrolled in new plans during October -; with approximately 27,000 coming from states where the federal government is running the exchange (with its extensive problems), and another 79,000 coming through the state exchanges. Republicans are gleefully pointing to the numbers as proof Obamacare needs to be scrapped entirely. That confirms two things we've long known to be true: the website is a disaster, and short term enrollment figures are a serious political problem for the White House and Democrats (Greg Sargent, 11/13).

15 Nov 2013

Policy developments: SCOTUS won't hear appeal of ruling striking down Okla. abortion law

The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal of a ruling striking down an Oklahoma abortion law that would have required pregnant women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. In the meantime, The Washington Post fact-checks an insurance premium claim by HHS Secretary Sebelius.

14 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 13, 2013

Today's headlines include not-so-positive predictions about whether healthcare.gov will be fully functional by the end of November.

13 Nov 2013

'Crunch time' for Obama on health law; the problems with that apology; young people feeling the sting of higher prices

But today, it's Obama in the spotlight. A president famous for his unflappability, he is now struggling to square assurances that he is on top of the problems confronting his administration with assertions that he was unaware of the problems as they were developing.

12 Nov 2013

Health law overview: At the state level, divided government appears to function better than in congress

Some states have had more success striking compromises that expand health insurance coverage.

12 Nov 2013

Generating an alternative to IVIG therapy: an interview with Professor Richard Pleass, LSTM

IVIG is a hugely successful biological with FDA approval for treating idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), Kawasaki disease, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Graves ophthalmopathy and numerous polyneuropathies.

11 Nov 2013

Abortion News and Research

First Edition: December 5, 2013

Viewpoints: Why can't health website be like Amazon?; debunking GOP's resistance to Medicaid

State highlights: Okla. gov. looks for cuts to cover $60M more in health care costs; Miss. gov. wants to offer hospitals money to offset health law

Supreme Court to hear arguments on health law's contraceptive coverage mandate

First Edition: Nov. 27, 2013

Medicaid expansion: Florida stalls; Ohio lawsuits; Kansas hospitals weigh in

High court's 'alarming' move on abortion; tragic attack in Virginia points to needs in mental health services; a better way to reduce hospital readmissions

State highlights: N.Y. hospitals scramble to sign uninsured up for care; N.C. lawmakers debate Medicaid; Ore. data questions immigrant 'burden' on Medicaid

Supreme Court rejects bid to block Texas abortion law

Asthma prolongs time to pregnancy

First Edition: November 20, 2013

Contraception coverage, abortion loom as issues for high court and advocacy groups

State highlights: Tenn. gov. hesitates on Medicaid expansion; Calif. primed for big 2014 health care ballot; abortion law fight in Texas rages on

State highlights: Dispute over what doctors can say at Catholic hospital

Viewpoints: Despite website woes, administration should be given more time; health law credibility 'going up in smoke'

Policy developments: SCOTUS won't hear appeal of ruling striking down Okla. abortion law

First Edition: November 13, 2013

'Crunch time' for Obama on health law; the problems with that apology; young people feeling the sting of higher prices

Health law overview: At the state level, divided government appears to function better than in congress

Generating an alternative to IVIG therapy: an interview with Professor Richard Pleass, LSTM

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

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