Today’s Headlines – April 9, 2012
Good morning and welcome back from the weekend. Here are your morning headlines:
: Both Parties Wooing Seniors
President Barack Obama and Democrats are counting on regaining support from older voters who switched to the GOP in 2008 and 2010 by attacking Republican plans to revamp Medicare. But Mitt Romney is proving to be a formidable competitor in this battle (Hook, 4/8).
: Durbin To Mitt: What鈥檚 Your Plan On Entitlements?
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has no plan to deal with the millions of seniors reaching retirement (Tau, 4/8).
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: Health-Care Arguments Recall A Supreme Court Case That Is An Equal-Opportunity Offender
Those who are not historians or recent law school graduates might miss the reference. So it is time to brush up on Lochner v. New York, a 1905 decision reviled enough to lend its name to an era of discredited Supreme Court rulings. Some supporters of the Affordable Care Act saw an apparition in the Supreme Court鈥檚 arguments on the act, and recalled the days when the court struck down progressive economic regulations (Barnes, 4/8).
: Letter From Washington: Weak Claims From Both Sides On Health Care
In the Supreme Court鈥檚 historic argument over President Barack Obama鈥檚 health care law, the Republicans claimed the high ground on principle, Democrats on the politics. Both positions are tenuous (Hunt, 4/8).
: The Fact Checker: Obama鈥檚 Selective Memory Of Supreme Court History
President Obama made these remarks during a series of high-profile news conferences last week, taking the unusual step of commenting on a Supreme Court case 鈥 the challenge to the Affordable Care Act, in this case 鈥 while the justices are still deliberating. 鈥 Still, we don鈥檛 know whether the president鈥檚 factual error was a mere slip-up or a purposeful attempt to mislead, and we generally don鈥檛 beat people over the head for off-the-cuff remarks. Let鈥檚 take a look at the president鈥檚 message in light of his clarifying remarks to see whether it holds up any better under scrutiny (Hicks, 4/9).
: Catholic Leaders Remain Critical Of Obama Administration
Catholic Church leaders said Sunday that the institution鈥檚 dispute with the Obama administration over contraception policy continues, with Cardinal Timothy Dolan saying, 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 ask for the fight, but we鈥檙e not going to back away from it鈥 (Thompson, 4/8).
: Tightening The Lid On Pain Prescriptions
High-strength painkillers known as opioids represent the most widely prescribed class of medications in the United States. And over the last decade, the number of prescriptions for the strongest opioids has increased nearly fourfold, with only limited evidence of their long-term effectiveness or risks, federal data shows (Meier, 4/8).
: Playing For Wellness
Your health insurer wants to play games with you鈥攁nd they might involve actual prizes. As insurers try to get members to take better care of themselves, they are turning to tactics from the world of digital gaming. They’re using methods including team competitions forged through online communities, virtual and real-world rewards for those who make moves to improve their health and the potential for raffle-style prizes. In addition, they’re working with games for consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect that involve physical activity (Mathews, 4/7).
: IT Contractors Look For 鈥楤ig Data鈥 Opportunities
Move over cloud computing. The term with the most buzz these days for information technology contractors is 鈥渂ig data,鈥 or large chunks of information too huge to be easily managed by typical computer programs. The Obama administration announced late last month a new big data initiative meant to help the government better analyze large collections of information. The government鈥檚 big data can range from the claims filed by Medicare and Medicaid users to video footage collected by unmanned vehicles on the battlefield (Censer, 4/8).
: Task Force Seeks To Change California鈥檚 Mental Health Commitment Law
California’s pioneering Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, passed in 1967, gave legal rights to those who previously could have been locked up indefinitely and treated against their will. But the task force 鈥 made up of family members, mental health professionals, judges and public defenders 鈥 contends that the law has failed those unable or unwilling to seek help. They are calling for sweeping changes that would allow the involuntary commitment of those deemed incapable of making treatment decisions, expand the use of conservatorships, lengthen involuntary hospital stays and standardize the checkerboard way the law has been applied from county to county (Romney, 4/8).