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Insurers will pick up preventive care costs under new rules

The recommendations of a federal task force on preventive care - once just suggestions for doctors - will soon become coverage requirements for private insurers under regulations unveiled Wednesday by the Obama administration, according to Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. "Under the new health care overhaul law, insurers will be required to pay fully for services that get an "A" or "B" recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer group made up of primary care and public health experts."

16 Jul 2010

Study links obesity to poorer memory, brain function in older women

The more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to new research from Northwestern Medicine. The effect is more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips, known as pear shapes, than women who carry it around their waists, called apple shapes.

15 Jul 2010

Final rules for e-health rewards unveiled

The federal government has issued new regulations defining the "meaningful use" of electronic medical records, a requirement doctors must fulfill in order to gain funds from a $27-billion pot set aside in the 2009 stimulus law, The New York Times reports. "A doctor can receive up to $44,000 under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid, while a hospital can receive millions of dollars, depending on its size."

15 Jul 2010

First comprehensive U.S. HIV/AIDS strategy to draw on lessons from PEPFAR

President Barack Obama plans to "unveil the first formal national HIV/AIDS strategy on Tuesday, a plan that aims to reduce the number of new cases [in the U.S.] by 25 percent in the next five years, officials said," the Washington Post reports.

14 Jul 2010

Obama administration prepares to announce first national HIV strategy

Kaiser Health News: "Federal officials plan to announce Tuesday a national strategy designed to ramp up and better coordinate the government's attack on the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic." Many HIV/AIDS advocates "say many more resources need to be committed to fight the disease, especially considering it doesn't get the attention it once did.

12 Jul 2010

HHS to give states $25 million for HIV drugs; Researchers identify antibodies that may help in AIDS vaccine research

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday "that she would provide $25 million more to help states buy life-saving medications for people with H.I.V. or AIDS. Advocates for patients said the money was not nearly enough to eliminate waiting lists, which have surged to record levels as people have lost health insurance, along with their jobs, and states have cut their budgets. Ms. Sebelius said she was 'reallocating and transferring $25 million in existing resources' to provide medicines for people on waiting lists.

9 Jul 2010

Obama uses recess appointment to install Berwick as head of Medicare, Medicaid

President Barack Obama Wednesday will use a recess appointment to install Harvard Professor Donald Berwick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the White House announced Tuesday.

8 Jul 2010

Positive reviews of health overhaul implementation so far but potential stumbling blocks lie ahead

The New York Times notes an uptick in support for the health overhaul in polls as parts of the law begin to take effect, as well as some positive reviews - even from conservatives - about the administration's performance in implementing the measures. Stuart Butler, a vice president of the Heritage Foundation, for instance, said, "I give them an A for effort. But there are land mines down the road because the law is fundamentally flawed." The latest poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows 48 percent hold a favorable view of the new law, while 41 percent oppose it.

3 Jul 2010

High-risk health insurance pools opening soon

News outlets examine how states are coping with covering hard-to-insure people, confusion about insuring young adults and a COBRA subsidy extension.

28 Jun 2010

Obama to grant federal workers time off to care for same-sex partner's kids

"President Obama will soon expand the rights of gay workers by allowing them to take family and medical leave to care for sick or newborn children of same-sex partners, administration officials said Monday," according to The New York Times. "The policy will be set forth in a ruling to be issued Wednesday by the Labor Department's wage and hour division, the officials said.

23 Jun 2010

Politics surround Berwick, no hearings scheduled for CMS nominee

"Hospital executives who have worked with Dr. Berwick describe him as a visionary, inspiring leader. But a battle has erupted over his nomination, suggesting that Dr. Berwick faces a long uphill struggle to win Senate confirmation. Republicans are using the nomination to revive their arguments against the new health care law, which they see as a potent issue in this fall's elections, and Dr. Berwick has given them plenty of ammunition. In two decades as a professor of health policy and as a prolific writer, he has spoken of the need to ration health care and cap spending and has confessed to a love affair with the British health care system."

23 Jun 2010

Health insurance issues: State regulators wary of health law, Medicare Advantage star system

News outlets report on changes to the individual health insurance market and Medicare Advantage plans under the new health law.

16 Jun 2010

Feds to issue rules on 'grandfathered' health plans and new law

The Wall Street Journal reports that draft regulations "being developed by the Obama administration say more than half of employer health care plans may lose their grandfathered status and be required to comply with the health overhaul bill approved March 23. The guidelines are likely to touch off fresh disputes between President Obama and opponents of the health care bill.

14 Jun 2010

Insurers, White House bound by need to make overhaul a success

Although the Obama administration and insurance industry had opposing views on aspects of the health bill that Congress eventually passed, they have now found their fortunes bound together as both work to make the overhaul successful, The New York Times reports. "The political fortunes of President Obama and Congressional Democrats depend on their ability to translate its promise into reality for voters, by reining in health costs and making insurance available to everyone at an affordable price.

5 Jun 2010

Health law implementation: Insurance, coverage and Medicare payment questions

Kaiser Health News reports that the insurance industry — traditionally a state-regulated industry — is facing new federal scrutiny by four officials in the new Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. "On this year's to-do list: writing rules to define when premium increases are 'unreasonable,' creating new coverage for people who can't get it because of health conditions and making sure insurers comply with consumer protections. The new director of the office is Jay Angoff, a former Missouri insurance commissioner.

2 Jun 2010

Health law mandates higher Medicare payment for osteoporosis tests

The Boston Globe: "A $3 million campaign by doctors, scanner operators, manufacturers, and groups devoted to women's health helped persuade lawmakers to overrule Medicare administrators this year and restore much of the reimbursement for osteoporosis tests. In a little-noticed provision buried deep in the sweeping new health care bill, Congress decreed that Medicare shall pay $97 for each test, instead of $50.

1 Jun 2010

Sebelius: Employers should quickly offer coverage to workers' children up to age 26

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Thursday urged employers to extend health insurance to children of their employees up to age 26 before a provision in the new law requiring them to do so takes effect later this year, The New York Times reports. Many insurers have already made the change, but many employers have demurred.

29 May 2010

Study: Health law could mean penalties for one in three employers

News outlets covered analyses of health law provisions affecting businesses. "About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says," The New York Times reports.

24 May 2010

Former NIH chief Varmus to head National Cancer Institute

The New York Times: "Dr. Harold E. Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist and former director of the National Institutes of Health, will become director of the National Cancer Institute, the White House announced Monday. President Obama selected Dr. Varmus, who is now president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, after a lengthy search. Dr. Varmus is expected to shake up the much-criticized federal cancer program" (Pear, 5/17).

19 May 2010

Anti-abortion groups use health law in efforts to restrict insurance coverage

Abortion opponents fought passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul to the bitter end, and now that it's the law, they're using it to limit coverage by private insurers. An obscure part of the law allows states to restrict abortion coverage by private plans operating in new insurance markets.

17 May 2010