Businesses, Other Stakeholders Confront Health Law’s Nitty-Gritty Details
From renewing health policies early and pushing marketing efforts to creating new patient-care programs and seeking new workplace wellness rules, stakeholders are busying themselves wading through a deep pool of health law changes.
The New York Times: Rules Sought for Workplace Wellness Questionnaires
A federal lawmaker is asking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate employer wellness programs that seek intimate health information from employees, and to issue guidelines preventing employers from using such programs to discriminate against workers (Singer, 9/24).
The Associated Press: Small Businesses Temporarily Sidestep Health Law
Many small businesses have found a way to temporarily sidestep some of the headaches brought on by the new health care law. One of them is Huber Capital Management. The asset management firm in El Segundo, Calif., is renewing its health insurance policy early, in 2013 instead of 2014 (Rosenberg, 9/24).
Bloomberg: Obamacare Keeps Patients At Home Slowing Hospital Use
Obamacare has already transformed Esther Redd’s health, like that of thousands of other Americans…Then Redd, like more than 600 other Mount Sinai patients over the past three years, was singled out as a high-risk patient and assigned to one of 27 social workers focused on keeping patients out of the hospital. Mount Sinai created the program after the Affordable Care Act set up an incentive system to provide hospitals extra money for keeping people healthy, and penalize them for having too many patients readmitted too soon (Pettypiece, 9/25).
The CT Mirror: Amid Obamacare Marketing Push, Confusion About Medicare
There’s a major marketing campaign under way for Access Health CT, the new insurance marketplace opening Oct. 1 as part of the federal health reform law. But some officials and others who work with seniors are trying to get out a separate message: If you’re on Medicare, the new marketplace is not for you (Becker, 9/24).
PBS NewsHour: How Does Health Reform Change Options For Young Adults?
Under the new health care reform law, young adults can stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26. What options are available for young adults with limited income? Gwen Ifill looks to Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News to answer some of your most frequently asked questions (Ifill, 9/24).
