Today, the Obama Administration released its comprehensive action plan to address the national prescription drug abuse epidemic. The Administration’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan, entitled, “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis,” provides a national framework for reducing prescription drug diversion and abuse by supporting the expansion of state-based prescription drug monitoring programs; recommending secure, more convenient, and environmentally responsible disposal methods to remove expired, unused, or unneeded medications from the home; supporting education for patients and healthcare providers; and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts. For more information, click here.
White House Unveils Plan to Address Prescription Drug EpidemicApril 21st, 2011Federal Budget Impasse for Current Fiscal YearApril 7th, 2011At a White House Press Conference yesterday, President Obama flatly dismissed a short-term Republican plan to keep the federal government operating past Friday as Speaker Boehner sought deeper spending cuts. House Republicans and Senate Democrats have not been able to reach an agreement in their negotiations. Speaker Boehner has suggested that $40 billion in cuts could be palatable to House Republicans, an amount $7 billion larger than the target number that Democratic lawmakers and the White House had believed was the goal of the negotiations. The possibility of a government shutdown starting Saturday seems more and more likely. Arizona Medicaid Plan Given Green Light for Cutting RollsFebruary 17th, 2011The Obama administration gave a green light on Tuesday to Arizona’s plan to remove about 250,000 childless adults from its Medicaid rolls, instructing the state that it could circumvent a requirement in the new health care law that prohibits reductions in eligibility. The federal Health & Human Services Administration wrote that Arizona’s expansion of Medicaid to cover low-income childless adults had been enacted a decade ago with special permission from the federal government through a waiver. Thus, the federal government viewed the waiver as a demonstration, and the federal health care reform law does not require a state to renew a demonstration beyond its expiration. Five other states currently cover childless adults on waivers that expire on a rolling basis over the next three years. White House Continues Health Care Reform PushMarch 11th, 2010The push for the enactment of health care reform legislation continues this week, with President Obama making appeals to certain House Democrats, as well as general appeals to the public. The two-step approach now being pursued calls for the House to approve a Senate-passed bill from last year, despite several House Democrats opposition to some of its provisions. Both houses then would follow by approving a companion measure to make changes in that first bill. President Releases Health Reform ProposalFebruary 25th, 2010President Obama has issued his health reform proposal in advance of a February 25th health reform summit. The proposal is said to have merged some concepts from the previous House and Senate bills. The proposal also includes a provision giving the federal government some oversight regarding insurance industry premium rate increases. To view the President’s proposal, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting/proposal. The summit will begin at 10:00 a.m. today and will be streamed live at WhiteHouse.gov/live. DEMOCRATS MEETING WITH PRESIDENT ON HEALTHCARE BILLJanuary 14th, 2010President Obama and Democratic leaders met today to begin working on a final healthcare bill. The President met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), and other Democratic leaders to narrow the differences between the House and Senate bills. The Democratic leaders still have a few obstacles to overcome, one of them being a special election next week in Massachusetts to replace the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy. The surprisingly close race for this Senate seat could cost Democrats the 60th vote they need to pass the final bill through the Senate. Republican leaders believe that they may still be able to stop the bill because many House Democrats who supported the initial healthcare bill may not vote for the final version due to potential changes in provisions on abortion, Medicare cuts, and federal Medicaid aid to states. To read this article in its entirety, please visit: www.msnbc.msn.com/ id/34839717/ns/politics-health_care_reform/. President Signs Bill to Extrend Unemployment BenefitsNovember 12th, 2009
To read this article in its entirety, please visit: money.cnn.com/2009/11/05/news/economy/Extending_unemployment_benefits/ index.htm?postversion=2009110612. |
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Last Friday, President Obama signed a bill into law extending unemployment benefits from up to 79 weeks to up to 99 weeks. The bill was signed the same day that the national unemployment rate was announced as 10.2%, the highest in 26 years. This bill will extend unemployment benefits to people that would run out of benefits by the end of this year, according to Senate estimates, nearly two million people.