Latest California Healthline Stories
Congress should consider allowing a scheduled 15% cut in Medicare payments to home health providers to proceed because the federal government is overpaying the industry, according to a report released yesterday by the General Accounting Office.
Almost one-quarter of U.S. women said in a survey released yesterday that they had “forgone or delayed needed health care” in the past year due largely to higher-than-expected out-of-pocket costs or the “perception that they could not afford the care,” Reuters Health reports.
Congress Should Approve Bill That Would Close Drug Patent Law Loopholes, Los Angeles Times Says
Congress should pass a bill (S 812), sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would close “[l]oopholes in U.S. law” that allow drug manufacturers to file lawsuits against generic competitors and subsequently receive 30-month patent extensions, a Los Angeles Times editorial states.
Senate Democrats Having Trouble Reaching Consensus on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
Although Senate Democrats are united in wanting to approve a Medicare prescription drug benefit this year, they are having trouble reaching “common ground” on what a bill should look like, CongressDaily/AM reports.
Health Care Employees at Five San Jose-Area Hospitals Plan One-Day Strike on May 15
About 2,000 health care employees represented by Service Employees International Union Local 250 will hold a one-day strike on May 15 at five hospitals in the San Jose area “unless contract negotiations” improve, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
USA Today Debates States’ Role in Reducing Prescription Drug Prices
States have the “clout to do something about the burden” of pharmaceutical costs for seniors and should move “aggressively” to pass legislation to address the issue in the absence of a Medicare prescription drug benefit, according to a USA Today editorial.
California Health Insurers Failing Consumers by Raising Costs, Reducing Benefits, Court Writes
Health insurance in California is “fast becoming a bait-and-switch scam” in which consumers choose a health plan and insurers then increase costs or reduce benefits, Jamie Court writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece.
State Prisons Must Meet Health Licensing Standards Within One Year, Judge Rules
A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Tuesday ruled that the Department of Corrections has illegally operated prison infirmaries without state health licenses and ordered the department to set a timetable to bring its facilities up to licensing standards, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Medical Resdients To File Class-Action Lawsuit Over Matching Program
Plaintiffs who claim to represent about 200,000 medical residents plan to file a lawsuit today in Washington, D.C., alleging that seven medical organizations and more than 1,000 private hospitals nationwide have used the National Resident Matching Program to “keep residents’ wages low and hours long,” the New York Times reports.
The hospital industry is divided over whether greater regulation or “unfettered competition” is the best way to improve health care quality at a reasonable cost, and the debate is now “playing out” in several states, the Wall Street Journal reports.