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Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics supports new cardiovascular guidelines

The reality of existing insurance coverage precludes effective implementation of four newly released cardiovascular guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The Academy supports the new guidelines and urges public and private insurance carriers to follow the recommendations so that Americans will have access to health care they deserve.

18 Nov 2013

Health insurers leery about 'fix' to Obamacare woes

Top insurance industry executives met with the president on Friday and two spoke this morning, saying the rules change could create "problems."

18 Nov 2013

Democrats facing political fallout from Obamacare's woes

News outlets covered the fallout from Friday's House of Representatives vote to allow insurers to renew plans that do not comply with the health law.

18 Nov 2013

California exchange certified Health Insurance Agents are ready and willing to assist policyholders

President Obama announced yesterday that he is requesting insurance carriers, who have provided cancellation notices to individual and family policyholders, to allow these policyholders to continue their existing policies throughout 2014.

16 Nov 2013

Lawmakers stake out positions on President's plan, pursue legislative steps

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, signaled his intent to bring a bill by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., to the floor for a vote. Republican leaders expect the bill, which is viewed by the administration as an effort to undo the health law, to pass easily on a largely party-line vote.

16 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: 'Nation takes stock' of Obama and his health law; Noonan says now is time to hold back Obamacare; Obama needs to be resolute

President Obama has come up with a modest fix for a self-inflicted political wound: his repeated - and wrong - assertions that Americans would be able to keep their health insurance plans if they wanted to under the health care reform law (11/14).

16 Nov 2013

Obama moves to extend some canceled insurance plans, but will everyone go along?

President Obama's one-year plan to allow insurers to keep Americans on plans previously canceled under the health law's new standards faces several questions in implementation: Will insurers, customers and state regulators will go along? Also, The Wall Street Journal reports that the move could pave the way for the insurance plans to be extended beyond 2014.

16 Nov 2013

States consider what Obama's canceled plan request means for them

The president's plan to allow insurers to extend canceled health plans through 2014 has state regulators trying to work through the details about how this will affect insurers and the health law's marketplaces in their states. In California, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has asked insurers and marketplace officials to comply with the president's request.

16 Nov 2013

Obama's plan puts onus on insurers

Insurance executives say they were caught off guard by the White House decision to allow them to revive canceled policies and many are worried about how to make it work.

16 Nov 2013

Medicaid enrollment progresses under health overhaul

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants to delay his plan to move more than 70,000 people off Medicaid because the health law online marketplaces are not working well enough yet.

16 Nov 2013

Consumers beware: Cheaper insurance policies mean higher deductibles

Bloomberg News reports that consumers buying cheap insurance in the new health insurance marketplaces may face sticker shock if they get sick next year because of deductibles that can top $6,000 a person.

16 Nov 2013

California shuts down 10 sites imitating state insurance marketplace

The California attorney general said her office shuttered 10 websites that had mimicked the state's official health insurance exchange "in order to lure consumers away from plans that provide the benefits of the Affordable Care Act."

16 Nov 2013

Study: Collaborative approaches can be effective in fighting high blood pressure

Uncontrolled high blood pressure rates continue to grow despite the availability of proven treatments, but collaborative approaches can be effective in fighting this deadly disease, according to a science advisory from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

16 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 15, 2013

Today's headlines include range of stories examining the policy, marketplace and political dynamics in play as a result of President Barack Obama's move to stop the cancellation of insurance plans.

15 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Despite website woes, administration should be given more time; health law credibility 'going up in smoke'

The enrollment numbers are in, and as expected, they are well short of projections. Around 106,000 enrolled in new plans during October - with approximately 27,000 coming from states where the federal government is running the exchange (with its extensive problems), and another 79,000 coming through the state exchanges. Republicans are gleefully pointing to the numbers as proof Obamacare needs to be scrapped entirely. That confirms two things we've long known to be true: the website is a disaster, and short term enrollment figures are a serious political problem for the White House and Democrats (Greg Sargent, 11/13).

15 Nov 2013