AllHealthcare

Anti-abortion Democrats have reignited the national abortion wars with their victory Saturday on an amendment to House health care legislation that would prevent women from obtaining abortions through government-sponsored insurance or any plan that receives government subsidies. Pro-choice and anti-abortion forces, each promising to mobilize the public, are girding for battle in the Senate, which aims to begin debate soon on ...

WASHINGTON - In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous. The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue ...

WASHINGTON - A comparison of the health care bills before Congress. The Democratic-controlled House passed its legislation on a 220-215 vote Saturday night. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is finalizing legislation merging the work of two committees and making other changes. The Senate Democrats' bill has not yet been made public, so some ...

President Barack Obama used only-in-Washington accounting Wednesday when he promised to overhaul the nation's health care system without adding "one dime" to the deficit. By conventional arithmetic, Democratic plans would drive up the deficit by billions of dollars. The president's speech to Congress contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions in laying out what he wants to do about health ...

I think #4 is most poignant. What are everyone's thoughts about these six points?   The fever for healthcare reform is running high in Washington, D.C., and politicians are lining up on both sides to offer "treatment plans," says Samuel H. Fleet, president of AmWINS Group Benefits. He adds, "But policy makers are missing many of the key opportunities to address ...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama alternately wooed and defied critics of his mammoth health care plan Wednesday in a speech to Congress and the nation timed to help him regain momentum lost during a month of growing public anxiety. Saying he wanted to succeed where presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have failed, Obama told a joint session of Congress and millions watching on ...

WASHINGTON — The blank wall behind the receptionists' desk stands as a symbol of efficiency in Peter Basch's bustling office. A dozen years ago, Basch and his fellow doctors went paperless and ditched the stacks of patients' charts that stood there. An early entry into the world of electronic medical records, Basch is an enthusiastic supporter. "It allows our staff and ...

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's willingness to consider alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits is providing a boost for taking such cases out of the courtroom and letting experts, not juries, decide their merits. The idea of appointing neutral experts to sift malpractice facts from allegations appeals to conservatives in both political parties. They want to address medical liability as part of ...

TULSA — An hour into knee replacement surgery — with U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For playing in the background — Yogesh Mittal smiles as he raises the left leg of his patient, 76-year-old Frank Morrow. While holding Morrow's thigh, the surgeon lets the bottom half of the leg fall. "Look at that," he says, pointing to the ...

PITTSBURGH - Baby Riley Matthews wheezed noisily on the exam table. "He's belly-breathing," the emergency-room doctor said worriedly - Riley's little abdomen was markedly rising and falling with each breath, a sign of respiratory distress. In most emergency rooms, the doctor would grill Mom: Has he ever been X-rayed? Do you remember what it showed? But in the new all-digital Children's ...

WASHINGTON - The nation's hospitals will give up $155 billion in future Medicare and Medicaid payments to help defray the cost of President Barack Obama's health care plan, a concession the White House hopes will boost an overhaul effort that's hit a roadblock in Congress. Vice President Joe Biden announced the deal at the White House on Wednesday, with administration officials ...

At his Doctors Express center in Towson, Md., Dr. Scott Burger has spent the last three years tending to the community's night-time fevers and weekend hurts. Now, the former emergency room physician wants to take the center's model nationwide, doing for urgent health care what, say, Papa John's did for pizza -- making sure the public can find it anywhere and ...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats on Tuesday rolled out a far-reaching $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans, with medical providers, employers and the wealthiest picking up most of the tab. The federal government would be responsible for ensuring that every person, regardless of income or the state of ...

Laid off from her job in Massachusetts, Danielle Marks thought immediately about losing her health insurance. How could she afford the medication and physical therapy she needed to heal after shoulder surgery? Valerie Nash, laid off in Tennessee, thought about her diabetes. Could she stock up enough test strips and insulin before her coverage expired? The two women, both briefly uninsured, ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year, the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act. "If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on ...

WASHINGTON — Groups representing consumers, businesses, insurers, doctors, nurses and hospitals said Friday they have reached agreement on how they would like to see the nation's health care system overhauled. Calling themselves the Health Reform Dialogue, the 18 groups have been meeting for six months. Although their long-awaited report avoided most of the contentious issues, it could serve as a starting ...

WASHINGTON - Health industry officials delivered a plan to the White House Monday documenting how they'll attempt to save $2 trillion over a decade through measures like reducing hospitalizations and cutting down on paperwork. They identified three big areas for savings: $150 billion to $180 billion from more efficient use of health care services, $350 billion to $850 billion from better ...

Chelsea Savage, chairperson of the Legislative Coalition of Virginia Nurses, wasn't looking forward to this year's General Assembly session. "I was very somber," she said. "We were looking at all the cuts for Medicaid and worried that people would not be able to get the care they needed." By the time the legislative session ended, her mood had changed. "We were ...

WASHINGTON – Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's choice to head the Health and Human Services Department, said Tuesday that if confirmed, "health reform would be my mission." Testifying before a Senate panel, Sebelius pledged herself to Obama's goal of overhauling the health system to bring down costs and shrink the ranks of 48 million uninsured Americans. Although consumers, insurers, ...

WASHINGTON - Democrats are seeking a compromise on a bigger government role in insurance coverage as part of President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul. At issue is whether middle-class workers and families should have the option of a government-sponsored plan that would compete with private insurers. Obama and other Democrats support the idea, which Republicans adamantly oppose. Sen. Charles Schumer, ...