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First Edition: August 3, 2012

Today's headlines include reports on a Capitol Hill hearing during which House GOP lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's health care subsidy ruling.

3 Aug 2012

Medicare officials seek more time to estimate cost of fixing card security issues

A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, said it would take six more months to figure out this cost and that he could not yet provide a timetable for removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards.

3 Aug 2012

Mass. legislature approves bill to curb rise in health costs

The plan ties health spending increases to overall economic growth and encourages more coordinated care.

2 Aug 2012

Health law's medical-loss ratio and birth control coverage requirements kick in today

Aug. 1 marks the deadline for insurers to refund consumers and employers if they didn't spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care. Another provision takes effect requiring most employers to include contraceptive and other women's health services without copays in the insurance plans they offer workers.

2 Aug 2012

State Medicaid expansion: Consequences for coverage, death rate and bottom lines

States consider what myriad of consequences a Medicaid expansion could have. In Florida, a new study has leaders wondering how many lives could be saved by expansion. Meanwhile, as many as 182,000 Iowans could gain coverage under the plan. Also, Georgia considers cuts to the program.

2 Aug 2012

Roundup: Investors not shaken by accretive decision in Minn.; Conn. state abortion coverage conflicts with federal regs

Accretive Health got off pretty easy -- at least according to some on Wall Street. The $2.5 million that the Chicago-based firm must pay Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson is "relatively immaterial," wrote analysts from Credit Suisse on Tuesday, July 31, as they sized up the settlement announced between the parties.

2 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney praises Israeli health care system -- which has an individual mandate; Sebelius and Pelosi hail launch of women's preventive care provisions

At a breakfast fundraiser in Jerusalem on Monday, (Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) had nothing but nice things to say about our ally. But in flattering Israel, he raised more doubts about his political abilities. ... he also praised Israel's health care system. "Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel?" he asked.

2 Aug 2012

People with diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia have difficultly managing all 3 conditions

Most people who have diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol have difficultly managing all three conditions; indeed, success is fleeting for those who do manage all three, according to a Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research study that appears online in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

1 Aug 2012

In response to increasing Medicare costs Humana reduces 2012 forecast

Humana Inc., the second-biggest provider of Medicare benefits, cut its 2012 profit forecast as enrollees in the U.S. health insurance program visited the doctor in higher numbers than the company expected.

1 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 1, 2012

WBUR's Martha Bebinger, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "The Massachusetts Legislature Tuesday passed the next phase of its ongoing attempt to reform the health care system: sweeping cost control legislation. Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, hailed the lawmakers' work saying, 'This is more than a good bill, a great bill.'"

1 Aug 2012

How the Republicans might reshape Medicaid if they win the White House and Congress

The Los Angeles Times reports on how the GOP is readying a push to scale back the health insurance program for the poor if it takes control of the White House and Congress next year. Meanwhile, the insurance industry is paying $1.1 billion in rebates to consumers under the health care law, and eying congressional efforts to overhaul the tax code next year as its best chance to roll back a new health insurance tax.

1 Aug 2012

Poll: 2 out of 3 voters favor Medicaid expansion 'in general'; 1 in 5 expect to pay penalty

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds views generally reflect partisan affiliations, and, overall, the the public remains split in its view of the 2010 health law. A slim majority (54 percent) says they are tired of hearing lawmakers fight over the law and would like the debate to move on to other topics.

1 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: States may not be up to the challenge of setting up exchanges; Post office's 'default day'

On the ever-lengthening fiasco list, the "exchange" problem is one of the worst. Congress told states to build these bureaucracies that will dispense health insurance subsidies and regulate coverage, but by and large the states aren't doing so. ... The exchanges do not merely subsidize but must verify who is eligible by income and residency, police compliance with the individual mandate and report scofflaws to the Internal Revenue Service; regulate insurers and enforce price controls; and penalize businesses that don't insure their employees.

