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Medicaid official outlines state flexibility in health law's Medicaid expansion

Politico Pro reports that Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official Cindy Mann outlined Monday how states could choose to expand their coverage under the health law and then later drop it if they choose. This is the first time states will be allowed to drop such new coverage. Meanwhile, Modern Healthcare reports on how employers might be impacted if states opt not to expand their Medicaid programs.

8 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Medicaid is key to health law success; OPM weighs changes to FEHB

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that 30 million Americans still will be left without health insurance in 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that largely upheld President Obama's healthcare plan. The part of the plan that was not upheld by the high court, however, contains the key to lowering that number.

8 Aug 2012

Kansas considers disbanding information exchange board; Minn. rebates lower than expected

The board responsible for overseeing the digital exchange of Kansans' health records is scheduled to face Wednesday its biggest decision since it was formed two years ago - whether to dissolve itself and turn its regulatory authority over to a state agency with the goal of saving money. The decision comes at the same time that health information exchange is beginning in Kansas.

8 Aug 2012

Survey: Employers expect health care costs to grow 7 percent next year, ready compliance with health law

A new survey of employer health benefits by the National Business Group on Health has found businesses expect their health care costs to jump 7 percent next year as they comply with new parts of the federal health care reform law. Employers also expect to increase workers' share of health care costs 5 percent, the study found.

8 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 7, 2012

Today's headlines include reports that HCA, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the U.S., is facing scrutiny about the medical necessity of some of the cardiac procedures done at some of its facilities.

7 Aug 2012

Cannabis-based medications prove effective in relieving pain

Cannabis-based medications have been proved to relieve pain. This is the conclusion drawn by Franjo Grotenhermen and Kirsten Müller-Vahl in issue 29-30 of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

7 Aug 2012

Obama campaigning on health law while Romney backs away from the issue

President Obama is focusing on the health care law in his campaign stops, touting its consumer benefits. Democrats -- in their own campaigning -- are embracing the GOP-coined term "Obamacare."

7 Aug 2012

Republicans seek legislative means to insist that individual mandate is not a 'tax'

House GOP lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday in an attempt to get around the high court's recent ruling that the health law is constitutional because its requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty falls within Congress' taxing authority. The proposed legislation says the mandate "shall not be construed as a tax."

7 Aug 2012

Mass. reform increases access to hospital care in vulnerable groups

Healthcare reform providing near-universal insurance coverage in Massachusetts led to increased access to hospital care among vulnerable groups—especially Hispanic and low-income populations, suggests a paper in Medical Care.

7 Aug 2012

Operating health exchanges: Federal officials prepare to take on 'herculean task' in many states

The New York Times reports that Obama administration officials are getting ready to set up and operate health insurance marketplaces in about half the states. Meanwhile, Stateline details how safety net hospitals face new financial worries as a result of the Supreme Court's ruling on the health law's Medicaid expansion.

7 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Mass. at disadvantage in cutting health costs; McDonnell says Va. can point to better way

Massachusetts will be the first state to try to cap overall health care spending, both private and public, so that it will grow no faster than the state economy. The state was able to reach near-universal coverage because the vast majority of its population was already covered by some form of insurance. It also could subsidize coverage for the uninsured using a big pool of money that had been used for charity care. But when it comes to controlling health care costs, Massachusetts has no advantage, and in fact is starting behind most other states.

7 Aug 2012

Underinsured CVD patients die sooner, irrespective of race

Insurance status is a better predictor of survival after a serious cardiac event than race, and may help explain racial disparities in health outcomes for cardiovascular disease. A new study by Derek Ng, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, and his team shows that race is not linked to an increased risk of death but being underinsured is a strong predictor of death among those admitted into hospital with a serious cardiac event.

7 Aug 2012

Roundup: Other states watching Mass. effort to cut costs; Iowa official denies GOP lawmakers' demand on abortion

As Massachusetts launches an aggressive effort to contain health care spending, the rest of the country will be watching. On July 31, lawmakers passed first-in-the-nation legislation pegging healthcare expenditures at or below the state's overall rate of economic growth, a strategy officials estimate could save Massachusetts as much as $200 billion over the next 15 years.

7 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 6, 2012

Today's headlines include a progress a report about health insurance exchanges as well as news from the campaign trail.

6 Aug 2012

Medication reconciliation in hospitals: an interview with Dr. Leonard Feldman

Adverse drug effects are harms caused by the use of a medication. There are many different types of ADEs, including medication errors.

6 Aug 2012

Ariz. delays Medicaid expansion decision, states make other health law implementation news

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer won't say until January if her state will expand Medicaid. In the meantime, advocates worry about whether health care for kids in Texas could be cut.

3 Aug 2012

IRS faces GOP criticism on health care tax credits

During a Capitol Hill hearing Thursday, House Republican lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's ruling allowing qualified individuals to get tax credits to buy health insurance in federal health insurance exchanges.

3 Aug 2012

State roundup: N.Y. law requires coverage for partial mastectomy

New York's newest laws include one that will require health insurance to cover reconstructive surgery after partial mastectomies. Health insurers in New York must already cover the cost of reconstructive surgery after a full mastectomy (8/2).

3 Aug 2012

Longer looks: Mississippi learns from Iran's health care system

Sabrina Seeling seemed too young to die. ... One night she stayed up all night translating a Latin text into English for a college paper. ... During the all-nighter, Ms. Seelig took Ephedra, a stimulant diet drug that had been banned by the Food and Drug Administration three years earlier, and had a few beers. ... When she felt sick, she called Poison Control for help, and spoke very clearly, a recording of the call shows.

3 Aug 2012

Birth control coverage mandate impacts doctors, women, religious groups

Physicians say they -- rather than insurers -- will feel the burden of the rule. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress stay relatively quiet on the requirement, but tensions continue among Catholics and evangelical Protestants.

3 Aug 2012