By ARTHUR D. POSTAL
Published 2/16/2011 Subscribe to Life & Health
WASHINGTON BUREAU -- The role that insurance agents play in the health insurance marketplace in 2014 and beyond will likely be left up to the states, according to Joel Ario, head of the insurance exchange bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). more
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
And now the real work begins
Some parts of the Affordable Care Act simply don’t work for small employers, a New Jersey business owner testified today at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
House republicans Start spin to take credit for HealthCare Reform
By ALLISON BELL
Published 1/19/2011
"House leaders scheduled a vote on H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act bill, to take place just as many civic-minded citizens were coming home from work and flipping on C-SPAN.
House members voted 245-189 to pass the bill at 5:53 p.m. today. All Republicans in the House voted for the bill; 189 of the 193 Democrats voted against it. "read more
Published 1/19/2011
"House leaders scheduled a vote on H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act bill, to take place just as many civic-minded citizens were coming home from work and flipping on C-SPAN.
House members voted 245-189 to pass the bill at 5:53 p.m. today. All Republicans in the House voted for the bill; 189 of the 193 Democrats voted against it. "read more
Monday, January 10, 2011
Health Care Repeal Snag
January 10,2011
Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court may not be so anxious to rein in Congress' broad power to pass regulatory laws under the Constitution's commerce clause, the key point of dispute in the pending court battles over President Obama's health insurance law.
By a 7-2 vote, the justices turned down a constitutional challenge to a 2002 law that makes it a federal crime for a felon to have body armor or a bulletproof vest.
read more
Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court may not be so anxious to rein in Congress' broad power to pass regulatory laws under the Constitution's commerce clause, the key point of dispute in the pending court battles over President Obama's health insurance law.
By a 7-2 vote, the justices turned down a constitutional challenge to a 2002 law that makes it a federal crime for a felon to have body armor or a bulletproof vest.
read more
Sunday, December 26, 2010
New laws will allow Calif. to begin health reforms
By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
Posted: 12/26/2010 11:03:05 AM PST
Updated: 12/26/2010 11:07:05 AM PST
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California will create an Internet-based insurance exchange to let consumers comparison-shop for affordable health insurance coverage under two of the many laws taking effect with the new year. read more
Posted: 12/26/2010 11:03:05 AM PST
Updated: 12/26/2010 11:07:05 AM PST
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California will create an Internet-based insurance exchange to let consumers comparison-shop for affordable health insurance coverage under two of the many laws taking effect with the new year. read more
Friday, December 24, 2010
Test of "Accountable Care Organizations" going well
Excerpt of an article By ALLISON BELL
Published 12/20/2010 Subscribe to Life & Health
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
An ACO is a vehicle for paying teams of health care providers to care for whole patients, instead of paying for care one service at a time.
The Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), is requiring Medicare to use ACOs starting in 2012, and many private health carriers are now testing ACOs.
Elizabeth Mills, a senior counsel in the Chicago officer of Proskauer Rose L.L.P., a law firm, ACO organizers still face regulatory challenges.
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
Aetna Inc., Hartford (NYSE:AET), says an ACO it has been testing on 20,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees since 2007 seems to be working well.
This year, the ACO enrollees have been using 43% less acute hospital care than comparable enrollees in unmanaged Medicare have been using, Aetna says.
read more
Published 12/20/2010 Subscribe to Life & Health
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
An ACO is a vehicle for paying teams of health care providers to care for whole patients, instead of paying for care one service at a time.
The Affordable Care Act, the legislative package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), is requiring Medicare to use ACOs starting in 2012, and many private health carriers are now testing ACOs.
Elizabeth Mills, a senior counsel in the Chicago officer of Proskauer Rose L.L.P., a law firm, ACO organizers still face regulatory challenges.
The coming year could be the year when “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) get a chance to show whether they will be a fad or a classic.
Aetna Inc., Hartford (NYSE:AET), says an ACO it has been testing on 20,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees since 2007 seems to be working well.
This year, the ACO enrollees have been using 43% less acute hospital care than comparable enrollees in unmanaged Medicare have been using, Aetna says.
read more
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A doctors take on universal heath insurance mandate
The Insurance Mandate: Is It Legal?
Published: December 21, 2010
Re “Can Congress Force You to Be Healthy?,” by Jason Mazzone (Op-Ed, Dec. 17), defending a federal judge’s ruling that the health insurance mandate is unconstitutional:
We need to look at the consequences to patients, interstate commerce and the economics of health care if the mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act is overturned. When an individual with limited income chooses to forgo health insurance and comes down with appendicitis, how should the health system respond?
Mr. Mazzone uses the analogy of someone forgoing auto insurance alternatively taking the bus. What is the alternative to an appendectomy?
The care providers must either (1) explain to the patient that he did not choose wisely, provide him with some pain tablets and push him to the parking lot or (2) treat him appropriately. The former is both illegal and unethical; the latter (current practice) is where the commerce issues arise.
The costs of care for illness must be borne by someone. Currently these costs are paid by the state (taxpayers) and, through cost-shifting, the insurance carriers, many of whom are national companies.
The bus analogy, while clever, is inappropriate and trivializes the dire status of our current system and our public’s health.
Tim Carey
Chapel Hill, N.C., Dec. 17, 2010
Published: December 21, 2010
Re “Can Congress Force You to Be Healthy?,” by Jason Mazzone (Op-Ed, Dec. 17), defending a federal judge’s ruling that the health insurance mandate is unconstitutional:
We need to look at the consequences to patients, interstate commerce and the economics of health care if the mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act is overturned. When an individual with limited income chooses to forgo health insurance and comes down with appendicitis, how should the health system respond?
Mr. Mazzone uses the analogy of someone forgoing auto insurance alternatively taking the bus. What is the alternative to an appendectomy?
The care providers must either (1) explain to the patient that he did not choose wisely, provide him with some pain tablets and push him to the parking lot or (2) treat him appropriately. The former is both illegal and unethical; the latter (current practice) is where the commerce issues arise.
The costs of care for illness must be borne by someone. Currently these costs are paid by the state (taxpayers) and, through cost-shifting, the insurance carriers, many of whom are national companies.
The bus analogy, while clever, is inappropriate and trivializes the dire status of our current system and our public’s health.
Tim Carey
Chapel Hill, N.C., Dec. 17, 2010
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