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Five questions about the government's new health insurance website

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz provides some key details relating to this new way to shop for health insurance coverage (Galewitz, 7/1).

2 Jul 2010

Small business says 10 percent tanning tax that starts today is overcooked

As of July 1, tanning salons have to charge customers a 10 percent tax on their services to help pay for part of the new health reform law and that requirement has attracted the howls of small business, NPR reports. "Tanning salon owners are outraged. They say the new tax is the last thing they need in a struggling economy.

2 Jul 2010

HHS launches website to provide consumers with public, private health coverage options

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today unveiled an innovative new on-line tool that will help consumers take control of their health care by connecting them to new information and resources that will help them access quality, affordable health care coverage. Called for by the Affordable Care Act, HealthCare.gov is the first website to provide consumers with both public and private health coverage options tailored specifically for their needs in a single, easy-to-use tool.

2 Jul 2010

Medicare weighs cost, benefit of covering Dendreon's Provenge for prostate cancer

The announcement that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would do this analysis "was the latest hurdle in Dendreon's push to get its Provenge treatment used. If the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services covers Provenge, that would increase the number of patients eligible and likely force private insurers to do the same.

2 Jul 2010

House Subcommittee approves $52.7B FY11 Foreign Ops appropriations bill

The Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs approved a $52.7 billion FY 2011 spending bill on Wednesday that withheld $3.9 billion in aid for Afghanistan over concerns about corruption in the country, CongressDaily reports. The bill "already cut $4 billion from President Obama's request to fund the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and dozens of foreign assistance and cooperation programs," the publication writes.

2 Jul 2010

Pay-for-performance program may cause inequalities among healthcare providers

Pay-for-performance is an increasingly popular approach to improving health care quality. But the planned nationwide implementation of institutional bonuses mandated under federal health care reform threatens to act as a "reverse Robin Hood," potentially causing hospitals in less-advantaged regions to lose funds to health care facilities in more affluent areas of the country, according to a study published in the academic journal PLoS Medicine.

2 Jul 2010

Anthem submits new insurance rate plan in Calif. after earlier effort rebuffed

The Los Angeles Times: "Embattled health insurer Anthem Blue Cross is reviving its plan to raise rates for tens of thousands of California policyholders, some of whom could see their premiums rise as much as 20%. California's largest for-profit insurer submitted new rates Wednesday amid pressure to scale back increases of as much as 39% that had provoked fury from consumers, lawmakers and even President Obama" and helped revive the effort to pass a national health care law.

2 Jul 2010

National debt will continue to surge, CBO predicts, while experts increase scrutiny of health care costs

The Washington Post: "In its latest long-term forecast, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that the national debt, which has surged to nearly 60 percent of annual economic output in the wake of the recession, would continue rising in the coming decades despite cost-containment measures in the health overhaul Obama signed this spring.

2 Jul 2010

Haitian President rejects U.S. Senate's recommendations for upcoming elections

A day after Haitian President Rene Preval signed a decree authorizing a date for November elections, he rebuffed other recommendations issued by the U.S. Senate, which include "holding an election for his successor, brushing off criticism that the current process will leave the shattered country without a credible leader," the Associated Press reports.

2 Jul 2010

Medical groups back medicare nominee Berwick

About 90 groups, including medical societies, patient and employer groups, all backed the nomination of Donald Berwick, a physician and health care quality advocate, to lead the federal Medicare agency.

2 Jul 2010

Virginia Lawsuit: Federal health reform law faces initial consitutional test

District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson said Thursday that "he will decide whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care law within 30 days, providing an initial legal test in the landmark suit."

2 Jul 2010

Blacks often diagnosed with advanced cancer, more likely to have other underlying health problems

Black people with cancer are up to twice as likely as other races to die from their disease. While disparities exist for nearly every common cancer type, the largest differences occur among cancers that benefit most from treatment -- suggesting that black patients are not getting needed lifesaving treatments, according to a review from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

2 Jul 2010

Unemployment will run out for 1.3 million as GOP again blocks jobless bill

The Associated Press: Slightly more than 1.3 million people won't get unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on its July 4th recess and an "additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their benefits each week, unless Congress acts."

2 Jul 2010

AP reports on how newly approved meningitis vaccine could 'revolutionalize' prevention of disease in Africa

The WHO's recent prequalification approval of a low-cost meningitis vaccine could "help prevent epidemics in Africa for the first time, revolutionizing how doctors fight outbreaks of the deadly disease," the Associated Press reports.

2 Jul 2010

Federal government launches new health insurance website

NPR reports that the website, which was mandated in the new health reform law, is meant to guide consumers through the process of securing health insurance.

2 Jul 2010

HHS grants $96M to increase diversity in health workforce

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the awarding of $96 million in grants to increase diversity in the health professions workforce and encourage nurses to choose careers as nurse educators.

2 Jul 2010

States worry they may not receive expected Medicaid money, prepare contigency plans

The Boston Globe: "Governor Deval Patrick signed a $27.6 billion spending plan yesterday for the budget year that begins today, slashing funding for services across state government, including public education, dental care for the poor, and developmental services for toddlers.

2 Jul 2010

Healthy diet can reduce age-related eye problems

While 20/20 vision is a symbol of visual acuity, between now and the year 2020, more and more people will experience some extent of vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other sight-robbing diseases.

2 Jul 2010

Governors urge Congress to extend emergency Medicaid funds

At a press conference in Washington Wednesday, "10 governors said they had already cut millions from their budgets since the recession hit at the end of 2007, and that if the funds were not approved in coming weeks they would have to slash funding for services like hospice care or preschool programs," Reuters reports.

2 Jul 2010

High-risk insurance pools open to people 'locked out' of market

People who have been unable to obtain health insurance in the commercial market because of pre-existing conditions can apply for a new, federally funded high-risk insurance pool beginning Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The program is the first major plank of the health overhaul signed into law in March, and it's designed as a temporary provision to expand coverage until 2014, when a requirement kicks in that insurers accept all applicants."

2 Jul 2010