Latest California Healthline Stories
Register Profiles a Small Medicare HMO That Continues to Offer an Unlimited Prescription Benefit
The Orange County Register profiles the Senior Care Action Network, a small Medicare+Choice health plan in Southern California that is “fighting hard to hold the line against fierce financial pressures.”
Senate Defeats Democratic Bioterrorism Funding Plan
The Senate on Friday failed to add a $15 billion appropriation for bioterrorism prevention, homeland security and recovery efforts for New York City to a defense spending bill, the Washington Post reports.
New Pilot Program Will Increase the Number of Disease Screens for Newborns
State health officials are set to launch an “ambitious” pilot program that will “greatly expand” the number of diseases for which newborns are screened, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Not-for-Profit Community-Based Hospitals Offer Majority of Care to Low-Income Patients, Report Says
California’s community-based, not-for-profit hospitals provide the majority of services for low-income, underserved and emergency patients, according to a new report sponsored by the not-for-profit hospital system Sutter Health, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
Low-Income, Minority Seniors Restrict Use of Prescription Drugs Because of Costs
Forty-three percent of seniors who lack prescription drug coverage and who are either minorities, have annual incomes of less than $10,000 or have high out-of-pocket prescription drug costs greater than $100 a month say they restrict their use of prescribed medications because of cost, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Glucophage Won’t Get Exemption in Pediatric Drug Bill
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s diabetes drug Glucophage will not receive an exemption in legislation to renew the 1997 FDA Modernization Act that could have allowed it three extra years of patent protection, bill sponsor Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.) said yesterday, CongressDaily/AM reports.
Patients File Complaint Against Madera Community Hospital Over Decision to Drop Medi-Cal Contract
Two Madera women have filed a complaint with the federal Office for Civil Rights in San Francisco over Madera Community Hospital’s decision last month not to renew a contract with Medi-Cal, “claiming that the move is unfair to low-income patients,” the Fresno Bee reports.
Kaiser-DMHC Court Battles Will Determine Agency’s Oversight Authority
The Los Angeles Times today reports on the ongoing battle between the Department of Managed Health Care and Kaiser Permanente, the state’s largest HMO, which have “squared off” in recent court proceedings that eventually will determine the extent of DMHC’s authority to punish health plans for alleged harm to beneficiaries.
Texas Oncologist Named Director of National Cancer Institute
President Bush yesterday named Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, a prostate cancer expert at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, to become director of the National Cancer Institute, the Houston Chronicle reports.
State Discount Rx Drug Programs ‘Challenge’ Industry
State governments nationwide are launching programs to reduce prescription drug prices, moves that pose a “serious challenge” to the pharmaceutical industry’s “mighty lobbying machine — and to its profits,” the Wall Street Journal reports.