Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of June 21, 2010. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
Health Reform section of commonwealthfund.org.
President Obama signed a bill into law early Friday that prevents a 21 percent pay cut in Medicare physician reimbursements, bringing a conclusion—for now—to a stalemate over the level of government payments to doctors. Read more »
The White House announced publication Tuesday of a package of "Patients' Bill of Rights" regulations issued under the health care overhaul law that includes a three-year phase-out of annual limits on medical care payouts by insurers. Read more »
Connecticut on Monday became the first state in the nation to expand Medicaid enrollment to low-income adults under the new health care law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced. Read more »
Insurers, drug companies and health care policy leaders got together today to talk about comparative effectiveness research, which is ramping up under the new health care law. The consensus? The effort to find out what works in medicine is going to require a good public relations strategy as much as a scientific one. Read more »
Democrats outraged by insurance company profits designed a piece of the new health care law to force insurers to direct most premium money toward benefits. But severe birth pangs are afflicting the process of spelling out this concept in regulations. Read more »
A small number of firms dominate the market for private health plans in Medicare, says an analysis released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Read more »