A nationally televised, bipartisan health reform summit stretched over more than seven hours on Thursday and still yielded no new agreement, the Wall Street Journal reports. During the meeting, President Obama defended the Democratic legislation and tried to focus on areas of agreement. He offered to add provisions to curb medical malpractice lawsuits, one of Republicans' top proposals. But in the end, the bipartisan session only emphasized the gulf between the two sides, the Journal reports.
An audit of Miami-based Jackson Health System criticized management for a "significant deficiency" in its financial practices because it didn't identify highly overstated revenue estimates "in a timely manner." That overstatement led to a loss of $244.6 million for fiscal 2009, higher than Jackson estimated earlier this month. The loss was originally thought to be $46.8 million. The auditors recommended that, from now on, the system's governing board, the Public Health Trust, double-check Jackson's own number crunchers on a quarterly basis by getting an "independent review of all sensitive accounting estimates," the Miami Herald reports.
Massachusetts' exclusion of thousands of legal immigrants from state-subsidized health coverage is unconstitutional and should be struck down by the courts, according to a lawsuit filed by several of the affected immigrants. The lawsuit charges that the state's Connector Authority and its executive director violated the immigrants' right to equal protection under the state and federal constitutions when the administrators last year cut their health coverage through the Commonwealth Care program, the Boston Globe reports.
In an effort to override Minnestoa Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a plan to revive a healthcare program for some of the state's poorest residents, the state Senate moved to send legislation to restore General Assistance Medical Care to the House. To decrease part of a multibillion-dollar deficit last year, Pawlenty vetoed funding for GAMC, which covers single adults who earn less than $8,000 a year and who are generally ineligible for Medicaid. Many on the program are homeless, mentally ill, or drug-addicted, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued subpoenas to the state's seven largest health insurance companies: Aetna Health, Anthem Blue Cross, CIGNA, Health Net, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare. Brown said the information will aid an investigation into "possibly illegal" rate increases. The state Assembly, meanwhile, targeted Anthem Blue Cross for a subpoena to compel release of information about compensation to its California executives and internal discussions on raising rates, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The parent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois has been summoned with other health insurance giants to Washington to discuss premium increases with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The letter to Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp., disclosed on the agency's Web site, comes as the Obama administration steps up scrutiny of health insurance company premium increases.