CMA Press Clips
Daily reports on health care policy and medicine from newspapers and magazines throughout California and around the nation.
Consumer groups want federal investigation of insurers' medical spending
Los Angeles Times - 8/13/10 - Consumer advocates urged the Obama administration Thursday to investigate what they called an effort by large for-profit insurance companies to slash spending on medical care even as they raise premiums.
Health-Care Overhaul Nitty-Gritty: The Medical-Loss Ratio and Taxes
Wall Street Journal - 8/13/10 - What counts as a "federal tax" in insurer-land? That's the latest question facing regulators charged with turning the health-care overhaul law into actual rules. As the WSJ explained last month, those regulators are now wrestling with the medical-loss ratio — what percentage of an insurer's revenue is dedicated to health-related expenses, versus administrative costs — and into which bucket various kinds of costs should fall.
Dangerous staph infection MRSA drops in U.S. hospitals
USA Today - 8/13/10 - Aggressive, drug-resistant staph infections caught in hospitals or from medical treatment are becoming scarcer, another sign of progress in a prevention effort that has become a national public health priority.
A road map to saving Medicare
Washington Post - 8/13/10 - The annual analysis of Medicare's financial health released by the program's trustees on Aug.
Inland area sees relatively few whooping cough cases
Press Enterprise - 8/13/10 - School districts have notified parents to protect their children from a statewide epidemic of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, as many students prepare to return to school this week.
Business groups amp up campaign against marijuana legalization
Los Angeles Times - 8/13/10 - The California Chamber of Commerce and other groups representing employers are starting to line up to oppose the initiative to legalize marijuana, charging that Proposition 19 would allow pot smokers to light up on the job and operate dangerous equipment while stoned.
More college students mentally ill, study shows
San Francisco Chronicle - 8/13/10 - The number of college students who are afflicted with a serious mental illness is rising, according to data presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Diego.
Adult kids' problems still affect parents' mental health
USA Today - 8/13/10 - Even after they grow up, some kids don't stop giving their parents grief. And new research presented Thursday shows that an adult child with problems has a negative impact on a parent's mental health, even if the family's other kids are successful.
