Health Reform News and Research

RSS

Regulators miss deadline on medical loss ratios: Other implementation developments continue to emerge

Insurance regulators have missed an early deadline to set specific rules meant to ensure that insurers devote 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars to medical care, the so-called "medical loss ratio."

3 Jun 2010

State roundup: Ohio and Washington prepare high risk pool plans; Calif. lawmakers consider 20 bills; Virginia wrestles with Medicaid issues

A popular piece of the health-care overhaul bans insurance companies from denying individual coverage or charging high premiums to people with pre-existing medical conditions. But for adults younger than age 65, that provision doesn't kick in until 2014. In the meantime, the federal government wants states to create temporary high-risk pools through which people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes who have been uninsured for at least six months can buy affordable coverage.

2 Jun 2010

With Congress on recess, health reform politics emerge on homefront

While Americans remain divided over the new health reform law, "they aren't clamoring for its repeal. … Instead, the public seems willing to listen to candidates who would give the overhaul a chance and fix or improve it as needed. That's the signal from some surveys and a congressional race in a bellwether Pennsylvania district."

2 Jun 2010

Health law implementation: Insurance, coverage and Medicare payment questions

Kaiser Health News reports that the insurance industry — traditionally a state-regulated industry — is facing new federal scrutiny by four officials in the new Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. "On this year's to-do list: writing rules to define when premium increases are 'unreasonable,' creating new coverage for people who can't get it because of health conditions and making sure insurers comply with consumer protections. The new director of the office is Jay Angoff, a former Missouri insurance commissioner.

2 Jun 2010

Businesses fret penalties, seek opportunities in health overhaul

Some small businesses may get financial help as part of the health overhaul that could cover up to 35 percent of business's premium costs for insuring employees in the form of new tax credits, Kaiser Health News explains in a consumer column.

2 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 1, 2010

A number of today's headlines focus on the continuing role of health reform in national political calculations and strategies.

1 Jun 2010

Research roundup: Reform's impact on health spending; Cultural/Racial differences in medicine; Swine flu lessons

The Impact Of Health Reform On Health Spending - This issue brief "projects the effect of national reform on total national health expenditures and the insurance premiums that American families would likely pay. We estimate that, on net, the combination of provisions in the new law will reduce health care spending by $590 billion over 2010-2019 and lower premiums by nearly $2,000 per family.

29 May 2010

Health law implementation deadlines missed, GOP offers repeal bill

Politico reports that the Obama administration has missed a health reform law deadline to set up a task force on breast cancer and another on health care in Alaska.

29 May 2010

Medicare 'doughnut hole' rebate checks are in mail, Obama adminstration announces

Senior citizens who hit the so-called doughnut hole in Medicare's drug benefit will begin getting $250 rebate checks in two weeks, the Obama administration announced Thursday — providing one of the first tangible benefits of the recently enacted healthcare law. The rebates, designed in part to bolster support for the controversial law, are the first steps in a decade-long phase-out of the unpopular gap in Medicare Part D drug coverage.

29 May 2010

Today's Opinions: Never-events, Medicare 'propaganda' and drug copays

According to the Labor Department, overall inflation has averaged about 2.5 percent annually, and prescription drug prices have gone up about 3.6 percent each year, over that time frame. Co-pays, though, have increased four times faster than inflation (Peter J. Pitts, 5/28).

29 May 2010

KHN column -- The decline of employer-sponsored coverage under health reform: Good, bad or ugly?

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Austin Frakt writes: "One of the latest criticisms of the new health overhaul law is that it will encourage employers to stop offering health insurance. In fact, it will" (5/27).

28 May 2010

Sen. Lincoln fights criticism on health reform positions in primary run-off battle

The Associated Press: "After vowing that she answered to Arkansas and not the Democratic Party — only to find herself forced into a runoff vote by a rival backed by liberal activists — Sen. Blanche Lincoln is embracing the left as she fights to keep her job." She is running ads that highlight her support of the recently passed health bill that feature a liberal talk show host.

