Health Information Technology

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. The law includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or the "HITECH Act," which established programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the "meaningful use" of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a role in three areas of the HITECH Act:

• Implementation of the EHR incentive programs, including defining meaningful use of certified EHR technology;


• Establishment of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for EHR technology.


• Privacy and Security protections under the HITECH Act

Medicare Health Plans and Prescription Drug Plans in Florida

This list shows you basic information about plans in your area.

Click on a plan name for more detailed cost and coverage information, including whether or not the plan covers the drugs you take.

You can choose a plan based on this information, or you can find out what your drugs cost by comparing Medicare drug plans.

Medicare and You 2010

This is the official government handbook with important information about the following:

* What's new
* Medicare costs
* What Medicare covers
* Health and prescription drug plans
* Your Medicare rights
* Health information technology

Suitable and Affordable Senior Housing

For elder Floridians to live self-sufficiently, one of their basic needs is suitable and affordable housing. Secure, affordable housing can mean the difference between anxiety and peace of mind, poverty and well-being and even illness and health.

Affordable Elder Health Care

Affordable health care for all elder Floridians is at the heart of a contented retirement. But far too often, our seniors and all Americans live just one serious illness away from financial ruin. Health care should not be based on what’s best for the business but what’s best for the people. That is why FLARA supports the Single Payer National Health Care proposal as our most important health goal. Also known as the United States National Health Insurance Act, the plan presented by Sen. John Conyers of Michigan, would essentially expand Medicare to cover everyone, with the federal government negotiating rates for all Americans just as it does now for seniors. The program will lower the cost of health care in several ways. It allows for the biggest possible risk pool and eliminates the inefficient layers of billing and processing that exist in today’s private insurance system. It benefits employers by eliminating the need for companies to provide health care plans to their employees. Additionally, it ends health care as a profit-driven enterprise available based only on peoples’ ability to pay.

Senate Report Ties GlaxcoSmithKline Diabetes Drug Avandia to Heart Attack Risks

By Associated Press
Sunday, February 21, 2010

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline knew of possible heart attack risks tied to its controversial diabetes drug Avandia years before evidence of a link became public, according to a U.S. Senate report released Saturday.

Possible Republican Candidates for President 'Try Out' Before CPAC, Governors

By Liz Sidoti
Sunday, February 21, 2010

Republicans who might want President Obama's job flocked to Washington this weekend and repeatedly ripped into the Democrat, an early tryout of sorts for their party's nomination.

AFSCME Teaches Students Organizing Skills

by James Parks, Feb 17, 2010

Eight college students and recent graduates traveled to Delaware last month for training to become union organizers. They participated in AFSCME’s Alternative Union Break, a weeklong, intensive course conducted by AFSCME organizers and other labor unionists. The course helps participants learn about the union movement, the importance of standing in solidarity with others and the basics of organizing.

Miami-Dade County Commissioners Pass Historic Wage Theft Ordinance

by James Parks, Feb 19, 2010

With more than 100 supporters in the audience, the Miami-Dade County (Fla.) Board of County Commissioners yesterday approved the first countywide wage theft ordinance in the country. The law, which passed on a 10-0 vote, will help ensure that workers who are unpaid or underpaid for their work have a way to make their voices heard and recover their hard-earned wages.

Specifically, the new law prohibits wage theft and gives the county legal authority to intervene and help recover back pay for workers who were cheated out of their fair pay.

Executive Order - - National Commission on Fisical Responsibility and Reform

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Trumka: Creating Jobs Is Best way to Fix Deficit

by James Parks, Feb 19, 2010

The best way to reduce the growing federal deficit is to create 10 million jobs now—the number of jobs needed to close our jobs deficit—not to cut vital programs such as Social Security and Medicare, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said.

President Obama yesterday signed an executive order creating an 18-member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to propose ways to reduce the growing national debt. Click here to read the executive order.

HHS Report Slams Insurers Premium Hikes While Pocketing Record Profits

by Mike Hall, Feb 19, 2010

Profits for the nation’s 10 largest health insurance companies increased 250 percent between 2000 and 2009—10 times faster than inflation—but that hasn’t stopped the private insurance industry from trying to reach even deeper into consumers’ pocketbooks with huge premium increases.

According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the nation’s five largest insurance companies took in combined profits of $12.2 billion last year, up 56 percent over 2008.

Tell Whirlpool: 'Keep It Made In America - Save Our Jobs'

by James Parks, Feb 20, 2010

The Whirlpool Corp. makes a big deal of its concern for the environment and the poor. But now, the company is about to throw 1,100 workers at its Evansville, Ind., refrigerator plant onto the streets and move their jobs to Mexico, where labor and environmental laws are weaker.

You can show solidarity with the Whirlpool workers, most of whom are members of IUE-CWA, by signing an online petition urging Whirlpool to reverse its decision and Keep It Made in America: Save Our Jobs. Click here to sign the petition.