LABOR UPDATES
Harry Kelber: 1914 – 2013 Harry Kelber spent 80 years as a labor activist. Through it all he championed worker ownership of their unions. When Labor Notes commissioned a roundtable on “organizing the unorganized” in 2007, Harry’s contribution argued that rank-and-file workers should be part of organizing drives.
HEALTH CARE
Did Hospitals Profit Off Drugs Meant for the Poor? An inquiry by a U.S. senator has found that three nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina have made millions from a discount drug program intended to help the poor and uninsured.
Mortality Rates at Critical Access Hospitals Racheting Higher The nation’s critical access hospitals have higher mortality rates on several key measures than do urban and rural hospitals without the specia l designation, and the trend steadily worsened over the past eight years, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.
CMS Reverses Course The insurance industry chalked up one of its greatest political victories in recent memory on Monday as the Obama administration reversed course on a proposal to cut Medicare Advantage rates. After intense lobbying, the agency said Monday that it would change the proposed 2.3 percent cut to those plans to a 3.3 percent boost. That’s a significant swing worth billions of dollars to the industry next year alone.
Departing Wellpoint CEO’s Compensation Ballooned to $20.6M Last year, as Insurer’s Shares Fell The compensation paid to outgoing Wellpoint Inc. CEO Angela Braly last year rose 56 percent, even as the company’s shares slid on lower enrollment in its Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans.