Health Reform News and Research

RSS

Today's Op-Eds: Competition among insurers; health reform and hospital cuts; Medicare reimbursement crisis

The effect of the regulation will be to drive many small insurers from the market and thus to reduce competition for health insurance. The question is whether a reduction in the number of insurers in a given market area invariably is to the disadvantage of the insured. On this point one's memories of Econ 101 can be quite misleading.

30 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 29, 2010

Today's headlines include news about the effort to repeal the health law and Republican and Democrat strategies related to the next Congress.

29 Oct 2010

Inadequate payments prompt insurance companies to raise premiums, avoid low-income market

Millions of Medicare recipients have been forcibly reassigned to different prescription drug plans because Part D reimbursements to insurance companies covering low-income patients are lower than the actual costs incurred, according to a study released online today by Health Affairs. The report describes how a system designed to encourage competition and to subsidize care for low-income Medicare patients instead has led companies to raise their premiums in an effort to price themselves out of the low-income segment of the Part D market.

29 Oct 2010

Health overhaul dominates some state, midterm races, but is ignored in others

Some races around the nation are being dominated by fighting over health issues and the health overhaul while others are ignoring it completely.

29 Oct 2010

Countdown on as Republicans ready health repeal agenda, Democrats continue push

Kaiser Health News' Health on the Hill, examines advertisements about the new health law in a video conversation. Many Democrats, concerned that voters view the measure in a negative light, continue to not mention health reform.

29 Oct 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Medicare rip-offs; Courts and the individual mandate; Accountable care

Instead of getting hung up on labels adopted in the heat of political battle, they should focus instead on Supreme Court precedents that found that taxes designed to influence behavior, like taxes to deter the sale of particularly dangerous firearms, were constitutional, provided they raised revenue in the process.

29 Oct 2010

Future of health reform legislation and voting for Congressional elections

A comprehensive review of national opinion polls, including newly released data, shows that those who say they intend to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate in 2010 and those who say they intend to vote for a Republican in their district hold starkly different views of what they want the future of health reform legislation to be, mirroring the divide between Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress on this issue.

28 Oct 2010

Consumer groups still concerned as insurance rules are considered by HHS

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog: Consumer groups are already concerned that insurers might lobby HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to weaken the medical-loss ratio rules suggested by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners last week. "Today, consumer representatives sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to urge her not to tinker too much with what the NAIC came up with." The medical-loss ratio rules will determine "how much insurers pay out in health care compared with the total premiums they collect.

28 Oct 2010

Gov. candidates in Florida, Minnesota offer few details on health care

News outlets report that gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are offering little details about their plans for health spending.

28 Oct 2010

Candidates on health care offense, defense in final week before election

Candidates are in full campaign mode ahead of midterm elections that will likely spell out how the health law is implemented. The New York Times reports that some Democrats are playing defense after voting for health reform. They include Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello who is running against Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt.

28 Oct 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Costs of health care lawsuits; politics and the deficit; self-recusal and the Supreme Court

As a patient advocate, my top priority for health reform is expanding coverage and giving people access to the best treatments. Controlling costs is important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of patients.

28 Oct 2010

Public and private investment approaches carry potential for eliminating health disparities

According to Dr. Calvin B. Johnson, former PA Secretary of Health, there have been far too few meaningful, public discussions with regard to the substantial economic costs being borne by the U.S., as a result of its lengthy pattern of race – and gender – based health disparities. Johnson is planning to address that issue and the ability to eliminate disparities by investing in businesses, communities, and people, specifically, when he leads a panel, titled “Using Public and Private Equity Investment to Strengthen and Sustain Our Communities: Can we strategically invest our way out of health disparity and into health equity?”, at the Fourth Annual National Conference on Health Disparities, November 12, 2010, at 2:45pm, at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel.

27 Oct 2010

Political picture still dreary for some Dems who backed health reform

National Journal: "Just over half of Americans likely to vote in next week's midterms want the next Congress to repeal this year's health care overhaul if Republicans gain power on Capitol Hill, according to a new poll, a dramatic rebuke to a sitting president and freshly minted statute.

27 Oct 2010

States, insurers, employers move forward with health law implementation

News outlets report on efforts to implement the new health law, including high risk pools and insurers' summaries of their plans.

27 Oct 2010

Health care angst keeps campaigns on edge in final week

Interest and anger about health care is fueling tension in political campaigns for offices ranging from insurance commissioner to U.S. senator.

27 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 26, 2010

In today's headlines, more reports from the campaign trail -- highlighting how tempers and politics continue to flare around health overhaul issues.

26 Oct 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Confusion, compromises on health reform law

Here are a few basic facts that Americans need to keep in mind before they go to the polls, and afterward. First, most aspects of the reform do not go into effect until 2014. Second, things are indeed bad out there: The costs of medical care and insurance premiums are (still) rising, and some employers are (still) dropping coverage. But for that, you should blame the long-standing health care crisis and the current bad economy. Health reform is supposed to help with these problems (10/23).

25 Oct 2010

Research Roundup: U.S. life expectancy ratings; Medicare Advantage outlook; Should advanced cancer patients have routine screening tests?

Health Affairs: What Changes In Survival Rates Tell Us About US Health Care -- Proponents of changes in the U.S. health system have often pointed to studies that find health outcomes in this country are worse than other developed nations, even though the United States "spends well over twice the median expenditure of industrialized nations on health care, and far more than any other country as a percentage of its gross domestic product." Others point to high rates of smoking, obesity and traffic fatalities.

25 Oct 2010

Experts identify efficient way to increase minority access to colorectal cancer screening

Minority patients have a significantly decreased survival from colon cancer compared to white patients, most often as a result of a late diagnosis. To help address this problem, a team of healthcare professionals at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has identified an efficient way to increase minority access to lifesaving colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) in communities where multiple barriers to preventive care exist.

25 Oct 2010

Health reform - and opposition to it - remains contentious as Nov. 2 nears

As the election approaches, Americans remain divided on the health law and GOP challengers seeking to use that to their advantage are finding mixed results. The Associated Press has a variety of coverage.

25 Oct 2010

Health Reform News and Research

Today's Op-Eds: Competition among insurers; health reform and hospital cuts; Medicare reimbursement crisis

First Edition: October 29, 2010

Inadequate payments prompt insurance companies to raise premiums, avoid low-income market

Health overhaul dominates some state, midterm races, but is ignored in others

Countdown on as Republicans ready health repeal agenda, Democrats continue push

Today's Op-Eds: Medicare rip-offs; Courts and the individual mandate; Accountable care

Future of health reform legislation and voting for Congressional elections

Consumer groups still concerned as insurance rules are considered by HHS

Gov. candidates in Florida, Minnesota offer few details on health care

Candidates on health care offense, defense in final week before election

Today's Op-Eds: Costs of health care lawsuits; politics and the deficit; self-recusal and the Supreme Court

Public and private investment approaches carry potential for eliminating health disparities

Political picture still dreary for some Dems who backed health reform

States, insurers, employers move forward with health law implementation

Health care angst keeps campaigns on edge in final week

First Edition: October 26, 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Confusion, compromises on health reform law

Research Roundup: U.S. life expectancy ratings; Medicare Advantage outlook; Should advanced cancer patients have routine screening tests?

Experts identify efficient way to increase minority access to colorectal cancer screening

Health reform - and opposition to it - remains contentious as Nov. 2 nears

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

Applications Engineer

Latest News