Archive for the ‘Health Insurance’ Category

NEJM Perspectives Examine California Health Reform Efforts, Individual Health Insurance Mandates

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

"California Dreamin' -- State Health Care Reform and the Prospect for National Change," New England Journal of Medicine: The perspective by Stephen Isaacs of the consulting firm Isaacs-Jellinek and Steven Schroeder of the University of California-San Francisco discusses efforts by California lawmakers to overhaul the state's health care system and ...

Florida Governor Crist Touts Plan That Would Insure More Residents, Senate Likely To Pass Plan This Week

Saturday, April 12th, 2008

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is traveling through the state touting his proposal that seeks to provide health coverage to up to 3.8 million uninsured residents, the Miami Herald reports. According to the Herald, Crist's plan would remove mandates that require insurance plans to include coverage of up to 50 ...

Proposal To Fund Maine Health Insurance Program Would Impose Fixed, Annual Surcharge On Beneficiary Claims

Friday, April 11th, 2008

Legislation being considered by Maine lawmakers would place a 1.8% fixed annual fee on claims paid by health insurers to help fund the state's DirigoChoice health insurance program, the Portland Press Herald reports. The program is expected to run out of funding in February 2009. Officials had to cap enrollment ...

Chrysler Contract With United Auto Workers To Establish VEBA Receives Preliminary Approval

Friday, April 11th, 2008

U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland on Wednesday awarded preliminary approval to a contract agreement between the Chrysler Group and the United Auto Workers that would establish a voluntary employees' beneficiary association and require hourly retirees to pay more for health care, the AP/Detroit News reports. The contract, negotiated last ...

Elizabeth Edwards Says Clinton Plan Would Be ‘More Successful’ In Achieving Universal Coverage

Friday, April 11th, 2008

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), on Wednesday said she prefers the health care plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), the AP/Winston-Salem Journal reports. Edwards, in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," said, "I do think ...

Study Examines Use Of ED By Uninsured, Affluent Patients; Web Exclusives Feature Discussions With Dutch, German Health Officials;

Friday, April 11th, 2008

"Are the Uninsured Responsible for the Rise in Emergency Department Visits in the United States?" Annals of Emergency Medicine: The study found that during a period in which the number of ED visits significantly increased, the proportion of uninsured patients visiting EDs dropped slightly, while visits by affluent patients and ...

Massachusetts Health Insurance Law Has Achieved Much; Health Care Leaders Need To Boost Cost Controls, Editorial Says

Friday, April 11th, 2008

"While the success of" the Massachusetts health insurance law "is not assured," the state "should be proud of accomplishing so much, so quickly," a Boston Globe editorial states. Health care in the state costs more than some other states, but "in the short term, this cost disparity meant Massachusetts had ...

Increased Health Care Costs Contribute To U.S. Wage Slowdown, NYT Columnist Writes

Friday, April 11th, 2008

The current wage slowdown in the U.S. has a number of causes and has "been building for a long time," and in recent years, the "cost of health care has aggravated the problem by taking a huge bite out of most workers' paychecks," columnist David Leonhardt writes in the New ...

Iowa Senate Passes Health Care Expansion Legislation Without Mandate

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

The Iowa Senate on Monday voted 42-6 to approve a bill (HF 2539) that would expand Hawk-I coverage to tens of thousands more children, the Des Moines Register reports. Hawk-I is the state's version of SCHIP. The legislation would increase the income eligibility threshold from about $41,000 for a family ...

Reports Shows How Many People Are Likely To Die In Each State Due To Lack Of Health Coverage

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

In 2002, a groundbreaking national study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrated the direct link between a lack of health coverage and deaths from health-related causes. Drawing on that study, Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers, has today made ...