Health Exchange Activity Heats Up As Deadline Approaches
There's nothing quite like a deadline to focus the mind. Even a deadline that's not quite real. Friday was originally the day that states were supposed to not only tell the federal government whether...
View ArticleAdministration Lays Down Rules For Future Health Insurance
You've got questions about the health law? The Obama administration has some answers. Finally. Now that the Supreme Court has found the Affordable Care Act constitutional and the president's...
View ArticlePrescribe 'Morning After' Pill For Teens Before They Need It, Doctors Say
The nation's largest group of pediatricians is urging its members to write prescriptions in advance to enable teenagers to have fast access to the so-called morning-after birth control pill.
View ArticleThe Hidden Costs Of Raising The Medicare Age
Whenever the discussion turns to saving money in Medicare, the idea of raising the eligibility age often comes up. "I don't think you can look at entitlement reform without adjusting the age for...
View ArticleThe (Huge And Rarely Discussed) Health Insurance Tax Break
What's the largest tax break in the federal tax code? If you said the mortgage interest deduction, you'd be wrong. The break for charitable giving? Nope. How about capital gains, or state and local...
View ArticleThe Perilous Politics Of The Health Insurance Tax Break
There's not much in health care that economists agree on. But one of the few things that bring them together is the idea that excluding the value of health insurance from federal taxes is nuts.
View ArticlePost-Election, 'Morning After' Pill Advocates Want Age Rules Revisited
Friday marks a not-so-happy anniversary for some of President Obama's biggest supporters: It's exactly one year since Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius decided not to lift the age...
View ArticleDoctors And Women's Groups Urge Feds To Relax Plan B Restrictions
Dozens of medical, women's health and reproductive health groups marked the first anniversary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' decision to maintain age restrictions on the sale...
View ArticleFeds Say 'No' To Partial Medicaid Expansion
The Affordable Care Act, as passed by Congress in 2010, assumed that every low-income person would have access to health insurance starting in 2014.That's when about 17 million Americans — mostly...
View ArticleDemocrats Draw Line On Medicaid Cuts
At least in public, Republicans have been clear that they see the current budget negotiations as a chance to address what they see as the source of Washington's deficit problem: major entitlement...
View ArticleMaking The Rich Pay More For Medicare
When it comes to reducing Medicare spending, asking wealthier seniors to pay more is one of the few areas where Democrats have shown a willingness to even consider the subject."I do believe there...
View ArticleWhat The Health Law Will Bring In 2013
Most of the really big changes made by the 2010 health law don't start for another year. That includes things like a ban on restricting pre-existing conditions, and required insurance coverage for most...
View ArticlePete Stark, Health Policy Warrior, Leaves A Long Legacy
The 113th Congress will be the first one in 40 years to convene without California Rep. Pete Stark as a member.Stark was defeated in November by a fellow Democrat under new California voting rules....
View ArticleBargain Over Fiscal Cliff Brings Changes To Health Care
The bill that prevented the nation from plunging over the fiscal cliff did more than just stop income tax increases and delay across-the-board spending cuts. It also included several provisions that...
View ArticleHealth Spending Increases Remain At Record Lows
For the third straight year, spending on health care in 2011 grew at a historically slow rate, government researchers report.According to a study published in the January issue of the policy journal...
View ArticleBusinesses Sue Government Over Birth Control Mandate
When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, few would have predicted that one of the most contentious provisions would have to do with contraception.But today federal officials are grappling...
View ArticleAhead of Inauguration Ceremony, Anticipation And Memories In The Making
Update 2:30 p.m. 'Hoping For Unity':With the ceremony at the Capitol complete, spectators looked ahead to their hopes for the next four years. Speaking to NPR's Tom Dreisbach, here's what some in the...
View Article'Roe V. Wade' Turns 40, But Abortion Debate Is Even Older
Jan. 22, 2013, marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v.
View ArticleDebate Rages On Even As Research Ban On Gun Violence Ends
The characteristics of gun violence in the U.S.
View ArticleDefying Expectations, GOP Governors Embrace Medicaid Expansion
Top-ranked archrivals Michigan and Ohio State faced off Wednesday night on the basketball court for the second time in this season (Michigan won in overtime to split the series).But both states'...
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