Birth Control News and Research

RSS

First Edition: July 24, 2014

Today's headlines include more analysis of this week's conflicting appeals courts' decisions regarding a key part of the health law.

24 Jul 2014

Questions abound as two appeals courts split on legality of health law subsidies

Two U.S. courts of appeals reached different decisions regarding the issue of whether the health law's subsidies can be used by consumers shopping for health coverage on the federal exchange, because their states opted against setting up their own online insurance marketplace.

24 Jul 2014

Contraception accommodation for religious groups to be broadened

The Obama administration said Tuesday it will create a new option for certain religious nonprofits that object to the health law's contraception mandate and which does not entail submitting a form that they say also violates their religious beliefs.

24 Jul 2014

First Edition: July 23, 2014

Today's headlines include coverage and analysis of yesterday's conflicting legal decisions regarding the health law.

23 Jul 2014

First Edition: July, 21, 2014

Today's headlines include a story about an effort by regulators to widen insurer networks, as well as a range of other health policy developments.

21 Jul 2014

New York officials take steps in response to Supreme Court contraceptive coverage decision

Officials make a change in the state's Medicaid program and legislation is proposed in the state Senate.

21 Jul 2014

Companies dropping birth control coverage must tell workers

Closely held companies that drop insurance coverage of birth control for religious reasons have 60 days to inform their employees, the administration said Thursday. The rule follows the Supreme Court's decision allowing some companies to opt out of the federal health law's mandate.

21 Jul 2014

Viewpoints: GOP's 'cynical' lawsuit against Obama; debt crisis is not over

There's not much that Republicans like about the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but one thing they particularly dislike is the requirement that employers with 50 or more full-time workers provide comprehensive health insurance.

18 Jul 2014

Senate Democrats fail to reverse Hobby Lobby decision

The bill, which would have restored employers' mandate to provide birth control to women, did not garner the necessary 60 votes. Republicans argued Democrats were using the issue to gain advantages in the midterm campaign.

18 Jul 2014

First Edition: July 17, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about how Capitol Hill politics are impacting health care policy. Houston Public Media's Carrie Feibel, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "Primary care doctors have reported problems making referrals for patients who have purchased some of the cheaper plans from the federal insurance marketplace.

17 Jul 2014

Senate Dems aim to reverse Hobby Lobby decision, undermine state abortion restrictions

Democrats have scheduled a Senate vote Wednesday on legislation offered to respond to the Supreme Court's recent ruling. And, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about another measure that would void some state abortion restrictions.

17 Jul 2014

Viewpoints: Lower health spending is welcome news; media bias against health law success

The last few years have seen a puzzling and welcome new trend in health care spending: Instead of going up and up, increases have slowed way down.

17 Jul 2014

First Edition: July 16, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about the Congressional Budget Office's latest estimate on federal health care spending.

16 Jul 2014

States grapple with mental illness issues; Oregon moves closer to limiting Medicaid patients' access to new hepatitis C drugs

The numbers, posted daily on the Cook County sheriff's website, would be alarming at an urgent care clinic, let alone a jail: On a Wednesday, 36 percent of all new arrivals report having a mental illness. On a Friday, it's 54 percent. But inside the razor wire framing the 96-acre compound, the faces and voices of the newly arrested confirm its accidental role as Chicago's treatment center of last resort for people with serious mental illnesses (Geller, 7/14).

16 Jul 2014

Fact checker finds Dems' rhetoric on Hobby Lobby decision overheated

The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler says in some cases the responses from Democrats "has gotten way ahead of the facts." Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says the House Republicans push to sue President Barack Obama has no legal merit.

15 Jul 2014

First Edition: July 15, 2014

Today's headlines include news about how some states are planning to address their backlogs of new Medicaid enrollees.

15 Jul 2014

Dozens of religious groups refuse to sign contraceptive opt-out form

The two-page form, designed to accommodate religious beliefs, is regarded as an untenable compromise by some religious employers, reports The New York Times. Meanwhile, GOP governors see little fallout from the Supreme Court's contraceptive coverage decision and a poll shows growing Republican support for the court.

14 Jul 2014

First Edition: July 14, 2014

Today's headlines include coverage of Medicare, the health law and veterans' care policy issues as well as reports from the campaign trail.

14 Jul 2014

Viewpoints: Parsing newest reports of coverage gains; 'scientific fraudsters'

It will take a while to understand fully how the Affordable Care Act affects the quality of health care and access to doctors in this country.

14 Jul 2014

Viewpoints: Turning to new legal challenges to ACA; is the law working?; Medicaid problems in N.C.

The Supreme Court's term ended in June with another Affordable Care Act ruling, and the ACA survived largely unscathed. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby has important ramifications for women's health and religious freedom but does not invalidate a single section of the law.

11 Jul 2014