We at Basic American Comfort.com would like to bring to your attention the most interesting headlines from the latest long-term care news this week.

Forum set on fixing health care ills

Officials are discussing how to spend $800 billion to reform system

By Todd Ackerman. Houston Chronicle. March 5, 2009

“On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes - government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. To that end, the forum will be a critical first step toward finding a middle ground,” explained a White House spokesperson. Approximately 120 congressional leaders, health-care providers and patients are slated to be at the summit to help decide how nearly $800 billion should be spent to reform the nation’s health care system.  

In Health Plan, Industry Sees Good Business

Lure of New Customers Creates Unexpected Support for Obama

By Dan Eggen and Ceci Connolly, Washington Post Staff Writers, Thursday, March 5, 2009

Obama’s move to garner health coverage for more Americans could prove to help drug manufacturers, not hurt them as was recently a concern. Coverage for more people would mean more American citizens would get check-ups and seek care. As a result, more drug prescriptions could be filled. To help assuage the national deficit, Obama plans to add taxes and make cuts in more places, thereby spreading less painful reductions over many instead of severely gouging just a few.

Supreme Court rejects limits on drug-injury lawsuits

Case involved Vermont musician who lost her arm to anti-nausea drug

By Amanda Gardner. HealthDay. March 4, 2009

After a Vermont musician had to have her arm amputated when a popular anti-nausea drug affected an artery and caused gangrene, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that patients can sue drug manufacturers for damages regardless of the drug’s FDA approval status. Brian Wolfman, director of the litigation group at Public Citizen in Washington, D.C said, “It’s a terrific decision, because it understands both the importance of compensation for people who are harmed by defective or mislabeled drugs and also understands that the tort system is a complement to the federal regulatory system, that it is not an obstacle to that system,”.

Nursing home arbitration act resurfaces in Senate

McKnight’s Long-Term Care and AssistedLiving. March 05, 2009

The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act was reintroduced on Wednesday by Sens. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Herb Kohl (D-WI). This act would make signing arbitration agreements voluntary instead mandatory for nursing facility residents. Facility operators worry that the loss of arbitration agreements could mean more money spent fighting lawsuits, and less for operating expenses.

CA: Assisted living demand skyrockets

By Cathy Weselby. San Jose Business Journal. March 4, 2009

The demand for assisted living real estate in California is still on the rise while almost all other areas of the real estate industry have suffered from the bad economy. It is anticipated that the supply of assisted living housing will fall short of the demand in the near future as the baby boomers age.  

WA: Program moves vets from Medicaid

By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org. March 4, 2009

By switching 4,400 veterans and their dependents to VA or U.S. Department of Defense care from Medicaid, Washington State has saved more than $16.2 million since 2003.