Nearly 60 percent of the public expects the Supreme Court justices to depend more on personal ideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate in making their ruling on the health-care reform law.
A pick of the best articles about health from this week: Rick Santorum’s war on contraception, the “Fat Trap” that makes is so hard to lose weight, and even with health care reform millions will remain uninsured.
The two Republican candidates were strongly for the individual mandate . . . before they were against it.
Why do mothers seek abortions late in their pregnancies? How much detail should journals provide about killer flu research? Obama originally opposed the individual mandate and Romney supported it – now it’s the other way round. What’s up with that?
How doctors die (Hint: Not like the rest of us). Can vaccines end cancer? Newt Gingrich’s health-care heresies. Should your doctor take money from drug companies? — This week’s top stories.
States will be given wide latitude to decide what “essential benefits” insurers must offer in their health policies come 2014.
In several counties, more than 1 in 5 residents has no health coverage, according to a new report from Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “If anyone doubts the need for health care reform,” said Kreidler,”there are a million people out there that they should talk to.”
A drug that wakes the “near dead.” Romneycare and abortion. Low-birthweight affects adult cognitive abilities. Technology to connect doctors and caregivers. Trisomy 18 and Rick Santorum’s daughter.
Republicans especially dislike the individual mandate – the requirement that Americans obtain insurance or face a penalty – because they see it as an unconstitutional imposition of government power.
Supporters say it’s critical to the law’s success. Without the mandate, the argument goes, healthy people won’t buy policies until they’re ill, leaving mostly sick – and expensive — people in the insurance pool.
The Republicans insist they want not just to repeal the Affordable Care Act but also to replace it. But replace it with what, exactly? It’s not an easy question to answer. They’ve have yet to embrace a specific proposal and, rhetorically, they have made contradictory arguments about what they want
ACOs have been compared to the elusive unicorn: everyone seems to know what it looks like, but nobody’s actually seen one. Exactly how ACOs would work in practice remains to be seen, though that hasn’t stopped the health care industry from embarking on a frenzied quest to create them as quickly as possible.
Some will welcome the new benefits, some will face higher costs as a result of the law. The KaiserHealthNews team reviews the changes that go into effect this year.
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
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Seattle Times Health News
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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