Guide to Medical Labor Laws

A report from the last week’s issue of CongressDaily reveals that the US Congress got a pleading from several state governors to include funding for Medicaid in a second stimulus package.
It also shares that some state governors met with President Bush and other administration officials Monday morning to ask some help on the second package but the US President seemed to decline supporting the effort.

On the other hand, Congress are being encouraged by governors to place a moratorium on a Bush administration regulation on health insurance. The regulation is seen to make it doubly hard for states to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility to children in families with incomes greater than 250% of the federal poverty level.

The second stimulus package seeks to provide $6 billion in Medicaid assistance, among other measures. As I see it, this additional Medicaid funding will benefit more people and thus, deserve full support from the government. I hope President Bush tries to be more generous and changes his mind on this matter.

As a patient, we gave our full trust to our health care providers. We trust them that they would protect us to their best and cure our illness. Despite giving our full trust to our health care providers, we should also have an idea of what our rights are as a patient. It is important for us to know our rights as patients as these rights would protect us.

To be educated about our patient rights, I suggest that we all read this website that states all our rights as patients. The federal laws guarantee us with outmost protection. In fact they are many other laws protecting us, patients.

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Medical malpractice insurer Medical Mutual Insurance Co. has agreed to pay a $75,000 fine in settlement to the allegations that the company violated state law by investing in real estate partnerships for the sole purpose of compensating its top executives. This is what NewsObserver.Com reports through a health law article.

Four executives of Medical Mutual allegedly invested in nine real estate partnerships, with investments of up to $2.6 million.

Aside from monetary fine, the real estate partnerships will be transferred to the company.
However, despite paying the penalty, the accused individuals denied any wrongdoing.

For the link to the article, click here.

Eurekalert.org reports that President Bush has signed another health law in the form of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764).

The bill includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make findings from its funded research more accessible to the public. The findings will be available through open online access. For the record, this is the first time the US government has mandated a major agency like NIH to provide public access to funded research.

I am certain this development will be greeted positively by the public. Access to valuable medical information is very important to raise people�s awareness on major health trends, issues and challenges. It is also a sure way for the rapid advancement of science. I think the benefits from this new law will be felt more dramatically by universities, medical institutions and private sector-run medical organizations as they are the ones involved in medical research and development.

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It is undeniable that disability has its many, i mean, so many disadvantages and unfortunately, the disabled are the ones to suffer the most. It is always a race of between the fittest. The workplace is one common ground of disabled workers to be treated badly. It is just not reported because the victims tend to shrug it aside rather than fight for their rights as disabled citizens. Thats why the law has its guidelines to safeguard the interest of the few people who are employed and disabled. It also aims to provide fairness for those disabled people looking for jobs across the United States. This is important because more than 40% of people with disabilities with the age starting from21 to 65 years old are currently employed in the United States.

A group of California health care providers is presently at odds with the state over health payment cuts. Last February, in a move to control the state’s budget, California’s governor signed a law that reduces health care payments by 10 percent. This translates to a whopping 1.3 billion dollars to be taken out from the Medi-Cal program by July 1st. (Medi-Cal program is the name given to California’s Medicaid.)

MedicalNewsToday.com reports that the health care providers took legal action in response to this. A “class action” lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against the state in an attempt to prevent the implementation of the said law.

As I see it, reducing health care payments has put the government of California in a bad light. For one, the cut will make it hard for health care providers to serve more people given their limited resources. Another thing is, Medi-Cal itself will find it difficult to discharge its duties given the tension between the government and its health care provider- partners.

For more juicy details, click here.

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Minor changes were made in the Family and Medical Leave Act, allowing employers to ask from employees and their doctors the nature and cause of illness, suggested medical treatments, and length of recovery period that require them to apply for leave.

Victoria Lipnic, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards, said that the proposed revisions can create a sound and good workplace that both workers and employers can enjoy. The strength of employer-employee relationship can be tested by being open, transparent and honest of the two parties, along with the support given by concerned doctors.

The Family and Medical Leave Act was publicly open for comments and suggestion until April 11, 2008. To know more for updates and information, feel free to visit www.regulations.gov.