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Voters don't give much thought to who runs their state department of insurance. And in many places no one can name the person holding this office. But as key provisions of the new federal health law begin to take effect, insurance commissioners will become paramount.
No matter what the outcome of the midterm elections, the American Medical Association is hard at work on a new proposal to fix the Medicare physician payment system. The AMA wants to stave off cuts of up to 30 percent, slated to begin taking effect Dec. 1. AMA chief Cecil B. Wilson talks with Kaiser Health News to talk about the looming cuts, why it's increasingly difficult for doctors to see Medicare patients in America and how the AMA will soon try to lobby lawmakers for a permanent fix to the system.
Voters in Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma will decide whether to accept constitutional amendments prohibiting the federal health law's keystone individual mandate - the provision to require everyone have health insurance beginning in 2014.
After five years, 10 Medicare pilot projects showed mixed results. Leading group physician practices were measured on quality, patient satisfaction, and cost savings. They all scored well on quality, but only half made the cut on savings.
When health insurance companies delivered the bad news this fall about next year's premium increases, many blamed the new health overhaul law. But industry experts say that the health law accounts for only a small part of the increases.
With the elections less than one week away, ads making claims about the health law are flooding the airwaves. Many Democrats continue to not mention health reform, while Republicans criticize the law as too large, too expensive and intrusive into Americans' lives.
Many politicos say the current political landscape would be very different if President Obama would have shifted his legislative priorities to put the economy in front of health reform. But would it really?
Nationwide, new physician-owned hospitals are scrambling to open by the end of the year. Beginning Jan. 1, the health law bans them from taking part in Medicare, making it hard for the facilities to survive.
With the elections less than one week away, ads making claims about the health law are flooding the airwaves. Many Democrats, concerned that voters view the measure in a negative light, continue to not mention health reform. Republicans, predicted to take control of the House and increase their ranks in the Senate, continue to criticize the law as too large, too expensive and intrusive into Americans' lives. But President Barack Obama and some Democrats are promoting the law's immediate consumer benefits and say it will improve the quality of health care for all Americans.
Three top pollsters - two Democrats and a Republican - have very different takes on what impact the health law will have on the election.
Since 1991, a committee of doctors has submitted more than 7,000 recommendations to CMS on the value of physician work. The group is unknown to much of the medical profession. Yet the committee has had a powerful influence on Medicare payment rates.
Former Kennedy staffer says GOP will back off talk of repeal after the election.
Response has been modest and reviews are mixed for insurance plans set up by the federal health law for people with medical problems.
As emotions run high over the new health law, older voters' concerns about Medicare cuts could be a deciding factor in Florida's 2nd Congressional District. Reporter Marilyn Werber Serafini travelled to north Florida to talk with seniors and discovered some angry voters, including one woman who changed political parties because she doesn't like the Democrats' health law.
As emotions run high over the new health law, older voters' concerns about Medicare cuts could be a deciding factor in some particularly close congressional races.
If certain steps are taken, the next round of reform could make health insurance portable, affordable and fair.
Officials at CMS say they're streamlining Medicare Part D - including eliminating some plans they call duplicative. But as the open enrollment period nears, some Republicans are criticizing the move as "frightening."
Jackie Judd checks in with Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader and a senior, informal, advisor to President Obama during the health debate. He talks about the challenges facing the administration now, including walking the line between the "pragmatic and idealistic" and about how to respond to the many requests for waivers from complying with the law. Daschle has a new book about the new debate: "Getting It Done."
In a new animated—and pointed—video, a health care executive sheepishly admits that he's been too busy to read the new bill.
State insurance regulators have defined one of the thorniest provisions of the new health overhaul law: the requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of revenue on direct medical care.
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