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Administration wants to slow health care challenge
WASHINGTON: The Obama administration says the Supreme Court should not permit Virginia to sidestep a federal appeals court in the state's challenge to the health care law. In court papers filed with the justices, the federal government says there is no reason to take the extremely rare step of ``short-circuiting'' review by appellate judges, which already has been accelerated. A federal judge in Virginia struck down the centerpiece of the health care law, the requirement that citizens buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014. The Obama administration urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to reverse the ruling, saying the requirement is within Congress' powers. -AP
Cost soars for Calif state retiree health benefits SACRAMENTO, Calif.: State Controller John Chiang says the unfunded cost of providing future health and dental benefits to retired state employees has grown by $8.1 billion in the past year, to nearly $60 billion. The report, based on the latest actuarial projection, comes as lawmakers in California and across the nation debate the cost of government pensions and benefits. About half the increase is because the nation's largest state pension system, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, adjusted its assumptions. CalPERS says retirees are retiring earlier, living longer and that premiums are higher than previously projected. -AP
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India Post
March 25, 2011
www.indiapost.com
Health officials monitoring for radiation OLYMPIA, Wash.: In response to nuclear plant problems in Japan, Washington state health officials are monitoring for radiation. -AP
Ryan says GOP ready to take on health programs WASHINGTON: Republicans in charge of the House are facing two unappealing options on the budget. One is to lead with their chins and offer politically toxic cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and, perhaps, Social Security. Or, they could play it safe but then endorse trilliondollar deficits that would enrage their tea party backers. Rep. Paul Ryan, the party's point man on the budget, is gearing up for a fight on the former, betting that American voters won't rebel this spring when he offers up controversial cost curbs on those popular benefit programs. Even those tough proposals wouldn't balance the budget anytime soon. But Ryan says Republicans elected to take on Washington's budget mess must keep their promises in spite of the political consequences. ``I think the country's ready for this kind of discussion even though we are going to lead with our chin and they're going to demagogue us,'' said Ryan, R-Wis. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, the chairman of the House Budget Committee said the House Republicans' budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1
Rep. Paul Ryan
Even if successful, Ryan acknowledges, the government's budget still won't balance for quite some time will propose fundamental changes to Medicare and Medicaid, the giant health care programs that cover 100 million Americans and whose combined costs rival the defense budget. Ryan offered no specifics, saying details are still being hashed out. ``What I'm going to put forward
is a serious and honest attempt to fix this country's fiscal problems,'' he said. Ryan, 41, a rising figure in the GOP, has been tasked with both schooling the 87 Republican freshmen on the brain-numbing intricacies of the budget and devising a plan to wrestle the defi-
cit under control. Both are big challenges. ``I see a willingness to embrace big things, I see a willingness to tackle the problem,'' Ryan said, describing the sentiment among Republican freshmen elected on a wave of concern about the growing scope and reach of government. ``When you walk people through just how deep this hole is ... it really does leave a lot of jaws dropping,'' he said. Even if successful, Ryan acknowledges, the government's budget still won't balance for quite some time. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, RVa., conceded that the government's budget can't be balanced this decade without cutting into current retirees' Medicare and Social Security benefits, something Republicans have said they're unwilling to do. But many tea party activists and junior lawmakers still believe the red ink can be reduced to zero with just a bit more pain, according to Ryan. ``They literally think you can just balance it, you know, (by cutting) waste, fraud and abuse, foreign aid and NPR (National Public Radio),'' Ryan said. ``And it doesn't work like that.'' Cont’d on page 37
Florida Senate panel strengthens drug monitoring TALLAHASSEE, Fla.: A Senate committee has approved a bill sought by Attorney General Pam Bondi to strengthen a prescription monitoring system that Gov. Rick Scott wants to repeal before it even begins. Bondi appeared before the Health Regulation Committee to make a personal pitch for the legislation (SB 818) that also includes harsher penalties for doctors and other ``pill mill'' operators who prescribe narcotics to drug dealers and addicts. Scott and House leaders are pushing for repeal of the drug database that has been held up by a contract dispute. -AP
Sensitive data for 2M people lost SACRAMENTO, Calif.: A health insurance company that provides coverage to 6 million people nationwide said it is missing data servers containing the health records, financial information and Social Security numbers for nearly 2 million current and past clients. Health Net Inc. said it cannot account for several hard drives from a data center in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova. The Woodland Hills-based managed care company would not disclose how many people could be affected, but the California Department of Managed
Health Care placed the number at 1.9 million. In a news release, the department said nine server drives are missing and that it is conducting its own investigation into the
across the country, would not say whether the drives were stolen. In January, the company agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a similar case with the Vermont attorney general's
UnitedHealth Group bought Health Net's assets in the Northeast in 2009 and the transition is winding down company's security practices. ``Obviously something went wrong, but we don't know,'' department spokeswoman Denise Schmidt said. Health Net, which provides coverage to 6 million people
office. That case arose after the loss of a portable, unencrypted hard drive that contained protected health information, Social Security numbers and financial information for about 1.5 million people. Health Net discovered the drive was miss-
ing on May 14, 2009, but did not start notifying affected Vermont residents until more than six months later. UnitedHealth Group bought Health Net's assets in the Northeast in 2009 and the transition is winding down, Health Net spokesman Brad Kieffer said. In the latest security breach, Health Net began analyzing its system after IBM, which manages the company's information technology, informed the company that it could not find the drives in question. They contain information for former and past clients, employees and health care providers. -AP