1 Aug 2012

Roundup: Most high-ranking Iowa gov't employees to pay more for health care; Federal judge strikes Fla. law on docs asking about guns

The New Jersey state Legislature endorsed a constitutional amendment Monday requiring judges to contribute more to their government benefits, sending to voters an issue that some consider a linchpin of judicial independence. In a rare midsummer voting session, lawmakers responded quickly and almost unanimously to a state Supreme Court decision last week that said judges can't be forced to pay more for pension and health benefits, as other government workers were in a historic 2011 law.

31 Jul 2012

Aetna reports net income of $457.6 million for second-quarter 2012

Aetna today announced second-quarter 2012 operating earnings of $452.0 million, or $1.31 per share, compared to the $1.35 per share reported in the second quarter of 2011.

31 Jul 2012

Drawing health policy distinctions between Obama, Romney

The National Journal notes the two presidential candidates offer clear contrasts when it comes to their positions regarding health insurance. Meanwhile, Roll Call notes that the reported differences in opinions among the Supreme Court justices when they reviewed the health law continue to reverberate during this campaign season.

31 Jul 2012

Mass. cost control legislation seeks to reconcile wide coverage, high costs

Federal overhaul is often compared to Massachusetts' effort, but that state has yet to find a way to curtail health spending.

31 Jul 2012

Health law's insurance rebates, exchanges and mandates continue to draw headlines

News outlets report on a variety of health law implementation policies, including state-level action.

31 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: Health law no threat to innovation; Failure to expand Medicaid would 'doom' thousands; Don't stigmatize mentally ill

For better or worse, the Democrats incorporated a good deal of mainstream Republican thinking about health care reform from the past decade, including mandated coverage and health insurance exchanges, into the Affordable Care Act. This leaves the GOP, embarrassingly, with little to say about what is wrong with the act.

31 Jul 2012

Roundup: N.J. public may decide if judges should pay more for health care; Ore. Medicaid experiment to launch; Uncertainty around Va. abortion clinic rules

The New Jersey State Assembly is set to consider a measure that would allow voters to decide whether New Jersey judges should pay more for their pensions and health benefits. The state Supreme Court ruled last week that judges don't have to contribute more toward pensions and health care despite a new law requiring them to do so. The court said the law diminishes judges' salaries, which are protected by state law.

31 Jul 2012

Health Insurance News and Research

First Edition: August 3, 2012

Medicare officials seek more time to estimate cost of fixing card security issues

Mass. legislature approves bill to curb rise in health costs

Health law's medical-loss ratio and birth control coverage requirements kick in today

State Medicaid expansion: Consequences for coverage, death rate and bottom lines

Roundup: Investors not shaken by accretive decision in Minn.; Conn. state abortion coverage conflicts with federal regs

Viewpoints: Romney praises Israeli health care system -- which has an individual mandate; Sebelius and Pelosi hail launch of women's preventive care provisions

People with diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia have difficultly managing all 3 conditions

In response to increasing Medicare costs Humana reduces 2012 forecast

First Edition: August 1, 2012

How the Republicans might reshape Medicaid if they win the White House and Congress

Poll: 2 out of 3 voters favor Medicaid expansion 'in general'; 1 in 5 expect to pay penalty

Viewpoints: States may not be up to the challenge of setting up exchanges; Post office's 'default day'

Roundup: Most high-ranking Iowa gov't employees to pay more for health care; Federal judge strikes Fla. law on docs asking about guns

Aetna reports net income of $457.6 million for second-quarter 2012

Drawing health policy distinctions between Obama, Romney

Mass. cost control legislation seeks to reconcile wide coverage, high costs

Health law's insurance rebates, exchanges and mandates continue to draw headlines

Viewpoints: Health law no threat to innovation; Failure to expand Medicaid would 'doom' thousands; Don't stigmatize mentally ill

Roundup: N.J. public may decide if judges should pay more for health care; Ore. Medicaid experiment to launch; Uncertainty around Va. abortion clinic rules

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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