The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged Health and Human Services

Palmetto federally funded abstinence curriculum used inaccuracies in line with guidelines

By | 10.05.11 | 11:51 am

UPDATE: Oct. 6 Amended with a correction.

A new congressional proposal to funnel federal grant money from sex-education programs that instruct in pregnancy and STI-preventive measures into abstinence-only curriculum evokes memories of a similar federally-mandated initiative that emerged during the Bush administration.

Ethical questions remain over federal funds received by Iowa FRC affiliate

By | 09.28.11 | 1:05 pm

The Iowa Family Policy Center, a division of The Family Leader, did not comply with federal-grant protocol when it relinquished the last year of federal funding it received for a controversial marriage-counseling program, according to documents obtained by The American Independent under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

Dems’ Health Bills Would Adopt New Mammogram Guidelines

By | 11.21.09 | 6:45 am

The Democrats downplaying the gravity of new recommendations for breast cancer screening have left out an inconvenient fact: their health care bills would automatically adopt them.

Both the House and Senate health reform proposals would force insurance plans to follow the new mammogram guidelines for women ages 50 to 74 More…

GOP Preventing Confirmation Vote for Surgeon General

By | 10.26.09 | 2:01 pm

Following up on Daphne’s piece about the hold-up on Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head the Office of Legal Counsel, this Roll Call story by Jessica Brady got published on Saturday, so it hasn’t received much attention. It should. Regina Benjamin, the president’s nominee for surgeon general, More…

GOP Threatens White House Over Medicare ‘Gag-Order’

By | 09.24.09 | 6:57 pm

It’s no news that Republicans are up in arms over the recent White House decision to bar insurance companies from encouraging their customers to oppose the Democrats’ health reform plans. But today they upped the ante.

In a letter to the White House, Republican leaders have threatened to More…

Sebelius Walks Back White House Support for Public Plan

By | 06.16.09 | 1:29 pm

So do they or don’t they?

Yesterday, President Obama stood before the nation’s largest doctors’ group and made his strongest case yet for the creation of a government-backed insurance plan to compete with private companies. Such an option is necessary, Obama told members of the American Medical Association, “[to] force More…

Sebelius Confirmed as HHS Secretary

By | 04.28.09 | 6:26 pm

Lost in the din over Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to switch parties today was Health and Human Services Secretary-nominee Kathleen Sebelius’ confirmation hearing. Well, she was confirmed by the Senate, by a vote of 65 to 31.

Concerned Women Asking About Swine Flu Panic

By | 04.27.09 | 4:40 pm

I was just talking to Wendy Wright, the president of the conservative group Concerned Women for America, about the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kans.) to run the Department of Health and Human Services. The group opposes the nomination, and Wright is raising some questions about the timing of More…

Collins Responds Amid Pandemic Funding Debate

By | 04.27.09 | 3:36 pm

As we mentioned earlier, the recent swine flu outbreak is causing some liberals to go back to the stimulus debate of earlier this year to point out that the Democrats’ push to include hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic research and mitigation funding was thwarted by Republicans, led by More…

Health Care Choices Get Clearer

By | 03.20.09 | 1:32 pm

Two bills introduced in Congress recently stake out rival positions on a key issue related to health care reform. Which approach ultimately prevails will help determine whether the pharmaceutical industry maintains the support that Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler voiced Wednesday for President Obama’s plan’s to overhaul the More…