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First Edition: January 7, 2014

Today's headlines include a range of reports about state developments related to the health law's online marketplaces as well as details regarding the latest Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' figures on health costs.

7 Jan 2014

ObamaCare can be a costly shift for people suffering with obstructive sleep apnea

Health insurance is a fast changing landscape in the United States with the implementation of ObamaCare, also known as The Affordable Health Care Act. Health insurance companies are doing something called cost shifting where the cost of care gets shifted onto the patients. For people who suffer with obstructive sleep apnea, this is can be a costly shift.

7 Jan 2014

No discount threat forces people to choose healthy options at grocery stores

People are more likely to choose healthy options at the grocery store if they use the risk of losing their monthly healthy food discount as a motivational tool, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

7 Jan 2014

Calif. extends payment deadline for new insurance plans; Md. gov. to push emergency legislation for exchange woes

Meanwhile, news outlets also report on state health law implementation action in Minnesota, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

7 Jan 2014

Bunker Vein and Imaging Center starts second location in Round Rock

Bunker Vein and Imaging Center is proud to announce its second location, which opened this month in Round Rock, Texas. Dr. Stephen Bunker and his medical team have been treating patients with varicose veins, spider veins and venous disease for over five years in the Central Austin area.

7 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Rethinking what health insurance should cover; Sen. Johnson suing over congressional health plan; Medicaid's unsung success

The proper role of health insurance should be to finance necessary and expensive medical services without the patient incurring devastating financial consequences. Over the last decade, however, Americans have come to expect their health insurance to subsidize the consumption of all medical care. ... This shift in expectation has meant that health insurance stands out as entirely different from all other types of insurance. Ask yourself: Would you use automobile insurance to buy gasoline? Would you use homeowner insurance to finance painting your house? This wrongheaded view has played an important role in contributing to rapidly rising health care costs (George P. Shultz, Scott W. Atlas and John F. Cogan, 1/5).

7 Jan 2014

Have more people lost health insurance than gained it?

Fact checkers from the Washington Post and FactCheck.Org examine GOP claims about the number of people who have lost coverage -- both in terms of individual and employer-provided coverage -- as a result of the health law.

7 Jan 2014

Wis. Senator suing Obama administration over health law subsidies

Meanwhile, fellow Republicans Sen. Rand Paul and Phil Gingrey also are heavily criticizing the law.

7 Jan 2014

Influenza and pneumococcal vaccines together appear to increase risk of fever in children

Giving young children the influenza and pneumococcal vaccines together appears to increase their risk of fever, according to a study led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the fever was brief, and medical care was sought for few children, supporting the routine immunization schedule for these vaccines, including the recommendation to administer them simultaneously.

6 Jan 2014

Medicaid expansion efforts facing challenges from HealthCare.gov problems

The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News report that some people who would be eligible for this coverage may be falling through the cracks. Meanwhile, Bloomberg examines how access to health care plays out differently in states that pursued the expansion and those that didn't and a look at the difficult issue of people moving between Medicaid and private insurance.

6 Jan 2014

How Obamacare coverage is shaking out

Even with the health law's insurance options, consumers struggling with chronic diseases may still face such high out-of-pocket costs on some plans that they could have trouble staying out of debt, reports the Associated Press. Meanwhile, several major drugstore chains are offering to fill prescriptions for those who enrolled in new health plans but don't have ID numbers yet.

6 Jan 2014

First Edition: January 6, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about how the health law fits into the Capitol Hill agenda for the year ahead.

6 Jan 2014

Viewpoints: Stop 'bailout' of Obamacare; health law not to blame for all insurance woes; 'theft' of Medicare advantage money

Shrinking revenues and rising costs could bring on the "death spiral" - an unbalanced patient pool forcing huge premium increases (to restore revenue) that would further unbalance the patient pool as the young and healthy drop out. End result? Insolvency

6 Jan 2014

Making lists: Parts of the health law to note

A variety of lists detail important provisions of the overhaul and how they might impact the public's feelings about it.

6 Jan 2014

Kentucky Health Cooperative adds more staff to address consumers’ queries related to health insurance

Kentucky Health Cooperative, Inc. is addressing higher call volumes and Kentuckians' interest in enrolling in health plans by extending call center hours and by adding call center staff.

6 Jan 2014

State highlights: Moving Americans out of nursing homes; Kansas to get Medicaid bonus; Va. gov. names mental health task force

For 60 years, Bobbie Jones, 88, had lived in the same Petworth rowhouse where she raised four children -- including one born in an upstairs bedroom -- and became a grandmother to 10 and a great-grandmother to nine. But last year, a stroke and a fall landed her in the hospital and then in a nursing home. In the past, a nursing home might have wound up being where she lived out the rest of her days. But through a new program that helps District residents receive care in their homes and communities, Jones was able to go home. She is among 58 people who have been relocated since the D.C. Office on Aging launched its Nursing Home Transition Program in April (Bahrampour, 1/2).

6 Jan 2014

Who the health law's first wave left behind, and who it embraced

Health law coverage includes how the measure's implementation impacts a variety of different populations, as well as other key policy issues.

6 Jan 2014

State insurance exchanges continue to struggle even after New Year deadline

The Washington Post Fact Checker takes a closer look at the health law enrollment target the Obama administration is now backing away from. In the meantime, many states continue to confront insurance exchange challenges even after the crush of customers looking to get coverage to start in January.

6 Jan 2014

Confusion for people who enrolled in Medicaid on healthcare.gov

Some people who applied early in the open enrollment period may not actually be signed up for the program and may be flummoxed by federal robocalls encouraging them to apply again directly to state agencies. Also, news outlets offer updates from Missouri, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

6 Jan 2014

Justice dept. defends birth control rule

The administration responded to a lawsuit by a group of nuns challenging how the health law exempts them from the rule.

6 Jan 2014

Health Insurance News and Research

First Edition: January 7, 2014

ObamaCare can be a costly shift for people suffering with obstructive sleep apnea

No discount threat forces people to choose healthy options at grocery stores

Calif. extends payment deadline for new insurance plans; Md. gov. to push emergency legislation for exchange woes

Bunker Vein and Imaging Center starts second location in Round Rock

Viewpoints: Rethinking what health insurance should cover; Sen. Johnson suing over congressional health plan; Medicaid's unsung success

Have more people lost health insurance than gained it?

Wis. Senator suing Obama administration over health law subsidies

Influenza and pneumococcal vaccines together appear to increase risk of fever in children

Medicaid expansion efforts facing challenges from HealthCare.gov problems

How Obamacare coverage is shaking out

First Edition: January 6, 2014

Viewpoints: Stop 'bailout' of Obamacare; health law not to blame for all insurance woes; 'theft' of Medicare advantage money

Making lists: Parts of the health law to note

Kentucky Health Cooperative adds more staff to address consumers’ queries related to health insurance

State highlights: Moving Americans out of nursing homes; Kansas to get Medicaid bonus; Va. gov. names mental health task force

Who the health law's first wave left behind, and who it embraced

State insurance exchanges continue to struggle even after New Year deadline

Confusion for people who enrolled in Medicaid on healthcare.gov

Justice dept. defends birth control rule

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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