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In Oregon, the online health marketplace isn’t working for people looking to buy individual policies. But the state has been rapidly expanding Medicaid anyway. In Texas, insurance helpers may face state regulations that would make it even harder to assist people seeking coverage.
The Kaiser Health News story and data on Medicare’s quality payment programs are based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) containing the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing and Readmissions Reduction Program adjustment factors for individual hospitals.
The hospitals were rated on two-dozen measures, including surveys of patient satisfaction and death rates.
Medicare gives hospitals bonuses and penalties based on how well they performed on 24 quality measures. This chart shows the average effect by state on hospitals’ Medicare payments during the second year of the program.
This chart shows the payment adjustments for each hospital and how they compared to the bonuses and penalties from last year.
Video: President Obama announced Thursday that insurers will be permitted to extend canceled insurance policies into 2014, due to the difficulties consumers are having enrolling in new insurance coverage through the new online marketplaces.
Numbers released by the government Wednesday deepened doubts about the law’s immediate viability, and proposed fixes have shortcomings.
If you get your insurance from your employer, there’s a very good chance that you are in a “grandfathered plan,” and that means some of the provisions of the health law do not apply to you – yet.
Some say Colorado Medicaid has hampered the state’s private insurance enrollment efforts.
Provisions in the fine print of the Affordable Care Act could prevent some children from receiving dental coverage.
Although the health law could expand coverage to millions, many low-income people and others will not have insurance and will still have to rely on these programs for preventive care.
While Cover Missouri and Get Covered Illinois are staying active on social media, they’ve put mass media advertising efforts on hold until the federal government’s website is fixed.
