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The debate over new taxes and fees — a dominant theme in the final weeks of the legislative session — kicked off Monday, with some Democratic lawmakers calling for a new tax on health insurance plans to pay for Medi-Cal and other social services. Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) touted his proposal to impose a flat tax on managed care organizations at a news conference, arguing that it would avert a plunge in funding from Washington for state-subsidized healthcare. (Mason, 8/17)

A meeting scheduled between Gov. Mark Dayton and the chief executive of Minneapolis-based UCare was postponed on Monday. UCare had sought the meeting to discuss ways the health insurer might be able retain a portion of business it stands to lose due to competitive bidding results announced in July. (Snowbeck, 8/17)

The compensation of chief executives at many of Massachusetts’ biggest teaching hospitals rose faster than overall health care spending in the state, boosted in some instances by payouts to retiring chief executives, according to filings submitted Monday with the Internal Revenue Service. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/18)

While Parkland satisfied many of the issues that threatened its federal funding, it remains under continued scrutiny by the federal government. The Dallas County public hospital is two years into a five-year corporate integrity agreement that has focused on billing problems and patient-safety concerns. (Jacobson, 8/17)

Graduate students employed by the University of Missouri will have a harder time paying for health insurance after MU told students Friday it is taking away subsidies that help with premium costs. MU Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies Leona Rubin said the change is the result of a recent IRS interpretation of a section of the Affordable Care Act. The law, which requires adults to have health insurance or face tax penalties, “prohibits businesses from providing employees subsidies specifically for the purpose of purchasing health insurance from individual market plans,” the university said in a letter sent to students Friday. (Favignano, 8/16)

In this new role, paramedics augment existing programs like visiting nurse services and home care. They also treat patients who don’t meet home-nursing criteria or don’t want someone in their home all the time but still have complex needs, says David Schoenwetter, an emergency physician and head of the mobile health paramedic pilot program at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., part of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System. (Landro, 8/17)

Sixteen years ago, Texas passed a new law that would be copied across the nation. The Safe Haven law, also known as the Baby Moses law, gives parents a safe and legal way to abandon a newborn and avoid prosecution if they drop the baby off at a fire station or a hospital emergency room. Since the original law was passed, a new breed of health provider known as freestanding emergency centers has emerged and quickly spread. In Texas, there are now more than 150 such centers, which provide emergency care but are separate from traditional hospitals. In a handful of instances in recent years, a person abandoned a baby at one of the centers, according to Brad Shields, executive director of the Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers. In each case, Shields said the center alerted the proper authorities and gave the newborn proper medical attention. Still, the centers were uncomfortable with people assuming they were part of the Safe Haven program when they technically weren’t. Since 2004, 79 newborns have been left with emergency providers under the state's Baby Moses law. (Batheja, 8/16)

Robert Brummel’s troubles began even before he left the Army in 2010. Then things went downhill when he became a civilian. And the 30-year-old Fenton resident can quickly rattle off the offenses that landed him in the criminal justice system: a third DWI, child endangerment, possession of a chemical substance with intent to alter and manufacture crystal meth. Then, his public defender referred Brummel to the new veterans treatment court in Jefferson County, and he says what had been a growing nightmare became “amazing. I couldn’t ask for anything better. (Singer, 8/16)