Health Care to Dominate Lawmakers' Summer Recess After Quick Deal Eludes Congress

And just like that, the fast track is gone, and the push for health care reform has stepped off the bullet train.

In three days, it will be August and the start of the House's summer recess, and congressional leaders have conceded they will not approve health care reform legislation by then. President Obama says that's "OK." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it'll get done "whenever."


That's a big change from just two weeks ago, when it seemed the legislation was on autopilot, cruising through votes in three committees while the president and his allies predicted swift passage on the floor despite GOP opposition.

And although some members of a coalition of conservative Democrats announced a breakthrough in negotiations Wednesday, a final deal on the legislation could be a long way off, meaning August could stand as a key month before the potentially dramatic finale in the fall.

"I'm not afraid of August. It's a month," Pelosi said recently.

But August -- the Senate recess begins a week after the House breaks -- will be the first big gap in public debate since health care reform hit the fever pitch. To fill the gap, lawmakers and the president will keep pressing their case while on break.

Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle plan a flurry of in-person town hall meetings in their districts.

Democratic leadership aides told FOX News that their members will be hosting events across the country, while Republicans apparently are trying to match that.

Already, Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Barrasso of Wyoming, both doctors, are hosting an educational program called "The Senate Doctors Show" to give their take on health care reform. The senators are answering questions submitted by e-mail, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

The "Doctors Show" is heading on the road over recess, FOX News has learned.

Meanwhile, aides will spend the summer break toiling over how to marry the Senate Finance Committee bill with elements of a more partisan bill from the Health Committee before bringing it to the floor.

It's unclear whether the Finance Committee bill even will be done by that time, though. Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is trying to strike a bipartisan compromise that could produce a bill that looks substantially different from the versions that have passed out of committee. Despite signs of progress in the discussions, a Baucus aide sent a memo to staffers Wednesday saying "neither an accord nor an announcement is imminent."

Similar town halls meetings are planned for House members over August.

Under a deal announced Wednesday among the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, congressional leaders and the White House, the House will wait until September to bring the bill to the floor -- so that members can spend August combing through the massive bill and listening to the concerns of their constituents.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday there's a chance lawmakers could stay in session next week to work on a health care bill, but he called the chance "pretty slim."

"We're trying not to foreclose options," he said.

And out of the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that President Obama will continue to travel in August to hold town halls on health care and the economy.

The president won't be holding the kind of daily health care events he has held since last week, but Gibbs said he would be speaking out regularly on the topic during break.

With public opinion split over health care reform, the August encounters between lawmakers and their constituents could be critical, not only in keeping the American people on board with the reform push but also in shaping the course of debate once members return in September.

A Gallup poll out Wednesday showed 44 percent of Americans believe health care reform would improve U.S. medical care, while only 26 percent believe it would improve their own medical care.

The poll was conducted Friday and Saturday, based on interviews with 2,017 adults. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

FOX News' Trish Turner and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Woman in baby cut from womb case is arraigned

By HOLLY RAMER
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 30, 2009; 11:29 AM

CONCORD, N.H. -- A woman accused of cutting a baby girl from her mother's womb in Massachusetts has been arraigned on a fugitive from justice charge in New Hampshire and is being held on $2 million bail.

Thirty-five-year-old Julie Corey of Worcester, Mass., appeared in Concord District Court via video from the county jail Thursday morning, a day after she was arrested at a homeless shelter in Plymouth, N.H. She did not waive extradition to be brought back to Massachusetts. The judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 30.

Police say she was arrested after acquaintances became suspicious of her claims that she had just given birth.

The body of the girl's mother, Darlene Haynes, was found Monday in her Worcester, Mass., apartment.

The baby was in good condition Thursday at a New Hampshire hospital.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A baby girl cut from her mother's womb in Massachusetts was in good condition at a New Hampshire hospital on Thursday, officials said, and a woman arrested at a homeless shelter with the infant was to appear in court.

Thirty-five-year-old Julie Corey of Worcester, Mass., was arrested Wednesday in Plymouth, N.H., where police found her and a man with the child at the shelter. Corey was charged as a fugitive from justice and was to be arraigned Thursday morning in district court in Concord.
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The two used to live in the same apartment building as Darlene Haynes, the slain woman, a downstairs neighbor said. Agnes Brady said the couple moved out in the winter, before Haynes moved in.

A public records database also shows the two lived in the same building as Haynes in the past.

Brady said Corey was very friendly, and recalled her once baking a lasagna for all of the neighbors in the apartment building. Her son, Randy LaRose, said Corey had an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship who also lived in the apartment.

Corey was arrested after acquaintances became suspicious of her claims that she had just given birth, police have said.

U.S. to spend another $1 billion on flu vaccine

ABC News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will spend another $1 billion on ingredients for an H1N1 vaccine, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Sunday.

