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The President’s final push on health care reform may be creating a big rift with Democrats in Congress, Fox News’ Doug Luzader reports. Courtesy of Fox News.

Excerpt from:  White House Pushes for Passing of Health Bill/a>

The sales volume of soda and other drinks shipped for sale at U.S. secondary schools has dropped 72% since late 2004, resulting in an 88% drop in beverage calories sold in schools, drink makers said today.

A version of this post by WSJ’s Jean Spencer also appears on the Washington Wire blog.

A coalition of consumer, public-health and food-safety advocates is trying to jumpstart the food-safety legislation that is stalled in the Senate.

To make its point, the Make Our Food Safe coalition is trumpeting a report by Ohio State University economist and former FDA official Robert Scharff that concludes that health costs associated with foodborne illnesses totals $152 billion annually in the U.S.

WSJ’s Jerry Seib explains the likely path forward on health-care reform, including a preview of President Obama’s statement on Wednesday regarding potential modifications to the health bill. Plus, a look at today’s markets, including the impact of the earthquake in Chile.

Read the original:  PM Report: Key Week for Health Reform/a>

The clock is running out before a 21% cut in Medicare payments to doctors kicks in. Plans to block the reductions have gotten hung up in Congress.

In an effort to rescue his health-care overhaul, President Obama calls lawmakers to a summit. WSJ’s Jerry Seib joins the News Hub to discuss whether any progress was made of it was just political theater. Plus, North Dakota is in the midst of an oil boom.

Read more from the original source:  PM Report: Health Summit, Progress or Politics?/a>

As expectations hover at low levels for the outcome of today’s bipartisan health summit, the Obama White House is preparing a modest overhaul proposal in case more-sweeping plans remain stalled in Congress.

The fallback plan would extend health insurance to around 15 million people by expanding current federal-state programs, the WSJ reports this morning. Insurers also would be required to allow family members to stay on their parents’ health-care plans up to age 26, it says.

Mean Street columnist Evan Newmark argues that President Obama’s health-plan proposal reflects a distrust of the market. He talks with Money & Investing Deputy Editor Dennis Berman.

See more here:  Mean Street: Markets and Health-Care Reform/a>

The method of making flu vaccines from chicken eggs is slow and expensive, but it has proved reliable for 60 years. So that’s what drug makers used last year in ramping up a new vaccine to offer protection from the sudden spread of the H1N1 virus.

As the dust settles on the White House announcement yesterday of its health-care overhaul, here are some further details worthy of note in the proposal: