Health Insurance News and Research

RSS

Feds award health exchange grants to 10 states

The Department of Health and Human Services is sending $229 million in exchange establishment grants to 10 states -- half of which are receiving this funding for a second time around. However, an Associated Press analysis found that progress among states in setting up these health insurance marketplaces remains uneven.

24 Feb 2012

Health issues create political flashpoints during GOP presidential primary debate

GOP candidates sparred during last night's face-off over a range of issues including the Massachusetts health law that Mitt Romney signed while that state's governor, family planning and contraception, and abortion.

24 Feb 2012

Washington state law requiring pharmacies stock emergency contraception is struck down

A federal judged ruled Wednesday that Washington can't require pharmacists to carry and give patients emergency contraception. Other cases included a whether a lesbian couple can share health benefits and challenge to a Mass. law on abortion buffer zones.

24 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 23, 2012

Today's headlines include coverage of the health policy flashpoints during last night's GOP presidential primary debate.

23 Feb 2012

Feds launch health insurance co-ops with $639 million in low-interest loans

Seven organizations received the funding, which is designed to advance the formation of health insurance co-operatives -- an alternative to the idea of a government-run public option and an entity to compete against private insurance plans.

23 Feb 2012

State lawmakers take up contraception coverage, abortion fights

States are taking up the fight over the Obama administration's contraception coverage mandate with several state legislatures proposing bills of their own to block the mandate. In the meantime, Virginia mulls a bill that would require women to get a sonogram before an abortion, and a federal judge is set to rule on requiring pharmacists there to carry emergency contraception.

23 Feb 2012

A job doesn't always solve health insurance difficulties

Bronner is one of six people from the St. Louis area whom NPR has been following for a little more than a year. Like the others, she started 2011 unemployed and searching for work. Like so many Americans who have struggled in this tough labor market, the people we followed have had difficulty getting health coverage. And for some, including Bronner, it didn't stop when they got jobs.

23 Feb 2012

State officials debate whether, how to set up health exchanges

Lawmakers in Maryland, Nebraska and Kansas consider bills to advance or block the marketplaces; California officials wrestle with the nitty gritty of implementation.

23 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Real 'doc fix,' Saint Santorum and why Supreme Court TV is 'a bad idea'

In last week's flurry of budget deals, Congress patched together yet another temporary fix for a flawed formula used to calculate the fees paid to doctors by Medicare. It will hold payments flat for the next 10 months instead of cutting them by 27 percent as the formula required, and the $18 billion to pay for it will be taken from other health care programs. But the fix only lasts until the end of the year. On Jan. 1, doctors will face another big cut unless Congress again steps in.

23 Feb 2012

Dems schedule own contraception hearing

House Democrats have scheduled their own hearing in response to last week's all-male panel organized by House Republicans on the Obama administration's contraception rule. The Dems have invited a young woman to testify, but say that GOP leaders won't allow them to televise it.

23 Feb 2012

State roundup: Calif. HMO report cards, Ore. family planning bills challenged, Texas managed care

Gov. Corbett's new budget proposal would cost the city $42 million in mostly mental health and addiction treatment funding, but city officials say the impact will be worsened by ensuing needs for emergency shelter, child welfare, and other services. … The city Health Department faces an additional $7 million in state cuts. That would reduce the number of beds in the city nursing home and cost hospice beds for AIDS victims, officials said.

23 Feb 2012

Birth control mandate, abortion draw lines in presidential debate

Democrats successfully shifted a debate over religious liberty to birth control last week, but opponents of the contraception mandate are trying to shift it right back. The political debate over the birth-control mandate in the health care law is largely a fight over how to frame the issue.

23 Feb 2012

GeoBlue launches first iPhone app for quality healthcare services

GeoBlue, a leader and innovator serving the medical needs of expatriates and world travelers, announced today that it has launched the first iPhone application for finding and paying for quality healthcare services all around the world. GeoBlue Mobile is now available in the iTunes App Store for downloading onto iPhones, iPads and iPod touches.

23 Feb 2012

Americans used less health care during recent U.S. economic recession

The recent U.S. economic recession was the longest and most severe since World War II. During this period, personal spending on health care grew at the slowest rate in over 50 years, suggesting that Americans used less health care.

22 Feb 2012

Analyzing the impact of the Court's consideration of the health law

USA Today reports that the Supreme Court's review could cause the the health law debate to stretch through the presidential campaign. Other media outlets take a look at what would happen without the individual mandate, and at stakeholders' positions related to the law's Medicaid expansion.

22 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 22, 2012

In today's health policy headlines, the Supreme Court added 30 minutes to the time allocation for next month's health law arguments. Also in the news, the federal government announced funding awards yesterday to help launch consumer-governed health plans in eight states.

22 Feb 2012

Essential benefits, health exchanges trigger questions, answers

Today's headlines include a range of stories about the implementation of the health law and related policy developments.

22 Feb 2012

Obama contraceptive rule reverberates through health care marketplace

Before the federal rule was advanced, the policies put in place by various states allowed employers room to manuever, The Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, the insurance industry fears it may be left holding the bag for this requirement, and the New York Times explores the market share of Catholic hospitals.

22 Feb 2012

Medicaid: Bachmann calls for scrutiny of Minn. system, other state developments

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has called for a broader investigation of Minnesota's Medicaid system after allegations that the state inflated premiums for low-income residents. Elsewhere, Maine's Medicaid system costs more than in other states, and the Florida Hospital Association is pushing back against forced contracting with Medicaid managed care providers.

22 Feb 2012

Nebraska readies for exchange debate

Nebraska's state legislature is set to debate formation of a health insurance exchange as other states introduce measures that would extend exemptions on a controversial contraception rule in health reform to secular insurers and businesses, if they so choose.

22 Feb 2012