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Aetna, Glens Falls Hospital announce new multiyear agreement

Glens Falls Hospital and Aetna today announced a new multiyear agreement. Glens Falls will remain an "in-network" provider of care for Aetna members.

19 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: 'Bad idea' about repealing Medicare cost board; Conservatives say health law repeal fight is not over

House Republicans like to talk about the need to find common ground with President Obama to make progress on important national issues, especially after the election. Yet within days, they were setting an agenda to eliminate an important element of his signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

19 Nov 2012

Republicans' decision to forego exchanges will bring in federal option

Bobby Jindal's got a funny way of showing how much he hates Obamacare and Washington bureaucracy: The Louisiana governor's about to invite the feds to set up a health insurance exchange right in his backyard. So is Rick Perry in Texas. Ditto for John Kasich in Ohio. And Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

18 Nov 2012

Research roundup: Talking to patients about end-of-life care

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

17 Nov 2012

Some employers are telling employees to shop around for health insurance

For some American workers, picking the right health insurance is becoming more like hunting for the perfect business suit: It takes some shopping around to find a good fit and avoid sticker shock.

17 Nov 2012

States declare their health exchange intentions

A number of states notified the Department of Health and Human Services how they plan to proceed on the question of setting up an insurance exchange.

17 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: 'Zombie' plans for Medicare; James Baker's grand bargain advice; Conservative govs' choices

America's political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas - beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. ... the most dangerous zombie is probably the claim that rising life expectancy justifies a rise in both the Social Security retirement age and the age of eligibility for Medicare. ... What would happen if we raised the Medicare eligibility age? The federal government would save only a small amount of money, because younger seniors are relatively healthy and hence low-cost.

16 Nov 2012

HHS delays health exchange decision deadline to Dec. 14

The Obama administration announced late Thursday that it was extending the deadline for states to decide whether they would establish and operate these online insurance markets.

16 Nov 2012

Study shows boost in access to screening for breast and cervical cancer

A study by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services indicates that full implementation of the Affordable Care Act would expand health insurance coverage for more low-income women, enabling more than a million women to obtain potentially life-saving screening for breast and cervical cancer.

16 Nov 2012

Employer health costs rise 4.1% -- slowest growth in 15 years

Employer health costs rose just 4.1 percent nationally in 2012 -- the slowest rate of growth in 15 years -- as employers offer more high-deductible plans and increase employee cost-sharing, a new report from consulting firm Mercer has found.

16 Nov 2012

Progress report on health exchanges: Will states, feds be ready?

States face a Friday deadline to indicate whether they plan to establish their own online health insurance markets, or allow the federal government to do it. Meanwhile, debate continues about whether delays in updating essential software and other glitches could delay the start of enrollment in the markets beyond the Oct. 1, 2013 target specified in the health law.

16 Nov 2012

Who's in? Who’s out? Who’s yet to decide?

With the deadline looming, news outlets report on the positions states are taking regarding the establishment of state-based health exchanges.

16 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Obama must tell allies that entitlements can't be excluded from fiscal deal; Medical device tax will thwart innovation

As bipartisan negotiations over avoiding the "fiscal cliff" draw nearer, many of President Obama's core Democratic supporters are urging him to fix the debt through defense cuts and tax increases rather than by tackling Social Security, Medicare and other federal entitlement programs. It's a reprise of progressive resistance to the entitlement trims Mr. Obama contemplated during the abortive debt-reduction negotiations with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) last year.

15 Nov 2012

Survey reveals increase in use of EMRs among U.S. primary care physicians

Two-thirds (69%) of U.S. primary care physicians reported using electronic medical records (EMRs) in 2012, up from less than half (46%) in 2009, according to findings from the 2012 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey, published as a Web First online today in the journal Health Affairs. Primary care physicians in the U.S.-the only country in the study without universal health coverage-stand out in the survey for reporting that their patients often cannot afford care (59%).

15 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 15, 2012

Today's headlines include the latest details on states' decisions about pursuing health exchanges as well as other political and policy developments.

15 Nov 2012

States wrestle with health exchange decisions

Even as state officials decide whether they will set up online insurance markets or allow the Obama administration to do it for them, some wonder if the federal government is up to the task. Decisions about the health law's Medicaid expansion are also on governors' minds.

15 Nov 2012

Roundup: Disparity in states' fiscal health; Ark. Medicaid shortfall threatens care; Mich. Blue Cross pushes to become nonprofit

Factors such as growing unfunded pension liabilities and burgeoning fixed costs related to programs like Medicaid are weighing down weaker states, while stronger states are benefiting from improved business conditions and strong employment growth, he said. A closer look at some specific metrics shows this fiscal disparity.

15 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Voters want Medicare protected in 'grand bargain;' Increases in taxes can't cover the 'fiscal cliff'; Kids' health needs more attention

As the ranking member on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, let me simply state the hard truth. To avoid the fiscal cliff and to get our budget deficit and the national debt under control, we need to do three things simultaneously: cut spending, increase revenue and have the courage to put everything on the table in a responsible, bipartisan manner.

15 Nov 2012

Obesity and dental cavities increase and become epidemic as homeless children age

Obesity and dental cavities increase and become epidemic as children living below the poverty level age, according to nurse researchers from the Case Western Reserve University and the University of Akron.

14 Nov 2012