"There'll be another $1 billion worth of orders placed to get the bulk ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination. Congress has agreed with the president that this is the number one priority, keeping Americans safe and secure," Sebelius said on CNN.

Sebelius has said plans were on track for a mid-October vaccination program, although it was not certain Americans would be offered the vaccine for the so-called swine flu.

"We are aggressively working on, first of all, testing the virus strains to get a vaccination ready. It needs to be safe so testing and clinical trials will start this month. We'll know a lot more by the end of the summer and it needs to be effective," she said.

The World Health Organization may issue guidance as soon as Monday on whether an H1N1 swine flu vaccine will be offered alongside the seasonal flu vaccine.

Vaccine makers Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline, Solvay and AstraZeneca's MedImmune subsidiary have finished making seasonal flu vaccines for this year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has scheduled a July 23 advisory panel meeting to discuss clinical trials of the vaccines against the H1N1 influenza virus and the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice wills meet July 29.

"FDA is working with the scientists at NIH (National Institutes of Health) to make sure that we have a safe and effective strain and then we're getting ready to make sure that we have a vaccination program," Sebelius said.

Health experts estimate at least 1 million people have been infected with H1N1 in the United States, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 211 deaths. It often takes weeks or months to collect data on flu deaths.

About 36,000 people die each year from the seasonal flu in the United States alone, and 250,000 to 500,000 die globally.

(Editing by Maggie Fox)

A look at health care plans in Congress

KSFY

By The Associated Press

A look at health care legislation taking shape in the Democratic-controlled House and Senate as President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul the system, cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans and reduce costs. Many of the details are still being negotiated and any final health care bill would have to meld proposals from the House and Senate.



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HOUSE DEMOCRATS

WHO'S COVERED: Around 95 percent of Americans would be covered. Illegal immigrants would not receive coverage.

COST: Unknown.

HOW'S IT PAID FOR: Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid; $600 billion in unspecified new taxes, likely including new levies on upper-income Americans.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Individuals required to have insurance, enforced through tax penalty with hardship waivers.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS: Employers must provide insurance to their employees or pay a penalty of 8 percent of payroll. Certain small businesses are exempt.

SUBSIDIES: Individuals and families with annual income up to 400 percent of poverty level ($88,000 for a family of four) would get subsidies to help them buy coverage.

BENEFIT PACKAGE: A committee would recommend an "essential benefits package" that includes hospitalization, doctor visits, prescription drugs and other services. Out-of-pocket costs limited to $5,000 a year for individuals, $10,000 for families. Health insurance companies can offer several tiers of coverage, but all plans must include the core benefits. Insurers wouldn't be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: Plan with payment rates initially modeled on Medicare to compete with private insurers.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: Through a new National Health Insurance Exchange open to individuals and, initially, small employers; it would be expanded to large employers over time.

CHANGES TO MEDICAID: The federal-state insurance program for the poor would be expanded to cover all individuals with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,404). Currently Medicaid eligibility varies by state, but childless adults are ineligible no matter how poor, and in some states parents with incomes well under the poverty line still aren't covered.

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SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS COMMITTEE

WHO'S COVERED: Aims to cover 97 percent of Americans.

COST: About $600 million over 10 years, but it's only one piece of a larger Senate bill.

HOW'S IT PAID FOR: Another committee is responsible for the financing.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Individuals required to have insurance, enforced through tax penalty with hardship waivers.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS: Employers who don't offer coverage will pay a penalty of $750 a year per full-time worker. Businesses with 25 or fewer workers are exempted.

SUBSIDIES: Up to 400 percent poverty level.

BENEFIT PACKAGE: Health plans must offer a package of essential benefits recommended by a new Medical Advisory Council. No denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: A robust new public plan to compete with private insurers. The plan would be run by the government, but would pay doctors and hospitals based on what private insurers now pay.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: Individuals and small businesses can purchase insurance through state-based American Health Benefit Gateways.

CHANGES TO MEDICAID: Medicaid would be available to individuals with incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

___

SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE

WHO'S COVERED: Around 97 percent of Americans. Illegal immigrants would not receive coverage.

COST: Around $1 trillion over 10 years.

HOW'S IT PAID FOR: Possible sources include cuts to Medicare and Medicaid; about $300 billion in revenue from taxing employer-provided health benefits above a certain level; and about $300 billion in revenue from a requirement for employers to pay into the Treasury for employees who get their insurance through public programs.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Expected to include a requirement for individuals to get coverage.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS: In lieu of requiring employers to provide coverage, lawmakers are considering penalties based on how much the government ends up paying for workers' coverage.

SUBSIDIES: No higher than 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($66,150 for a family of four).

