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State roundup: Mass. small biz co-ops start, Miss. Medicaid changes, R.I. hospital overbilling Medicare

Thousands of small businesses will be offered discounts of at least 20 percent on health insurance rates under a new group purchasing cooperative, formed by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, that will begin enrolling members this week. The co-op is the first permitted to do business under a 2010 Massachusetts law that allows small employers to band together in large groups and negotiate for better-priced health coverage.

14 Feb 2012

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

New York's charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals' pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota.

14 Feb 2012

Despite contraception compromise, Catholic bishops, Congressional Republicans vow to continue fight

At Masses across the country Sunday, Roman Catholic priests blasted the Obama administration's compromise on contraceptive insurance coverage, a sign the White House's backtrack late last week did little to defuse the controversy. The new policy requires religious employers such as universities and charities to cover contraception in employee health plans but shifts the responsibility for paying for it away from the employer and on to its health-insurance provider. Previously, the administration had required all employers apart from churches to cover contraception in their employee-insurance plans.

14 Feb 2012

State roundup: Health law implementation in Alaska, Calif., mental health funding challenges, Miami's heart attack network

Alaska is one of several states suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act -- President Obama's health care overhaul. But behind the scenes, state agencies are quietly working on implementing various requirements in the law. One of those requirements is an exchange, which will work kind of like Expedia, but for health insurance plans. While the state studies its options, a bill moving through the legislature would also establish an exchange.

13 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Contraception as Obama's 'gospel'; The right balance? Freedom at risk?; Examining Medicaid mandate

These guidelines, which increase access to contraceptive services for women while upholding the religious liberty of churches, mosques and synagogues, strike the proper balance between respecting the religious beliefs of all Americans and protecting the health of American women and families. They will reduce health costs, end long-standing gender discrimination in prescription drug coverage and further enable women to lead healthier lives.

13 Feb 2012

State roundup: Iowa ponders HPV awareness program; Md. workers will see pharmacy plan change; Mass. changes saving money for cities

Iowa's health department would launch a $250,000 public awareness program about the human papillomavirus vaccine under a bill approved today by a Senate subcommittee. ... Senate Study Bill 3097 would allocate $250,000 for the program, which includes vaccinations for low-income women between the ages 19 and 26 who have no other health coverage. The bill was approved today by a Senate Human Resources subcommittee and now heads to the full committee for further consideration.

10 Feb 2012

Insurers shift more costs to patients; Washington state insurance commissioner wants to consider surpluses in rate increases

More insurers are shifting a growing amount of the cost of providing care to patients, Kaiser Health News reports. In other insurer news, UnitedHealth will overhaul how it pays doctors, and Washington's state insurance commissioner is asking for permission to consider insurer surpluses when mulling proposed insurance rate increases.

9 Feb 2012

Roundup: State legislatures consider nursing home, insurance exchange bills

Even as Massachusetts business and government leaders celebrate the most modest premium rate hikes in years for small employers and individuals, speakers at a health insurance seminar here yesterday warned that the main trend restraining bigger increases - fewer people seeking health care in the past year - already may be changing.

9 Feb 2012

Washington state's Medicaid program will no longer pay for unnecessary ER visits

Washington state's Medicaid program will no longer pay for ER visits deemed medically unnecessary. Elsewhere, Illinois' governor will propose $2 billion in Medicaid cuts, and fallout continues over controversial proposals to reform California's Medicaid Medi-Cal program.

9 Feb 2012

Obama administration rejects Calif. Medicaid co-pay proposal

The Obama administration said "no" Monday to a California proposal designed to help close a budget gap. Elsewhere, Texas is planning a change to how it pays for charity care in its Medicaid program.

8 Feb 2012

State roundup: Legislatures, govs juggling costs and health programs

Medicaid spending is a matter of urgency almost everywhere in the country right now, but in few places is the urgency as palpable as it is here, where the governor refers to the federal-state health insurance program for the poor as "welfare," says it's necessary to eliminate coverage for 65,000 adults, and wants to stop paying room and board for some 2,000 elders who live in group homes. All these ideas are part of Republican Governor Paul LePage's plan to close a $220 million hole in the state's biennial Medicaid budget.

7 Feb 2012

Insurance news: Sen. Feinstein supports state review of rate increases; Anthem plans in Colo. and Conn. to pay extra for coordinated care

Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced she is supporting a ballot measure to give California regulators the power to approve health insurance rates. In other news, Blue Shield in California says it will cover an autism behavioral therapy and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Colorado and Connecticut announce plans to pay doctors for coordinating care.

