Latest California Healthline Stories
Nurses May Not Receive Retirement Benefits After Six-Month Strike at Doctors Medical Center
A six-month-long strike over retirement benefits by nurses at the Doctors Medical Center San Pablo/Pinole “may not end unless nurses give up their demands,” the Contra Costa Times reports.
Cost of Medicare Reform Could Exceed Budget Resolution Guidelines
The estimated cost of reforming Medicare is becoming a hurdle for lawmakers attempting to do so while adding a prescription drug benefit to the program, while staying within the $400 billion over 10 years designated for the overhaul in the fiscal year 2004 budget proposals approved by the House and Senate, CongressDaily reports.
Kaiser Announces Plans To Open a New Medical Complex in Antioch
Kaiser Permanente on Thursday announced plans to begin construction next year on a 150-bed hospital and medical office complex at Kaiser Antioch Medical Center, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Bob Graham Formally Announces He Will Seek 2004 Democratic Presidential Nomination
Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), yesterday in Miami Lakes, Fla., formally announced that he will seek the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination and said that as president he would protect programs such as Medicare, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
When San Francisco officials meet tonight to discuss “escalating concerns” over crystal methamphetamine use and HIV risk among men who have sex with men, “they should treat it with the urgency of a public health crisis,” a San Francisco Chronicle editorial states.
Judge Issues Injunction Barring Los Angeles County From Closing Rancho Los Amigos
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper yesterday issued a preliminary injunction preventing Los Angeles County from shutting down Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center until the county can show that disabled Medi-Cal beneficiaries can obtain comparable care elsewhere, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Health Net Announces 37% First-Quarter Profit Increase
Woodland Hills-based Health Net, one of the state’s largest health insurers, Monday reported that its first-quarter profit increased 37% to $68.2 million, or 57 cents a share, from $49.8 million, or 40 cents a share, a year earlier because of lower-than-expected medical costs and increased revenue from its participation in the military health program, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Senate Committee Holds Hearing on FEHBP Model for Medicare Reform
Proponents of altering Medicare to operate under a system comparable to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, in which private health plans compete to cover federal workers, testified before the Senate Aging Committee yesterday, CongressDaily reports.
The New Republic Looks at Need for Emerging Disease Surveillance
An integrated global surveillance system to track emerging diseases could have identified severe acute respiratory syndrome in its early stages, according to an article in The New Republic.
House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee Approves Three Bills on Health Care
The House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health yesterday approved by voice vote three veterans health bills with “little discussion and no objections,” according to CongressDaily Markup Reports.