Today鈥檚 early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a variety of stories that reflect how health policy issues are playing on the campaign trail.
: Puzzling Over What To Call State Insurance Exchanges
Health-insurance exchanges are a central part of the Obama administration鈥檚 health overhaul, serving as marketplaces for people to shop for coverage. But states trying to set them up are finding many people don鈥檛 know what an exchange is and don鈥檛 necessarily like the sound of it. 鈥� The word exchange 鈥渞aises some suspicions of loopholes and fine print鈥� and 鈥渋mplies current coverage may needed to be traded for something else,鈥� wrote communications company GMMB in a presentation to the Washington State Health Benefit Exchange. Part of the problem, GMMB said, was that the word was 鈥減erceived as a verb and unfamiliar as a noun鈥� and reminded people of the New York Stock Exchange or military exchange stores (Radnofsky, 8/7).
: Papa John鈥檚: 鈥極bamacare鈥� Will Raise Pizza Prices
Pizza chain Papa John鈥檚 told shareholders that President Obama鈥檚 health care law will cost consumers more on their pizza. On a conference call last week, CEO and founder John Schnatter (a Mitt Romney supporter and fundraiser) said the health care law鈥檚 changes 鈥� set to go into effect in 2014 鈥� will result in higher costs for the company 鈥� which they vowed to pass onto consumers (Tau, 8/7).
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: Washington Sounds The Sequester Alarm: How Much Would Be Cut And When
Q: What programs would be spared? A: Social Security, Medicaid, supplemental security income, refundable tax credits, the children鈥檚 health insurance program, the food stamp program and veterans鈥� benefits. The White House said last week that President Barack Obama would exempt military personnel from the cuts. Q: What about Medicare? A: The government-run health care program for seniors would face a 2 percent cut in Medicare payments to providers and insurance plans. That works out to a reduction of $11 billion next year (8/8).
: Obama And Romney Make Play For Female Voters, Working-Class Americans In Campaign Pitches
Romney鈥檚 team thrust welfare into the campaign with an ad claiming that Obama planned to dole out taxpayer dollars to anyone, even those not trying to find work. For his part, Obama was set to appear Wednesday with Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University student who became a flashpoint for women鈥檚 health and, by proxy, abortion rights (8/8).
: Contraception Policy Advocate To Introduce Obama
President Barack Obama will draw fresh attention to his administration鈥檚 decision to require most employers to offer free contraceptive coverage, when he鈥檚 introduced in Denver Wednesday by Sandra Fluke, the young woman who came to prominence for supporting that policy (Meckler, 8/7).
: Paul Ryan Veep Prospects Split GOP
As Mitt Romney鈥檚 vice presidential selection nears and buzz about Rep. Paul Ryan鈥檚 prospects builds, a split is emerging among Republicans about whether the choice of the House Budget chairman and architect of the party鈥檚 controversial tax and spending plan would be a daring plus for the ticket or a miscalculation that would turn a close election into a referendum on Medicare (Martin, Sherman and Haberman, 8/8).
: Romney鈥檚 Potential Running Mate: Paul Ryan
By naming Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney would be gambling that he can buttress the Republican ticket鈥檚 standing on the economy while suffering no harm from the Wisconsin congressman鈥檚 controversial plan to curb spending on such popular programs as Medicare (Finnegan, 8/7).
: One Man鈥檚 Anti-Romney Story, In Part
In an inflammatory new television spot, the pro-Obama 鈥渟uper PAC鈥� Priorities USA Action attempts to link the closing of a Bain Capital-owned steel mill to the death of a wife of one of the former steelworkers, who lost his health insurance when he was laid off. 鈥� Meanwhile, CNN reported Tuesday that after Joe Soptic lost his job at the steel mill, his wife continued to have her own health insurance for a few years through her job at a local thrift store (Gold, 8/7).
: Cardinal Suing Obama Invites Him, Romney To Dinner
The Archdiocese of New York is among more than 40 Catholic organizations, charities and schools that are suing over Obama鈥檚 mandate that employers provide health insurance that covers birth control. Evangelical, Jewish and other religious leaders have joined U.S. bishops in pressing for a broader religious exemption, including for faith-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service groups. As the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Dolan has said the White House policy is 鈥渟trangling鈥� the church. Obama has offered an accommodation, but Catholic leaders and others have said the changes don鈥檛 go far enough. The Smith dinner, in its 67th year, is a white-tie event at the Waldorf-Astoria that is customarily attended by presidents and candidates in an election year (8/7).
: GOP Conservatives Score Big In Kansas Primaries, Ousting Moderate State Senate Incumbents
Some GOP voters transferred their ongoing frustration with Democratic President Barack Obama and the federal health care law he championed to moderate GOP state senators. Some wanted the Senate to be more conservative and more in line with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and the state House鈥檚 right-leaning majority (8/8).
: CVS Caremark鈥檚 2nd-Quarter Profit Climbs 18 Percent; Outlook Rises For Drugstore Chain, PBM
CVS Caremark Corp.鈥檚 second-quarter net income jumped 18.4 percent, as its drugstores took business from rival Walgreen and an expansion of its pharmacy benefits management segment pushed revenue higher (8/7).
: WellPoint Mostly Alone In Amerigroup Hunt
Ever since WellPoint announced plans to buy Medicaid insurer Amerigroup for $4.46 billion last month, analysts have wondered whether other big managed-care firms were also bidders (Kamp, 8/7).
: Corporate Fraud Cases Often Spare Individuals
Pharmaceutical companies, military contractors, banks and other corporations are on track to pay as much as $8 billion this year to resolve charges of defrauding the government, analysts say 鈥� a record sum and more than twice the amount assessed last year by the Justice Department (Schmidt and Wyatt, 8/7).