LA Times: Panel Proposes Guaranteed Health Care by 2012

Panel Proposes Guaranteed Health Care by 2012
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
10:16 AM PDT, June 8, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The government should guarantee a core set of health benefits for all Americans by 2012 even if it means raising taxes, a nonpartisan advisory panel created by Congress has recommended.

LA Times: Healthcare Costs Spur Calls for Limits on Profits

Healthcare Costs Spur Calls for Limits on Profits
State officials target insurers' use of funds as the debate turns from services to finances.

By Daniel Yi, Times Staff Writer
June 2, 2006

Rising medical costs are sparking efforts to cap profits of California's health insurers in the same way that surging gasoline prices are fueling proposals for a windfall oil profit tax.Two bills in Sacramento seek to limit insurers' profits as well as cap consumers' out-of-pocket payments for medical treatment. The state Department of Insurance has a separate plan to limit profits.

Such proposals, if enacted, could result in the nation's most sweeping financial reform of for-profit health plans. Other states, including Connecticut and New York, regulate how much health plans can charge in premiums, and Minnesota allows health maintenance organizations to be run only by nonprofit groups.

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All states should follow Minnesota's example!

NY Times: Unease on Industry's Role in Hypertension Debate

Unease on Industry's Role in Hypertension Debate

By STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: May 20, 2006

The seven dinners at Ruth's Chris Steak Houses around the country are just one example of why the small medical society, the American Society of Hypertension, has been in the midst of a dispute over the influence of drug industry money.

"This is about the monetarization of medicine," Dr. Michael H. Alderman, a past president of the organization, said in a recent interview.

The dinners promoting a new definition of high blood pressure illustrate connections — among the pharmaceutical industry, academic physicians and societies that formulate opinion — that can ultimately affect patient treatment. And the dispute within the society reflects a growing unease that industry money is influencing scientific discourse in medical societies and elsewhere.

NY Times: Doctors Object to Gathering of Drug Data

Doctors Object to Gathering of Drug Data

By STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: May 4, 2006

Although virtually unknown to consumers, the information has long been considered the most potent weapon in pharmaceutical sales — computerized dossiers showing which physicians are prescribing what drugs. Armed with such data, a drug sales representative can pressure a doctor to write more prescriptions for a name-brand medicine or fewer orders for a competitor's drug.

But now a rebellion is under way by some doctors, who consider the data-gathering an intrusion that feeds overzealous sales practices among the nation's estimated 90,000 drug company representatives. Public officials are also weighing in. A vote on a state bill to clamp down on the practice is scheduled for today in New Hampshire, and similar bills have been introduced in other states, including Arizona and West Virginia.

LA Times: Medicare in poor financial health, trustees say

Medicare in poor financial health, trustees say
Its problems will eventually be worse than Social Security's, an annual report warns. But some observers see a manufactured crisis.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Joel Havemann, Times Staff Writers
May 2, 2006

WASHINGTON — The financial condition of Medicare is growing progressively worse and its problems will eventually eclipse those of Social Security, the trustees of the government's two biggest social programs reported Monday.

MSNBC: Unions protest Wal-mart health care

Unions protest Wal-mart health care
Labor groups representing 6 million workers to rally across 35 cities

Associated Press
Updated: 2:40 p.m. ET April 26, 2006

Unions representing 6 million workers planned to rally Wednesday in 35 cities from New York to Los Angeles to protest what they called inadequate health care coverage by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s largest employer.

MSNBC: Many middle-income Americans lack insurance

Many middle-income Americans lack insurance
Study: 40 percent without coverage in 2005, up from 28 percent in 2001

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 11:00 a.m. ET April 26, 2006

WASHINGTON - The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41 percent in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28 percent in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found.

LA Times: personal stories of insurance woes

Coverage, in pieces
Medical insurance can be surprisingly elusive -- and temporary. For many, the safety net now requires compromise and sacrifice.

By Susan Brink, Times Staff Writer
April 3, 2006

The stories in this package illustrate the obstacles encountered, as well as the generous doses of creativity required, as people cobble together health coverage in America's often hit or miss system.