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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Analysis: Health Reform Savings for 3 Million New Yorkers

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Friday, March 26, 2010   

NEW YORK, N.Y. - President Obama spent Thursday promoting the benefits of the nation's new health care reform plan as Congress worked on the final details of reconciliation. Nearly three million New Yorkers will be spending less on health care under reform, according to Bill Ferris, legislative representative for AARP New York, which analyzed the bill. He says the plan is especially helpful to those on Medicare.

"This actually affects 2.9 million New Yorkers who are currently on Medicare. They no longer will have to pay a co-pay for their preventive services such as being screened for cancer and other diseases, and this is a real out-of-pocket savings."

Republicans identified technical flaws in the measure that required another round of votes in the House and Senate. Speaking in Iowa, Pres. Obama said costs will come down for families and businesses while the plan will reduce the national deficit by $130 billion over the next decade.

Ferris says the health reform bill also brings immediate relief to New Yorkers who lose prescription drug coverage because they fall into the so-called "doughnut hole" in Medicare Part-D coverage.

"Close to 500,000 people hit the doughnut hole every year in New York; and an immediate benefit is, the individual who does hit the doughnut hole in 2010, will get a check for $250 to help them out with their prescription drugs."

Right now, an estimated 2.7 million New Yorkers have no health insurance. The new reform law means most of those New Yorkers will have the opportunity to purchase affordable coverage through insurance exchanges, according to AARP.





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