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Massive Medicare fraud case highlights Miami's increased enforcement

Eight defendants were indicted in a massive Florida Medicare fraud case. The Associated Press reports: "It may be the center for Medicare fraud, but even Miami officials said Tuesday they were surprised by the breadth of a ring they say spanned five states, used 29 fake storefronts and attempted to steal $100 million from Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

25 Jun 2009

California Medicaid providers win legal challenge

Medicaid providers in California won a legal challenge over program cuts in the case "Maxwell-Jolly v. Independent Living Center of Southern California."

25 Jun 2009

Lawmakers, spouses ties to health industry shape views

Nearly 50 lawmakers in Congress have spouses who work in the health care industry and that may be influencing their thinking on health reform, CQ Politics reports.

25 Jun 2009

Baucus takes center stage as health reform deal maker

"As President Obama's effort to overhaul the health care system seems to hit one roadblock after another in Congress, he is counting on Senator Max Baucus [D-Mont.], a political shape-shifter and crafty deal maker who is not fully trusted by either party, to help him clinch his top domestic priority," the New York Times reports in a profile of the Senate Finance Committee leader.

25 Jun 2009

Business groups note faults in House Democrats' overhaul plan

House Democrats readying a health reform bill without a price tag or a budget analysis will hear from business interests today that their plan is irrevocably broken and that they need to start from scratch, CongressDaily reports.

25 Jun 2009

HHS Secretary presses lawmakers on health care

"Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that the Obama administration is willing to negotiate how health overhaul legislation is paid for, but not whether it is paid for," according to the Dow Jones Newswires.

25 Jun 2009

Finance Committee continues work on health overhaul, benefits tax advances in negotiations

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee continued its mark up of health care reform legislation while the Senate Finance Committee "was hunkered down in negotiations on its version, with Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) shuttling between closed-door meetings to try to reach a consensus," Roll Call reports.

25 Jun 2009

e-health enables more personalized medicine; group fights for digital patient rights

Tonia Odom, a 35-year-old patient with rheumatoid arthritis, a sick father and a young son, each of whom has multiple health problems, has found some relief to the problems of managing her families' array of illnesses in at a Duke University clinic that's a model of the "medical home" approach to medicine, the New York Times reports.

23 Jun 2009

Dental health advocates want to sink teeth into health care reform

The Washington Post reports many oral health professionals worry that dental issues have "a tenuous place at best in the national debate" regarding an overhaul of the health care system. Still, they emphasize that dental health is an integral part of health care and note the special burden untreated dental issues have on poor children.

23 Jun 2009

Good bet in market pullback: health-care shares

"As sentiment and the stock market increasingly look bearish, look for the recent outperformance in health care to continue," The Wall Street Journal reports.

23 Jun 2009

Details remain unclear on Medicare drug deal

The White House formally announced the drug manufacturers' plan to lower Medicare drug prices Monday. While details still remain unclear, it appears drug companies may benefit from the deal.

23 Jun 2009

Firms tweak benefit plans in District of Columbia and Baltimore area

The Washington Post reports that "More Washington- and Baltimore-area employers are shifting health-insurance costs to workers, offering high-deductible health plans and imposing restrictions on prescription-drug coverage to save money in the recession, according to a new survey by area human resources managers to be released today. But to keep good workers from jumping ship, according to the survey, more employers are offsetting the restrictions by beefing up other perks -- giving staff more flexibility in taking time off and working from home, and extending benefits to domestic partners."

23 Jun 2009

Some Governors oppose Medicaid expansion proposals

"Some governors are pushing to scale back or kill proposals to expand Medicaid to provide health-care coverage to the uninsured, raising a new challenge to President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the system," The Wall Street Journal reports.

23 Jun 2009

House Democrats to open hearings amid controversy over finances, public plan

"House Democrats are pushing forward with a partisan health care bill even as a key Senate Democrat labors to achieve an elusive bipartisan compromise on President Barack Obama's top legislative priority," The Associated Press reports.

23 Jun 2009

Lawmakers look for new taxes, cuts to pay reform bill

Lawmakers are considering deductions on medical expenses, value-added taxes, spending cuts and other options to foot the reform bill.

23 Jun 2009

Dodd stretched thin on finance and health roles

Critics are saying that Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., cannot handle his role in financial regulatory reform while he sits in for ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy on the House's health committee, Politico reports.

23 Jun 2009

Senators debate public plan, co-ops for health overhaul

Senators crafting health reform legislation are debating a number of issues ahead of the revelation of proposal including the inclusion of a cooperative as an alternative to a government-run public plan, Politico reports.

23 Jun 2009

Obama team ready to start health reform rally

The White House launches a media blitz this week to coincide with the shrinking timeline for getting a health reform package passed in the Senate, Roll Call reports.

23 Jun 2009

Insurance industry groups lay down reform marker

America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the two largest insurance industry groups, released a letter today that "laid down a marker on health care, warning in stark terms that a proposed government insurance plan would dismantle the employer coverage Americans have relied on for a half century and overtake the system," the Associated Press reports.

23 Jun 2009

Obama 'very optimistic' about health care overhaul, public plan 'makes sense'

President Barack Obama today at a news conference said a public plan is "an important tool to discipline insurance companies," but he didn't answer a question on whether he would veto a bill that did not include a public plan option, saying it was too early in the process to "draw lines in the sand," Reuters reports.

23 Jun 2009