Latest California Healthline Stories
Senate Confirms Nominees To Head HHS, VA
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Mike Leavitt, former administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency and former Utah governor, as the new secretary of HHS, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Bush Proposes Annual Tax Credits for Health Savings Accounts, Calls for Association Health Plans
President Bush on Wednesday in a speech at NIH proposed tax credits to encourage the expansion of health savings accounts and reduce the “nation’s spiraling health care costs,” the Washington Post reports.
Bills on Reimportation of Prescription Drugs Introduced in House, Senate
A bipartisan group of eight lawmakers led by Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) on Wednesday introduced identical bills in the House and Senate that would allow U.S. residents to reimport lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other nations, Bloomberg/Boston Globe reports.
Members of the Little Hoover Commission at a hearing on Wednesday “expressed fears of reduced public oversight and excessive consolidation of state functions” associated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) plan to eliminate 88 state boards and commissions, including some health-related bodies, the Sacramento Bee reports.
BMJ Retracts Article on Prozac, Apologizes to Eli Lilly
BMJ on its Web site on Wednesday published a “correction and apology” retracting an article that accused Eli Lilly of concealing documents that linked the antidepressant Prozac to suicide and aggressive behavior, the Indianapolis Star reports.
Sixty Employers Join To Offer Discount Health Coverage to Uninsured Workers
Sixty large employers have joined together in a “novel attempt” to offer low-cost health insurance options to employees who generally are not eligible for company-sponsored health benefits, the New York Times reports.
Medicaid Spending Grew One-Third in Fiscal Years 2000-2003, Study Finds
Medicaid spending increased by one-third between fiscal years 2000 and 2003 to $276 billion, driven largely by significant increases in enrollment during the economic downturn, according to a report commissioned by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and published on the Health Affairs Web site, Reuters reports.
A consortium of eight technology companies last week called for the creation of a not-for-profit company to develop technology standards for a national health information database, the New York Times reports.
Lockyer Files Suit To Block Abortion Amendment in Appropriations Bill
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) on Tuesday filed suit against the Bush administration claiming that an amendment to the fiscal year 2005 federal omnibus appropriations bill — the Hyde-Weldon Amendment, which eliminates federal funding to agencies that “discriminat[e]” against health care providers who decline to provide abortions — is unconstitutional, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday in an annual report said that without additional expenditures the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2005 would reach $368 billion, as Medicare and Medicaid costs continue to serve as a “major hindrance to long-term fiscal security,” the Washington Times reports.