Cleveland Clinic has received a $5 million donation aimed at supporting continued innovation in healthcare. The gift, which establishes the Clinic's first chief executive chair, will allow the hospital to respond quickly to opportunities not covered in the general budget, said the Clinic's president and chief executive.
Almost 1.1 million Minnesotans can expect to spend more than 10 percent of their pretax incomes next year on healthcare, according to a report. For a quarter of those state residents, the cost will be more than 25 percent of pretax incomes.
As California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez sought the endorsement of two major labor unions for his plan to overhaul healthcare in the state, he added several provisions to the legislation sweetening the deal for union members. The legislation as approved gives unions unilateral authority to create and operate trust funds to provide employee healthcare.
Standard & Poor's has lowered its rating on bonds issued on behalf of Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, PA. S&P cited "an unexpected operating loss" in fiscal 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 and "persistently weak liquidity." The lower rating affects about $179 million in debt.
The House has temporarily extended the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The move hands Democratic leaders a disappointing end to their efforts to cover an additional 4 million children. The extension for SCHIP will provide states with enough money to cover those enrolled in the program through March 2009, but Democrats had demanded more for several months.
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine announced that the state has finalized an agreement with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield allowing working- and middle-class families to obtain health insurance for children at drastically reduced rates. Other states are likely to study New Jersey's program carefully because of the involvement of a private insurance company and the state's reputation for trying to expand healthcare coverage.