health care

Bargain Over Fiscal Cliff Brings Changes To Health Care

8:46am January 04, 2013

by Julie Rovner

Health care has been a major focus in recent budget battles. New legislation provides a temporary fix in payments for doctors, but it will be paid for by a decade of cuts to hospitals. And a program for long-term-care insurance won't ever get off the ground.

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Pete Stark, Health Policy Warrior, Leaves A Long Legacy

11:25am January 02, 2013

by Julie Rovner

The California congressman lost his seat this fall. Stark has been part of almost every piece of health legislation enacted while he was in office. The 113th Congress will be the first one in 40 years to convene without him as a member.

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Health & Safety

Hobby Lobby Plans To Defy Health Care Mandate

9:44am January 01, 2013

The federal health care law requires employee insurance plans to cover emergency contraceptives. That's something the owners of the craft store chain Hobby Lobby say they can't do. An attorney for the stores said the Christian owners consider the emergency contraceptives tantamount to abortion. Starting Tuesday, the company could be fined as much $1.3 million a day for defying the mandate.

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Health & Safety

Medicare Starts To Reward Quality, Not Quantity, Of Care

11:16am December 21, 2012

by Jordan Rau

The nation's biggest insurer is starting to dole out bonuses and penalties to nearly 3,000 hospitals as it ties almost $1 billion in payments to the quality of care provided to patients.

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Health & Safety

When The Doctor Works For The Insurance Company

11:16am December 21, 2012

by Tracey Samuelson

Big insurance companies are opening their own doctors' offices and clinics — a strategy that has previously met with mixed results.

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An employee tidies boxes of medicines displayed in a pharmacy in the city of Caen in western France last month. Beginning in 2013, girls between the ages of 15 and 18 will be able to get birth control free of charge, and without parental notification.

In France, Free Birth Control For Girls At Age 15

3:16pm December 20, 2012

by Eleanor Beardsley

Starting in January, the French government will provide contraceptives for girls ages 15 to 18 — without charge and without parental notification. The measure, which passed parliament without debate, aims to reduce teen pregnancies by increasing access to birth control and education.

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Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., speaks Tuesday at a news conference calling for no reduction in the Medicare and Medicaid budgets, as part of the year-end budget talks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Waxman said he does not support means testing for Medicare.

Making The Rich Pay More For Medicare

5:33am December 14, 2012

by Julie Rovner

Means testing Medicare is one of the few areas where Democrats have shown a willingness to even consider the subject of spending less on the program. But not everyone supports that idea.

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Health & Safety

Flu Season 2012: What You Should Know This Year

2:56pm December 12, 2012

The 2012 flu season started strong and eight states have already reported widespread flu activity. This is the earliest regular flu season since 2003-2004. With only about 37% of the population vaccinated so far, the influenza virus still has the potential to have a severe impact.

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Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, speaks Tuesday as Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., listen during a news conference on Capitol Hill calling for no reduction in the Medicare and Med

Democrats Draw Line On Medicaid Cuts

8:15am December 12, 2012

by Julie Rovner

Democrats are worried that cuts to the program will go beyond the impact on the people it serves. It will also affect the Affordable Care Act, which calls for expanding Medicaid to as many as 16 million more people. The states are watching closely because the federal government has promised it will pay most of those additional costs.

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Feds Say 'No' To Partial Medicaid Expansion

10:55am December 11, 2012

by Julie Rovner

In the Supreme Court's Affordable Care Act ruling this summer, it decided that states' plans for expansion of the Medicaid program should be optional. That led governors to ask if they could expand the program in part but still receive federal funding. The administration has said no.

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