BENEFIT PACKAGE: The government doesn't mandate benefits but sets four benefit categories — ranging from coverage of around 65 percent of medical costs to about 90 percent — and insurers would be required to offer coverage in at least two categories. No denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: Unlike the other proposals the Finance Committee's will likely be bipartisan. With Republicans opposed to a government-run plan, the committee is looking at a compromise that would instead create nonprofit member-owned co-ops to compete with private insurers.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: State-based exchanges.

CHANGES TO MEDICAID: Everyone at 100 percent of poverty would be eligible. Between 100 and 133 percent, states or individuals have the choice between coverage under Medicaid or a 100 percent subsidy in the exchange. The expansion would be delayed until 2013, a late change to save money — the start date had been 2011.

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HOUSE REPUBLICANS

WHO'S COVERED: The House GOP's plan, in outline form for now, says it aims to make insurance affordable and accessible to all. There aren't estimates about how many additional people would be covered.

COST: Unknown.

HOW'S IT PAID FOR: No new taxes are proposed, but Republicans say they want to reduce Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: No mandates.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS: No mandates; small business tax credits are offered. Employers are encouraged to move to "opt-out" rather than "opt-in" rules for offering health coverage.

SUBSIDIES: Tax credits are offered to "low- and modest-income" Americans. People who aren't covered through their employers but buy their own insurance are allowed to take a tax deduction. Low-income retirees younger than 65 (the eligibility age for Medicare) would be offered assistance.

BENEFIT PACKAGE: Insurers would have to allow children to stay on their parents' plan through age 25.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: No public plan.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: No new purchasing exchange or marketplace is proposed. Health savings accounts and flexible spending plans would be strengthened.

CHANGES TO MEDICAID: People eligible for Medicaid would be allowed to use the value of their benefit to purchase a private plan if they prefer.

___

OBAMA CAMPAIGN PROPOSAL

WHO'S COVERED: All children and many now-uninsured adults.

COST: Estimates as high as $1.6 trillion over 10 years.

HOW'S IT PAID FOR: Obama proposed cuts within the health care system and raising taxes on households making more than $250,000 annually.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS: Unlike his Democratic primary opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama did not propose an "individual mandate." Instead he would have required all children to be insured, making it the parents' responsibility.

REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYERS: Large employers would have been required to cover their employees or contribute to the costs of a new government-run plan.

SUBSIDIES: Obama proposed giving subsidies to low-income people but didn't detail at what level.

BENEFIT PACKAGE: Insurers participating in a new health exchange would have had to offer packages at least as generous as a new public plan. All insurers would have been prohibited from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and would have had to cover children through age 25 on family plans.

GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN: A new public plan would have offered comprehensive insurance similar to that available to federal employees.

HOW YOU CHOOSE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE: Through a new National Health Insurance Exchange where individuals could buy the new public plan or qualified private plans.

CHANGES TO MEDICAID: Would have expanded Medicaid eligibility, but didn't specify income levels.

Sources: Associated Press research, Kaiser Family Foundation, Lewin Group.

Britain Rolls Out New Flu Strategy

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A CDC Image of H1N1 influenza virus

By Tom Rivers
London
Containing the H1N1 virus in Britain is no longer an option and the country is moving to a new treatment phase. Health Secretary Andy Burnham outlined the new approach, effective immediately, which includes doctors diagnosing and prescribing medication over the phone to those suspected of having contracted the virus. The disease infection rate is roughly doubling every week in Britain.


The United Kingdom is already experiencing the highest number of swine-flu cases in Europe and that number is expected to grow exponentially now that the virus is firmly entrenched.

Officially, Britain has recorded nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of H1N1, but the real total is thought to be much higher as symptoms for most are mild and they simply go undetected.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Andy Burnham acknowledged that the initial strategy of containing the virus that is believed to have first arrived in April, was no longer a viable option.

"We could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August, though I stress this is only a projection," Burnham said.

Since the virus is new, many people have no immunity, so it is spreading rapidly.

Although three people have died of the flu in Britain, most deal easily with the mild symptoms and get over it with or without anti-viral treatment in a few days.

Initially, everyone in Britain who thought they might have picked up swine flu was tested. Those individuals and those close to them were given a course of anti-viral medication.

Now that the number of cases is rising, that overriding strategy is being scrapped.

People who think they might now have the virus are being urged to call their doctor and describe their symptoms over the phone. The doctor or general practitioner can then issue a prescription voucher that a friend of the affected person can pick up.

Andy Burnham says that new approach speeds everything up.

"GPs (general practitioners) will now provide clinical diagnosis of swine flu cases rather than awaiting laboratory test results and primary care trusts will now begin to establish anti-viral collection points where necessary," Burnham said. "This new approach will also mean a move from the daily reported figures of laboratory confirmed cases from the Health Protection Agency to more general estimates of spread."

