Tom Daschle's former Democratic colleagues were rallying to his defense after he met behind closed doors with the Senate Finance Committee to discuss problems with back taxes and potential conflicts of interest, but lawmakers promised he will face more questions. Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader, is President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee the Health and Human Services Department.
With just a month before the Death with Dignity Act takes effect in Washington, hospitals and other healthcare institutions are racing to learn the details of the law, decide if they will participate, and put together policies that address the law's many nuances and complexities. Statewide, many healthcare systems and hospice programs have not yet come up with final policies on whether, or how, they will participate.
For the third year in a row, Miami-based Leon Medical Centers Health Plans made a huge marketing push during the Super Bowl—rubbing elbows with the nation's advertising biggies. For viewers, the seamless transition between commercials made it seem that Leon was a nationwide marketer, but in fact it was purchasing local spots at much less than the $3 million for 30 seconds that the big boys were paying. ''It gets that buzz going,'' said Leon spokesman Rebecca Larger. ''It gets the phones ringing. It does not necessarily reach our demographic''—senior citizens on Medicare—''but it definitely targets the children, the sandwich generation, the decision-makers for the seniors'' about which Medicare health-maintenance organization is right for their parents.
Largely under the guise of economic stimulus, Congress and the president are moving quickly to infuse—perhaps not large and perhaps not permanent—but significant temporary cash into healthcare. Is this good news for hospitals and health systems?
There are doctors who still make house calls because it's in the best interest of the patient, not their bottom line, who say a prayer with a distraught family, who give their own blood to a sick child. But some medical ethicists warn against practicing medicine too empathetically or becoming too involved in patients' lives, saying it compromises treatment and the profession as a whole. Others argue personalized care will become extinct if physicians are not able to set aside the business of doctoring and resurrect the art of medicine.
A political stalemate in Pennsylvania over how to expand state-subsidized healthcare is entering its third year, with the latest competing plans being introduced by political adversaries. During his annual budget speech, Gov. Ed Rendell will reveal a plan to double the number of people enrolled in the state's low-cost health insurance program by asking for federal aid. The Senate GOP favors a plan to expand services through low-cost community health clinics.