“No new testing, no new warheads,” Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pledged in a Pentagon briefing.

Yet officials said later that the policy could allow them to bring back older, tested warhead components and designs to build what would be, for all practical purposes, a new weapon.

The administration’s hedge on the warhead issue was but one example of the caution built into a policy portrayed as a groundbreaking effort to reduce U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons.

Although Obama campaigned on a pledge to overhaul nuclear policy, administration officials listened closely to the more conservative advice of Pentagon officials in a yearlong study, said people close to the discussions. And they were sensitive to the need to win Republican votes in the Senate for ratification this year of a new arms control treaty with Russia.

The nuclear weapons policy sets limits on the use of U.S. warheads, declaring some countries off-limits even in wartime, as a step toward reducing U.S. reliance on its most destructive weapons.

The new policy came two days before Obama travels to Prague, Czech Republic, to sign the new arms reduction treaty with Russia and the week before he holds an international nuclear summit in Washington.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES:  Obama’s nuclear policy walks careful line – latimes.com.

The new policy represents a reversal not only of the current moratorium on any new oil drilling off most U.S. shores, but also of President Obama’s own support of the moratorium during the 2008 campaign.

And of course, the policy also revives the oft-heard 2008 McCain/Palin campaign rally cry, “Drill, baby, drill.”

Seizing upon the opportunity to create a highlight reel featuring Republicans rabidly chanting, “Drill, baby, drill,” we present to you this video: “Drill, Barack, Drill.”

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST: Drill, Barack, Drill: Obama Reverses Position On Offshore Drilling VIDEO.

Medical costs are rising fast — up 5.7% last year, while the economy declined 1.1%, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In the next 10 years, health spending is projected to rise 6.1%, reaching $4.5 trillion, or nearly 20% of the economy.

Some critics and even proponents of the law say it won’t do enough to slow down that trend. The health insurance industry, blasted by Obama for recent premium increases in California and other states, argues that the unsolved problem is the prices charged by doctors, hospitals, drugmakers and others.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR USATODAY:  Big question: Will we really pay less for health care? – USATODAY.com.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.

The agency says its future-year predictions of tax revenues are more pessimistic than the administration’s. That’s because CBO projects slightly slower economic growth than the White House.

The deficit picture has turned alarmingly worse since the recession that started at the end of 2007, never dipping below 4 percent of the size of the economy over the next decade. Economists say that deficits of that size are unsustainable and could put upward pressure on interest rates, crowd out private investment in the economy and ultimately erode the nation’s standard of living.

Still, the Feb. 1 White House budget plan was a largely stand-pat document that avoided difficult decisions on curbing the unsustainable growth of federal benefit programs like the Medicare health care program for the elderly and Medicaid, which provides health care to the poor and disabled.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR MONEYNEWS.COM:

Moneynews – Congressional Report: Deficit Will Be Much Worse Than Obama Says.

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain.

The new law goes beyond offering coverage to the uninsured, with steps to improve the quality of care for the average person and help keep us well instead of today’s seek-care-after-you’re-sick culture. To benefit, you’ll need a regular health provider.

Yet recently published reports predict a shortfall of roughly 40,000 primary care doctors over the next decade, a field losing out to the better pay, better hours and higher profile of many other specialties. Provisions in the new law aim to start reversing that tide, from bonus payments for certain physicians to expanded community health centers that will pick up some of the slack.

A growing movement to change how primary care is practiced may do more to help with the influx. Instead of the traditional 10-minutes-with-the-doc-style office, a “medical home” would enhance access with a doctor-led team of nurses, physician assistants and disease educators working together; these teams could see more people while giving extra attention to those who need it most.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR AP & YAHOO! NEWS

Health overhaul likely to strain doctor shortage – Yahoo! News.

But it appears that, from a financial standpoint, some states will be winners and some will be losers in this new arrangement.

Here’s a look at why some states may stand to benefit. Later today, the Monitor will look at other states, which are complaining that it will cost their taxpayers a lot more money in the future.

The biggest winners, state officials and Medicaid experts say, could be those states that have already taken an important step toward expanding their own Medicaid programs: covering childless adults.

The reason for the coming windfall: These states are already paying for something that the new healthcare plan will soon mandate, and as the law’s provisions begin to kick in, the federal government will actually pick up much of the burden that these states are now bearing.

The winners: 11 states plus D.C.The 11 so-called “expansion states” states are: Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia.

Currently, states that cover childless adults receive a 50 percent reimbursement for their costs. But the federal share of that reimbursement is set to increase, according to the bill of healthcare fixes, which tweak some of the numbers in the healthcare bill already passed and signed by President Obama.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR YAHOO! NEWS

Healthcare reform fallout: Which states are the winners? – Yahoo! News.

Clotie Robinson has tried for four years to buy health coverage for her 8-year-old daughter who suffers from depression and other mental illnesses, but she’s been consistently rejected by insurance companies.

As a result, Robinson has been unable to pay for some medicines and medical tests her daughter needs.

The DeSoto, Texas, mom had hoped the new health overhaul law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday would immediately stop insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions.  Several speeches by Obama and explanations of the bill issued by congressional Democrats left the impression the law would do just that.

But health advocates and some insurers say the law does not clearly state that such protection starts this year. If it doesn’t, uninsured children with pre-existing conditions might not get help until 2014, when the law requires  insurers to issue policies for all applicants regardless of health condition. There is no doubt that for children who are enrolled in insurance plans, the new law bars insurers from excluding coverage of any pre-existing conditions.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR KAISER HEALTH NEWS

Coverage For Sick Kids Under Question In New Law – Kaiser Health News.

The short answer is no. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the overhaul law, as it expected to be amended by House fixes, would eventually cover 32 million more Americans. But that would leave 23 million that would still be uninsured by 2019. So maybe it’s not universal coverage? But who gets left out?

First of all, one-third of the uninsured group, or about 7 million people, are undocumented immigrants who are explicitly excluded. The other 16 million or so aren’t officially accounted for anywhere, but experts have a pretty good idea of who they are.

“Some people will be exempt from the mandate to purchase coverage because they will be unable to find affordable coverage,” Jennifer Tolbert, the principle policy analyst at the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, told us.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK OF NPR:

Health Care For All Leaves 23 Million Uninsured – Shots – Health News Blog : NPR.

In testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Geithner read a joint statement — which he prepared with Christina Romer, chairwoman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, and Peter Orszag, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget — warning that the nation’s unemployment rate “is likely to remain elevated for an extended period. The forecast projects that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate will be 8.9%, and that by the fourth quarter of 2012, it will be 7.9%.”

Geithner called the current unemployment rate of 9.7% “unacceptable by any metric.” He testified that it usually takes the creation of more than 100,000 jobs per month to bring the unemployment rate down; the administration foresees job creation averaging 100,000 for the rest of 2010 — but doesn’t expect it to substantially exceed that. In fact, Geithner said, the jobless rate might even rise slightly over the next few months, as unemployed workers attempt to return to the labor force.

Geithner Warns Unemployment Will Stay High in 2010 – DailyFinance.

Celebrating “a new season in America” — the signature accomplishment of his White House so far and one denied to a line of presidents before him — Obama made the massive bill law with an East Room signing ceremony. He was joined by jubilant House and Senate Democrats as well as lesser-known people whose health care struggles have touched the president. Obama scheduled back-to-back events to mark the moment, with much of his White House audience, as well as hundreds of others, gathering at the Interior Department for Act II immediately after the signing.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR AP/YAHOO! NEWS:

Beaming Obama signs historic $938 billion overhaul – Yahoo! News.