The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
House leaders are taking the unusual step this week of interrupting the August recess to call members back to consider state aid legislation that includes $16 billion in federal Medicaid assistance. The Senate approved this funding package last week.
The senate is mired in dysfunction. Should health care cost changes come from the private sector instead?
For the 11 million people signed up for private Medicare Advantage plans, their future with the popular program that has been designated for cuts in federal funding may depend on where they live.
This week, Democrats grab an unexpected success in extending enhanced Medicaid funding. Meanwhile, Medicare’s trustees offer a positive view for the program’s future but Missouri voters reject the new health law’s individual mandate.
The new health care reform law will extend the solvency of Medicare’s main hospital insurance program by 12 years, according to a new government report.
Some say money employers save on health insurance in the health law will eventually mean more money for Social Security instead of more money for workers.
The government released Thursday the annual trustees report on the financial wellbeing of Medicare and Social Security.
Legislative and legal action surrounding the new health overhaul continue in Virginia and Missouri. Panelists also discuss the U.S. Senate vote on extra money for state Medicaid programs.
A Senate vote could come as early as Wednesday on a $16 billion Medicaid package for states. Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court judge has allowed a Virginia lawsuit challenging the health law’s requirement that individuals purchase health insurance to continue in the courts. A Missouri state ballot referendum to nullify the health law’s individual mandate is expected to pass today, although the measure is viewed as largely symbolic.
The first big legal test of the constitutionality of the “individual mandate” that requires just about everyone in the U.S. to have health insurance starting in 2014 is going to get out of the starting gate.
It takes some work, but patients can help control health care costs by avoiding unneeded care and negotiating prices, among other things.
Ehealth Inc., a large Internet health insurance broker, has been named to help operate the new federal health website, making it one of the first private companies to get a major contract from the federal government under the nation’s new health law.
This week, HHS issued rules on high-risk health insurance pools as well as guidance on children’s coverage issues. Two new polls focused on seniors and health reform, and both political parties continued to position themselves for the fall elections.
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.
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.
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.
A small school that specializes in the most difficult children is the one hardest hit.
Deficit and debt drive cuts in jobs and services
