High-Risk Health Insurance Pool Rules Bar Abortions, Limit Patient Costs
During the health reform debate, people with pre-existing conditions lobbied for affordable health insurance. Now, HHS has issued new rules on how high-risk pools will work.
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Opinion Column
Gazing Into CBO’s Budget and Health Care Crystal Ball
The Congressional Budget Office’s latest projections again make it clear that the nation is rushing headlong toward a fiscal crisis, and the health law does nothing to head it off.
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Support For Health Law Remains Steady While Opposition Drops
A lot has changed since last summer’s town hall meetings. A new poll finds that, in the last month, the percentage of people viewing the health law unfavorably has fallen. But seniors continue to be more negative.
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Winners and Losers Emerge with New Medicaid Reimbursement Schedule
A small school that specializes in the most difficult children is the one hardest hit.
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Britain Plans Radical Changes to Health Care System
Deficit and debt drive cuts in jobs and services
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Men With Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Usually Get Treatment, Despite Side Effects
Most men with low-risk prostate cancer get aggressive treatment, even though the therapies carry big risks, a new study finds.
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2 New Provisions In Health Law Will Help Seniors
A look at the new health law’s long-term-care program and the plan to close the Medicare drug doughnut hole.
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Opinion Column
Where Are the Innovators in Health Care Delivery?
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Week In Review: Appealing Insurance Claim Denials; GOP Questions For Berwick And Kagan; What Fate For COBRA And FMAP?
This week’s health policy news was marked by new administration rules regarding the appeals process for denied health insurance claims and continuing state-level efforts to implement high risk pools.
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New Rules Guarantee Patients’ Right To Appeal Insurance Claim Denials
The Obama administration issues regulations that will set some minimum requirements for the process, including allowing patients to appeal the insurer’s decision to an independent outside panel.
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Torn ACL? New Comp Effectiveness Study Says Exercise Just As Good As Surgery
After a knee injury, patients often have immediate reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament. A Swedish researcher found that exercise was just as good as surgery at helping patients recover.
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Dispatch from Massachusetts: The Individual Mandate Is Working
Evidence shows the requirement for state residents to buy health insurance is working in Massachusetts — and we should it expect it to work in the new health overhaul as well.
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Opinion Column
Massachusetts Shows Federal Reform Headed For Trouble
Massachusett’s health reform has increased demand without increasing the supply of health care providers, it continues to keep people in the dark about the true cost of health care and health insurance, and has not changed incentives for people to seek more affordable options or for a truly competitive marketplace. Washington’s health overhaul law has the same structural flaws.
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Blacks Face Bone Marrow Donor Shortage
Lower numbers of donors, rare genes make finding a match less likely for blacks than for whites.
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Lawmakers: Extend Medicaid Subsidies To Help African-American Seniors
Three black members of Congress say minority nursing home patients would be disproportionately affected if Congress fails to extend bonus payments to state Medicaid programs.
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Kids and Dental Health: Rising Costs and Struggling State Programs a Dangerous Mix
Children are missing out on vital dental care-risking their health and racking up costs to parents and taxpayers alike. In the past decade, the number of cavities in children between the ages of two and five has increased 15 percent.
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Out Of Network ER Visits Won’t Cost More Under New Health Law
The health overhaul prohibits new insurance plans from charging higher copayments or coinsurance amounts for out-of-network emergency services or from imposing other coverage limitations that wouldn’t apply to in-network care.
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Battle Continues Over Abortion In High-Risk Insurance Pools
The battle over whether the new federally-funded program to help people with pre-existing health conditions will pay for abortions just won’t go away.
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Opinion Column
When Bad News About Health Reform Isn’t Bad
