Archive | May, 2012

Indiana panel backs bill to ban texting while driving

Indiana would join a growing number of states that have banned texting while driving if legislation approved by a state House committee on Wednesday becomes law. The House Public Policy Committee voted unanimously for the bill by Democratic Rep. Joseph Pearson of Hartford City after several people told …

Study: Big Northwest waves get bigger

Lots has been said about warming temperatures and rising sea levels, but a new study puts the spotlight on a more imminent threat to coastal communities: extreme waves that are growing taller in some parts of the world.
Data from buoys off the Pacific Northwest coast found that since the …

SEC Votes for Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Risk

WASHINGTON—Political feuding over global warming reached the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday when commissioners, divided on party lines, voted to encourage companies to disclose the effects of climate change on their business.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, an Obama administration appointee, said the agency wasn’t weighing in on the global-warming …

Study Suggests Integrating Private Insurance With Public Health Would Improve US Health Care

The United States has an inefficient and expensive health care system, but it could be improved with a new integrated health care system detailed in a new study in the American Journal of Public Health (February 2010 Vol. 100 No. 2). According to the authors of “Integrating Public Health and Personal Care in a Reformed U.S…

Increased Co-payments For Doctor Visits Boost Health Care Costs For Seniors

For years many health experts believed that increasing insurance co-payments for routine doctor visits helped control costs. Patients faced with the higher price tag, they theorized, would simply cut back unnecessary visits, saving themselves and insurers money…

Today’s Opinions And Editorials

Democrats Must Find Their Voice On Health Care Los Angeles Times Parties prosper when they connect their passions and their principles to their policies. Remembering that could save healthcare reform – and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Forgetting it makes the majorities irrelevant, even if they manage to hang on to them (James Morone, 1/27)…

Injured Veterans’ Caregivers Face Emotional, Financial Pressures

Caregivers of severely injured veterans and their families face emotional and financial pressures and difficulty accessing military medical care. USA Today reports on the “thousands of unpaid caregivers – parents, spouses, siblings and war buddies – helping veterans injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars get through each day…

Experts Duel On Plight Of Health Reform And Merits Of Specific Provisions

NPR interviewed two leading health care experts – Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton professor, and Gail Wilensky, an economist who ran Medicare under the first President Bush – to shed light on the current plight of pending health care overhaul…

Lawmakers Voice Opinions And Search For Ways Forward On Health Overhaul

The Hill: “[Centrist] Democrats such as Sens. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Max Baucus (Mont.) have approached [Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine,] within the past week to discuss her potential support for various healthcare proposals.” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who caucuses with the Democrats, has also broached the topic with Sen…

Polls Find Americans Want Obama To Focus More On Economy, Less On Health Care

As President Barack Obama prepares to give his State of the Union address this evening, new polls show public support for congressional health bills is low, with a majority wanting more focus on the economy instead…