Patients, take note: Starting Oct. 1, those who spend more than 24 hours in the hospital could receive notice that they’ve been placed on something known as “observation status.” It’s a technical term, but one that could mean the difference between having their recovery paid for or ending up with a hefty bill.
‘Observation status:’ The term hospital patients should know
Posted inPolitics
Bysiewicz explores unlikely comeback — a run for state Senate
Susan Bysiewicz, disqualified as a candidate for attorney general in 2010 and defeated in a primary for U.S. Senate in 2012, is making calls to gauge support for an unlikely political comeback as a candidate for state Senate in a district where she is not a resident.
Posted inHealth
Post-Newtown mental health task force issues recommendations
The task force established after the Newtown shootings to examine mental health issues among young adults released 47 recommendations Tuesday in what a key legislative leader described as a “blueprint” for future legislative action on behavioral health.
Posted inNews
Cantor loss is reason to give Himes money, lawmaker says
Washington -Eager to bolster his June fundraising totals, Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, has distributed a fundraising appeal that says House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s surprise loss in a primary is evidence the Tea Party is on the rise and that people should donate to the Democrats’ campaign.
Posted inPolitics
A labor embrace for Malloy, with a jab over education
The Connecticut AFL-CIO’s biennial political convention was a two-day infomercial promoting the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, with one carefully choreographed note of discord: A rebuke to the Democratic governor’s choice of Stefan Pryor as commissioner of education.
Posted inNews
Justice Dept. gives Newtown a $7.1 million victim of crime grant
Washington – A year and a half after the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Justice Department has given the town of Newtown a $7.1 million grant to support victims and their families, first responders, and community members. This is the latest of several federal grants the town has received to cope with […]
Posted inHealth
Early pregnancy blood test reducing need for amniocentesis
A simple blood test is transforming the world of prenatal screening, offering women a risk-free way to learn about fetal abnormalities early in pregnancy.
Posted inHealth
Digital town hall: Caregiving and aging in Connecticut
Connecticut officials describe it as the “silver tsunami:” The state’s population of seniors is forecast to rise dramatically in the next decade, while the working-age population declines. That’s expected to bring a growth in the need for caregivers — both people who take care of others professionally and those who do it free, out of love or obligation, for friends or family members.
Posted inNews
Supreme Court rules ‘straw purchases’ illegal
Washington — In a rare blow to the gun lobby, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled gun buyers must report when they buy firearms for other people – even if they are legal gun owners.
Posted inPolitics
CT AFL-CIO mocks Foley: ‘Did I say something funny?’
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley was greeted with derisive laughter Monday as he told the Connecticut AFL-CIO that his call for a “Wisconsin moment” was simply a plea to end one-party Democratic rule in Connecticut, not to undermine collective bargaining rights.
Posted inPolitics
Candidate quits state Senate race to save marriage
David A. Roche of Bristol, the president of the Connecticut State Building and Construction Trades Council, tearfully told the state AFL-CIO political convention Monday he is ending his state Senate campaign to work on saving his marriage.
Posted inHealth
Insurance Department schedules hearing on Anthem’s proposed rate hikes
The Connecticut Insurance Department is holding a public hearing on the proposal by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to raise premiums for its health plans starting Jan. 1, 2015.
Posted inPolitics
Tom Foley: A very, very careful GOP frontrunner
Republican Tom Foley addresses the Connecticut AFL-CIO today with one likely goal: Assuring labor he is miscast by Democrats as the next Scott Walker, the GOP governor who curtailed collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin.
Posted inNews
Washington Watch, Week of June 15
House and Senate will face a lot of pressure this week to agree on a final veteran’s health care bill. But that debate is likely to be overshadowed by events in Iraq.
Posted inPolitics
Obama nominates N.H. counsel to federal bench
President Obama on Friday nominated Victor Bolden, a former top NAACP lawyer who has been the corporation counsel in New Haven since 2009, as a U.S. District Court judge.
