Uninsured RX

While President-elect Barack Obama has said his top priorities after taking office will be the current economic downturn and national security, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.

Officials from the Big Three automakers -- Ford, General Motors and Chrysler -- on Tuesday will submit to lawmakers their proposals to use requested federal money to ensure long-term viability of their companies, including money for upcoming payments for retirees' health care, the

Fewer U.S. residents use Web sites that rate health services when selecting insurance plans, hospitals or physicians, according to state and national studies, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. According to the Press-Enterprise, independent quality ratings organizations, such as

When the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act takes effect in January 2010, some small-business owners could face "a Hobson's Choice -- either significantly upgrade their mental health and substance abuse coverage, or drop it altogether," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/2).

U.S. residents are more likely to point to systemic issues like access and cost as urgent health problems rather than specific medical conditions, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday, the Washington Times reports.

While the Massachusetts health insurance law has led to about 440,000 newly insured state residents, the demand for primary care physicians has outpaced the supply, NPR's "All Things Considered" reports. The law, passed in 2006, requires most state residents to be covered either through a state-subsidized plan, an employer-sponsored plan or an individual policy.

While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Tuesday in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, writes that the "Health Insurance Exchange envisioned in (his health care) reform

The Boston Globe recently published an editorial and a letter to the editor addressing an ongoing investigation by a Globe Spotlight Team that found some hospitals in Massachusetts receive higher payments from insurers, even though there are no obvious differences in the quality of care that those hospitals provide -- especially for the most common procedures.

The economic downturn could hasten insolvency of the Medicare Part A trust fund by one year to three years, Richard Foster, chief actuary for CMS, said on Monday, the AP/Boston Globe reports.