Health Reform News and Research

RSS

Employers' coalition seeks mandate delay 'clarity'

In addition, the Obama administration's decision to delay the health law's employer mandate is having a ripple effect regarding other initiatives.

7 Aug 2013

In Maine, a first look at rates for health plans available on the exchange

News outlets also report on state efforts to implement the health law's online insurance marketplaces in Connecticut and Hawaii.

7 Aug 2013

Research roundup: Making sense (or not) of health insurance; what a full Medicaid expansion could look like; recession and coverage

Each week, KHN reporter Alvin Tran compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.

3 Aug 2013

Mich. legislative panel moves Medicaid expansion forward

The approval for making at least 320,000 low-income adults eligible for Medicaid sets the stage for a crucial Senate vote later this month.

3 Aug 2013

Tavenner challenges GOP health law claims during Capitol Hill hearing

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Marilyn Tavenner disputed statements by Republican lawmakers that the country's health care reform law is causing workers to lose hours or benefits. The acting head of the Internal Revenue Service also testified.

3 Aug 2013

Health law provision regarding Hill staffers' health insurance triggers debate, action

Under the law, members of Congress and some of their aides may have to pay more for their health coverage and buy it from new online health insurance marketplaces -- a reality that is triggering strong reactions on Capitol Hill.

2 Aug 2013

For states working on health law implementation, 'churn' is a matter of concern

California Healthline reports on how life events can cause individuals' incomes to change enough that it will also impact whether they qualify for subsidies to shop for insurance on the state's health exchange, or whether they should apply for Medicaid. It's an issue on which states are beginning to focus.

2 Aug 2013

Georgia seeks 'emergency delay' for approving health exchanges' proposed rates

The state insurance commissioner cited "massive rate increases" in the proposals from seven insurers seeking to do business on these online insurance marketplaces.

1 Aug 2013

CBO: Administration's employer mandate delay estimated to cost $12 billion

The amount represents lost tax revenue and additional costs. The Congressional Budget Office also noted that about one million fewer people will get insurance from their employers in 2014 than they would have if the mandate had been implemented.

1 Aug 2013

Push to defund health law triggering fault lines among Republicans

The effort is gaining momentum among tea-party supporters and their Capitol Hill advocates, but some moderate GOP senators are taking a very different view.

1 Aug 2013

Huge hospital merger in the works

If approved, Community Health Systems will buy Health Management Associates, resulting in a chain of 206 for-profit hospitals.

1 Aug 2013

Lawmakers' aides fret over requirement to buy Obamacare coverage

The New York Times explores how congressional staffs are anxious about a health law provision requiring them to buy coverage in online insurance markets because the federal government may no longer pay a share of their premiums.

31 Jul 2013

This week on Capitol Hill: Repeal vote number 40

The House of Representatives will consider a bill that would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from implementing the law. Specifically, it states that neither the Treasury secretary nor any designee of the Treasury secretary may implement any part of the Affordable Care Act.

30 Jul 2013

Effort to defund health law complicates budget talks

The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama administration officials are stepping up meetings with Senate Republicans in hopes of avoiding a deadline clash over federal spending this fall. One of the flashpoints is the Republican demand to defund Obamacare as part of any deal.

30 Jul 2013

Maryland regulators approve premium rates much lower than insurers sought

The Maryland insurance commissioner Therese M. Goldsmith approved premium increases Friday for nine insurance companies who applied to sell plans to individuals through a state exchange, which was established by the health law.

30 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: Doctors' sway over Medicare pay; hospital rankings not all they seem; legal immigrants' health needs overlooked

Reporters Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating have opened Post readers' eyes to the fact that Medicare pays for physician services - a $69.6 billion item in 2012 - according to an arcane and little-known price list, over which doctors themselves exercise considerable and less-than-totally-transparent influence (7/24).

26 Jul 2013

Success of health law's exchanges rides on young people

Interviews here with more than two dozen single workers of modest income between 24 and 31 years old suggest that insurance plans will be a hard sell. Subsidies for 26-year-old workers range from $118 a month for someone earning under $16,000 to less than $1 a month for one earning $26,500, according to an analysis of insurance data (Weaver and Radnofsky, 7/25).

26 Jul 2013

Viewpoints: Indian health service takes big cuts; labor 'mutiny' over health law; Gov. Jindal says Medicaid expansion would have moved privately insured to Medicaid

It's an old American story: malign policies hatched in Washington leading to pain and death in Indian country. It was true in the 19th century. It is true now, at a time when Congress, heedless of its solemn treaty obligations to Indian tribes, is allowing the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester to threaten the health, safety and education of Indians across the nation.

25 Jul 2013

Michelle Obama seeks Latino activists' assistance with insurance enrollment

Speaking Tuesday to the National Council of La Raza, the first lady urged the organization's members to encourage their friends and families to enroll in new coverage options.

25 Jul 2013

Polls: Most don't support health law repeal; doctors, too, are uninformed

A majority of Americans don't want Congress to repeal the health law but believe its implementation is going poorly, according to a United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll. Meanwhile, a survey of physicians concludes they are unfamiliar with how the overhaul will work.

24 Jul 2013