Senators are cooling to a proposal that would impose a tax on employer-provided health insurance and are giving renewed attention to taxes on the wealthy to pay for a healthcare overhaul. Senate negotiators are considering a wider range of ways to pay for expanding health coverage, including President Barack Obama's proposal to limit tax deductions for the wealthy and another proposal to impose an income surtax on the wealthy.
Hartford, CT-based St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center officials said they hope they will be able to resume all heart surgeries soon but are waiting for a "final decision" from state regulators. The hospital suspended all non-emergency cardiac surgeries July 2 at the recommendation of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. In a statement, hospital officials said they have given the health department "all the documentation requested and necessary to verify the quality of our cardiac surgery programs."
A management shakeup in the Louisiana State University hospital system has left the state's public hospital in New Orleans without a permanent leader for the third time in a year. Roxane Townsend, MD, who has served as interim chief executive of the Interim LSU Public Hospital in New Orleans since January, has been named head of LSU's Health Care Services Division in Baton Rouge. The division oversees the seven state-run charity hospitals in South Louisiana. She replaces Michael Butler, MD, who has run the hospitals' division since 2007.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida is offering a low-cost health plan in counties in south and central Florida. The program, BlueSelect, is designed for uninsured workers or those at risk of becoming uninsured. It was tested on a pilot basis in the Tampa area earlier this year and is now being introduced in Broward, Charlotte, Hernando, Pasco, and Polk counties.
The Shriners organization has "overwhelmingly" rejected a recommendation by its corporate board to close the Shriners Hospital for Children in Erie, PA, and five other hospitals, according to Erie Shriners spokesman Bob Howden. The Shriners' corporate board had recommended the closures after the national economic downturn cut into the endowment that helps fund the hospitals. But the Shriners delegates have to approve any decision to close a hospital and, while another vote could come up later this week, Howden described that possibility as "very remote."
As attacks mounted over proposed rate increases by Anthem Blue Cross, Connecticut regulators said they will cut increases that would have raised premiums as much as 32% on individual policies. The Connecticut Insurance Department said that Commissioner Thomas R. Sullivan agreed the rate request is too high and expects to approve something less on certain policies.