During a ceremony at the White House, President Obama signed the contentious healthcare reform bill into law on Tuesday. The event provided clues about how the administration plans to sell the measure to a skeptical public: as a moral necessity of historic proportion, the Washington Post reports. Obama told his audience of allies that "we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations." But his central challenge remains convincing the nation that it can afford to help all, even at a time of rising debt, high unemployment, and two wars, the Post reports.
The U.S. Senate began debate on legislation combining the last pieces to the Democratic overhaul of the healthcare system and a shake-up to the student-loan industry. President Barack Obama signed into law the main healthcare bill earlier in the day. The bill was passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve and then by the House late Sunday by a thin margin. The Senate is now debating a series of corrections demanded by House lawmakers for their support of the main healthcare bill. In some cases these changes are significant, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Interest groups that spent the past year fighting over President Obama's healthcare overhaul are quickly transforming themselves, working to sway the law to their benefit while helping the lawmakers who supported them during the legislative debate, the Washington Post reports. Industry groups and labor unions will focus on attempting to steer implementation of the legislation to their advantage, including the writing of federal rules to govern insurance coverage, requirements for employers, and the insurance exchanges created under the law.
St. Mary's Medical Center, part of the Catholic Healthcare West system, announced it will celebrate the groundbreaking of a $22.75 million Cancer Center on March 31. The project is the first phase of a $26.25 million capital improvement push at the nonprofit San Francisco hospital. Other elements include building a new vascular suite in the hospital's cardiac cath lab and purchasing new digital mammography equipment.
The Caesarean section rate in the United States reached 32% in 2007, the country's highest rate ever, health officials are reporting. Critics say the operation is being performed too often, needlessly exposing women and babies to the risks of major surgery. The ideal rate is not known, but the World Health Organization and health agencies in the United States have suggested 15%. The new report notes that Caesareans pose a risk of surgical complications and are more likely than normal births to cause problems that put the mother back in the hospital and the infant in an intensive-care unit.
Hours after President Obama signed healthcare legislation into law, the Senate began a debate on another piece of the package. The debate gives Republicans one last chance to alter the bill before it begins to transform insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Republicans vowed to take full advantage of their right to offer unlimited amendments, intending to sabotage the package and create turmoil among Democrats who are counting on its passage, the Washington Post reports.