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What the new health law means for you

The new health law signed by President Obama this spring contains the most sweeping changes to the American health system in a generation.

3 Jun 2010

New concept: Hotel 'medical-concierge' program

The Ritz-Carlton's medical-concierge program, now expanded after a trial run to include hospitals and medical facilities throughout the Philadelphia area, aims to provide a pampering bridge between the hospital room and the patient's home. The concierge does not perform medical procedures or administer drugs.

3 Jun 2010

New book proposes engineering approach to US health care reform

The current problems of access, affordability and quality in the US healthcare system won't be solved by providing health insurance to all. The editors of the new book Engineering the System of Healthcare Delivery (ISBN: 978-1-60750-532-7) propose an engineering approach to healthcare. In this publication by IOS Press, editors William B. Rouse and Denis A. Cortese and a team of highly regarded thought leaders in the field explain their vision.

3 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 2, 2010

In today's news, insurance regulators fail to meet an early deadline for setting standards on premium spending rules within the new health law.

2 Jun 2010

Alexion Pharmaceuticals plans to launch Soliris in Japan for patients with PNH

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alexion Pharma International Sàrl today announced that the launch of Soliris (eculizumab) as a treatment for patients with PNH in Japan will begin in the third quarter of 2010, approximately three months earlier than previously expected.

2 Jun 2010

NHO introduces first healthcare assistance program for Americans, employers, groups and associations

National Health Options announces the first healthcare assistance program of its kind designed to offer an affordable, accessible, and comprehensive solution for Americans, employers, groups and associations -- including an estimated 47 million people who are underinsured or unemployed. NHO provides access to high quality healthcare products and services that can improve individual health and welfare.

2 Jun 2010

State roundup: Ohio and Washington prepare high risk pool plans; Calif. lawmakers consider 20 bills; Virginia wrestles with Medicaid issues

A popular piece of the health-care overhaul bans insurance companies from denying individual coverage or charging high premiums to people with pre-existing medical conditions. But for adults younger than age 65, that provision doesn't kick in until 2014. In the meantime, the federal government wants states to create temporary high-risk pools through which people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes who have been uninsured for at least six months can buy affordable coverage.

2 Jun 2010

With Congress on recess, health reform politics emerge on homefront

While Americans remain divided over the new health reform law, "they aren't clamoring for its repeal. … Instead, the public seems willing to listen to candidates who would give the overhaul a chance and fix or improve it as needed. That's the signal from some surveys and a congressional race in a bellwether Pennsylvania district."

2 Jun 2010

Scammers look to take advantage of health law

The Green Bay CBS affiliate is reporting that the "Better Business Bureau is putting out an alert about health insurance related scams." Scammers have been more active since the health bill passed.

2 Jun 2010

New report shows one in three young women receive HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer

Only about one in three young women has received the human papillomavirus vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer, according to a new report from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

2 Jun 2010

Obama administration sides with city in San Francisco lawsuit

"The Obama administration took San Francisco's side Friday in a legal dispute over the city's groundbreaking health coverage law, urging the Supreme Court to reject an appeal by restaurant owners who objected to paying part of the cost. In a long-awaited filing, government lawyers said passage of national health insurance legislation 'has dramatically changed the landscape' and reduced the likelihood that cities and states would adopt laws like San Francisco's. The case presents no pressing issues that require the court's review, the lawyers said."

2 Jun 2010

Medicare patients may face accessibility crisis to medical care

According to an article in the June issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS), Medicare patients - many who suffer from disabling arthritis of the hip and knee, among other age-related ailments - may end up facing an accessibility crisis to medical care.

2 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

Businesses fret penalties, seek opportunities in health overhaul

Some small businesses may get financial help as part of the health overhaul that could cover up to 35 percent of business's premium costs for insuring employees in the form of new tax credits, Kaiser Health News explains in a consumer column.

2 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 1, 2010

A number of today's headlines focus on the continuing role of health reform in national political calculations and strategies.

1 Jun 2010

Family businesses may miss out on insurance tax credits; Doctors' angry with Congress

The Boston Globe explores a largely overlooked provision in the tax credits offered to small businesses by the new health law to help cover the costs of insuring workers. "[M]any Massachusetts small business owners who employ mostly family members are discovering fine print in the new law that disqualifies, or substantially limits, their tax credit. That language says family-owned businesses are not allowed to count employees who are also family members toward the credit, which is retroactive to January.

31 May 2010

Anthem launches new "modernized" Medicare Supplement plans

Today Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine (Anthem) introduced new "modernized" Medicare Supplement plans that have been updated to consider the needs of today's Medicare beneficiaries.

29 May 2010

State roundup: Employees' insurance rates, a hospital merger, Florida and Mass. public health issues

Today's roundup of state news includes changes in insurance rates for Kansas state employees, problems with EMT certification in Massachusetts and a hospital merger in the Washington D.C. area.

29 May 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

Today's Opinions: Never-events, Medicare 'propaganda' and drug copays

According to the Labor Department, overall inflation has averaged about 2.5 percent annually, and prescription drug prices have gone up about 3.6 percent each year, over that time frame. Co-pays, though, have increased four times faster than inflation (Peter J. Pitts, 5/28).

29 May 2010