Battle royal over health care repeal if GOP wins

2010-09-07T10:21:38Z

Battle to repeal "Obamacare" in the cards if GOP regains power in November

If you thought passing the health care overhaul was messy, wait until Republicans try to repeal it if they regain power in Washington this fall. It could come down to who blinks first. Even if Republicans succeed beyond any current predictions and capture both the Senate and the House, they wouldn't have enough GOP votes to overcome Reuters) - An estimated five million uninsured children in the United States were eligible for Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but were not enrolled in either plan, according to a new report. The study...

Richard Sorian Latest Openly Gay Obama Appointee

2010-08-20T11:45:22Z

Openly gay Richard Sorian is among the recess appointments announced Thursday by the Obama administration

Openly gay Richard Sorian is among the four administration nominees appointed Thursday by President Barack Obama in his latest recess appointments.

In making the announcement, Obama said he was bypassing the Senate, which is res...

U.S. proposes wide changes in role fighting disease

2010-08-19T05:45:26Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government proposed big changes on Thursday to the way it works with companies to fight new disease threats such as flu, including reform at the Food and Drug Administration and setting up centers to make vaccines quickly. The report from the

Health reform spurs change for big employers: survey

2010-08-18T07:15:15Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many of the biggest U.S. companies are removing spending limits from their employees' health plans and taking other steps to comply with the new healthcare law, according to a report released on Wednesday. Most of the companies surveyed also plan to shift more costs to employees in an effort to rein in rising healthcare spending, according to ...

Measles kills 197 people in Malawi since January

2010-08-15T09:45:09Z

LILONGWE (Reuters) - A measles outbreak has killed 197 people in Malawi since the start of this year, the highest number recorded in the country in the last decade, a senior health ministry official said Sunday. A total 54 people died during the last outbreak of the viral disease in the southern African country in 2000. "About 77,00...

Peru plague outbreak kills 1, infects at least 31

2010-08-02T15:30:11Z

Peru's health minister says plague outbreak has killed teenager, infected at least 31 people

Peru's health minister says an outbreak of plague has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province. Health Minister Oscar Ugarte says authorities are screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, which is south of the city...

Andy Griffith's new role: pitching health care law

2010-07-30T08:30:19Z

Andy Griffith pitches health care law to seniors in Obama administration's new TV ad

Actor Andy Griffith has a new role: pitching President Barack Obama's health care law to seniors in a cable television ad paid for by Medicare. The TV star — whose role as sheriff of Mayberry made him an enduring sy...

Rite Aid to pay $1 million fine for HIPAA violation

2010-07-29T04:15:16Z

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid will pay a $1 million fine and take corrective actions to settle charges of violating the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

Following federal charges that it violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule ...

Indian minister warns of fruit and veg hormone injections

2010-07-28T13:45:10Z

Indian farmers are injecting a hormone sometimes given to women during childbirth into vegetables and fruits to make the produce ripen sooner and gain weight, an Indian minister has warned. In a letter to health ministry officials seen by AFP, junior health minister Dinesh Trivedi demanded a nationwide crackdown on the illegal use of the prescription drug Oxytocin, which he said can cause serious health problems if taken over a ...

Health group sues FDA over antimicrobial soap

2010-07-28T09:30:17Z

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A nonprofit environmental group has sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, claiming the agency failed to regulate toxic chemicals found in "antimicrobial" soap and other personal care products. The

Wine & Spirits Wholesalers spent $260K on lobbying

2010-07-26T08:45:11Z

Wine and Spirits Wholesalers spent $260,000 in second quarter lobbying on food safety, labor

The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America spent $260,000 in the second quarter lobbying the federal government on food safety, labor issues and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. That's even with the $260,000 the group spent in the year-ago peri...

FDA wants investigation into Avandia conflict: report

2010-07-23T15:45:12Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate whether one of the panelists at a recent safety meeting on the Cuba replaces health minister, powerful figure in communist leadership for decades

Cuba has replaced its health minister, the latest in a flurry of recent leadership shake-ups by President Raul Castro. Jose Ramon Balaguer, 78, will rejoin the President Barack Obama is taking aim at Senate Republicans, accusing them of playing politics with measures that would extend benefits to the unemployed and increase lending to small businesses. Striking a deeply partisan tone in his weekly Saturday radio and online address, Obama said the GOP leadership has chosen to "filibuster our recovery and obstruct our ...

Doctors, nurses joined Medicare scam, U.S. says

2010-07-16T11:45:14Z

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. authorities charged 94 doctors, nurses and clinic owners with scheming to defraud the taxpayer-funded Medicare program out of $251 million, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday. He said 36 defen...

Preventive care to come at no out-of-pocket cost

2010-07-14T10:15:18Z

First lady Michelle Obama is announcing better health insurance coverage for preventive care, from counseling for kids who struggle with a weight problem to colon cancer screenings for their middle-aged parents. Under President Barack Obama's health care law, many insurance plans will soon have to offer a menu of preventive services at no out-of-pocket cost to beneficiaries...

Health provider partners may face privacy fines

2010-07-08T11:00:42Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. companies that partner with hospitals and other health providers could face steep fines if they disclose private patient information under a new federal rule proposed on Thursday. Billing companies, customer service contractors and other businesses regularly handle private health records, but currently, they are not liable for information breaches. The proposed rule would treat these companies t...

