Obama’s jobs plan to include Medicare cuts: President Obama challenged Congress last night to “enact his $447 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending designed to revive a stalling economy.” Obama described the plan as a “balanced” approach “that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts, by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share.” [NYT]
4th circuit dismisses VA’s health care challenge: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond found that Virginia — which had sued the federal government just days after the Affordable Care Act became law — lacked standing to challenge the law. The panel’s unanimous decision, which did not address the merits of the case, “overturns a lower-court ruling that the law’s mandate that practically all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional.” [Washington Post]
‘Enroll America’ gears up next week: Healthcare provider advocates and liberal groups will jointly launch “Enroll America” — a campaign encouraging American to enroll in health care coverage — “next week to spread the word about coverage options that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will bring in 2014 for more than 30 million more people.” [Modern Healthcare]
ACLU sues North Carolina over ‘Choose Life’ plates: “The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said Thursday it has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a specialty license plate that ‘supports a woman’s right to reproductive freedom.’ The group said the North Carolina General Assembly passed a bill last session authorizing an anti-abortion “Choose Life” plate, but rejected any plate proposals that support the opposite opinion.” [ABC]
Health care spending bill delayed: “House appropriators have indefinitely postponed consideration of the 2012 spending bill for health programs, which had been scheduled for Friday morning.” [Healthwatch]
Hospitals lobby for raising Medicare age: The American Hospital Association “is urging its nearly 5,000 members to lobby Congress to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, in addition to other money-saving alternatives.” [Politico]
Number of cancer cases on the rise: “The number of new cancer cases has increased by 20% in under a decade and now stands at 12 million a year, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.” [BBC]
Minnesota leads the nation in long-term care: “Minnesota leads the nation in long-term care for older and disabled people — and illustrates how the nation could cut costs by offering better care and coordination, according to a national study released Thursday.” [Star Tribune]
Previous in TP Health
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.