Diana Manos

Unemployment and reduced spending on healthcare directly affect mortality rates, according to a study by the University of North Texas.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have called on Congress to pass comprehensive healthcare reform legislation for President Obama to sign by July 4.

President Barack Obama has announced regional forums, patterned after the healthcare reform summit held last week at the White House, to be hosted by the governors of California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont in March or early April.

President Barack Obama released a healthcare reform report Thursday through the Department of Health and Human Services that summarizes more than 3,000 neighborhood discussions held nationwide last December.

President Barack Obama will hold a healthcare summit Thursday at the White House in an effort to launch widespread support for healthcare reform.

The economic stimulus package – with more than $100 billion allotted to healthcare – is signed, sealed and delivered. The State Children's Health Insurance Program is newly reauthorized.

Physicians under Medicare can earn $44,000 to more than $60,000 in extra payments under the new stimulus package, while incentives for hospitals will start at a base of $2 million annually. Providers who do not use qualified certified healthcare IT by 2015, however, face Medicare reimbursement cuts.

More than two years in the making, Congress has passed – and President Obama has signed – a bill reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

With Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), President Barack Obama's first pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, no longer an option, the White House has been mum on who might replace him, though many experts and news outlets claim they have inside knowledge.

President Barack Obama signed the massive $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law Feb. 17 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.