In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling healthcare, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities—and that was often no accident, the New York Times reports. Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies. The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress, the Times reports.
Employers have spent plenty in recent years to keep employees healthy, hoping that will keep them on the job and less likely to use healthcare insurance. That can lead to lower healthcare costs which were estimated in one national survey to average more than $7,000 per employee per year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The return on investment in wellness is hard to measure, but companies say the programs can work. A study by insurer MetLife found 94% of companies with wellness programs said they reduced medical costs.
The Catholic Church has asked its U.S. parishioners to work toward ensuring that tough language restricting federal funding of abortion is included in healthcare overhaul legislation. A number of groups oppose abortion rights, but the church is one of the few to also support Democratic efforts to overhaul healthcare, giving the church a seat at the negotiating table, the Los Angeles Times reports. It used that influence this month as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on the healthcare legislation. Negotiators for the church worked with lawmakers to add an amendment to ensure that federal insurance subsidies do not wind up funding elective abortion.
In the last year, the drug industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9%, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation's drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. Drug makers say they have valid business reasons for the price increases, but critics say the industry is trying to establish a higher price base before Congress passes legislation that tries to curb drug spending in coming years.
Health legislation moving through Congress would force drug makers to disclose how much they spend on continuing medical education classes for doctors has sparked some resistance from the industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. Defenders of industry funding say the money helps pay for high-quality classes that keep doctors up to date on the latest treatments. They say the classes are developed independent of industry influence. The healthcare overhaul bill that passed the full House mandates disclosure of drug and medical-device industry payments to both doctors and third parties, including medical-education companies. Senate versions of the bill don't require the disclosure of third-party payments.
About 22 million Americans have become ill with pandemic H1N1 influenza in the past six months and 3,900 have died, according to new estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of pediatric deaths—about 540—is four times as high as the number that physicians, hospitals and health departments had reported to the CDC. The new estimates are drawn from detailed surveillance and record-checking in 10 states, and found the total number of people who have been hospitalized is 98,000, with 36,000 of them age 17 and younger. The vast majority of deaths have been in people age 18 to 64.