President Barack Obama and top congressional Democrats reported "significant progress" toward an agreement on a final health bill after negotiations at the White House that stretched for more than eight hours. The day of talks signaled the White House's drive to quickly pass a bill so it could shift its focus to other issues, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a joint statement, the president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they were "encouraged and energized" after making progress in bridging the remaining differences between the two healthcare bills passed late last year by the House and Senate.
One of the biggest questions Congress will be wrestling with as it tries to meld House and Senate bills into a single law to revamp the nation’s healthcare system is the role states should play in overseeing the overhaul of the health insurance market. The House and Senate take very different approaches to the question, and some policy analysts said the version that lawmakers ultimately choose could determine whether residents in some states end up with significantly better or worse coverage than people in other states, the New York Times reports.
Bristol, PA-based Lower Bucks Hospital has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 183-bed hospital, which has lost $14 million over the last three years, has been considering offers of sale for years. Hospital spokesman John Coffman told the Philadelphia Inquirer bankruptcy would make Lower Bucks a "more financially stable hospital." He blamed the hospital's financial predicament, in part, on charity care, which has increased from $2 million a year in 2002 to $12 million now.
The Internet is one of the top ways patients learn about clinical trials, yet it is often omitted as a viable strategy in most patient recruitment plans. "It is no secret that the Internet has become one of the most used tools for businesses and consumers alike, but it is probably the most underutilized tool when it comes to patient recruitment," David Heck, senior director at CenterWatch, a clearinghouse for information about and listings of open clinical trials, said in a release.
Nasvhille-based Medicare plan HealthSpring has become the first major Medicare Advantage plan to establish a presence on social media site Facebook, according to a release. HealthSpring said it will use Facebook to establish a branding presence and provide visitors with basic information about the company. The site features video clips and photos from the company's current advertising campaign and directs visitors to HealthSpring's Web site or phone lines for more information. Establishing a Facebook presence required approval through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the company said in the release.
Having failed to persuade President Obama to scrap a proposed tax on high-cost health insurance policies, labor leaders took their case to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and they said they received a more favorable response, the New York Times reports. Under the Senate bill, the federal government would impose a 40% tax on the value of employer-sponsored health coverage exceeding $8,500 a year for an individual and $23,000 for a family. Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, said that many workers with plans costing more than $23,000 a year did not have luxurious coverage. At a White House meeting earlier this week, he said, labor leaders told President Obama that some workers with rather ordinary health plans had to pay very high premiums because insurance companies faced little competition, reports the Times.