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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they hope to bring a health-care reform bill to the floor next week, but meeting President Barack Obama’s end-of-the-year deadline will be difficult, Reuters reported.
“Our goal is to make sure it is out of the Senate this year,” Sen. Dick Durbin said, according to Reuters. If that happens, reconciling the House and Senate versions of the bill would take place in January. Each chamber would then have to pass the merged legislation before the president could sign it into law, Reuters said.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
That assessment from Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, came as former President Bill Clinton met with Senate Democrats to discuss the bill, CNN reported.
“Whatever their differences are, I just urged them to resolve their differences and pass a bill,” Clinton said, according to CNN. “I also believe, you know, people hired us to come to work in places like this to solve problems and stand up and do it.”
Senate Democrats need 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is “searching for an approach” to reach that goal, Reuters said. But it’s not easy.
Some Democrats are opposed to Reid’s push for a government-run public insurance program. Others are upset about the fact that, in its vote Saturday, the House adopted “a provision tightening restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortion,” Reuters reported.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
More stories worth a read:
- Cleveland Clinic CEO: Wellness, efficiency key to reducing health care costs (Crain’s Cleveland Business)
- Med schools offer doses of new reality (Washington Post)
- Medical Mutual to drop Premier from network (Dayton Daily News)
- Charla Nash, chimpanzee attack victim, much improved, walking and may soon be discharged from Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- New software helps translate your complex medical bills into simple language (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Doctors concerned about obesity irked by physician group’s grant from Coca-Cola (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Hospital mergers are a major health cost driver (BNET)
- St. Jude Medical leaves trade group AdvaMed over tax proposal (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)
- HeartWare releases clinical trial data (MassDevice)
- Kaiser receives $54 million in EMR research grants (American Medical News)
