Category: Insurance
Nine months after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, Americans remain just as divided over the federal health care overhaul as they were in the weeks immediately following its passage, a new poll finds. Forty two percent of Americans say they are at least somewhat favorable to the new health care law, while 41 percent say the opposite.
Book Review: If last year’s attacks on the health-care reform law seemed familiar, it’s because you’ve seen same the tactics before, writes Wendell Potter in his new book “Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans”.
Efforts to repeal health-care reform are likely to fail. First, Americans like much of the law.
But, more importantly, so do key interest groups. In fact, hospitals, insurers, large employers, and the pharmaceutical industry do not favor repeal.
At least 1.5 million people will soon receive notices that their health plans fall short of meeting a key standard in the new health law – and by how much.
Adult immunization rates have inched up in recent years, they are still far below what they should be, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All adults who are age 60 or over should get the shingles vaccine, but just 10 percent of that group had received it.
Likewise, only 17 percent of women between 19 and 26 had gotten even one of the three doses of the human papillomavirus vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer.
A ruling is expected this month from a Republican-appointed judge on the heart of the new health law – the mandate to buy insurance. It could illustrate the growing prevalence of party-line judging in this country.
With all the hand-wringing about big cuts in what Medicare pays doctors, it’s no surprise that some have threatened to drop seniors from their patient rosters if Congress doesn’t solve the problem.
But a new survey finds doctors aren’t actually following through on those threats — at least not yet.
“Mini-med” plans typically offer only a few thousand dollars in coverage. But they don’t cost much. Still, are they worth their admittedly mini-size premiums? The actual coverage people get may be even smaller than they think.
In a surprise move, Gov. Chris Gregoire has agreed to pay 85 percent of health-care premium costs for state workers in the next two-year budget, Seattle Times reporter Andrew Garber writes in today’s paper.
Medicare, which covers 47 million people, is expected to spend $519 billion this year and grow to $929 billion in 2020. One of the most controversial cost-cutting ideas is called “premium support.” Seniors would get a set amount of money and use it to buy coverage from the traditional fee-for-service program or from a menu of private plans.
Unless you change who is eligible for the program — something no one seems to be suggesting — there are really only two ways to make Medicare cost less: Pay health care providers like doctors and hospitals less, or make Medicare patients pay more. Until now, neither has been very popular politically.
The insurance plan for Oregon public education employees encourages enrollees to get care of proven value but charges an extra $500 for services of less certain value including spinal surgery, knee and shoulder arthroscopy, hip and knee replacement and upper endoscopy exams.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
View Calendar
✔ Subscribe
Add to Google
Seattle Times Health News
Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
Recent Comments