Latest California Healthline Stories
Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. John Kenny To Unveil Medicare Proposal
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) on Monday will unveil a plan to reform Medicare and provide a prescription drug benefit for beneficiaries, the AP/Boston Globe reports.
Medicare Conferees Consider Proposal To Charge Higher Premiums for Higher-Income Beneficiaries
Negotiators charged with reconciling the House and Senate Medicare bills (HR 1 and S 1) are “seriously considering” requiring beneficiaries with higher incomes to pay higher premiums than other beneficiaries, the New York Times reports.
Davis Signs Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage Bill
As expected, Gov. Gray Davis (D) on Sunday signed a bill (SB 2) that will require some employers in the state to either provide health insurance to employees or pay into a state fund that would provide such coverage, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Davis, Gubernatorial Recall Candidates’ Policy Positions Featured
The San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times recently featured the positions of Gov. Gray Davis (D) and gubernatorial recall candidates Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (D), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and Green Party candidate Peter Camejo on policy issues, including health care.
Newspapers Examine Employer Response to Increased Health Insurance Premiums
Two newspapers on Monday examine how employers are responding to rising health insurance premiums.
Senate To Consider Bill To Ban Discrimination by Employers, Insurers Based on Genetic Tests
The Senate is “poised to pass” a bill (S 1053) that would prohibit employers and insurance companies from discriminating against people based on their genetic histories, the Wall Street Journal reports.
California Healthline Rounds Up Recent Proposition 54 Coverage
California Healthline today rounds up recent media coverage of Proposition 54, which will appear on the Oct. 7 recall ballot.
Schwarzenegger Healthy Families Criticism Inaccurate, Editorial Says
The expansion of Healthy Families, which offers health insurance to children in families that do qualify for Medicaid, is one of the “clear successes” of Gov. Gray Davis’ (D) tenure, which makes Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comments about Davis’ handling of the program “bizarre,” a San Francisco Chronicle editorial states.
Senate Bill To Allow FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products Could Pass This Year, Supporters Say
Republican supporters of a Senate bill that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco products on Thursday said that efforts to pass the legislation this year are “not dead,” despite disagreements with opponents who maintain that the bill is “not strong enough,” CongressDaily reports.
FDA Task Force Outlines Proposal To Combat Counterfeit Medications
The FDA Counterfeit Drug Task Force on Thursday unveiled a draft report on potential measures to combat counterfeit drugs in the United States, a move that could “broadly reshape how medicines are packaged and distributed,” the Wall Street Journal reports.