President Obama is trying to enlist the nation's governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to increase pressure on lawmakers that are divided in regards to healthcare legislation. In a meeting with five governors, Obama privately urged them to serve as his emissaries to Congress. He even coached them on the language they should use with lawmakers, two of the governors said, advising them to avoid terms like "rationing" and "managed care," which evoke memories of the Clintons' failed health initiative.
Doctors call them frequent fliers: Patients who leave the hospital, only to boomerang back days or weeks later. They have become a challenge not only for hospitals and doctors but also for those trying to rein in rising healthcare costs. Typically elderly and suffering from the chronic diseases that account for 75% of healthcare spending, their experiences of being readmitted time and again reflect many of the deficiencies in a fragmented, poorly coordinated health system geared toward acute care, according to this article from the Washington Post.
Two top Democrats with close ties to the White House have outlined a framework for financing a $1.2 trillion healthcare overhaul. The proposal, which laid out options on taxes and other tough issues without making final decisions, was made by former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle and former White House chief of staff John Podesta. The proposal would raise $400 billion each over 10 years from three sources: Medicare and Medicaid savings, from new tax revenues and from modernization.
Louisiana Health Secretary Alan Levine, speaking after the Louisiana State University System Board of Supervisors rejected a teaching hospital deal he helped negotiate, floated the idea of a medical center that is not legally affiliated with the school at all. Though not an official proposal, it could be considered by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration if LSU and Tulane University cannot agree on how to run the proposed $1.2 billion teaching hospital slated for construction in New Orleans, Levine said.
Four divisive issues could dash President Barack Obama's hopes of overhauling healthcare: cost, creating a government-run plan, taxing workers' benefits, and penalizing employers that don't offer coverage.
These are potential deal-breakers as Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress work to revamp the system to cover the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans and try to control rising medical costs.
The radiation oncologist whom regulators accuse of mishandling scores of radioactive seed implants at the Philadelphia veterans' hospital told a Congressional panel that while he "could have done better" with some implants, his patients over all received effective treatment for their prostate cancer. Speaking publicly for the first time, Gary Kao, PhD, said at the hearing at the Veterans Affairs hospital that he was not a "rogue physician" and that his academic credentials and an absence of malpractice lawsuits underscored that point.