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Your guides to buying insurance on the health insurance exchanges

While Americans who get health insurance through their jobs won't need to go there, news outlets have information for consumers who may want to purchase insurance through the new exchanges

2 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Sen. Barrasso warns insurance buyers beware; it will take time to assess marketplaces

Today begins the first phase of Obamacare's big test. The Obama administration has spent months and millions of dollars promising people great benefits from the new government-run health insurance exchanges. Now Americans will see for themselves. ... Instead of lower health care costs and better access to care, here are four reasons for the buyer to beware (Sen. John Barrasso, 10/1).

2 Oct 2013

Southampton professor develops Global AgeWatch Index to highlight wellbeing of older people

A professor at the University of Southampton working with HelpAge International and an international expert group has developed the Global AgeWatch Index to help highlight the varying quality of life and wellbeing that older people experience in countries around the world

2 Oct 2013

Obama says marketplaces overwhelmed by demand

In remarks in the Rose Garden to mark the opening of these centerpieces of the health law, the president says federal officials are will overcome the technical problems.

2 Oct 2013

State highlights: NYC's plan to get bids for worker coverage meets roadblock; Iowa waits for Medicaid expansion waiver, readies enrollment

New York City's plan to solicit bids for health insurance for hundreds of thousands of workers has been put on hold. A Manhattan judge on Monday granted a preliminary injunction preventing the City from issuing the bids. A group of unions sued the city Aug. 10, shortly after Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city was planning to seek bids within days. Bloomberg said the request for proposals will look to save up to $400 million a year (10/1)

2 Oct 2013

Remote stroke service increases rate of tPA therapy at community hospitals

A telestroke service increases the rate of effective tissue plasminogen activator therapy for patients with acute ischemic stroke treated at community hospitals, according to a report in the October issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

2 Oct 2013

Opinions on shutdown: Using Obamacare is a sham cause; GOP isn't crazy; what's the endgame?

House Republicans' irresponsible brinkmanship may finally lead to the government shutdown that some of its members have been coveting since they took control of that chamber in 2011. This time, though, the fight hasn't been a battle over spending on federal agencies. It's been a symbolic one over the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. And it's been a sham. The inconvenient truth for the GOP is that "defunding Obamacare," as the House tried to do, wouldn't stop most of the major provisions of the health care law, some of which have already gone into effect

2 Oct 2013

Obamacare winners and losers

NPR looks at what the federal government can learn from Massachusetts as health insurance exchanges roll out. Other media outlets check in with insurers, Wall Street traders, health care stakeholders and those who had previously been denied coverage in the individual insurance market.

2 Oct 2013

Impasse over health law leads to federal government shutdown

The long-running battle to defund or derail the health law came to a head Monday when Congress failed to approve a short-term spending measure to continue funding the government. For an entrenched group of House Republicans, Obamacare is the sticking point. But a new round of polls finds public opinion doesn't support their strategy.

2 Oct 2013

HHS warns of early hiccups as it premieres insurance website

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is asking the public and press to be patient as the law unfolds.

2 Oct 2013

For President Obama: A day combining shutdown and the exchanges' launch

President Barack Obama is due to lead officials spotlighting the opening day sign-up on Tuesday for his landmark healthcare program even as staunch Republican opposition to the plan shut down government operations. Obama is scheduled to meet and pose for pictures in the Oval Office with a group of people who stand to benefit from the healthcare law's provisions, while an interview with Vice President Joe Biden promoting the plan will air on 450 college radio stations in critical states, the administration said (Felsenthal, 10/1).

2 Oct 2013

Chief's personality affects how insurance exchanges will work

The New York Times profiles Gary Cohen -- the head of the consumer office overseeing health reform. And, doctors and other stakeholders weigh in on how the health law will unfold.

1 Oct 2013

As part of Capitol Hill debate, GOP seeks to charge congressional employees more for insurance

Even as House Republicans sought to eliminate federal subsidies for congressional workers, the Office of Personnel Management described how staffers would have to get insurance through small-business insurance exchanges.

