Since May support climbs from 41 to 48 percent. Opposition falls from 44 to 41 percent. But 25 percent strongly opposed, and 27 percent want law repealed.
The number of people who will be helped by some of the law’s key provisions taking effect in September may also be lower than some might expect.
“Will most people’s health insurance still change? Absolutely. But change was coming no matter what. With reform, it’s likely to be change for the better,” writes Jon Cohn.
In Sunday’s Seattle Times health reporter Carol Ostrom explains how changes in Medicare mandated by the new health reform law will affect seniors.
For Democrats, passing the new health care law may have been the easy part.
Business groups give mixed reviews to new Obama administration rules limiting how much employers and insurers can change their health plans.
“The growing government role in providing health care—in the U.S. as elsewhere around the world—is the single largest contributor to an emerging global fiscal crisis.”
Some insurers treat pregnancy as a preexisting condition, charging pregnant women higher premiums, or refuse to cover childbirth costs.
The question isn’t so much whether the waste exists. The question, rather, is whether reform can pinpoint and excise that waste — whether it can cut out the bad medical care without removing the good.
When it comes to their own health care, most people say “more is better, newer is better, you get what you pay for,” a new survey finds.
How will the new law affect you if your a young adult? Over 65? Own a small business? And what is it all going to cost? KHN staff writer Phil Galewitz updates his Q&A the impact of health reform.
With Congress on recess, health reform politics emerge on homefront– the KaiserHealthNews team does a round up of health policy stories in the news.
The new health law could help to small businesses buy insurance, but the help comes with strings and not everyone thinks it will do enough.
The new health reform law may lead more employers to stop offering health insurance to employees. But this might turn out to be a good thing, says Austin Frakt.
“Sixty percent of the plans out there are pure junk,” says Stephen Beckley, a health-care consultant.
KaiserHealthNews’ Stephanie Stapleton wraps up the health policy news of the week out of Washington, D.C.
The featured speakers are Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna and Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger.
If you’re sick–or have ever been sick–and can’t get insurance, the new health law promises fast relief: access to guaranteed coverage starting in July.
Lobbyists representing doctors, insurers, small businesses and other groups want to shape the new health reform regulations. Here’s a sampling of who wants what.
For now states are scrambling to get ready. “It’s going to be a lot of data entry,” said Stephanie Marquis, spokesperson for the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
One of the biggest guarantees: Patients will have ER costs covered at the same rate, regardless of whether they are treated at “in-network” or “out-of-network”.
Think the fight over mental health parity–the requirement that health plans cover mental illness like other disorders–is over? Wrong.
A $5 billion program will help companies to offer coverage to early retirees, for whom it can be difficult to get insurance until they’re eligible for Medicare.
Millions of Americans could lose some important benefits of the new health overhaul law depending on how the Obama administration chooses to interpret one term: “grandfathered.”
“. . . while it will take some time to fully implement this law, reform is already delivering real benefits to millions of Americans.” — President Barack Obama.
If you had $15 billion to spend on prevention, where do you think it would do the most good? Fighting obesity? Smoking? Maybe encouraging exercise?
A lot of people laughed when Sue Lowden, the Nevada Republican running for the U.S. Senate, suggested last month that people start paying for their medical care with chickens. I didn’t.
“We need to repeal the health care law and replace it with common-sense steps that will lower the cost of health insurance in America,” says House Republican Leader John Boehner
Some small businesses say a tax credit worth 50% of their contribution to their workers’ coverage will actually do little to help them afford health insurance.
Doctors who accept speaking fees and other compensation from pharmaceutical or medical device companies will soon see their names and the value of the gifts on the Web.
Invisible Families: The homeless you don't see
They squeeze in with relatives, couch surf with friends or camp out in cars. More families are quietly becoming homeless, driven to the edge by a lack of jobs and affordable housing. The Seattle Times and its local news partners tackle the topic together. Project home
E-Health Records: Seattle is ahead of the curve
Health News from the Seattle Times
