Our First Lady has made it a goal of hers while in office to make major headway in children’s obesity. The Food and Drug Administration will start to make sure food companies create customer friendly labels along with beverage companies adding calorie information on the front of their products. The American Academy of Pediatrics asked doctors to begin watching over their younger patient’s body mass index.
The Washington Post reports that $10 billion will be spent over the next 10 years giving schools more money for healthier food, this is being encouraged by the Obama Administration.
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According to the Los Angeles Times, on Thursday the parent of Anthem Blue Cross attempted to justify large premium increases for individual policies, however, “critics – including the Obama administration – voiced skepticism.” The Los Angeles Times reports, “In a letter to the administration, health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis said that increases of as much as 39%, set to take effect March 1, reflect soaring medical costs and an exodus of healthy consumers from its ranks.”
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President Obama revealed on Sunday that he plans to assemble a public meeting at the end of the month with Republican and Democratic leaders to reach a bipartisan consensus on healthcare reform. Obama wants to hear Republican’s input in regards to healthcare reform, however, he does not want to completely start over, only take the best ideas and move forward. Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman from The Washington Post say, “The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy.”
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Michael Milchovich from The Baltimore Sun says, “With all the talk from members of Congress about the federal budget deficit, I would think they would be just as concerned about the budget deficits of middle class families across the country.” Milchovich says the growing costs of healthcare are very much responsible for millions of American families being in debt, and also has led to many of those families being bankrupt. Milchovich says, “No one in a nation as wealthy and powerful as ours should be punished for getting sick.”
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A healthcare poll revealed that 63% of Americans want Congress to keep working on passing a comprehensive health care reform bill. The survey took place Thursday through Monday and involved more than 1,000 voters.
The key question was, “Do you think lawmakers in Washington should keep trying to pass a comprehensive health care reform plan, or should they give up on comprehensive health care reform?” Joel Connelly from Seattle PI states, “Sixty-three percent said “Keep Trying” while 34 percent opted for “Give Up.” By an 88 percent-to-8 percent margin, Democrats opted for trying. So did Independents, by a 56 percent-to-39 percent division. By contrast, by a 55 percent-to-42 percent margin, Republicans opted for the give-up option.”
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Sunday before the Superbowl in an interview with Katie Couric, President Obama revealed that on Feb. 25 he will assemble a public meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders to reach a bipartisan consensus on the healthcare reform bill. PriceDoc COO Patrick Bradley, Ph.D., says, “I like it because one, we will get input from both sides….and, the public gets to hear it. You would think for 1/6 of the nation’s economy, you would let the public hear the debate. Now, we may get reform that help American consumers and lowers cost.”
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Anthem Blue Cross, California’s largest for-profit insurer, was asked by California insurance regulators to postpone problematic rate increases for individual policies. These rate increases, some as much as 39%, have “triggered widespread criticism from subscribers and brokers — and now from the federal government,” reports Duke Helfand from the Los Angeles Times. The Obama administration requested that Anthem justify these rate increases, and according to Helfand, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “voiced serious concern [in a letter to Anthem's president] over the higher premiums, which go into effect March 1 for many of the insurer’s estimated 800,000 individual policyholders.”
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I am not sure how many of the public noticed a provision in the proposed health reform legislation that would have placed a federal tax on cosmetic procedures. The provision was known as the Bo-TAX and it aroused a unified response from the medical community in general and organized medicine in particular. This proposed tax was a clear example of how out of touch the Congress is with the needs of the public. This always happens in government when those who govern make a career of governing rather than serving the electorate.
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Andrew Rubin from The Huffington Post says he is upset about healthcare reform failing, but is most upset that many Americans are unaware of what has actually happened. He says, “Sure, they know the Senate and House reform bills were expensive. They certainly know that there are among 30 to 50 million Americans without health insurance coverage… We should also not forget about the 25 million under insured, most of whom do not even realize it until they actually get sick.”
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The Washington Post reports that, “Last year, Obama used his budget to lay the groundwork for comprehensive health-care reform, proposing a 10-year $634 billion reserve fund as a “down payment” on universal coverage. This year’s blueprint does not include that money,” but administration sources say the new budget presumes a healthcare bill will be passed and lead to a $150 billion deficit reduction over the next 10 years.
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President Obama is still determined to pass a major health care legislation, and on Monday the White House released the $3.8 trillion budget which “includes $150 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years on the presumption that a health care bill will be adopted,” says David M. Herszenhorn from The New York Times.
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