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Paper Examines Potential Effects Of Public Health Insurance Program
"Can a Public Insurance Plan Increase Competition and Lower the Costs of Health Reform?"
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RN Cares For Physician Husband But Cannot Believe Costs
"My husband is a physician - who, by the way, has never missed a day of work - and is also on dialysis for a failed kidney transplant. I'm a nurse, and have been doing his home hemodialysis for the past year," said Daniella Pigott of Birmingham, Alabama. "Each month our insurance company sends us a copy of the billing statement. Remember, I am the one who does his treatments at home for three hours a day, five days a week.
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Health Insurance And The U.S. Presidential Election
Q and A with Aaron Carroll, M.D., director of the Center for Health Policy and Professional- ism Research and associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Carroll is a Regenstrief Institute research scientist and a pediatrician who sees patients at Riley Hospital for Children.
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Health Plans' Quality Of Care Improved In Some Areas In 2007, NCQA Report Says
Health plans' quality of care improved in 2007 -- the ninth consecutive year of continued improvements -- according to a study released Thursday by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
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Pennsylvania Governor Revises Health Insurance Expansion Proposal
In a letter to several state Senate Republicans on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) described two alternative funding mechanisms for a scaled-down version of his proposal to expand health coverage to more uninsured state residents, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
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Privatizing Canada's Health Care Is Not The Answer: Lessons From The USA, Prominent US Physician Discusses Her Perspective In CMAJ
Investing in Canada's public health system is the best way to improve it, rather than privatization, writes Dr. Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. The article was published online today in CMAJ. Dr. Angell cautions against a US-style model of health care, arguing that "the US health care system is enormously inefficient compared with the Canadian system.
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Florida Regulators Try To Determine Specifics Of New Law That Allows Some Adults To Stay On Parents' Health Policies Up To Age 30
A Florida state law allowing certain workers to keep dependents on their health insurance policies until age 30 was scheduled to take effect on Wednesday, but some of the specifics of the law still are being discussed, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
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Allsup Introduces Health Discount Program To Millions Of People With Disabilities, USA
Allsup announced today it is offering a new Health Discount Program to help millions of people with disabilities gain access to discounted healthcare and medical services. The program is among the new financial and healthcare-related services Allsup has introduced for people with disabilities to complement the nationwide SSDI representation services it has offered for nearly 25 years.
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Vice Presidential Debate Includes References To Health Care
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) and Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday during a debate at Washington University in St. Louis discussed health care and other proposals offered by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican presidential nominee Sen.
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Mental Health Advocates, Lawmakers Push For House To Pass Bailout Bill That Includes Mental Parity
Advocates for mental health parity legislation on Thursday launched efforts to lobby 51 co-sponsors of a House mental health parity bill (HR 1424) who voted against a House version of a financial bailout package to reconsider their votes and vote to approve a Senate-approved package that includes mental health parity language, CQ Today reports (Armstrong/Wayne, CQ Today, 10/2).
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Election Brief Reviews Current, Future Medicare Issues; Snapshots Examine Relationship Between Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Employee Compensation
"Medicare Now and In the Future," Kaiser Family Foundation: The second in a series of election briefs on health policy issues presents an overview of Medicare, detailing whom the program covers, what services are provided, how care is supplied to the elderly and disabled and what future challenges the program faces.
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MedPAC Hearing Panelists Call For Residency Programs To Move Away From Hospital-Centered Care, Toward Treatment Of Chronic Illnesses
Residency programs should place greater emphasis on the treatment of chronic diseases and on incorporating health information technology because current graduate medical education focuses too heavily on hospital-centered care, panelists told the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday, CQ HealthBeat reports.
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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries
While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics.
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Breast Cancer Patient Can No Longer Afford To Save Her Own Life
"We had major medical health insurance when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987," recalls Leslie Elder of West Palm Beach, Fla. "After a radical mastectomy, I was again diagnosed with breast cancer and had another radical mastectomy in 1992. Left with huge unpaid balances and tripling premiums, we were forced to drop the insurance in 2003." "In 2005 I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, resulting in the removal of one and part of the other kidney.
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Commonwealth Fund Report Examines Health Care Proposals Of Major Presidential Candidates
The health care proposal of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is more likely to improve health care affordability, accessibility, efficiency and quality than the plan of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), according to a report released on Thursday by the
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Poll Finds Health Care Rising As An Issue Among Independents; NEJM Article Discusses Business Community's Role In Health Care System Overhaul
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation: According to the latest poll, the economy continues to be the No. 1 issue that voters want the presidential candidates to address, but health care has "crept up" as a priority among the key voting group of independents in recent months.
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Senate Approves Financial Bailout Legislation That Includes Mental Health Parity Provisions
Mental health parity legislation was included in the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street firms passed Wednesday by the Senate, the AP/Detroit Free Press reports. The legislation would require group health plans of 51 or more employees to cover mental illnesses at the same level as physical ailments.
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Private Health Plan Spending Growth Slows In Minnesota, Report Finds
in Minnesota, Report Finds Spending by private health plans in Minnesota increased by 4.3% from 2006 to 2007, the lowest growth rate since 1997, according to a report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Health, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
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Survey Shows TennCare Beneficiaries Remain Satisfied With Their Care
Fewer Tennessee residents are uninsured, and satisfaction with the state's TennCare program remains high, according to a University of Tennessee study released on Monday, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports.
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California Gov. Schwarzenegger Vetoes Legislation Restricting Retroactive Cancellation Of Health Insurance Policies, Signs Narrower Measure And More
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday vetoed legislation (AB 1945) that would have prohibited health plans from rescinding health insurance policies unless they could prove that consumers intentionally misrepresented information on their applications, the
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Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of Healthy San Francisco Plan
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that San Francisco's universal health care program can continue because it does not violate federal regulation of employee benefit plans, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/1).
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Elizabeth Edwards Links Current Economic Downturn With Problems In U.S. Health Care System
Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), on Tuesday linked the current economic downturn with problems in the U.S. health care system, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. Elizabeth Edwards, who has incurable cancer, has made several recent public appearances in support of efforts to expand health insurance to all residents.
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Report: Health Care Quality Improves But Varies Across Different Regions Of The USA
The quality of health care for millions of Americans improved in 2007 but significant variations in performance continue to leave many people receiving substandard care, according to a report released today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). And while quality improved for most people in private health insurance plans, there was little improvement in the care delivered to those enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, the nation's two largest public health care programs.
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Vetoes Allow Profits To Trump Patient Care, Family Physicians Say - Governor Vetoes SB 1440 And AB 1945, California
Family physicians today said Californians' health care is seriously compromised by Governor Schwarzenegger's veto of a bill that would have mandated more money spent on health care and another that would have made it more difficult for health plans and insurers to refuse to pay for care.
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California Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Requiring Insurers To Pay For HIV Testing
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday signed a bill (AB 1894) into law that requires health care plans operating in the state to pay for routine HIV testing, the Los Angeles Times reports (Rau/McGreevy, Los Angeles Times, 10/1).
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