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A-B-C-D-E Spells Fitter Future For Nation's Obese Children
The fitness mantra - Activity, Belief, Confidence, Diet and Exercise.
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States Consider Scaling Back Funding For Medicare Drug Benefit Amid Economic Crisis
At least six states have considered eliminating or reducing financial assistance for those enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug benefit program who are affected by the "doughnut hole," or gap in coverage, the AP/Boston Herald reports. According to the AP/Herald, the governors of Rhode Island and Vermont and lawmakers in South Carolina have proposed plans to eliminate such financial assistance programs, while Massachusetts has reduced funding for its program. Meanwhile, proposals in New York and Connecticut to limit financial help have been dismissed.Beneficiaries enrolled in the drug benefit have coverage until total spending reaches $2,700 and then must pay out-of-pocket for their medications until the total spending reaches $4,350, after coverage. At least 16 states provide financial help to beneficiaries who have reached the coverage gap (AP/Boston Herald, 5/27).
News of the day
Nationwide Health IT Expansion Could Create Jobs
As unemployment rises, the medical world prepares to create thousands of jobs as part of an industry-wide effort to transfer paper health records to electronic medical record systems, CBS News (Chicago) reports. "With the initiative of electronic health records, we expect that there will be new types of jobs," a spokeswoman for the American Health Information Management Association, an industry group that predicts the initiative will create 75,000 jobs, told CBS. People with two year associate degrees will be eligible for many of the jobs, which can carry a starting pay of $25,000 to $45,000, the spokeswoman said (Tucker, 6/18).
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Today's Selection Of Opinions And Editorials

Obama"s Plan Isn"t The Answer The Washington Post For the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance, the Obama health plan is bad news. It means higher taxes, less health care and no protection if they lose their current insurance because of unemployment or early retirement (Feldstein, 7/28). Blue Dogs: All Bark, No Bite The Wall Street Journal The Democratic leadership and the president will put enormous pressure on the Blue Dogs to support the legislation. Now we"ll see if the Blue Dogs have bite to go along with their bark (Matthews, 7/27). To Overhaul the System, "Health" Needs Redefining The New York Times No health care system has seriously grappled with the question most fundamental to its task: what constitutes health? As the United States contemplates an overhaul of its system, maybe we should take a stab at it (Welch, 7/27). Bipartisanship Needed On Health Care Reform The Seattle Times For the public to buy the changes, the plan cannot be the Democratic health-care program. It should be at least in part bipartisan. Otherwise, reform becomes an easy political punching bag (7/27). Keep Abortion Funding Out Of Health Care Reform Politico To ensure that the long-standing U.S. policy against funding or mandating abortion coverage is maintained in this new health care authorization, abortion must be permanently and explicitly excluded (Perkins, 7/28). Biotech Bottleneck The Washington Post With a name like the Affordable Health Choices Act, you"d think the health-care reform bill that passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this month would have made an effort to provide affordable health choices. But instead, the bill includes a provision that would create a 12-year market exclusivity period for brand-name biologic drugs. This would drive costs to consumers above even current levels, making the title little more than a mockery (7/28). Hope for Health Reform? Push Single-Payer Now The Nation [A single payer plan is] the proper prescription. Obama and Pelosi should listen to the doctors and follow it. But that will only happen if those who favor real reform seize on this uncertain but not unforgiving moment to make the case for single-payer (Nichols, 7/27). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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