Piecemeal COBRA Health Insurance Subsidy Extensions Puzzle Laid-Off Workers
Congress has extended the COBRA subsidy periods again and again, helping many laid-off workers keep health insurance but sowing confusion as well.
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Drug Prices Rise For Seniors Who Reach Medicare Part D Coverage Gap
Seniors who reach the “doughnut hole” for prescription medications find that price increases are far outpacing inflation, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study.
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Midnight Munchies Keep Elderly Safer In NY Nursing Home
Like many nursing homes, the Parker Jewish Institute in New Hyde Park, N.Y., was having problems with some of its patients with dementia wandering at night. The staff worried about falls, but they didn’t want to hand out more psychotropic medicines. But one night in 2007, a nursing assistant accidentally stumbled on a solution.
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As Medicare Pay Shrinks, Some California Docs Hike Patient Fees
One California cardiology group has confronted steep Medicare cuts with a tactic that may irk patients who already face soaring health costs in that state: Beginning April 1, Pacific Heart Institute, in Santa Monica, will charge some patients annual fees ranging from $500 to $7,500, in addition to the regular fees paid by patients and insurers.
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Novel Health Programs Try To Help Uninsured
Gold Dust Saloon owner Ruth McDonald uses an innovative “three share” model to provide health coverage for her workers. The restaurant is one of 30 employers in a Colorado program that provides low-cost coverage to small businesses.
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House Dems Trying To Win Health Bill, One Vote At A Time
While President Obama hit the road with a campaign-style sales pitch for his health care overhaul, House Democratic leaders continued their behind-the-scenes arm-twisting and wooing. The goal: to persuade at least 216 of their 253-member caucus to back the bill.
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Transcript: Health On The Hill – A Big Week For The House
Over the weekend, White House officials urged the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate-passed health overhaul bill.
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Health On The Hill – March 15, 2010
Over the weekend, White House officials urged the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate-passed health overhaul bill. Meanwhile, Rep. Nancy Pelosi is still working to assuage concerns from both sides of the ideological base on the issue of abortion. A vote is expected sometime this week.
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Health On The Hill – March 8, 2010
President Obama will visit Philadelphia and St. Louis this week to continue his push to have Congress pass health overhaul legislation this month.
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Opinion Column
Can Incremental Health Reform Provide A Path Forward?
Incremental proposals would make health care reform more complicated – many of the pieces of the current reform bills are interrelated – but they can provide significant and sustainable changes in the right direction.
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Biggest Medicare Drug Plans Raise Prices 10 Percent On Average
A spike in prices charged by the largest Medicare drug plans raises a question about the impact regulated health insurance marketplaces would have on prices.
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Highlights: Obama’s Speech On Health Care Reform In St. Louis
As part of his campaign to push Congress to pass a health reform bill, President Barack Obama spoke before a crowd in a St. Charles, Missouri high school auditorium.
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Opinion Column
Public Reverse Mortgages and Long-Term Care: Can They Work Together?
What if your state helped you turn unused home equity into cash to pay for the care you need when you become old and frail?
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Carrot-And-Stick Health Plans Aim To Cut Costs
Workers at a Portland, Ore., steel mill soon will be able to pick a new type of health insurance: one with financial rewards to use proven treatments and disincentives to use less-effective surgeries and diagnostic tests.
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Florida Couple Pays $3,000/Month For Health Insurance
One family in Tampa is trapped in an expensive insurance policy because it covers their 19-year-old daughter, who has a serious digestive disease and has been through several surgeries.
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Powerful Catholic Quietly Shaping Abortion, Health Bill Debate
As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point man on abortion, Richard Doerflinger has emerged as a major player in the health care debate, one likely to play a pivotal role in the outcome.
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Five Questions About President Obama’s Proposed Changes To The Medicare Payroll Tax
To help pay for his health care overhaul package, President Obama is proposing that wealthy Americans pay Medicare taxes on the money they make on their investments. The proposal would affect millions of people.
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Refresher: What’s In The Health Reform Bills
Since the Senate passed its version of a health overhaul Christmas Eve, most of the debate has focused on the politics of the effort. By now, many people have forgotten – if they ever knew – what the bill would actually do.
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What Price For Medical Miracles? High Costs At End Of Life Still Part Of National Health Debate
Finding the right balance between too much and too little care is excruciating and highly personal for physicians, patients and families – one reason it’s not discussed at a national level. This reluctance is mirrored by an unwillingness by lawmakers to confront hard choices on medical spending.
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Transcript: Health On The Hill – What’s Ahead This Week
President Obama will visit Philadelphia and St. Louis this week to continue his push to have Congress pass health overhaul legislation this month.
