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Humana acquires Arcadian Management Services

Humana Inc. announced today that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Arcadian Management Services, an Oakland, Calif.-based company that, through its affiliates, operates Medicare Advantage HMO plans.

3 Apr 2012

State-based health policies grab attention

With the federal law's fate uncertain, action taken so far by the states -- either to implement the national overhaul or to advance reforms of their own -- have claimed more significance and headlines.

2 Apr 2012

CompCare's 2011 revenues increase to $71,210,000

Comprehensive Care Corporation, a leading behavioral health, substance abuse and psychotropic pharmacy management services provider for managed care companies throughout the U.S., is pleased to announce that its revenues for 2011 more than doubled to $71,210,000 compared to revenues of $35,214,000 in 2010.

2 Apr 2012

Democrats offer optimistic take on court's health law decision

Appearing on the Sunday talk shows, Vice President Joseph Biden and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., defended the health law and predicted it would be upheld by the high court.

2 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 2, 2012

Today's headlines offer more analysis of what could become of the Supreme Courts consideration of the health law.

2 Apr 2012

Biden, Schumer expect court to uphold health law

Biden attacked Romney and the GOP broadly for only staking out a position against what the Obama administration has done, and not offering an alternative. Biden used the healthcare reform law as an example. "What is the Romney answer? There's nothing. All they argue is cut, get rid of that," he said. Biden said that there are "millions of people" benefiting from the law already, and that he was confident the Supreme Court would uphold it when it rules in June.

2 Apr 2012

High court's health law consideration has political repercussions

The pending ruling could be a stamp of "repudiation or endorsement" during the upcoming election season. But, if the court overturns the health law, will the GOP be prepared to turn the decision into political victory and could that outcome have a "silver lining" for the Obama administration?

31 Mar 2012

Course of state implementation efforts unchanged by high court's review

Politico reports that state plans appear unchanged by this week's events. Those that were moving ahead at full speed will likely continue to do so. Those who were taking a go-slow approach have no need to change strategies now.

31 Mar 2012

Insurers, employers react to idea of a health law without an individual mandate

Insurers' "worst nightmare" is that the Supreme Court would overturn the health law's insurance requirement but leave the rest of the overhaul intact. Employers are being advised to continue working toward meeting the law's deadlines.

31 Mar 2012

Perspectives: All this fuss about the word 'tax'; Civic lessons from the Supreme Court

It is now clear that the law will impose heavy burdens on state and family budgets and increasingly possible that its mandate that all Americans purchase health insurance or face penalties will be ruled unconstitutional. ... We and our Republican colleagues voted against the law two years ago and will continue to work toward a smarter, step-by-step solution that will make health care available to more Americans at a lower cost to the federal government, the states, and individuals seeking care.

31 Mar 2012

Economics lessons for the court: Broccoli isn't the same as health care

Given the stakes, one might have expected all the court's members to be very careful in speaking about both health care realities and legal precedents. In reality, however, the second day of hearings suggested that the justices most hostile to the law don't understand, or choose not to understand, how insurance works.

31 Mar 2012

Diagnostic inflation of ADHD

What experts and the public have already long suspected is now supported by representative data collected by researchers at Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum (RUB) and University of Basel: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is over-diagnosed.

31 Mar 2012

High court and severability: What parts of the law could fall?

On Wednesday, the nine justices pondered what parts -- if any -- of the health law could go forward if the individual mandate is overturned. The discussion involved fundamental consitutional questions.

30 Mar 2012

The Supreme Court arguments are over - what happens now?

News outlets sum up the oral arguments and preview when to expect a decision, what impact the legal review might have on politics and what other ripple effects could occur.

30 Mar 2012

Voiding the mandate, or the entire law, would upend plans by insurers, employers

Popular provisions that have already gone into effect, such as letting children stay on their parents' insurance plans until they turn 26, would fall if the law is thrown out. If only the mandate is declared unconstitutional, however, the law would still affect millions.

30 Mar 2012

Who was who during the Supreme Court arguments?

News outlets take a look at key personalities on the bench, in front of the justices, in the gallery and in the creation of the health law itself -- including examinations of the closing arguments by both the plantiffs' attorney and the federal government's lawyer.

30 Mar 2012

Split Ariz. Republicans stall birth control bill; Kansas advances 'conscience' protections

A split in the Republican party between moderates and conservatives has stalled a birth control bill aimed at allowing employers to opt out of covering contraception in their health plans.

30 Mar 2012

Roundup: N.H., Kansas move towards health care 'compacts'; Mass. payment reform 'not enough'?

The N.H. House has voted to form an interstate health care compact, rejecting an effort to instead study the cost implications for New Hampshire if the state assumed control for health care within its boundaries. Under the bill, the states would receive block grants from the federal government and would take over Medicare and Medicaid.

30 Mar 2012

NABJ convenes first day of annual Media Institute on Health conference

Today, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convened the first day of its annual Media Institute on Health: Health Policy and Health Inequities, March 29-31, at the Kaiser Family Foundation's Barbara Jordan Conference Center.

30 Mar 2012

Calif. readies Medicaid changes for dual-eligibles, adult day care program; Other Medicaid news from the states

California is revamping its adult day health care program as well as its program for people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. In Florida, a judge orders the Medicaid program there to cover autism therapy, and Georgia prepares to restructure its program.

30 Mar 2012