Latest California Healthline Stories
Kaiser Permanente Earnings Up 27% for First Quarter
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente on Thursday reported that first-quarter net income increased by 27% from $435 million a year earlier to $552 million, the Los Angeles Times reports.
San Jose, Emeryville Support San Francisco Bid for CIRM Headquarters
Emeryville and San Jose officials on Wednesday announced their support for San Francisco’s bid to host the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Oakland Tribune reports.
Labor Coalition To Submit Signatures To Qualify Prescription Drug Ballot Measure
The Alliance for a Better California — a coalition of labor unions — on Thursday said it would turn in signatures on Friday to qualify a proposed ballot measure to address prescription drug costs, the Contra Costa Times reports.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Likely To Appoint Members of Commission To Study Medicaid
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt is expected to select the members of a commission to study Medicaid, which was called for in the fiscal year 2006 budget resolution Congress approved last month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
House Bill Seeks To Expand Use of Health Savings Accounts Through Tax Credits
Reps. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) and Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are cosponsoring legislation (HR 1872) designed to position health savings accounts as “an even more attractive health care option” by making premium payments tax deductible, providing tax credits to small businesses that offer HSAs and giving low-income U.S. residents tax credits for purchasing health care, CQ HealthBeat reports.
Health Insurance Costs Can Account for More Than 25% of Some Workers’ Incomes, Report Finds
Average employee health insurance premiums for a minimum-wage worker can represent between 25% and 50% of wages, according to a recent analysis released by the California HealthCare Foundation, the Stockton Record reports.
Merck Sales Associates Downplayed Safety Risks of Vioxx, House Committee Finds
Merck sales associates were given detailed instructions not to mention certain potential cardiovascular risks when promoting the company’s COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx to doctors, according to an analysis of 20,000 pages of internal documents by congressional investigators for the House Committee on Government Reform delivered at a hearing Thursday, the Washington Post reports.
Ehnes Urges Coverage of Uninsured, Says Bill To Create State Single-Payer Health System Not Viable
Department of Managed Health Care Director Cindy Ehnes at a conference on Wednesday urged health care officials to extend health care coverage to uninsured California residents, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports.
DeLay Opposes Reimportation, Revisions to Prescription Drug Benefit
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) on Wednesday at a news conference in Washington, D.C., said he would not support legislation that would allow U.S. residents to reimport prescription drugs from other nations and “discouraged any other changes to the Medicare prescription drug benefit,” the Hartford Courant reports.
Total U.S. Enrollment in Health Savings Accounts Tops One Million
Enrollment in health savings accounts reached 1.03 million U.S. residents by the end of March, compared with 438,000 in September 2004, according to a survey conducted by America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Washington Times reports.