News

What do we need health insurers for anyway?

Angela Braly can't kid me. When the chief executive of gargantuan health insurer WellPoint (parent of Blue Cross of California) went before a congressional subcommittee the other day, she displayed all the smile-through-the-tears pluck of Annie looking to a sunny tomorrow or Scarlett swearing to God she'll never be hungry again.

Los Angeles TImes

November 22, 2010

Deaths Rising for Lack of Insurance, Study Finds

As members of the Obama administration and Congress met on Thursday to try to find common ground on health care, a new report warned that without comprehensive legislation, more than 275,000 adults nationwide will die over the next decade because of a lack of health insurance. Nearly 14,000 of those deaths would occur in New York State.

New York Times

November 22, 2010

Nurses rally for safer staffing

Before Gwen Collins headed to Tallahassee this week to ask lawmakers to limit the number of patients each hospital nurse cares for, she asked her fellow RNs at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa if they had a message to convey about their workloads. Their response: "Tell them this is madness." "Nurses want to see safety for patients and sanity for themselves," said Collins, a registered nurse who has heard similar sentiments from burned-out nurses at hospitals throughout the country. "They want to make sure mistakes are not made."

St. Petersburg Times

November 22, 2010

Nurses: We're overworked and spread too thin

Nurses say they're overworked and spread too thin and it's affecting your safety. They teamed up with lawmakers Tuesday night in Kalamazoo to rally support. They're laying out the basics of new legislation that would regulate patient care across the state. House Bill 40-08 does two things. It creates a minimum nurse to patient ratio in hospitals and it also bans mandatory overtime.

WWMT (CBS)

November 22, 2010

Nurses Rally For Fla. Patient Protection Bill

Florida nurses are calling for legislation to set minimum hospital staffing ratios and give them whistle-blower protection. Dozens of registered nurses marched and held a rally Wednesday near the Florida Capitol to support the introduction of what they call a a patient protection bill.

Associated Press

November 22, 2010

Nurses, Doctors Head For Haiti

A month after an earthquake devastated Haiti, teams of nurses and doctors are continue to travel to the Caribbean nation to help. A group of nurses from as far away as California, Michigan and Minnesota arrived in Jacksonville Sunday night to await transportation to the U.S. Navy medical ship, the USNS Comfort, currently stationed off Haitian coast.

News 4 JAX

November 22, 2010

Calif. insurer's rate increases draw attention of federal government

President Obama's secretary of health and human services fired off a sharply worded letter to a California insurer Monday, demanding to know why it is raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent. The unusual salvo offers a reminder that, even as health-care legislation lies in limbo in Washington, the battle over surging health care costs continues in other venues.

Washington Post

November 22, 2010

When healthcare coverage is insurance in name only

The L'Esperances are your typical American family. They work hard. They try to get ahead. They don't ask anyone for help. And they pray they don't get sick. Mom and Dad -- a.k.a. Laguna Beach residents Jan and Paul L'Esperance -- sell kitchenware on behalf of various manufacturers. They've just been informed by Anthem Blue Cross that premiums for their health insurance will rise 18% to $985 a month.

Los Angeles TImes

November 22, 2010

Former eBay CEO rewrites campaign spending book

Chartered jets that offer "white glove service," fancy fundraisers in Beverly Hills and beyond, and enough high-priced political consultants to fill an auditorium. Those are a few of billionaire Meg Whitman's favorite things as she carries out her remarkably lavish campaign for California governor.

Associated Press

November 22, 2010

Federal Government Indicts Sutter/CPMC to Block Illegal Health Plan Imposed On San Francisco RNs

Sutter Health's California Pacific Medical Center (Sutter/CPMC) is facing an upcoming trial over the unilateral imposition on January 1, 2010 of an unlawful health plan on registered nurses and other workers.

Press Release

November 22, 2010