Today鈥檚 early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the start of a Medicare pay-for-performance effort as well as the latest from the campaign trail.
: Why It Matters: Issues At Stake In Election
America鈥檚 health care system is unsustainable. It鈥檚 not one problem, but three: cost, quality and coverage.
The U.S. has world-class hospitals and doctors. But it spends far more than other advanced countries and people aren鈥檛 much healthier. And in an aging society, there鈥檚 no reliable system for long-term care (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/29).
: Why It Matters: Fight Over Birth Control And Abortion Rages On National And State Levels
The issue: Whether women have access to abortion services and birth control is a longstanding and divisive issue in politics, and it has flared up from time to time in this campaign despite the candidates鈥� reticence to dwell on such hot-button topics (10/1).
For more headlines 鈥�
: Big 鈥楻omneycare鈥� Secret: It Didn鈥檛 Rein In Costs
It鈥檚 one of the greatest stories never told. An ambitious Republican governor passes a revolutionary health reform plan that promises health insurance coverage for everyone but fails to reduce health costs or the growing reliance on the state鈥檚 overburdened hospitals 鈥� and depends heavily on the financial support of the federal government (Haberkorn and Cheney, 9/30).
: Some Debate Questions For Obama And Romney To Lob At Each Other
All too often, neither (President Barack Obama nor GOP nominee Mitt Romney) has been directly challenged about his misleading statements. So here are some questions we would like to see. 鈥� Obama to Romney: You keep saying that health-insurance premiums have gone up by $2,500, as if 鈥淥bamacare鈥� had anything to do with it. You know that most provisions of that law have not gone into effect yet, so experts say only a small portion of the increase is due to the law. 鈥� Romney to Obama: You keep claiming that health-care premiums will go down for people in the individual and small-group markets. But isn鈥檛 it correct that, because of a variety of provisions in the law, premiums are going to go up for young Americans and healthier individuals? (Kessler, 9/30).
: Filmmakers Turn Cameras On America鈥檚 Ailing Healthcare System
Healthcare reform is the focus of three new documentaries that explore the explosive issue through different lenses. 鈥淒octored,鈥� which opened Thursday, focuses on the benefits of seeing chiropractors, while examining a wide range of medical, political and insurance topics. 鈥淭he Waiting Room,鈥� which arrived Friday, provides an unflinching look at the uninsured trying to get healthcare at a big city hospital. 鈥淓scape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare,鈥� opening Oct. 5 in theaters and on video on demand, looks at ways to help cure the ailing system, including greater use of alternative healing (King, 9/30).
: Stalwart Missouri Conservatives Stick With Todd Akin For Senate
This land of Harry Truman has an increasingly Republican tilt. 鈥� the race remains a challenge for (Democratic Sen. Claire) McCaskill, whose unfavorable ratings could still pose political problems. McCaskill was an early supporter of Obama鈥檚 first campaign for president, but the nation鈥檚 new healthcare law, his top domestic achievement, was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a statewide referendum. (GOP challenger Todd) Akin is running a TV ad showing McCaskill in Obama鈥檚 embrace (Mascaro, 9/30).
: Hospitals In DC, Va. To Lose Millions From Medicare
Hospitals in the District and Northern Virginia will lose millions of dollars in Medicare funding over the next year because too many of their patients were re卢admitted to a hospital within weeks of being released, according to Medicare data and interviews with hospital officials (Sun, 9/30).
: 2,200 Hospitals Face Medicare Penalties Averaging $125K For Patients Returning With Problems
If you or an elderly relative have been hospitalized recently and noticed extra attention when the time came to be discharged, there鈥檚 more to it than good customer service (10/1).
: Reform Law Seeks Savings In Hospital Operations
Two major but little discussed programs in the 2010 health care law take effect Monday, part of the law鈥檚 efforts to deliver better medical care in addition to more insurance. Both programs are part of an effort to leverage the financial might of Medicare to reward hospitals for providing more efficient and higher quality care and penalize those that don鈥檛 (Norman, 10/1).
: After Decades In Institutions, A Bumpy Journey To A New Life
Once viewed as outcasts to be shunned and isolated in institutions, hundreds of Georgia鈥檚 most disabled citizens are taking their first tentative steps back into society. Their fledgling journeys, marked by uncertainty, jubilation and some setbacks, are unfolding as officials embark on an ambitious plan to profoundly reshape the lives of the cognitively and physically impaired. It is a new strategy for Georgia, one of several states responding to mounting pressure from the Justice Department, which in recent years has threatened legal action against states accused of violating the civil rights of thousands of developmentally disabled people by needlessly segregating them in public hospitals, nursing homes and day programs (Swarns, 9/29).
: California Is First State to Ban Gay 鈥楥ure鈥� For Minors
California has become the first state to ban the use for minors of disputed therapies to 鈥渙vercome鈥� homosexuality, a step hailed by gay rights groups across the country that say the therapies have caused dangerous emotional harm to gay and lesbian teenagers (Eckholm, 9/30).
: Pittsburgh Health Merger Collapses
Pittsburgh鈥檚 West Penn Allegheny Health System broke off its agreement to be acquired by Highmark Inc., saying the insurer had breached the deal鈥檚 terms and was demanding the hospital operator file for bankruptcy. Highmark, for its part, said it 鈥渃ategorically denies鈥� that it violated the terms of the deal and 鈥渃ontinues to believe that an affiliation鈥� is in the best interest of both companies and the community (Mathews, 9/28).