Calpers Bets $1 Billion Bush Aide Can Exploit Health Adjustments
Calpers is the sole investor in Health Evolution Partners, a two-year-old private-equity firm in San Francisco run by David Brailer, a first-time money manager and former aide to President George W. Bush. Brailer, 50, coordinated Bushs planning for an electronic health-records network; Calpers is counting on him to earn its members 20 to 30 percent returns.
So far, Brailer has invested more than $120 million in 30 companies, and said he plans to spend $150 million to $200 million a year beginning in 2010. One company aims [...]
Hospital Bonds Approach $2.4 Billion This Week In Muni Market
Catholic Health Initiatives, the second-largest Catholic health-care system after Ascension Health, today is offering $1.16 billion in bonds to replace variable- and auction-rate debt, reimburse itself for previous capital spending and cover new projects. State agencies in Colorado and Kentucky and Ohios Montgomery County will issue the bonds and banks led by Morgan Stanley are marketing them.
Easing the way for hospital borrowers are a drop this year in fixed-rate borrowing costs and lower penalties for canceling derivatives contracts linked to types of adjustable-rate debt popular before [...]
Obama Says Insurers Using Smoke And Mirrors In Health Debate
In his weekly address on the radio and Internet, Obama criticized a report released by the trade group Americas Health Insurance Plans earlier this week that warned a Senate proposal would more than double insurance premium costs.
“Like clockwork, weve seen folks on cable television who know better, waving these industry-funded studies in the air,” Obama said. “Its smoke and mirrors. Its bogus.”
Two days after the release of the health insurance study, the [...]
More Mri Scanners Lead to Excess Back Surgeries, Research Finds
Those in regions with the highest concentration of MRI scanners were about 20 percent more likely to have back surgery than those who lived in an area with the lowest concentration, research online today in the journal Health Affairs showed. Back surgery isnt proven or recommended to help patients with nonspecific low back pain, the study authors said.
The number of MRI machines tripled in the U.S. to 26.6 machines per 1 million people in 2005 from 7.6 machines per million people in 2000, according to the [...]
Democrats Move to Assure Doctors, Unions On Health-care Strategy
Senators said they plan to ease a proposed tax on high-end insurance plans after unions protested that it would hurt too many workers. Lawmakers may also shield doctors from the threat of cuts in payments from the Medicare program for the elderly.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are both working to combine different versions of legislation designed to curb medical costs and increase insurance coverage. The criticism from unions, the Democrats biggest financial backers, has them worried.
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Studies: Some Nursing Home Elderly Get Futile Care
One found that putting nursing home residents with failing kidneys on dialysis didnt improve their quality of life and may even push them into further decline. The other showed many with advanced dementia will die within six months and perhaps should have hospice care instead of aggressive treatment.
Medical experts say the new research emphasizes the need for doctors, caregivers and families to consider making the feeble elderly who are near death comfortable rather than treating them as if a cure were possible - more like the palliative care given to terminally ill cancer patients.
“We probably need to be offering a [...]
Community Clinics Have Key Role In Health Reform
As the recession grinds on, more and more people are relying on taxpayer-supported health centers that offer care on a sliding fee scale. If Congress passes a law giving more Americans access to health insurance, the clinics will also be a critical element to ramping up capacity to care for millions of new patients.
“There is going to be a wave of chronically ill people,” said Tanir Ami, executive director of the Community Clinic Consortium for Contra Costa and Solano counties, east of San Francisco. “Were well positioned to care for them.”
This year, federally qualified clinics are on track to handle [...]
ealth On verhaul Panel
The Montana Democrats committee is set to vote today on a plan to curb rising medical costs and cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans at a cost of $829 billion over 10 years. A health-insurance industry study, released two days ago, found the plan would more than double premium costs.
Doctors, medical-device makers and one of two hospital groups still voiced support for overhaul efforts after the trade group Americas Health Insurance Plans released its study Oct. 11. Health-care accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy, [...]
Report: Limiting Medical Lawsuits Might Save $41b
The latest analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that government health care programs could save $41 billion over ten years if nationwide limits on jury awards for pain and suffering and other similar curbs were enacted. Those savings are nearly ten times greater than CBO estimated just last year.
“Recent research has provided additional evidence that lowering the cost of medical malpractice tends to reduce the use of health care services,” CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf wrote lawmakers, explaining the agencys shift. Previously, CBO had ruled that any savings would be limited to lower malpractice insurance premiums for doctors, saying [...]
House Moves Closer to Combined Health Measure With Tax Adjustments
The lawmakers yesterday scaled back a proposed surtax on the wealthiest Americans, said Representative Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat. At the same time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said shes considering a levy on health insurers profits.
The bill is likely to require all individuals to get insurance, oblige employers to provide coverage or pay a penalty, and restrict insurance companies ability to reject applicants. Underscoring divisions among Democrats, the current draft also includes three different versions of a government- run program that would compete with private insurers. [...]