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The recent economic downturn has left many health care providers "fighting to stay out of the red," but they have not passed their higher costs to consumers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Ken Thorpe, a professor of health policy at

New Jersey "faces a nasty culmination of health care crises" amid a falling economy, which likely will lead to an increase in the number of uninsured residents and place a greater burden on hospitals in the state, the Washington Post reports.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Monday said that a House-passed bill (HR 6331) that would delay a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees that was scheduled to take effect last week might have enough votes in the Senate to gain cloture, even though it failed by one vote on June 26, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/7). The House last month passed the measure by a veto-proof margin. The bill is similar to a measure (S 3101) proposed by Baucus, which also failed to receive enough votes for cloture (Kaiser Daily Health Policy report, 7/7). read more

Coverage of 26 health benefits mandated under Massachusetts' health insurance law account for 12 cents of every $1 paid for health insurance, and statewide, the mandates cost about $1.3 billion annually, according to a report released on Monday by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, the Boston Globe reports. The report was commissioned in 2006 as part of the law. read more

Although "jobs, benefits, housing, health coverage, college and retirement savings, even bought-and-paid-for insurance all played crucial roles in maintaining families' economic stability during the second half of the 20th century ... the protective value of each has been weakened over the last generation," Peter Gosselin, national economic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, writes in a column. read more

The number of employers that would drop health insurance for employees under the health care proposal of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) remains a "great unknown," the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.

Excerpt: "Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) unveiled on June 23 the Maryland health insurance Partnership, a health insurance premium subsidy program to help small businesses purchase coverage. Under the program, small businesses will apply for the subsidies through the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC)." (authored by AISHealth.com)

Excerpt: "There are a few things of interest about the [First Circuit opinion on Stamp v. MetLife] that warrant further reading. In the first instance, the case lays out the proper manner by which a court should consider an administrator's review of this particular type of scenario, and what type of discretion is granted to that review." (authored by Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will begin disclosing the estimated cost of 39 common medical procedures and tests in southeastern Wisconsin this month.