1 Oct 2013

50 states, 50 views of health exchanges

Media outlets across the country spotlight the opening of federal and state-run websites that are designed to be a portal into new insurance marketplaces where those without group coverage can compare and purchase plans. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes a fund created by the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics to pay the premiums of those who would have been eligible for expanded Medicaid had the state opted into that health law program. The Texas Tribune spotlights potential problems as a result of state restrictions on the navigators who are supposed to act as consumer guides.

1 Oct 2013

Canada should start screening 'Baby Boomers' for hepatitis C virus infection, say liver specialists

Canada should begin screening 'Baby Boomers' for the hepatitis C virus infection, since this age group is likely the largest group to have the illness, and most don't know they have it, say a group of liver specialists in the Toronto Western Hospital Francis Family Liver Clinic. Unlike many other chronic viral infections, early treatment makes hepatitis C curable.

1 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 1, 2013

Today's headlines detail how the federal government has been shutdown as a result of the ongoing congressional battle over the health law. Still, even as House and Senate lawmakers were unable to overcome this issue to reach a deal to provide funding to continue government operations, Oct. 1 is still the official launch of the overhaul's online insurance marketplaces.

1 Oct 2013

GSA awarded $5M grant to launch Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative to improve health of older adults

The Gerontological Society of America has been awarded a $5 million grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation to launch and develop the Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative, a multi-year project designed to create change in the practice environment that will improve the health of older adults, their families, and communities.

1 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Health law rollout brings excitement and concerns; new disparities likely in states turning their back on the law; is the coverage affordable?

The United States is embarking on a truly historic journey toward near-universal health care coverage this week. Starting Tuesday, the federal government will make it possible for millions of uninsured Americans who can't get health insurance, or can't afford it, to obtain coverage with the aid of government subsidies. It is a striking example of what government can do to help people in trouble (9/28).

1 Oct 2013

Americans should contribute at higher levels during poor economic times

As the oldest of the baby boomers begin to reach retirement age, a large percentage of Americans are thinking more and more about how much money they must save to be able to retire comfortably. Also, more and more employers are changing retirement benefits from defined-benefit plans, which guarantee some level of retirement income, to defined-contribution plans, which require employees to invest on their own for retirement.

1 Oct 2013

State highlights: Calif. gov. signs bills on prescription drug abuse; Texas groups sue over parts of abortion law; Calif.'s drug Medi-Cal program probed

Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills Friday aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse but vetoed a third that could have helped the state's medical board identify reckless doctors whose patients died on pills they prescribed (Glover and Girion, 9/27).

1 Oct 2013

Healthcare News

Your guides to buying insurance on the health insurance exchanges

Viewpoints: Sen. Barrasso warns insurance buyers beware; it will take time to assess marketplaces

Southampton professor develops Global AgeWatch Index to highlight wellbeing of older people

Obama says marketplaces overwhelmed by demand

State highlights: NYC's plan to get bids for worker coverage meets roadblock; Iowa waits for Medicaid expansion waiver, readies enrollment

Remote stroke service increases rate of tPA therapy at community hospitals

Opinions on shutdown: Using Obamacare is a sham cause; GOP isn't crazy; what's the endgame?

Obamacare winners and losers

Impasse over health law leads to federal government shutdown

HHS warns of early hiccups as it premieres insurance website

For President Obama: A day combining shutdown and the exchanges' launch

Chief's personality affects how insurance exchanges will work

As part of Capitol Hill debate, GOP seeks to charge congressional employees more for insurance

50 states, 50 views of health exchanges

Canada should start screening 'Baby Boomers' for hepatitis C virus infection, say liver specialists

First Edition: October 1, 2013

GSA awarded $5M grant to launch Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative to improve health of older adults

Viewpoints: Health law rollout brings excitement and concerns; new disparities likely in states turning their back on the law; is the coverage affordable?

Americans should contribute at higher levels during poor economic times

State highlights: Calif. gov. signs bills on prescription drug abuse; Texas groups sue over parts of abortion law; Calif.'s drug Medi-Cal program probed

Advancing Menopause Care: Non-Hormonal Treatments for Vasomotor Symptoms

Building quality into drug development for safer, faster medicines

How Pulp Fixin Is Turning Paper into High-Performance Sustainable Labware

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