3 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Debt estimates and Medicare plans; Sen. McConnell on fate of health law

Debt projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office illustrate three fiscal paths: dangerous, dumb and smart. ... President Obama has called for a balanced solution but has neither proposed serious tax reform nor adequately outlined the ways in which he would get entitlement spending, particularly Medicare, under control. The position of most Republicans, on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress, is wildly less responsible.

2 Feb 2012

States roundup: 'Cost-conscious' coverage in Mass.; Health exchange planning to Gov. in Minn.; Kansas judges gave to anti-abortion PAC

In just three years, a new way of paying for medical care has spread rapidly across Massachusetts, and now more than 1.2 million people are covered by plans that put providers on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.

30 Jan 2012

Single-payer bill fails in California Senate

A single-payer health plan failed by two votes in the California State Senate Thursday.

30 Jan 2012

Roundup: Problems outlined at Parkland hospital in Dallas; Mass. closing a mental hospital; Adult day care in Calif.

The Department of Mental Health plans to close Taunton State Hospital, one of the six state-run psychiatric hospitals in Massachusetts by the end of this year. The move is part of a plan to redistribute the placement of patients with chronic and severe mental illness as a large new state hospital opens in Worcester this summer.

27 Jan 2012

Society of Toxicology 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo to be held March 11-15

More than 7,000 toxicologists from every corner of the globe are expected to attend the Society of Toxicology (SOT) 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo-, which will highlight toxicology's crucial role in creating a safer and healthier world. The five-day meeting will take place at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from March 11-15, 2012.

25 Jan 2012

Boston Children's, Blue Cross reach deal to curb payments; Jackson hospital, University of Miami working on better ties

Children's Hospital Boston has agreed to a three-year contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that will not pay Children's any more money this year, offering fresh evidence that the clamor to contain health costs is having an effect. In the second and third years of the pact, the hospital will be reimbursed by Blue Cross Blue Shield at a rate neither party would specify, but both said it was below the current 3 percent rate of medical inflation.

24 Jan 2012

State news: Rate hikes approved in Mass., Va. families still wait for autism coverage, health IT booming

State regulators have approved premium increases averaging 2.3 percent for health insurance covering hundreds of thousands of residents, the most modest hikes in at least a decade and a sign that years of efforts to control costs may be working. The new rates are in Massachusetts' "small group'' market, which includes tens of thousands of small businesses as well as self-employed and formerly uninsured individuals.

24 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Health care is a civil right; A Medicare strategy based on Lenin

Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is one of progress toward a better life for every American, including equal opportunity in voting, housing, education, and employment. Reflecting on his legacy also means recognizing the steps we must take to address the inequalities that persist. Many of these involve health care. Poor and minority Americans suffer from more preventable diseases on average, lower-quality care, fewer treatment options, and less health insurance coverage.

18 Jan 2012

Bee News and Research

State roundup: Mass. small biz co-ops start, Miss. Medicaid changes, R.I. hospital overbilling Medicare

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

Despite contraception compromise, Catholic bishops, Congressional Republicans vow to continue fight

State roundup: Health law implementation in Alaska, Calif., mental health funding challenges, Miami's heart attack network

Viewpoints: Contraception as Obama's 'gospel'; The right balance? Freedom at risk?; Examining Medicaid mandate

State roundup: Iowa ponders HPV awareness program; Md. workers will see pharmacy plan change; Mass. changes saving money for cities

Insurers shift more costs to patients; Washington state insurance commissioner wants to consider surpluses in rate increases

Roundup: State legislatures consider nursing home, insurance exchange bills

Washington state's Medicaid program will no longer pay for unnecessary ER visits

Obama administration rejects Calif. Medicaid co-pay proposal

State roundup: Legislatures, govs juggling costs and health programs

Insurance news: Sen. Feinstein supports state review of rate increases; Anthem plans in Colo. and Conn. to pay extra for coordinated care

Viewpoints: Debt estimates and Medicare plans; Sen. McConnell on fate of health law

States roundup: 'Cost-conscious' coverage in Mass.; Health exchange planning to Gov. in Minn.; Kansas judges gave to anti-abortion PAC

Single-payer bill fails in California Senate

Roundup: Problems outlined at Parkland hospital in Dallas; Mass. closing a mental hospital; Adult day care in Calif.

Society of Toxicology 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo to be held March 11-15

Boston Children's, Blue Cross reach deal to curb payments; Jackson hospital, University of Miami working on better ties

State news: Rate hikes approved in Mass., Va. families still wait for autism coverage, health IT booming

Viewpoints: Health care is a civil right; A Medicare strategy based on Lenin

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