Uninsured RX

Two newspapers recently published editorials addressing Eli Lilly and Merck's announcements last week that they will publicly disclose some fees paid to physicians beginning next year. Summaries of the editorials appear below.

The House on Friday voted 264-158 to approve a $60.8 billion second economic stimulus package (HR 7110) that includes additional federal funds for Medicaid and other programs, CQ Today reports (Higa, CQ Today, 9/26). The bill would provide $14.7 billion in additional funds for state Medicaid programs.

The U.S. needs a "new New Deal: a systematic approach to the financial and economic problems of the U.S." that includes health care reform, Katrina vanden Huevel, editor of The Nation, and author Eric Schlosser write in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.Among other proposals, the U.S.

Medicare to restrict payments to hospitals for care required to treat patients harmed by preventable infections & errors

Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, announced plans for a tax-free spin-off of its clinical and medical products businesses as a separate public company that will be led by current vice chairman and med-tech industry veteran David L. Schlotterbeck.

A Boston program through which city workers can buy low-cost Canadian prescription drugs will receive its last shipment of drugs in December, after the Canadian drug supplier terminated its involvement because of a lack of participants, the Boston Globe reports.

Working families and small business owners shared their health care stories and their priorities for health care reform at a roundtable discussion in Providence, Rhode Island, hosted by America's Health Insurance Plans' (AHIP) Campaign for an American Solution. "Families and small business owners in Rhode Island and across the country are urging policymakers to make health care reform a top priority," said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday -- in the first article of a series titled "Falling Through: Casualties of the Health Insurance Crisis" -- examined how "even with health insurance, people might not be covered as fully as they think if a serious disease strikes.

CQ HealthBeat on Friday examined states' efforts to overhaul their health care systems.

Springer editor Geoffrey R. Norman is this year's winner of the Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education. He has been singled out for his highly original and innovative research in the field of medical education.