Latest Drugs Headlines
All the headlines from our Drugs Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Kibble & Prentice Survey Shows Insurance Cost Increases Slow
Jun 23 2005 // Seattle-based Kibble & Prentice announced the results of its annual employee benefits survey. With nearly 250 Washington state companies reporting, the results showed two surprising trends: the rate of increase of...
R.I. Draft Rules for Importing Canadian Drugs Include Product Liability
Jun 16 2005 // The Rhode Island Health Department has drafted guidelines that would govern drug imports from Canada, and help ensure the medications meet quality and safety standards in Rhode Island. The proposed rules would be another...
N.C. Police Officer Accused of Passing Fake Prescriptions, Insurance Fraud
Jun 9 2005 // Concord, N.C. Police Officer Dana Lynn Beninati has been suspended without pay after allegedly passing fake prescriptions and billing her insurance company. Lynn was arrested at her home and charged with 23 counts of...
Pharmaceutical Reviews Target Workers’ Compensation Drug Costs
Jun 3 2005 // With prescription drug costs in workers’ compensation mounting at an annual rate of 13 percent, Professional Reviews Inc., a physician peer review company based in Atlanta, has launched Physician Pharmaceutical...
Conn. Med-Mal Prescription Still Uncertain
Apr 26 2005 // Dealing with the thorny issue of how to ease doctors’ rising medical malpractice insurance rates, Connecticut lawmakers have managed this year to whittle dozens of proposals down to two. The work isn’t finished...
BENEFIT MANAGERS’ DISCLOSURE BACKED:
Feb 21 2005 // A federal judge has sided with the state of Maine in an industry challenge to the constitutionality of a state law that requires pharmacy benefit managers to disclose side payments from drug companies and other financial...
Medical Science Takes Uneasy Role in Drug, Asbestos Product Liability Cases
Feb 21 2005 // When word spread that people injured by the fen-phen diet drug cocktail could share in a multibillion dollar legal settlement, law firms began sponsoring health screenings so large that a judge quipped that one...
Federal Judge Backs Maine Law Requiring Compensation Disclosure by Benefit Managers
Feb 7 2005 // A federal judge has sided with the state of Maine in an industry challenge to the constitutionality of a state law that requires pharmacy benefit managers to disclose side payments from drug companies and other financial...
Okla. Gov. Henry Unveils Workers’ Comp Plan
Feb 3 2005 // Saying he wants to cut costs for business and boost benefits for injured workers, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry announced his comprehensive reform plan for the state’s workers’ compensation system. Based on the...
Medicare Looms as Budget Remains a Logistical Issue for States
Dec 20 2004 // A Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens through private plans is still more than a year away. But for state lawmakers and health officials preparing to help administer the complex new law, crunch time is...
Alcohol, Drug Abuse Treatment
Dec 20 2004 // Nuts & Bolts: Union General is offering coverage for facilities specializing in care and treatment of drug and alcohol abusers, including for profit and nonprofit centers and halfway houses. Coverage available for...
Cheney, Edwards Spar Over Medical Liability Issue During VP Debate
Oct 6 2004 // Around and around they went. For some 90 minutes, Vice President Dick Cheney and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards debated and most often, disagreed on the issues, during the first and only Vice Presidential debate Tuesday...
NAIC Adopts Amendments to Medicare Model Law
Sep 27 2004 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has adopted amendments to its Model Regulation to Implement the NAIC Medicare Supplement Insurance Minimum Standards Model Act to make it compliant with the...
Long-Term Health Care Costs Loom Large for Governors
Sep 6 2004 // Soaring health care costs, coupled with the looming retirement of a record 77 million Americans starting in 2011, are casting a shadow of concern over states that worry their public health care systems can’t shoulder...
Kentucky Office of Insurance Set to Meet Industry Challenges
Aug 23 2004 // As a Florida resident who chose to return to Kentucky during my first try at retirement (a decision that drew puzzled looks from many), I appreciate many things about the Commonwealth—the natural beauty, the quality of...
Judge Dismisses Suit Against OxyContin Maker
Aug 20 2004 // A federal judge in Roanoke, Va. has dismissed a lawsuit against Connecticut-based OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma by three men who claimed they became addicted to the painkiller while using it to treat their various medical...
Aetna Launches Specialty Pharmacy
Aug 4 2004 // Aetna has revealed plans for a joint venture to provide specialty drugs to its members of its health plans with severe chronic illnesses while holding down costs. The launch of Aetna Specialty Pharmacy, jointly owned by...
In N.H. Governor’s Race, Four Candidates Differ On State’s Handling of Insurance Issues
Aug 2 2004 // Was it a good idea to let New Hampshire’s health insurers use workers’ health history in setting rates for the state’s smallest businesses? Republicans Craig Benson and Charles Tarbell say the jury is...
Fla. Sen. Bill Nelson Continues to Fly New Missions for Sunshine State
Jul 23 2004 // Bill Nelson Florida Senator As his bio notes growing up as a child, Florida Senator Bill Nelson never imagined that one day he would both catapult into space from a NASA launch site just miles from his grandfather’s...
Florida Senator Bill Nelson Continues to Fly New Missions
Jul 19 2004 // Flying New Missions Bill Nelson As his bio notes, as a child Florida Senator Bill Nelson never imagined that one day he would both catapult into space from a NASA launch site just miles from his grandfather’s...
