Filling In the Medicare Doughnut Hole is a Sticky Issue
from The Dallas Morning News, June 10, 2009
 AARP and other advocates for older adults are calling on Congress to get rid of the "doughnut hole" in Medicare's drug benefit as part of the lawmakers' broader efforts to reform health care. Though most seniors say they're pleased with the drug benefit, the one aspect they love to hate is the gap in coverage that usually kicks in during summer or fall and forces millions of beneficiaries to bear the full cost of their drugs. More
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Health Care Spending Disparities Stir a Fight
from The New York Times, June 8, 2009
President Obama recently summoned aides to the Oval Office to discuss a magazine article investigating why the border town of McAllen, Texas, was the country’s most expensive place for health care. The article became required reading in the White House, with Mr. Obama even citing it at a meeting last week with two dozen Democratic senators. More
Nonprofit Status Could Be At Stake
from The Temple Daily Telegram, June 9, 2009
The road to health care reform is not without its potholes - one is the federal proposal to set an annual minimum level for charity care in order for a hospital to maintain its nonprofit status. The Senate Finance Committee is considering the bipartisan proposal. The nonprofit status enables a hospital to avoid paying income tax on profits and property taxes, among other taxes. More
Straus Pledges to Focus on Children's Health Insurance During the Interim
from The Rio Grande Guardian, June 4, 2009
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus wants to take an in-depth look at children's health insurance before the next legislative session in 2011. "That is one of the issues that will be addressed during the interim," Straus said, at a breakfast meeting with members of the Capitol press corps. "I've already spoken to advocates for expanding the CHIP program. We are going to make every effort to make sure it receives the attention it deserves." More
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Perry: Special Session is Coming
from The Houston Chronicle, June 10, 2009
Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday a special legislative session will be necessary to keep alive the state’s transportation and insurance regulatory departments but declined to say whether he also will include the contentious Republican-backed voter identification measure. More
Medical School Opens This Fall, Expands Programs
from Community Impact Round Rock, June 5, 2009
The Texas A&M Health Science Center will mark the second year of its Round Rock program this fall with the opening of the first building on its new campus. The school also plans to expand its partnerships with local clinics, allowing incoming classes to work more closely with patients in need of special care. Dr. Kathryn Kotrla, associate dean of the Health Science Center’s Round Rock campus, said the school hopes to build upon existing relationships with local hospitals and community health centers such as the Lone Star Circle of Care, a nonprofit healthcare organization that provides medical care to uninsured and under-insured patients. More
Opening Keynote: Get Involved, Say Congressman Burgess
from Healthcare IT News, June 8, 2009
Better patient care leading to healthier patients, improved outcomes and decreased cost is a bipartisan, uniform goal, declares Congressman Michael Burgess, MD. To reach that lofty goal, however, all stakeholders need to get involved, the four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Ob/Gyn with 25 years of practicing medicine will told attendees at his opening keynote address. More
Drug Deals Tie Prices to How Well Patients Do
from The New York Times
Pressed by insurance companies, some drug makers are beginning to adjust what they charge for their drugs, based on how well the medicines improve patients’ health. Two companies that jointly sell the osteoporosis drug Actonel recently agreed to reimburse the insurer Health Alliance for the costs of treating fractures suffered by patients taking that medicine. “We’re standing behind our product,” said Dan Hecht, general manager of the North American pharmaceutical business of Procter & Gamble, which sells Actonel with Sanofi-Aventis. “We’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.” More
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Hurricane Relief Provided to Medical Students
from AMNews, June 8, 2009
The Texas Medical Assn. Foundation has received nearly $70,000 to distribute among the 1,000 medical students from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston who had their lives upended when Hurricane Ike struck last year. More
Healthy Kids Are Good For Business
from The Boern Star, June 5, 2009
In a campaign known as Hard Hats for Little Heads, spearheaded locally by Kendall County Medical Society as a part of a larger program originated by the Texas Medical Association, elementary school kids have their awareness raised about the importance of wearing safety gear when riding their bikes, scooters, roller skates and skateboards. (Scroll down to read article.) More
Fixing Health Care Starts With the Doctors
from The Washington Post, June 10, 2009
If we really want to fix America's overpriced and under-performing health-care system, what really matters is changing the ways doctors practice medicine, individually and collectively. Everything else -- mandate or no mandate, the tax treatment of health benefits, whether there's a "public plan" to compete against private health insurers -- is just tinkering at the margin. More
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