If The Health Care Overhaul Goes Down, Could Medicare Follow?
A growing number of health experts are warning of potential collateral damage if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act: potential chaos in the Medicare program.
Panel Proposes A New Tax To Pay For Public Health
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. It may sound counterintuitive, but a panel of experts from the Institute of Medicine has concluded that the best way to slow the nation’s breakneck spending on medical care is to impose a tax on every health care transaction. That tax — amount TBD, but possibly a […]
How Obama Lost The Messaging War Over Health Care Law
As the health law heads to the Supreme Court, public opinion about the policies remains almost as divided as it was when President Obama signed it into law two years ago.
Study Finds Birth Control Saves Taxpayers’ Money
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. While the controversy continues to swirl around radio talkmeister Rush Limbaugh and his admittedly inappropriate comments about Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke, an analysis from the left-leaning Brookings Institution adds an economic twist to the debate over coverage for contraception. Love them or hate them, contraceptives […]
Law Student Makes Case For Contraceptive Coverage
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Congress is in recess this week, but that didn’t stop House Democrats from holding a hearing to take testimony from a Georgetown law student who was barred from testifying in last week’s hearing about President Obama’s policy on contraceptives, health insurance and religiously affiliated organizations. That […]
Rules Requiring Contraceptive Coverage Have Been In Force For Years
Employers have pretty much been required to provide contraceptive coverage as part of their health plans since December 2000. That’s when the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that failure to provide such coverage violates the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. But controversy over a new rule requiring even religious employers to cover contraception remains.
As Komen Defends Itself, Planned Parenthood Rakes In Substitute Funds
Leaders of the breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure tried in vain Thursday to contain the controversy stemming from its decision to end its grants to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood Vs. Komen: Women’s Health Giants Face Off
The breast-cancer charity is pulling about $700,000 in breast cancer screening and service grants from Planned Parenthood.
Romney’s Defense Of The ‘Individual Mandate’ Praised By An Architect Of Mass. Law
When Mitt Romney vigorously defended Massachusetts’ decision to require that nearly every resident either have health insurance or pay a tax penalty Thursday night, some said it was the best support of the individual mandate made by any candidate so far this election cycle.
New Restrictions On Abortion Almost Tied Record Last Year
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. If it seemed like 2011 was a big year for laws restricting abortion, it was. In fact, according to “Who Decides? The Status of Women’s Reproductive Rights In the U.S.,” the 21stannual report compiled by the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, the 69 laws enacted restricting […]
Gingrich, Romney Go At It Over Abortion
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The latest abortion battle doesn’t pit people on opposite sides of the issue against each other. Rather, it features two of the leading GOP candidates for president, each charging that the other is less than pure as the race heads to socially conservative South Carolina. Both […]
Reversal On Health Mandate Came Late For Gingrich And Romney
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Opposition to the administration’s overhaul of health care has almost become an article of faith with every Republican running for president. Candidates promise to repeal the law and its less-than-popular requirement for most Americans to either have health insurance or to pay a penalty starting in […]
A Tweak To Health Law Would Eliminate Medicaid For Some
Should the middle class be eligible for Medicaid? The health program, funded jointly by the feds and the states, was devised to cover the poor. But if a provision in last year’s health law isn’t changed that could be the case for people with pretty healthy incomes. So today, the House approved a bill that would make […]
A new study investigates why American physicians are high earners.
History Shows Medicare Can Be Cut While Sparing Beneficiaries
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Lately you’d think President Obama was threatening to push Granny off the cliff. That’s pretty much been the reaction of liberal Democrats to even the hint that the president might consider reductions in spending for Medicare as part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt […]
Birth Control Without Copays Could Become Mandatory
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog Is there nothing in last year’s Affordable Care Act that people won’t fight over? The latest battle is set to come to a head Wednesday, when the independent Institute of Medicine is expected to make recommendations about preventive health care services for women. And one service […]
Birth Control Without Copays Could Become Mandatory
Is birth control part of preventive care for women? That’s the question before an independent panel of experts. And their decision could force insurance companies to fully cover the cost of the pill and other prescription contraceptives
Does President Obama Really Want To Means-Test Medicare? Probably Not
President Obama (and many, many others) have been throwing around the phrase “means testing” as they talk about ways to cut spending for Medicare. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means,” says Inigo Montoya, Mandy Patinkin’s character in one of the many now-famous lines in the […]
Record-Breaking Year For Abortion Restrictions
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. As predicted by those on both sides of the contentious abortion battle, states in the first half of this year have enacted a record 162 new laws or changes to existing laws that affect reproductive health, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute. According […]
Medicare Payment Board Draws Brickbats
The health care overhaul law calls for an independent board to make recommendations for ways to reduce Medicare payments without cutting benefits or increasing costs to beneficiaries. But Congressmen from both sides of the aisle are growing doubtful that such a board will work.
