Health care reform will be finalized this year

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If President Obama has his way, health care reform will be finalized this year. Key Senate and House committees are planning to mark up legislation in June, and the House is aiming to vote on the issue by August.
And while the specifics of how to fix the nation's health care system are far from final, the debate over how to pull it off will turn on a key question: How to pay for it.
The total cost of overhauling health care is estimated at over $1 trillion, and the administration has made it clear that it doesn't want the overhaul to add to the already giant federal budget deficit.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the leading legislative players on the issue, last week laid out the likely elements in any health reform package. He also identified some of the main options for how to pay for it.
A system overhaul will guarantee coverage for most of the 47 million people currently uninsured, Baucus said at a Kaiser Family Foundation forum. And there's a good chance that a government-funded public health plan option will be added to the mix of plans offered by private insurers, Baucus said.
The final legislation is also expected to lay out requirements for minimum benefits; prohibitions against denying someone coverage due to a pre-existing condition; and guarantees for affordable, quality health care, he said.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., another key player, echoed what Baucus outlined at a National Coalition on Health Care conference on Wednesday.
In terms of reimbursing doctors and hospitals, the focus for insurers is likely to shift from paying for the volume of services provided to reimbursements based on positive health our outcomes.

further details : money.cnn.com/2009/05/28/news/emy/health_reform_payfor_options/?postversion=2009052804cono

ealth care reform will be finalized this yea

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- If President Obama has his way, health care reform will be finalized this year. Key Senate and House committees are planning to mark up legislation in June, and the House is aiming to vote on the issue by August.
And while the specifics of how to fix the nation's health care system are far from final, the debate over how to pull it off will turn on a key question: How to pay for it.
The total cost of overhauling health care is estimated at over $1 trillion, and the administration has made it clear that it doesn't want the overhaul to add to the already giant federal budget deficit.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of the leading legislative players on the issue, last week laid out the likely elements in any health reform package. He also identified some of the main options for how to pay for it.
A system overhaul will guarantee coverage for most of the 47 million people currently uninsured, Baucus said at a Kaiser Family Foundation forum. And there's a good chance that a government-funded public health plan option will be added to the mix of plans offered by private insurers, Baucus said.
The final legislation is also expected to lay out requirements for minimum benefits; prohibitions against denying someone coverage due to a pre-existing condition; and guarantees for affordable, quality health care, he said.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., another key player, echoed what Baucus outlined at a National Coalition on Health Care conference on Wednesday.
In terms of reimbursing doctors and hospitals, the focus for insurers is likely to shift from paying for the volume of services provided to reimbursements based on positive health outcomes.

Nutrision heart healthy diet

Nutrisystem has some big program changes coming up and a new celebrity spokesperson. In January you should start seeing Nutrisystem Advanced Commercials and ads with Tori Spelling.
She will be the new face of the diet company. The 'Beverly Hills 90210' actress shot a new advertising campaign for the company after losing 35 pounds on their diet food plan after the birth of her son. Tori was very successful on the Nutrisystem diet program. She looks amazing and has agreed to be the next spokesperson for this very popular diet. She will start promoting Nutrisystem Advanced new diet.
Nutrisystem Nourish has been replaced by Nutrisystem Advanced and is available now! NutriSystem Advanced continues to build upon the Glycemic Advantage™ by using "good carbs" in all of its foods. Nutrisystem Advanced a heart healthy diet is the company's breakthrough weight-loss and health and wellness platform..
NutriSystem Advanced will include dozens of great tasting new meals, all of which contain one of NutriSystem's new, proprietary blends of heart-healthy ingredients. Primary among these are OmegaSol™, a patent-pending combination of heart-healthy soluble fibers and Omega-3 fatty acids that work to help promote a healthy heart while losing weight, and NutriSol™, an additional blend of soluble fibers that are naturally present in oats, fruits and whole grains and help reduce hunger and control appetite.


source : www.dietfoodprograms.com/nutrisystem/2007/12/advanced.html

MP attacks 'light' cigarettes

The government needs to force tobacco companies to wrap their products in plain packaging and stop using the term 'light', a leading MP has said.

Charlotte Atkins, a member of the Health Select Committee, said "research has found that current tobacco packaging is misleading by implying that some tobacco products are less harmful than others".

The Staffordshire Moorlands Labour MP has helped table a parliamentary motion drawing attention to a recent article adopted by the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which defines tobacco packaging and display as a means of advertising and promotion.

The parliamentary motion "believes that misleading packaging is in contravention of the EU directive on tobacco products and that research also shows that removing colours and brand imagery from packs increases the effectiveness of health warnings and supports the prohibition of retail display of tobacco products".

Ms Atkins said she wanted to the government "to introduce measures to require plain packaging of all tobacco products by regulation".

A Department of Health spokesperson confirmed to politics.co.uk that the issue of 'unbranding' cigarette boxes was under review but that no decision had yet been taken.

source:http://www.politics.co.uk/

health warnings

Has govt delayed health warnings on cigarette packs to control population?

epeated dithering by UPA government in introducing pictorial signs and health warnings on cigarette packets invited a stinging query
from the Supreme Court on Monday: "Is the government doing this to control rapidly increasing population?"

Appearing for NGO `Health for Millions', senior advocate Indira Jaising told a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi that the government had succumbed to the pressure exerted by the tobacco lobby and repeatedly postponed implementation of its decision on pictorial warnings.

She asked how the government, which has ministers who own tobacco plantations, could take a decision that was contrary to their interests? Jaising alleged that even the pictorial sign, which was to be `skull and bones' -- internationally understood to depict danger — had been diluted to `scorpion' which meant nothing for the common man. She reeled out statistics about large number of deaths caused every day due to use of tobacco in the form of cigarettes, beedis and chewing tobacco.

However, additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam said the government had taken a decision to introduce pictorial signs and health warnings on tobacco packs from May 31, 2009 and the health ministry was coordinating with other ministries for the same.

Before adjourning the case to April 30, the Bench asked Subramaniam: "Has the government diluted the pictorial sign and deferred implementation to control burgeoning population?"


source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Pictorial warnings on tobacco products from May 30

Manufacturers would display the statutory pictorial warning on their cigarette and tobacco products from May 30 onwards as the Centre on Monday promised to enforce the rule making the provision mandatory in a month’s time.

Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium gave the assurance to a bench headed by Justice B.N. Aggarwal after senior counsel Indira Jaisingh, appearing for NGO Health for Millions, alleged the Centre was dragging its feet on the issue.

Jaisingh accused the government of buckling under the pressure from the tobacco lobby. When Jaisingh complained the Centre had diluted the original warning signals on tobacco products, the bench said in a lighter vein: “This way, the government wants to control the population.”

According to Jaisingh the government had initially planned to display images of a skull and bone, besides using a caution that tobacco products even kill a baby in mother’s womb. However, using X-ray images of lungs on the label of tobacco products has diluted the warning, she claimed.

After hearing the Centre and Jaisingh the court agreed to take up latter’s application for a final disposal on April 30.



source:http://www.hindustantimes.com