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.
50 million Americans went without health insurance last year, roughly one in five non-elderly who are too young for Medicare, according to a new report. In Washington State one in seven non-elderly residents went without insurance.
A $17.6 million federal bonus awarded to the state for making it easier for children to enroll in Medicaid may help save a program that now insures low-income immigrant children whose lack of documentation keeps them from being covered, writes Seattle Times health reporter Carol Ostrom in today’s paper. Ostrom writes: Gov. Chris Gregoire has [...]
Michelle Andrews speaks with Kaiser Family Foundation’s Jackie Judd about changes in lifetime insurance limits, keeping children insured, the new high-risk pools, rising health costs and consumers’ misperceptions about the overhaul
Health insurers seeking a rate increase of 10 percent or more in 2011 must publicly detail why the increase is needed, under proposed rules released by the Obama administration Tuesday.
Under the new health law, insurers cannot cap your annual or lifetime coverage. So, instead, some are placing limits on doctor visits, drugs and other services. Consumer columnist Michelle Andrews explains.
The HCLSC – health care litigation spin cycle – is in overdrive now that a Reagan-appointed federal judge has strongly signaled in court that he is very likely to follow a George W. Bush appointee who struck down the individual mandate at the heart of the new health care law. Republican critics of the law [...]
Currently, the new health reform law gives states the ability to substitute their own reform plans in 2017 if, and only if, they can convince the federal government their approach would cover the same number of people with comprehensive insurance, and at a similar price. States could even ditch the law’s controversial individual mandate that will require most people to purchase insurance. Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, wants to move that date up to 2014.
With Republicans vowing to dismantle the health law and courts wrestling with its constitutionality, some health policy experts are pondering a possible “Plan B” in case the individual mandate – the requirement that everyone get health insurance starting in 2014 – is weakened or struck down.
Confused? The American College of Physicians and AARP have put together a simple five-page guide that explains how the new health-care reform bill will affect you. In a simple question-answer format the guide addresses questions most people have about the new law’s provisions, why they were created and when they are scheduled to come into [...]
Under a little-known provision of the health overhaul law, insurers will be required to provide their benefits information on a standardized chart using the same plain English terms as other companies to help shoppers understand and compare complicated policies.
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.
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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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.
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