Posts Tagged ‘Obamacare’

Estimates Grow for Uninsured Covered by Obamacare

August 24, 2013 — Based on a USA Today survey summarizing the results of 19 reporting states, the number of uninsured individuals expected to purchase a health insurance plan through the exchanges established under Obamacare is estimated to top 8.5 million. That number exceeds the government’s original 50-state estimate of 7 million. In 2011, there were 48 million people […]

OAC Rising to the Challenge of Weight Bias

August 17, 2013 — The second annual Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) national convention opened in a packed ballroom Friday, with OAC Chair Pam Davis and Convention Chair Amber Huett welcoming nearly 400 people affected by obesity. The opening session brought together a remarkably diverse audience of activists, patients, and professionals rising to the challenge of obesity. CEO Joe Nadglowski […]

Irrelevant Spinning Around Obamacare

August 3, 2013 — Amid an escalating battle of political spinning around Obamacare on all sides, a few sensible voices are surfacing. Ignore it, they say. The only thing that matters is how many people buy health insurance when competitive new marketplaces open in October. People electing to buy health insurance will participate in the only election for more […]

Health Reform: Kill the Beast or Save the System?

July 27, 2013 — Health reform has presented a vexing dilemma from the beginning. With a system that everyone knows is broken, should we kill the beast and start over? Or take a more conservative approach and build something better from what we have now? Liberals wanted to scrap it all and create a single-payer system. President Obama opted […]

Hospitals Confronting Health Insurers on Their Own Turf

July 13, 2013 — Hospital systems across the country are increasingly confronting health insurers on their turf. The bitter feud between the UPMC Health System and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in western Pennsylvania gives us a pretty good idea what this might look like. And it isn’t pretty. The UPMC Health Plan has competed with Highmark now for […]

Health Insurance Covering More Obesity Care

July 7, 2013 — Slowly, but surely, the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) is nudging health insurance to cover more obesity care. Passage of the ACA held promise for obesity treatment and prevention because of its strong emphasis on chronic disease management and prevention. Though hopes for radical improvements in access to care have been dashed, a number […]

Everybody Loves This Health Reform Delay

July 6, 2013 — The latest health reform delay seems to be universally popular. The Obama administration announced this week that the requirement for businesses with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance has been delayed by a year to 2014. Businesses love it because they have more time to get their systems in line and requirements will […]

Health Insurance Exchanges Missing Milestones

June 22, 2013 — News was both good and bad this week on the implementation of health insurance exchanges under Obamacare. The bad news was that the Government Accountability Office reported that rolling out the systems and training for the exchanges is falling behind on important milestones, with time to recover growing short. “Much progress has been made, but […]

Affordable Care Act: Unaffordable for Some

June 15, 2013 — In an ironic twist, it’s turning out that the Affordable Care Act — known to some as Obamacare — may be unaffordable for some low-wage workers because of a loophole that gives employers credit for offering “affordable” insurance that low-wage employees can’t afford. The problem lies in the definition of what’s affordable, literally, in the law […]

Patient-Centered Medical Homes Saving Money

June 9, 2013 — CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield reports that patient-centered medical homes are saving even more money in their second year than they did in their first. CareFirst launched its patient-centered medical home program in 2011 with primary care providers serving one-third of its 3.4 million members in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and northern Virginia. Savings for the […]