Source: Los Angeles Times Immigrant children who are in the country illegally would receive public healthcare coverage in California under a budget deal announced Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders. An estimated 170,000 immigrants 18 and younger could qualify, marking another victory for advocates and lawmakers who have worked to make the state […]
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Source: Huffington Post WASHINGTON — Millions of people gained health insurance last year as Affordable Care Act benefits took effect, according to the first official accounting by the federal government. In 2014, 36 million U.S. residents, or 11.5 percent of the population, were uninsured on the day they were surveyed, a decline of 8.8 million […]
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Source: NPR Coinsurance? Premium tax credit? HMO and PPO? Swimming through the health insurance word soup can be frustrating for anyone. Even though I cover health, I couldn’t define “cost-sharing reduction plan” until I Googled it just now. And it seems I’m not the only clueless 20-something here. Young adults, who generally have little experience […]
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Associated Press by Jack Gillum – After promising not to withhold government information over “speculative or abstract fears,” the Obama administration has concluded it will not publicly disclose federal records that could shed light on the security of the government’s health care website because doing so could “potentially” allow hackers to break in. The Centers […]
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Politico by Katie Jennings – August 20, 2014: It was late in the afternoon on a warm Friday in early fall and Doug Sumrell was mowing the lawn outside his suburban home in Evans, Georgia. As he pushed the mower across the yard, Sumrell began to feel faint — his chest tightened and the back […]
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Source: New York Times For millions of older Americans, it is time to sift through the mind-boggling array of Medicare plans. There is an average of 29 drug plans to digest, and about 18 options for Medicare Advantage, the plans delivered through private insurers. Then there are the 10 supplemental plans that cover what traditional […]
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Source: The Washington Post California’s health insurance exchange has awarded $184 million in contracts without the competitive bidding and oversight that is standard practice across state government, including deals that sent millions of dollars to a firm whose employees have long-standing ties to the agency’s executive director. Covered California’s no-bid contracts were for a variety […]
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Source: Kaiser Health News Aiming to contain health care costs, a growing number of employers and insurers are adopting a strategy that limits how much they’ll pay for certain medical services such as knee replacements, lab tests and complex imaging. A recent study found that savings from such moves may be modest, however, and some […]
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Source: Los Angeles Times Raising fresh questions about healthcare consolidation, a new study shows hospital ownership of physician groups in California led to 10% to 20% higher costs overall for patient care. The UC Berkeley research, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., illustrates the financial risks for employers, consumers and taxpayers […]
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Source: NBC News Republicans may have promised to repeal or at least do a big makeover of Obamacare now that they control both the House and the Senate, but most experts believe it’s lip service only. The 2010 Affordable Care Act is in full force across the country, with internet-based health insurance exchanges up and […]
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