Latest California Healthline Stories
Lawmakers Seek Compromise on Mental Health Parity Bill
Amid opposition from House Republicans, several lawmakers hoping to expand the 1996 mental health parity law have moved to “strike a deal” on a Senate-passed measure attached to the FY 2002 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, CongressDaily reports.
Offering Money for Organ Donation Ethical, HHS Committee Says
Doctors told a “newly created” HHS organ transplant advisory committee Monday that offering payment to dying individuals and their families to donate organs “is ethical” in cases where the amount does not become “so large it becomes a bribe,” the AP/Nando Times reports.
Some AMA Members ‘Fed Up’ with Sale of Prescription Data
“Fed up” with “pressure” from the drug industry, some members of the American Medical Association have asked the group to consider “legal remedies” to protect the privacy of their prescribing information, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Higher Medicare+Choice Payments Have ‘Little Effect’
The General Accounting Office reported yesterday that increased reimbursements for health plans that participate in Medicare+Choice have not stopped the withdrawal of HMOs from the program, the New York Times reports.
Arrests of ‘Denialists’ a Positive Sign for AIDS Activism and Prevention, Op-Ed Says
Last week’s arrests of San Francisco AIDS activists Michael Petrelis and David Pasquarelli could “mark a turning point in the faltering effort to prevent” HIV transmission among gay men, Gabriel Rotello writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed.
San Diego Group Uses Federal Grant to Fund Mobile Health Clinic
Family Health Centers of San Diego has used a federal grant to provide free health care at public housing sites in the city with a mobile medical clinic, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
California HealthCare Foundation Releases Three Studies in iHealth Reports Series
The California HealthCare Foundation, as part of the organization’s iHealth Reports series, has released three studies on “emerging concepts” in health care.
New Study Estimates Rx Drug Development Costs at $802M
The average cost of developing a new prescription drug has increased to $802 million, more than double the cost in 1987, according to a new Tufts University study released Friday, the New York Times reports.
Senate to Address Six-Month Moratorium for Human Cloning
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and a group of Senate Republicans will attempt to pass a six-month moratorium on all human cloning research as an amendment to a proposed railroad worker retirement bill expected to be debated today,
Knight Ridder/Detroit Free Press reports.
One-Third of New AIDS Cases in California Occur Among Latinos, Bonta Says
Recognizing Saturday as World AIDS Day, Department of Health Services Director Diana Bonta noted that new statistics show that one out of every three new AIDS cases in California occurs among Latinos, the Sacramento Bee reports.