SAMHSA's Weekly Financing News Pulse - May 18, 2009

Table of Contents

National Health Financing News

• President Obama Calls for Additional Taxes to Offset Health Reform Budgeting Error
• President Obama Announces Health Industry Groups Pledge $2 Trillion in Spending Reductions; Groups Say Obama Overstated Pledge
• Senate Finance Committee Releases Proposals for Health Care Reform Including Public Plan Options; Considers Health Reform Options
• Other Legislators Discuss Health Care Reform Options
• MedPAC Reports that Medicare’s Hospital Fund Will be Insolvent by 2017
• President Obama Appoints Thomas Frieden as CDC Director
• Secretary Sebelius Appoints HHS Office of Health Reform Staffers
• Senate HELP Committee Advances FDA Commissioner Nomination
• Senate Confirms ONDCP Director
• Lawmakers Consider Tax Credits for Employers Offering Wellness Programs
• Influenza Pandemic Funds Progress Through Congress
• AHRQ Report Finds Fewer Families Can Afford Health Insurance
• Walk-In Health Clinics Increasingly Affiliated with Hospitals and Medical Centers
• Independent Pharmacies Protest CVS Caremark’s Plan to Charge Higher Copays at Non-CVS Pharmacies
• Pfizer Creates Program to Offer Some Customers Free Prescription Drugs
• Young Adults Among the Fastest Growing Groups of Uninsured
• CMS Awards HMS Medicaid Integrity Program Contract
• Hospital Payment System Fails to Reward Readmission Reductions
• UAB Survey Finds Many Employers Believe Employees Understand the Necessity of Rising Health Insurance Costs
• WellCare Reports First Quarter Loss Due to Fraud Expenses
• Employment Status Affects Health
• HHS Will Announce Specifications for “Meaningful Use” of Health IT Under the ARRA
• KFF Releases New Resources Examining Medicaid as Health Reform Platform, Medicare Buy-In Option, and State-Level Data
• Ford to Sell Stock to Fund VEBA

Around the Hill: Hearings on Health Financing

• Senate Finance Committee: Health Care Overhaul
  10:00 a.m. May 12, 106 Dirksen
• House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies: Fiscal 2010 Appropriations: Labor, HHS, Education
  10:00 a.m. May 12, 2359 Rayburn
  2:00 p.m. May 12, 2358-C Rayburn
• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health: Medical Device Safety
  2:00 p.m. May 12, 2123 Rayburn
• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies: Fiscal 2010 Appropriations: Labor, HHS, Education
  9:45 a.m. May 13, 138 Dirksen
• House Veterans’ Affairs Committee: Innovative Technologies and Treatments for Veterans
  10:00 a.m. May 13, 334 Cannon
• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee: Primary and Specialty Health Care
  10:00 a.m. May 14, 430 Dirksen
• Senate Appropriations Committee: Fiscal 2009: War, Flu Supplemental
  2:00 p.m. May 14, 106 Dirksen
• House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia: Federal Workers’ Response to the H1N1 Outbreak
  2:00 p.m. May 14, 2154 Rayburn

Around the States: State and Local Behavioral Health Financing News

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