New coverage for uninsured people in poor health

2010-06-29T14:31:05Z

Cost issues dog new coverage program for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions

The Obama administration is launching a special coverage program for uninsured Americans with medical problems this week, the most ambitious early investment of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. But here's the catch: Premiums will be a stretch for many, even after government subsidies to bring rates close to wh...

High court won't review San Fran health care plan

2010-06-28T07:45:18Z

Supreme Court turns down business appeal of San Francisco health care program

The Supreme Court has rejected a business-led challenge to San Francisco's universal health care program that has enrolled more than 53,000 people who lacked health insurance. The justices on Monday denied a challenge from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association of an appeals court ruling that upheld the program's requirement that ...

Costly US health care falls short: report

2010-06-23T11:15:41Z

The US health care system is the costliest in the world, but underperforms relative to many other industrialized nations, according to a study released Wednesday. The report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focused on health, updated its comparison of the US medical care system to those in Australia, Canada, Germany, Australia, Canada, Germany, Inspectors find US drug regulators face oversight challenge as drugmakers move testing abroad

Federal inspectors say the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing only a fraction of foreign drug trials, as companies increasingly move drug testing overseas to reduce costs. A report by the Inspector General for the Departm...

Murray threat defendant pleads guilty in Seattle

2010-06-10T15:45:28Z

Man who threatened Sen. Murray over health care vote pleads guilty in Seattle

A man accused of threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray over her support for sweeping federal health care legislation has pleaded guilty. Sixty-four-year-old Charles Alan Wilson of Selah entered the plea Thursday in

Obama renews health care bill pitch to elderly

2010-06-08T00:30:47Z

Obama renews health care bill pitch to a reluctant constituency, the elderly

President Barack Obama is turning his attention back to the massive health care bill he signed earlier this year, and trying to win over the most skeptical constituency: seniors. Obama is set to pitch the bill at a senior center in Wheaton, Md., on Tuesday. The event...

Tobacco loophole in child health law costs $250M

2010-06-02T00:30:05Z

Public health officials say a tobacco tax loophole in President Barack Obama's children's health insurance program is costing the U.S. Treasury more than $250 million a year. The loophole allows companies to avoid huge tax increases on rolling tobacco by labeling it as pipe tobacco. The marketing twist lets companies pay less than $3 a poun...

On health care law, Americans may give it a chance

2010-06-01T00:16:00Z

Toss it or fix it? Americans may just give health care overhaul law a chance to work

Toss it or fix it? Anxious backers of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law are starting to see a flicker of hope. While polls show Americans remain sharply divided over the Democrats' landmark legislation, they aren't clamoring for its repe...

Neb. to pay foster parents left in lurch

2010-05-24T17:30:07Z

Neb. agrees to pay foster parents, subcontractors left in lurch by Omaha agency's bankruptcy

The state of Nebraska will pay foster care providers and subcontractors left in limbo after an Omaha-based agency closed its doors amid financial troubles, under an agreement announced late Monday. The deal with Visinet will also cover back pay for former Visinet employees, but it won...

Feds ask Va. health reform lawsuit be dismissed

2010-05-24T17:15:13Z

Obama administration asks judge to dismiss Virginia lawsuit challenging health reform law

The Obama administration is asking a federal judge in Virginia to dismiss the state's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new health reform law. In a motion filed hours before the court deadline on Monday, New estimate shows federal health care overhaul will cost Indiana $2.9 billion in next decade

A new estimate shows the federal health care overhaul will cost Indiana at least $2.9 billion over the next decade. That estimate released Friday from an outside actuary hired by the state is lower than the actuary's "worst case scenario" given two weeks ago. But Gov. Mitch...

Don't like your diagnosis? Maybe you should move

2010-05-13T10:16:08Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Doctors in some parts of the United States are more likely to tell Medicare patients they are sick than in other parts, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that could explain regional differences in health spending. The study is the latest from th...

New coverage for young adults will raise premiums

2010-05-10T11:15:18Z

The government says letting young adults stay on their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums higher for employer plans. The coverage requirement, effective later this year, is one of the most anticipated early benefits of President Barack Obama's new health care law. The Health and Human Services department says in an estimate released Monday that the benefit will cost $3,380 for each dependent, raising pr...

Chile: President's brother's Hummer smashed a Mini

2010-05-03T16:02:21Z

Questions over Chile president's brother's Hummer smashing Mini ensnare new health minister

Chile's health minister is in the hot seat over a car accident last year in which the president's brother smashed into an Austin Mini with his Hummer. New President Sebastian Pinera has joked about having to take car...

Social Security Medicare

2010-08-05T15:15:45Z

Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael J. Astrue, left, accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, center, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, speaks about the Social Security and Medicare Trustees report, Thursday, A...

Health Overhaul Abortion

2010-07-19T00:18:24Z

FILE - In this March 24, 2010 file photo, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper , D-Pa., arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington. Opponents of legalized abortion have won the first test of how President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law will be app...

Obama Republicans

2010-07-17T10:30:08Z

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2009, file photo Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., speaks during a hearing regarding health care reform on Capitol Hill in Washington. Roberts, during the Attorney General Eric Holder, right, announces 36 arrests in Medicare scams during a news conference as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius looks on in Miami, Friday, July 16, 2010. Federal authorities said they are conducting the largest Medicare fraud bust ever in five ...

Expanding Health Insurance

2010-07-05T08:00:30Z

Jay and Sheryl Raether of Oconomowoc, Wisc., with their triplets, from left, Vincent, Mira, and Luk, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 15, 2010. The first stage of

Health Care Policy