Florida Hospital Agrees To Pay HHS $40,000 After Allegedly Denying Care to Uninsured Patient
March 26, 2004
St. Mary's Medical Center, the largest hospital in Palm Beach County, Fla., has agreed to pay the HHS Office of the Inspector General $40,000 to settle allegations that it refused emergency care to an uninsured patient, the AP/Miami Herald reports.

House Passes $2.41 Trillion Budget Largely Along Party Lines
March 26, 2004
The House on Thursday approved on a 215-212 vote a $2.41 trillion budget proposal for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, the Los Angeles Times reports (Curtius, Los Angeles Times, 3/26).

'Lou Dobbs Tonight' Examines Insurers' Marketing Tactics to the Uninsured
March 25, 2004
In the third segment of a series titled, "Middle Class Squeeze: Health Care in America," CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on Wednesday reported on health insurers that are "pitching individual coverage directly" to uninsured U.S. residents who are not "financially strapped."

Wall Street Journal Examines Employers' Proposal To Rate Doctors' and Hospitals'
Quality and Cost of Care
March 25, 2004
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday looked at several employers' plan to join together to develop a consumer guide ranking the quality and cost efficiency of doctors and hospitals.

Discounts for uninsured patients clear panel
March 24, 2004
Legislation approved by a House committee would force hospitals to stop inflating the cost of care for the uninsured.

Mysterious Fax Adds to Intrigue Over the Medicare Bill's Cost
March 18, 2004
Late one Friday afternoon in January, after the House of Representatives had adjourned for the week, Cybele Bjorklund, a House Democratic health policy aide, heard the buzz of the fax machine at her desk. Coming over the transom, with no hint of the sender, was a document she had been seeking for months: an estimate by Medicare's chief actuary showing the cost of prescription drug benefits for the elderly.

House Ethics Committee To Look Into Bribery Charges Related To Medicare Vote
March 18, 2004
The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct on Wednesday voted to begin a formal investigation into allegations that unnamed Republican lawmakers last November "improperly pressured" Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) to vote in favor of the Medicare legislation, Roll Call reports (Bresnahan, Roll Call, 3/18).

Rep. Oxley Presents Plan for National Insurance Regulation
March 18, 2004
At a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in New York, House Committee on Financial Services Chair Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) this week presented plans for legislation to create a council of federal and state officials to regulate the insurance industry at the national level, the New York Times reports.

AARP Faces 'Crisis' Over Decision To Endorse New Medicare Law, Columnist Writes
March 18, 2004
The decision by AARP to endorse the new Medicare law "has provoked the greatest crisis in the recent history" of the group, and recent controversies related to the legislation have made "it very hard for AARP to do the job of selling its members -- and other seniors -- on the notion that this bill will be good for them," syndicated columnist David Broder writes in the Washington Post.

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