Administration Releases New Health Law Rules For Insurers, Employers
The proposed regulations deal with several key issues, such as how plans structure their health benefits, the variations on premiums based on age and requirements for wellness programs.
Computer Issues May Hamper Online Insurance Markets
Cascading delays related to technical issues could make October 2013 target for open enrollment difficult, if not impossible, to meet.
Employers Expected To Keep Some Of Health Law’s Popular Provisions, Even If Obama Loses
But election results could affect the rollout of insurance marketplaces, and the availability of federal subsidies to buy coverage.
Halvorson: Premium Costs In The Exchanges Will ‘Depend Entirely’ On Participation
The Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO offers his take on a wide variety of health care issues insurers face in the current marketplace.
Insurance Policies Favoring Compounded Drugs For High-Risk Pregnancies Draw Scrutiny
Meningitis outbreak puts spotlight on rules favoring cheaper, but potentially riskier versions of drug to help prevent premature births.
Seven Factors Driving Up Your Health Care Costs
The United States spends more on health care services than any other country, exceeding $2.6 trillion, or about 18 percent of gross domestic product. Here are seven ways you or your medical providers play a role.
Updated on Oct. 13 at 9:35 a.m. Just hours after posting it Monday, the Food and Drug Administration removed from its website a list of hospitals and doctors that had received products from the compounding pharmacy now at the center of the fungal meningitis outbreak, saying data may be incorrect. The agency said it is working […]
Study: CMS Penalties Don’t Change Hospital-Acquired Infection Rates
Updated at 8:00 p.m. to add comment from CMS. A Medicare payment policy designed to push hospitals to cut their infection rates has had no effect in reducing two types of preventable infections among patients in intensive care units, researchers say in a study out Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2008, […]
Study: Newly Insured Likely To Be Healthy, And To Have Trouble Deciphering Health System
Good news for insurers: 88 percent of people new to health coverage after the health law fully goes into effect will be in relatively good health. That means providers won’t be overwhelmed, at least initially, says a report out today by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The challenge, however, is the newly insured also will be less educated, slightly […]
Higher Prices By Hospitals, Other Providers, Drove 2011 Spending Increases, Study Finds
Spending on medical care for Americans with job-based insurance rose 4.6 percent last year, driven mainly by higher prices charged by hospitals and other medical providers, a report out today says. The growth came despite a sluggish economy which some economists thought would translate into more modest spending growth. Still, last year’s per enrollee increase ranks […]
Bipartisan Report Focuses On Issues Driving Up Health Care Costs
Among the reasons behind the nation’s seemingly inexorable rise in medical spending are the practice of rewarding doctors and hospitals for volume rather than efficiency of care and the tax break given to consumers for their job-based health insurance, according to a report out Thursday from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington. […]
Is A Competitive Health Care Model All It’s Cracked Up To Be?
The track records of two programs often cited by Republican candidates suggest a more complicated picture.
Workers’ Poor Health Costs Employers $344 Billion, Study Finds
Health costs aren’t just about how much employers pay to provide health insurance: Workers’ poor health costs employers $344 billion annually in lost productivity and absenteeism, a research group estimates. “Employers haven’t looked at the impact of health on absence from work or on performance while at work,” says Thomas Parry of the Integrated Benefits Institute, a […]
Health Premiums Rise A Relatively Modest 4 Percent, Study Finds
Analysts attribute slowed growth to people using less health care as a result of higher deductibles, continuing weak economy.
State experiment gets scrutiny amid national debate over role of insurance regulation in rising coverage costs.
Regulators Urged To Move Swiftly To Prevent ‘Rate Shocks’
Consumer groups on Monday said state and federal regulators should move quickly to set rules to protect Americans from health insurance premium “rate shocks” and to prevent insurers from charging far higher rates in low income areas, when major provisions of the federal health law take effect in 2014. Dozens of recommendations for implementing a […]
How One Panel Weighed The Evidence On Magnetic Pulse Treatment For Depression
After assessing costs and benefits, a New England advisory group concludes it’s at least as beneficial as more traditional approaches.
Is Magnetic Pulse Treatment An Answer For People Suffering From Drug-Resistant Depression?
Supporters say the $10,000 treatment is worth the cost, but others raise questions about its long-term effectiveness.
Experts Release 11-Point Plan To Reduce Health Spending
Some of the nation’s top health care experts, several of whom helped write the 2010 health care law, released a strategy Wednesday to take the next step — curbing spending. The proposals include state spending targets; competitive bidding for medical devices, laboratory tests and other Medicare services; and a dramatic move away from the traditional […]
CBO Reports On Impact Of Medicaid Ruling, Health Law Repeal Effort
Federal spending under the health care law is likely to be $84 billion lower over the next 11 years than previously projected now that states can opt out of the law’s Medicaid expansion, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday. The CBO estimated that 6 million fewer low-income Americans will gain coverage through Medicaid and the Children’s […]
