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Analyzing businesses' benefit decisions -- is Obamacare really to blame?

News outlets explore whether employer decisions are the result of the health law or part of long-term trends, as well as how agricultural businesses are preparing for the employer mandate, now delayed until 2015.

22 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Did Sen. Cruz get early benefits from Canadian health care?; Medicaid expansion won't work if doctors don't accept patients

Quite without realizing it, apparently, the location of Cruz's birth automatically made him a citizen of our socialist (in healthcare, at least) neighbor to the north. Did his mother receive excellent free medical care under Canada's single-payer healthcare system when her baby was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1970? Did little Ted, who moved back to the United States with his Cuban-born father and American-born mother when he was 4, get free vaccinations and pediatric care from his Canadian doctors? We'll probably never know (Robin Abcarian, 8/20).

22 Aug 2013

State insurance exchanges go for flashy (or not) branding

New York named its health exchange, complete with new logo and ad. In Idaho, the GOP governor, a vocal opponent of the health law, lauds his state's insurance marketplace. Meanwhile, Florida officials express concerns about the federal exchange's "navigator" concept.

22 Aug 2013

State highlights: Judge nullifies 2011 Brooklyn hospital deal

A selection of health policy stories from New York, California, Alaska, Georgia and Texas.

22 Aug 2013

Survey: Premium costs increase slightly but wages don't keep pace

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey concluded that, for the second year in a row, employer-provided insurance costs went up only moderately in 2012. But employee wages still didn't keep pace.

22 Aug 2013

Virginia's Medicaid panel meets, but covers little new ground

During a Monday planning meeting, a Virginia Medicaid policymaking panel examined what other states are doing in terms of expanding the program. Hundreds of conservative activists who oppose this health law provision rallied at the state capitol.

21 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Republican patient takes GOP health message to task; the deadlines the administration has missed

In recent months, President Obama and his subordinates have waived or delayed a number of Obamacare's notable features, such as the law's employer mandate, and its procedures for protecting taxpayers from fraud and identity theft.

21 Aug 2013

Selling the idea of health insurance to 'young invincibles'

The Obama administration is launching a national video contest designed to convince young people to sign up for coverage, spending $30,000 on prizes to draw the YouTube generation.

21 Aug 2013

Sebelius urges Texas leaders to pitch plan to cover poor

Speaking in Texas, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said it was up to state leaders to propose alternative ways to expand health coverage to the poor.

21 Aug 2013

Implementation of large-scale hypertension program linked with doubling of hypertension control rates

Implementation of a large-scale hypertension program that included evidence-based guidelines and development and sharing of performance metrics was associated with a near-doubling of hypertension control between 2001 and 2009, compared to only modest improvements in state and national control rates, according to a study in the August 21 issue of JAMA.

21 Aug 2013

More states release prices for Obamacare plans

The Associated Press reports that Montana released monthly premiums for health insurance plans that will be sold on that state's exchange while the Connecticut Mirror reports on rates in that state and how the exchange will enable consumers to comparison shop.

21 Aug 2013

Nearly 8M young adults enrolled in parent's health plan gain coverage under Affordable Care Act

An estimated 7.8 million of the 15 million young adults who were enrolled in a parent's health plan last year likely would not have been eligible for this coverage without the health reform law's dependent coverage provision, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey.

21 Aug 2013

GAO: Postal health plan could add to retired workers' costs, impact Medicare

The proposal to opt out of the federal health plan would save billions of dollars but could bring uncertainties for employees.

21 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: GOP trapped between angry base and reality of health law; small businesses 'scrambling;' competing views of Medicaid expansion in Va.

Recent political reporting suggests that Republican leaders are in a state of high anxiety, trapped between an angry base that still views Obamacare as the moral equivalent of slavery and the reality that health reform is the law of the land and is going to happen (Paul Krugman, 8/18).

20 Aug 2013

Insurers seek clarity on who's responsible if consumers who receive subsidies don't pay their share

Insurance officials are asking the Obama administration to make clear who is responsible financially if people who get federal subsidies to buy health insurance don't pay their premiums.

20 Aug 2013

Rates released for Colorado's online insurance marketplace; MNsure launches Paul Bunyan ad campaign

The Wall Street Journal explains to readers about the two types of health exchanges - run either by the state or federal government - which are scheduled to begin operating on Oct. 1. Other news outlets report on developments regarding these marketplaces in Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia.

20 Aug 2013

Full-time workers more likely to get kidney transplants

People in end-stage kidney failure in need of a kidney transplant are much less likely to be placed on a waiting list for a new kidney or to actually receive a new kidney once on the list if they are unemployed or work part time, according to new collaborative research from the University of New Hampshire.

20 Aug 2013

With Medicaid expansion, some people will be newly eligible while others will move to health exchanges

News outlets examine how the Medicaid expansion and other health law changes might reshape the program in various locations across the country.

20 Aug 2013

Obama scolds GOP for efforts to 'gum up' the health law

In his Saturday address, the president says if Republicans continue to work to undermine the overhaul, they will be doing a disservice to their constituents. But Republican Rep. Capito warns health law is not working and calls for an implementation delay.

20 Aug 2013

Health law critics raise privacy concerns about navigator program

Some state attorneys general say the plans for hiring and training navigators don't have enough consumer safeguards.

20 Aug 2013

Health Insurance News and Research

Analyzing businesses' benefit decisions -- is Obamacare really to blame?

Viewpoints: Did Sen. Cruz get early benefits from Canadian health care?; Medicaid expansion won't work if doctors don't accept patients

State insurance exchanges go for flashy (or not) branding

State highlights: Judge nullifies 2011 Brooklyn hospital deal

Survey: Premium costs increase slightly but wages don't keep pace

Virginia's Medicaid panel meets, but covers little new ground

Viewpoints: Republican patient takes GOP health message to task; the deadlines the administration has missed

Selling the idea of health insurance to 'young invincibles'

Sebelius urges Texas leaders to pitch plan to cover poor

Implementation of large-scale hypertension program linked with doubling of hypertension control rates

More states release prices for Obamacare plans

Nearly 8M young adults enrolled in parent's health plan gain coverage under Affordable Care Act

GAO: Postal health plan could add to retired workers' costs, impact Medicare

Viewpoints: GOP trapped between angry base and reality of health law; small businesses 'scrambling;' competing views of Medicaid expansion in Va.

Insurers seek clarity on who's responsible if consumers who receive subsidies don't pay their share

Rates released for Colorado's online insurance marketplace; MNsure launches Paul Bunyan ad campaign

Full-time workers more likely to get kidney transplants

With Medicaid expansion, some people will be newly eligible while others will move to health exchanges

Obama scolds GOP for efforts to 'gum up' the health law

Health law critics raise privacy concerns about navigator program

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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