Archive for the ‘Health Care Legislation’ Category

President Barack Obama last week signed into law legislation that provides a 31-day extension of federal subsidies of COBRA health care premiums. The measure, H.R. 4691, extends the 65%, 15-month premium subsidy to employees involuntarily terminated from March 1 through March 31. This week, the Senate is expected to resume consideration of legislation, H.R. 4213, which would extend the premium subsidy to employees laid off through Dec. 31.

Kaiserhealthnews.org

By Sandra G. Boodman

Mar 02, 2010

This story was produced in collaboration with our partner

Denise Camp was resigned to the double standard that had long applied to her medical bills, forcing her to skimp on other expenses so she could pay for mental health treatment. Read more

Robert A. Berenson, Paul B. Ginsburg and Nicole Kemper3

Faced with declining payment rates, California providers have implemented various strategies that have strengthened their leverage in negotiating prices with private health plans. When negotiating together, hospitals and physicians enhance their already significant bargaining clout. California’s experience is a cautionary tale for national health reform: It suggests that proposals to promote integrated care through models such as accountable care organizations (ACOs) could lead to higher rates for private payers. Because antitrust policy has proved ineffective in curbing most provider strategies that capitalize on providers’ market power to win higher payments, policy makers need to consider approaches including price caps and all-payer rate setting.

David Whelan

The White House continues to demonize the insurance industry for big rate increases as it pushes for health reform. It called the CEOs of five big HMOs on the carpet today in a White House meeting with Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Afterwards, two of the participants–UnitedHealth chief Stephen Hemsley and WellPoint honcho Angela Braly–held a conference call organized by the industry lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans. Read more

President Obama Calls on Congress to Move Forward with Reform

Moments ago, President Obama gave a public statement urging Congress to move forward with its healthcare reform effort. The President stated that reform has been debated for over a year and that any more debate would not do any more good. Republicans have contended that the Democrats start over and work with them on a joint bill. President Obama also emphasized that reform should be considered by an “up or down” vote, paving the way for Democrats to pass healthcare reform through reconciliation. Read more

Economy, rising costs raise concerns about future affordability

Joanne Wojcik

Employers’ inability to control health care costs and uncertainty about the effects of federal health reform have many rethinking their commitment to providing health care benefits, a survey concludes. Read more

After regrouping, lawmakers seek new path to passage

Jerry Geisel

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama and top congressional Democrats are preparing to mount a new and perhaps final drive to pass health care reform legislation. Read more

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Prosecutors are seeking documents from Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, Blue Shield, Kaiser, Health Net and PacifiCare in a probe of whether they raised rates illegally and denied payment of legitimate claims.

February 25, 2010|By Duke Helfand and Marc Lifsher

Reporting from Sacramento and Los Angeles — The California state attorney general’s office said Thursday that it had subpoenaed financial records of California’s seven largest health insurance companies as part of an investigation into whether they illegally raised customer premiums and denied payment of legitimate claims. Read more

By AVERY JOHNSON

A battle over who to blame for rising health-care costs is escalating, as groups seek to pin the problem on each other and say none of the health-care legislation under consideration does enough to solve it.

U.S. spending on health care reached $2.5 trillion in 2009, according to federal estimates. It is expected to jump to $4.5 trillion in 10 years. Read more

Scaled-Down Plan Would Expand Insurance to About Half as Many People as Pending Bill Envisions

By LAURA MECKLER

President Barack Obama will use a bipartisan summit Thursday to push for sweeping health-care legislation, but if that fails to generate enough support the White House has prepared the outlines of a more modest plan. Read more

By ERICA WERNER and ALAN FRAM

The Associated Press

Wednesday, February 24, 2010; 9:24 PM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, holding out little hope for Thursday’s televised bipartisan summit on health care, are prepared to try for a far-reaching bill in the coming weeks without a single Republican vote. Read more

By AVERY JOHNSON

Insurers faced harsh criticism Wednesday during a congressional hearing on steep premium increases by a Wellpoint Inc. unit in California.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, pointed to internal company documents he said demonstrated that profit influenced the decision by WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross unit to raise prices on individual insurance plans by as much as 39%. Read more

SIIA Submits Comments for White House’s Health Summit

In preparation of tomorrow’s health summit to be hosted by the White House, SIIA submitted comments detailing our industry’s main concerns with the current proposals as well as highlighting our reform recommendations. Read more

Feb 24, 2010

The Center for Public Integrity’s new “analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 1,750 companies and organizations hired about 4,525 lobbyists — eight for each member of Congress — to influence health reform bills in 2009.” The AARP, a retirees’ advocacy group which is among the most active organizations in Congress, mustered 58 lobbyists to health overhaul issues. The Chamber of Commerce used 47. Read more