The move will remove growing pressure on the health system.

Burnham underlines that the virus is not becoming deadlier, only that it is becoming more widespread.

Although there are enough anti-viral drugs for everyone in Britain, some health experts say they should be targeted only at the most vulnerable, because an overuse of the medication could lead to a virus resistance to treatment.

2nd UPDATE: US Senate Health Proposal Carries Smaller Price Tag

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A Senate health-care proposal released Thursday would keep more people in employer-sponsored health plans and cost far less than an earlier version of the proposal that drew heavy criticism.

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--A Senate health-care proposal released Thursday would keep more people in employer-sponsored health plans and cost far less than an earlier version of the proposal that drew heavy criticism.

The new proposal, issued by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee after lengthy consultations with the Congressional Budget Office, would cost $611.4 billion over 10 years. The CBO analysis states that 21 million uninsured people would gain coverage under the proposal, but Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who is leading committee Democrats on health-care matters, said the bill combined with Senate Finance Committee legislation would result in coverage of 97% of Americans.


The new analysis comes as welcome news to Democrats on the panel, after a June 15 review showed that an earlier draft of the legislation would cost $1 trillion over the 2010-2019 period and cover only 16 million more people than currently insured. There are an estimated 46 million uninsured in the U.S.

The vast difference in dollar figures results in large part from a section in the proposal that would slap penalties on employers who don't offer employee health benefits. Under the proposal, firms with 25 or more employees that don't offer coverage would face fees of $750-per-year for full-time workers and $375-per-year for part-time workers.

The employer mandate would keep more people in their employer-based coverage, instead of forcing a migration of workers to the individual health insurance market. Such a migration would be costly, because the legislation would provide subsidies for low and middle-income workers to purchase insurance on the individual market.

The penalties assessed to employers that don't provide coverage would be part of the tax code, according to a senior Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee staffer.

The price of the bill includes neither the cost of expanding eligibility for the low-income Medicaid program nor potential cost savings from new Medicare payment proposals - both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. Overall, the cost of the bill is expected to increase when melded with the Finance panel's legislation.

Scott Fidel, a Deutsche Bank managed-care research analyst, said in an investor note that the lower price tag "will likely receive attention in the headlines," but that "it is important to recognize that the costs of health reform using the HELP Committee approach combined with an expansion of Medicaid will likely be much higher."

Still, Dodd heralded the new numbers, which he said put the committee "on the brink of doing something that is absolutely critical."

"Given the numbers of a few weeks ago, people wondered whether or not we would arrive at the numbers that would allow people to stay, literally, in their employer-based plans," Dodd told reporters Thursday.

Dodd, who is leading health-care efforts on the Senate Health panel in replace of the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he expects the new legislative proposal to be approved in committee by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week.

The Senate Finance Committee is still in negotiations on its version of the bill, which overlaps with the Kennedy-Dodd legislation in many areas. The two panels are expected to meld their bills before the full Senate takes up health-care legislation - which Democrats hope will happen in July.

President Barack Obama in a statement praised the bill, saying it "lowers costs, protects choice of doctors and plans and assures quality and affordable health care for Americans."

A summary of the public plan provided by the committee says the Health and Human Services secretary would negotiate rates for the new plan. The plan could pay doctors and hospitals rates below the average rate paid in local geographic areas, which could prompt protests from physicians' group. But the summary stressed that health care providers would not be forced to accept the public plan.

While Republicans on the Senate Health panel are unlikely to support the proposal unveiled Thursday, negotiators continue to try to hammer out a bipartisan compromise in the Senate Finance Committee.

Republicans and Democrats at the Finance panel have discussed proposals for health cooperatives that wouldn't be government-run - as the public plan in the proposal unveiled Thursday would - but there are concerns that the cooperative plan may not gain traction among liberal Democrats in the Senate.

Flu Cases Rise to Six, Including a Cambodian

The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 virus has climbed to six, with the announcement of a Cambodian and Philippine national infected with the flu.

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
he number of confirmed cases of H1N1 virus has climbed to six, with the announcement of a Cambodian and Philippine national infected with the flu.


The two cases, found Thursday, follow the discovery of the virus, sometimes called swine flu, in four visiting American students last week.

None of the infected is in danger of succumbing to the disease, which has killed as many an estimated 263 people worldwide and is now considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization, health officials said Monday.

“We are controlling the six positive [cases], including a 19-year-old Cambodian woman,” said Sok Touch, director of the Ministry of Health’s communicable disease department. “They are not in danger now. The four American students are out of the hospital, but the Filipino is still in the hospital in Siem Reap.”

Mike O’Leary, Cambodia director for the World Health Organization, said last week Cambodia had not yet reached a level of alert.