Helen Durkin
| Feb. 28, 2013, 5:51 p.m.
Just two words: primary prevention. They aren’t heard much in the ongoing health care debate. They haven’t caught on as political buzz words on Capitol Hill. They didn’t find their way among the utterances that grabbed our attention during the 112th Congress. But they are the very foundation on which a revitalized U.S. health care system must be built.
Joe Turk
| Feb. 28, 2013, 5:46 p.m.
More than 570,000 Americans are living with end-stage renal disease, the vast majority of whom are dependent on dialysis treatments to replace kidney function. For some of these patients, home hemodialysis is a viable treatment option that should be available.
By
Joanna Anderson
| Feb. 28, 2013, 11 a.m.
The House cleared an update of the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday, sending the measure to President Barack Obama after a protracted yearlong push to extend the law.
By
Janie Lorber
| Feb. 26, 2013, 6:54 p.m.
A labor group representing hospital workers is appealing to members of Congress and staffers to mitigate the effects of sequester cuts on Medicare hospital reimbursements.
By
Melissa Attias
| Feb. 25, 2013, 6:21 p.m.
A number of bills focused on mental-health issues have been introduced in the 113th Congress, including the following:
By
Melissa Attias
| Feb. 25, 2013, 6:21 p.m.
For Rep. Ron Barber, the discussion about gun violence and mental health that has followed December’s elementary school shooting has a deeply personal element: The Arizona Democrat was among the injured after a mentally unstable gunman opened fire on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in 2011.
By
Daniel Newhauser
| Feb. 21, 2013, 9:01 a.m.
House Republicans are poised to unveil their version of the Violence Against Women Act as early as next week, eager to put behind them an issue that has been a political hot potato over a key voting bloc.
By
Jonathan Strong
| Feb. 15, 2013, 3:56 p.m.
A pending budget proposal from House Republicans won’t be “significantly different” on Medicare despite the fact that it will balance in 10 years rather than over several decades, according to Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, vice-chairman of the House Budget Committee.
By
Jonathan Strong
| Feb. 15, 2013, 10:43 a.m.
If the tea party class of 2010 was elected to stand athwart trillion-dollar deficits, yelling “Stop!,” the 2012 class seems to think it was elected to give peace a chance.
Phil English, Byron L. Dorgan and Robert F. Bennett
| Feb. 13, 2013, 5:40 p.m.
Recent economic data indicates that government spending on health care as a share of the gross domestic product is 9 percent of the U.S. economy — up from 1 percent in 1950. The centerpiece of the health care overhaul — the state health insurance exchanges — is set to officially launch in less than nine months and is expected to increase access to health coverage for millions of people across the country and continue to boost job growth and spending in the health sector.
By
Janie Lorber
| Feb. 12, 2013, 5:50 p.m.
One of the nation’s most prominent abortion rights groups is working to remake its image in response to concern that it may be overtaken by a growing cadre of young anti-abortion activists.
By
Kate Ackley
| Feb. 12, 2013, 5:42 p.m.
Debra Barrett, who has run the Washington office of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. since 2006, has taken over the drugmaker’s global government affairs portfolio. As part of her new role, the former Senate staffer will oversee a new division tasked with developing public policy for the company.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| Feb. 11, 2013, 6:28 p.m.
The man sitting over the president’s left shoulder Tuesday night, Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, shouldn’t expect too much in the way of conciliation — beyond rhetorical flourishes — as President Barack Obama tries to lay claim in detail to an expansive second-term mandate.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Constance A. Morella
| Feb. 8, 2013, 5:34 p.m.
Twenty years ago this week, President Bill Clinton made the Family and Medical Leave Act the first bill he signed into law. It was a huge and meaningful victory — a step forward for a country undergoing massive demographic and workforce changes, made infinitely more challenging because our public policies lagged far behind.
By
Emily Ethridge
| Feb. 8, 2013, 2:56 p.m.
Marilyn Tavenner has another shot to be confirmed as leader of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but getting there will require defending the 2010 health care law to Senate Republicans.
By
Emily Ethridge
| Feb. 4, 2013, 6:14 p.m.
An expensive, high-end cigar selected from one of the best boutique manufacturers. A small grape-flavored Swisher Sweet bought in a pack at a gas station for less than $1 each. Are they the same thing?
By
John Reichard
| Feb. 4, 2013, 6:05 p.m.
Big Tobacco might be the immovable object when it comes to resisting tighter legislation and regulation, but the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids — despite its relatively small size — is doing a pretty good impression of irresistible force.
Lee Goldberg
| Feb. 4, 2013, 5:55 p.m.
The enactment of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 averted the so-called fiscal cliff, but it also repealed the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act that was intended to create a public mechanism to help people pay for long-term services and supports if they become disabled.
John Edward Porter and Kweisi Mfume
| Feb. 1, 2013, 5:11 p.m.
The fiscal-cliff deal has provided a soft landing for many taxpayers, but it failed to take onerous spending cuts for federal agencies off the table permanently. Under the deal, discretionary spending will be cut by $4 billion this year, the sequester has been delayed by two months and annual spending caps for nondefense expenditures have been reduced.
By
Melissa Attias
| Jan. 31, 2013, 11:38 a.m.
Minnesota Democrat Al Franken has been positioning himself as one of the Senate’s key voices on mental-health care, following in the legacy of his late friend and predecessor, Sen. Paul Wellstone.
