Press Room

President Obama's Medical Records Czar to Keynote Summit
With $45 billion on the table and a deadline of 2014, Dr. David Blumenthal's job is simple: change the way doctors have been keeping track of patients since the time of Hippocrates while protecting patient privacy and keeping costs low. 

Inland area shortchanged on state funds to cover health care for the poor
Despite continued population growth and high poverty rates, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are among the lowest-ranked in receiving money to provide state-mandated healthcare to poor residents.

White House backs off public healthcare option
The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was on the verge of abandoning a government-run insurance option in its healthcare overhaul -- a bow to political reality and a big win for insurers.

Inland lawmakers bring health care debate home
The debate over President Barack Obama's health care plan moves this week from the halls of Congress to town halls around the nation, and Inland lawmakers are poised to take up the fight in their home districts.

Heath Care Interactive Map – Health Insurance Coverage by State

Health Care Interactive Map – health Care Costs State-by-State

Hospital Savings: Salaries for Doctors, Not Fees
Visiting the Cleveland Clinic this week, President Obama held up that well-known hospital as a model for the rest of the country. But for most of the nation’s nearly 6,000 hospitals, copying the Cleveland Clinic would be like asking the Durham Bulls, a minor league team, to copy the New York Yankees.

California Health Care Almanac
The California Health Care Almanac is an online clearinghouse for key data and analysis examining the state's health care system. It focuses on issues of quality, affordability, insurance coverage and the uninsured, and the financial health of the system with the goal of supporting thoughtful planning and effective decision-making.

Concern grows that healthcare overhaul won't cut costs
Although still publicly beating the drums for President Obama's healthcare overhaul, representatives of some of the biggest players are beginning to express concern behind the scenes that it won't do enough about the major problem: runaway medical costs.

White House, hospitals reach deal on health care 
The nation's hospitals will give up $155 billion in future Medicare and Medicaid payments to help defray the cost of President Barack Obama's health care plan, a concession the White House hopes will boost an overhaul effort that's hit a roadblock in Congress.

Obama pitches health plan, hugs cancer patient
The health care changes that Obama called for would reshape the nation's medical landscape. He says he wants to cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans, to persuade doctors to stress quality over quantity of care, to squeeze billions of dollars from spending.

Obama: Health IT Will Be First Step in Health Care Reform Efforts
President Obama cited health IT investments as "preliminary steps" in broader health care overhaul efforts, Healthcare IT News reports. Obama delivered the keynote address during the annual conference of the American Medical Association.

Obama calls cost of healthcare a threat to economy
President Obama on Monday made his most detailed pitch yet for a $1-trillion overhaul of the nation's burdened healthcare system, calling it a "ticking time bomb" that threatens the nation's prosperity.

A healthcare reform bill will affect nearly everyone
Spurred on by President Obama and an array of businesses, medical providers and consumers clamoring for change, congressional Democrats have begun to lay out specific plans for overhauling the nation's healthcare system -- proposing changes that would affect almost every American, old or young, sick or well, rich, poor or middle-class.

A healthcare reform bill will affect nearly everyone
Reporting from Washington -- Spurred on by President Obama and an array of businesses, medical providers and consumers clamoring for change, congressional Democrats have begun to lay out specific plans for overhauling the nation's healthcare system -- proposing changes that would affect almost every American, old or young, sick or well, rich, poor or middle-class.

Medical bills play a role in 62% of bankruptcies, study says 
President Obama's push for healthcare reforms gets a boost today from a new study by Harvard University researchers that shows a sizable increase over six years in bankruptcies caused in part by ever-higher medical expenses.

Health IT Part of Industry's Plan To Reduce Health Care Spending
On Monday, six health care industry groups provided the Obama administration with a 28-page proposal to reduce health care spending through a variety of efforts, including the use of health IT, Politico reports (Budoff Brown, Politico, 6/1). The groups say their recommendations could save the U.S. $1 trillion to $1.73 trillion over 10 years.

Proposals To Cut Health Spending in California Face Opposition
Health care advocates are gearing up to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) proposals to cut state funding for health care programs, which a legislative committee will consider in a series of public legislative hearings beginning today, the Los Angeles Times reports (Bailey/McGreevy, Los Angeles Times, 5/23)

Californians Rank Health Coverage Essentials in New Study
Californians understand the economics of health coverage and they know that something has to give, according to a study released last week.

Senators Set to Visit White House to Discuss Health Care Overhaul
President Obama will meet with influential Senate Democrats on Tuesday to discuss overhauling health care, as the White House releases a report asserting that revamping the system would increase the income of a typical family of four by $2,600 in 2020, and by $10,000 in 2030.