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Health law provision seeks to rein in executive compensation at insurance companies

News outlets report that this little-noticed provision puts in place stricter limits regarding the amount companies can deduct from their federal tax bills. Also in the news, The Associated Press reports on ways health plans discourage sick people from enrolling and The New York Times examines the health law's efforts to expand mental health coverage.

28 Aug 2014

Centene’s Missouri subsidiary earns Medicaid and Marketplace HMO accreditation by NCQA

Centene Corporation announced today that its wholly-owned Missouri subsidiary, Home State Health, has earned Medicaid and Marketplace HMO accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

28 Aug 2014

Millions of women suffering in silence with hot flashes

The steep decline in the use of hormone therapy has spawned a prevalent but preventable side effect: millions of women suffering in silence with hot flashes, according to a study by a Yale School of Medicine researcher and colleagues.

28 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 28, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about the Congressional Budget Office's latest projections regarding Medicare and Medicaid spending.

28 Aug 2014

Conn. exchange chief to tun Healthcare.gov

Federal officials tap Kevin Counihan, who helped launch Connecticut's successful online health insurance marketplace, to oversee the federal exchange, which is used by residents of three dozen states, and to prevent the problems that plagued it last fall.

28 Aug 2014

Exchange roundup: 2,000 Oregonians must switch plans; Georgia Medicaid applicants still in limbo

Cover Oregon will hold a special open enrollment period for 1,400 Oregonians who were incorrectly enrolled into the low-income Oregon Health Plan by the state's troubled health insurance exchange. Starting Aug. 31, the people affected will have no coverage through the OHP, the state's version of Medicaid. However, they will have the option to sign up for coverage from private insurers and to qualify for tax credits through Cover Oregon to bring down premiums. Meanwhile, Cover Oregon is contacting at least 700 people who should have been enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan, but were incorrectly enrolled in a commercial health plan instead (Budnick, 8/26).

28 Aug 2014

Federal investigators request firms' documents on troubled Md. exchange

The head of Noridian Healthcare Solutions says the HHS inspector general's office sought documents related to the company's work on Maryland's online health insurance marketplace.

28 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 27, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about Kevin Counihan, the person who take on the challenge of running healthcare.gov.

27 Aug 2014

Who is exempt from health law's mandate to have insurance?

The Miami Herald looks at the religious groups that pool their money to pay medical expenses and whose members are therefore exempt from the law's requirement to carry insurance.

27 Aug 2014

Vermont GOP candidates for governor blast state's move toward single payer system

The criticism of Gov. Peter Shumlin's push for a publicly funded health care system came during a debate on the eve of the primary. Also, in Virginia, Republican Senate candidate Ed Gillespie unveils a tax plan that would repeal taxes in the health law.

27 Aug 2014

Report tallies funds committed to federal insurance exchange

The federal government has committed nearly $800 million to the project, according the Health and Human Services' inspector general.

27 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 26, 2014

Today's early morning highlights from major news organizations, including a report about how what some say is a health law "drafting error" and other's term a "political miscalculation" could become the measure's trouble spot.

26 Aug 2014

Exchange customers now receiving subsidies should review tax issues

The Associated Press examines the tax credit issue. Other outlets look at issues surrounding the state insurance marketplaces in California, Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut and Minnesota.

26 Aug 2014

Viewpoints: Spreading Ebola treatments; Dems can win running on health law

A radical but promising proposal to help treat victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be gaining support among knowledgeable experts.

26 Aug 2014

California requires insurers to provide abortion coverage

Spurred by faculty and staff outrage over the refusal by two Catholic universities to pay for elective abortions, Gov. Jerry Brown's administration on Friday announced that health insurance companies in the state can no longer deny coverage for these procedures. California's Department of Managed Health Care, which oversees HMOs, issued letters to seven insurance companies saying refusing to pay for any abortion, whether medically necessary or not, violates the state constitution and a 1975 state law (Seipel, 8/22).

26 Aug 2014

Oregon sues Oracle over failed website

Oregon filed its long-anticipated lawsuit against Oracle America and the company's top executives, blaming them for the state's non-functioning health insurance exchange and saying they lied, breached contracts and engaged in "a pattern of racketeering activity."

25 Aug 2014

First Edition: August 25, 2014

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports on Medicare ratings of nursing homes, the growing demand for home-health aides and accounts of the Obama administration's new contraception coverage rules.

25 Aug 2014

Findings may help policy makers address barriers to access to care

A recent study has found that in states with higher Medicaid payments for office visits, Medicaid beneficiaries were more likely to be screened for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer.

25 Aug 2014

State highlights: Only 1/3 chose Medicaid plan in Fla.; Calif. Prop 46 money

A selection of health policy stories from Florida, Oregon, California, New York, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey.

25 Aug 2014

Religious employers are offered fix on birth control coverage

News outlets report that the regulations, expected to be published later today, will allow religious nonprofits -- and perhaps later religious business owners -- to notify the government that they object to providing contraception coverage. Federal officials would then arrange for the workers' insurance.

25 Aug 2014