28 May 2010

States examine costs of health law's Medicaid expansion detailed in new report

Reuters examines how Medicaid expansion might affect various states, with new findings from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured: "Under conservative estimates, Maine's Medicaid spending will decrease 1.5 percent and Colorado's will slip 0.5 percent, according to the study.

28 May 2010

Medicare brochure mailing draws GOP ire

Republicans are criticizing a taxpayer-funded brochure sent to 40.2 million Medicare beneficiaries explaining changes to the program under the new health law.

28 May 2010

First Edition: May 27, 2010

Today's health policy headlines focus on a new study about the federal government's funding level for the high-risk pools set up in the new health law as well as congressional Democrats' ongoing struggle to pass legislation to extend the COBRA benefit subsidy and to prevent a scheduled cut in Medicare payments to physicians.

27 May 2010

State-by-state analysis on Medicaid enrollees, cost and impact on uninsured

The expansion of Medicaid under the new health reform law will significantly increase the number of people covered by the program and markedly reduce the uninsured in states across the country, with the federal government picking up the overwhelming majority of the cost, according to a state-by-state analysis released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

27 May 2010

Benefits of new health insurance reform law for Medicare recipients discussed in news conference

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Barbara Kennelly of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Dr. Ben Williamowsky of Silver Spring, Md., a Medicare recipient, held a news conference today to discuss benefits of and misconceptions about the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.

27 May 2010

Employers: Health insurance coverage to remain, but costs may rise

Business Insurance reports that, in the wake of health reform, 88 percent of employers "responding to a Towers Watson & Co. survey said they definitely or likely will continue providing coverage to employees. Just 3% said they are likely to drop coverage and instead pay the annual $2,000-per-full-time-employee penalty that starts in 2014.

27 May 2010

Sen. McConnell blasts Medicare brochure touting health overhaul

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, is blasting the Obama administration for using flyers to tout the new health law to seniors, The Hill reports. "McConnell took offense to the flyers for saying the new law will 'preserve and strengthen' Medicare. And he pointed out that the Department of Health and Human Services lambasted private Medicare Advantage plans when they used similar communications to their members to raise concerns with the health reform law before it was passed" (Pecquet, 5/25).

27 May 2010

AHF urges Obama to address growing ADAP crisis

As many states across the nation face budget and funding shortfalls that are crippling their lifesaving AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, is urging President Barack Obama to redirect a portion of unspent stimulus funds in the Health and Human Services Department in order to address the growing ADAP crisis.

26 May 2010

Health Reform News and Research

Regulators miss deadline on medical loss ratios: Other implementation developments continue to emerge

State roundup: Ohio and Washington prepare high risk pool plans; Calif. lawmakers consider 20 bills; Virginia wrestles with Medicaid issues

With Congress on recess, health reform politics emerge on homefront

Health law implementation: Insurance, coverage and Medicare payment questions

Businesses fret penalties, seek opportunities in health overhaul

First Edition: June 1, 2010

Research roundup: Reform's impact on health spending; Cultural/Racial differences in medicine; Swine flu lessons

Health law implementation deadlines missed, GOP offers repeal bill

Medicare 'doughnut hole' rebate checks are in mail, Obama adminstration announces

Today's Opinions: Never-events, Medicare 'propaganda' and drug copays

KHN column -- The decline of employer-sponsored coverage under health reform: Good, bad or ugly?

Sen. Lincoln fights criticism on health reform positions in primary run-off battle

States examine costs of health law's Medicaid expansion detailed in new report

Medicare brochure mailing draws GOP ire

First Edition: May 27, 2010

State-by-state analysis on Medicaid enrollees, cost and impact on uninsured

Benefits of new health insurance reform law for Medicare recipients discussed in news conference

Employers: Health insurance coverage to remain, but costs may rise

Sen. McConnell blasts Medicare brochure touting health overhaul

AHF urges Obama to address growing ADAP crisis

Industry Focus eBook - Forensics & toxicology (2nd edition) eBook

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