The healthy Washington initiative: blue-ribbon process, red-herring result.
"Quality, affordable health care is a right, not a privilege, and the Healthy Washington Initiative will make changes that bring us another step closer to serving all Washingtonians." (1) INTRODUCTION In 2006, empowered by the perceived public support for change in the state, (2) the...

Universal health care in Massachusetts: setting the standard for national reform.
I. INTRODUCTION Health care reform in the United States has proven to be one of the most complex challenges facing lawmakers and private citizens today. Although there is widespread agreement that the system is in disarray and in dire need of fundamental reform, the core problems of...

Hospital cuts jobs after $2.4M loss; Day Kimball: `Immediate action' needed.
Byline: Brian Lee PUTNAM - Day Kimball Hospital, citing a quarterly operating loss of $2.4 million, laid off 5.5 administrative positions this month and reduced the hours of a pastoral care administrator, officials said yesterday. Robert E. Smanik, president and chief executive officer, said two...

California family physicians prep for reform.
SACRAMENTO -- California's family doctors are not waiting for health care reform to come to them. For the first time, the California Academy of Family Physicians split its Congress of Delegates meeting from its scientific assembly in order to bring the delegates here to the state capital....

ACP calls for law against genetic discrimination.
Federal protections against genetic discrimination by insurers and employers are needed to fill in the gaps left by state legislation, according to a policy paper released by the American College of Physicians. Only 25% of Americans trust their health insurer to not misuse their genetic information, and...

The financial burden of overweight and obesity among elderly Americans: the dynamics of weight, longevity, and health care cost.
Approximately 35 percent of U.S. adults are overweight, and an additional 30 percent are obese (Flegal et al. 2002, 2004; Hedley et al. 2004). The increase in rates of overweight and obesity represents a major change in the biological and behavioral characteristics of the U.S. population, and has become...

Expanding public health insurance to parents: effects on children's coverage under Medicaid.
********** Over the past several years there as been increasing policy interest in expanding eligibility for public health insurance coverage to parents. Recent changes in federal policy have provided greater access to federal matching dollars to states that want to expand coverage to parents under Medicaid and...

The impacts of the State Children's Health Insurance Program on children who enroll: findings from ten states.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was created in 1997 primarily to expand insurance coverage to more low-income children. States had latitude over numerous aspects of their program design and ultimately all states expanded eligibility for public coverage under the new program (Kenney and Chang 2004). One of...

States take the initiative to expand health coverage to the uninsured.
SAN DIEGO -- The pressure is building to expand health insurance coverage, and right now the states are taking the lead, Jack Ginsburg said at the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians. The issue of covering the uninsured is likely to heat up during the...

Taxing health benefits.
Proposals to cap the tax deductions employers and employees can take regarding health insurance could spell the end of employer-based health benefits, according to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Currently, employers are allowed to deduct the cost of the health insurance coverage they provide to...