Time is running short for Congress to deliver a health bill to President Barack Obama before the end of the year, prompting lawmakers to prepare for the debate to carry into 2010. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated that the chamber may not meet its goal of passing a bill in the next several weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports.
As part of the healthcare overhaul under consideration by Congress, lawmakers have included provisions intended to shed light on the financial relationships between the medical industry and doctors. The targets are common business practices like drug company payments to doctors for speeches and consulting services, which have the potential to influence patient care and increase medical bills. But if previous attempts by state legislatures, federal agencies, and academic hospitals are any indication, such efforts are all too vulnerable, the New York Times reports.
Moderate lawmakers are exerting their influence in the divided Senate to secure changes to healthcare reform legislation, potentially adding more delays to the bill, the Washington Post reports. Moderates have raised numerous concerns about aspects of the bill, including the public insurance option that included an "opt out" provision for states that don't want to participate. Many moderate Democrats prefer a "trigger" mechanism that would allow government-backed coverage only in states where private insurers fail to offer broadly affordable plans.
Leaders of the University of Miami are complaining strongly about the overall direction of the Jackson Health System and the doctors it is hiring. Phillip George, a plastic surgeon who is chairman of the UM board of trustees, said he was upset about the quality of Jackson's new doctors. "I wouldn't send my family to many of them," he said. The comment came during a summit of leaders of two major South Florida institutions at a time when Miami-Dade County's public health system is struggling with mounting losses—and growing concerns about UM's ambitions since it purchased Cedars Medical Center, reports the Miami Herald.
Addressing what he says is a major shortfall in congressional Democrats' plans for a healthcare overhaul, Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia is co-sponsoring legislation he says would cut down on frivolous malpractice lawsuits. President Barack Obama and other top Democrats agree that medical malpractice litigation is part of the problem behind high healthcare costs, but they have suggested that it should be up to individual states to experiment with how to deal with the issue. The proposal by Chambliss and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, would reach much further, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Los Angeles County officials indicated that they will likely be forced to once again delay the reopening of Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, this time to 2013. It was the latest in a series of postponements for the facility. Officials blamed the latest delay on a number of factors, including the still-pending agreement with the University of California to partner with the county to reopen the hospital. The selection of an architect also took more time than expected.