Content about Governor

Carma Labs last month celebrated its 75th year of distributing its lip balm to a rabid fan base, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker joining in on the company’s anniversary celebrations. Carma Labs was founded by Alfred Woelbing in 1937 — who sold the lip balm from the trunk of his car in the Chicago area. Today the company is a third-generation, family-owned-and-operated business that currently is run by grandsons Paul and 
Eric Woelbing.


BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers passed a massive healthcare bill that seeks to control healthcare costs and expands the services of limited-service clinics to allow for anything within the scope of practice for a nurse practitioner.

The legislation, which Gov. Deval Patrick said he would sign into law, includes an array of other cost-curbing provisions and is estimated to save as much as $200 billion in healthcare spending over the next 15 years.

News broke last month that officials in the South American nation of Uruguay were planning to possibly legalize marijuana. Meanwhile, activists in Colorado have sought to legalize the drug in that state, while Chicago’s city council decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana and reduced the penalty to a ticket.


Recently, a disease that was long a deadly scourge in the United States has resurfaced: whooping cough.


ALBANY, N.Y. — The state of New York is looking to become a national leader in curbing prescription drug abuse.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A law that will establish standards in the pharmacy audit process conducted by pharmacy benefit managers in the state of Alabama has received the applause of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has expressed its support for enactment of the Pharmacy Audit Integrity Program (HF 1236/SF 973) by Minnesota governor Mark Dayton. The law will establish standards in the pharmacy audit process conducted by pharmacy benefit management companies in the state of Minnesota.

NACDS sent a letter of support to Dayton prior to enactment, emphasizing the importance of this legislation in ensuring transparency in the PBM audit process.
 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Legislation designed to reform the pharmacy audit process has been approved in Utah and will be sent to the state governor to sign.

In a 73-1 vote, H.B. 76, known as the Pharmacy Audit Integrity and Recovery Act, "requires health benefit plans, the Public Employees' Benefits and Insurance Program and pharmacy benefit managers to implement certain pharmacy audit procedures when auditing pharmacy claims," according to the legislation document. Key provisions included:

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — It couldn't have been choreographed better if Bob Fosse himself had orchestrated Walgreens' annual shareholders' meeting. It started on Monday, Jan. 9, when Walgreens' executive team entertained reporters to unveil the latest flagship location on State and Randolph. That evening, Illinois governor Pat Quinn and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel stood with flagship architect Joe Magnacca and officially christened the new store before Tuesday's grand opening.

NEW YORK — New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill that would forbid health insurers from requiring plan members to order prescription drugs from mail-order pharmacies, according to published reports. 

DEERFIELD, Ill. — In an effort to emphasize the importance of being protected against the flu, Illinois governor Pat Quinn visited a Chicago Walgreens to receive his seasonal flu shot.

Walgreens, which announced earlier this week that it was teaming up with the Department of Health and Human Services to provide flu shot vouchers to uninsured Americans, offers flu shots at its pharmacies at Take Care Clinics daily, with no appointment necessary.

Quinn received his flu shot Friday at Walgreens on 933 N. State St. in Chicago.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The recent approval of a 10% reimbursement rate cut in California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has prompted provider groups to file a lawsuit against the California Department of Healthcare Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, alleging that the cuts did not follow proper legal channels.