Here’s how much money your hospital could get for computerizing records
Next year, 10s of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds will flow to doctors and hospitals to help them buy electronic medical record systems as part of the stimulus package.
KaiserHealthNews team explains how reform bills would affect you
Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center is “Twittering” a robotic-assisted surgery, describing the case step-by-step.
Seniors who hit the coverage gap in their Medicare drug plans and must use their own money to buy drugs are facing price jumps far outpacing inflation.
In one plan, called a “three share” plan, a $180 monthly premium is divvied up equally among the employer, the worker and the community.
Premiums in the top-10 drug plans rose from $31.14 a month in 2009 to $34.30 this year.
What if your state helped you turn your home equity into cash to pay for long-term care?
Hip implant recalled. Local health plan executives score big bonuses. Institute for Systems Biology screens genomes to pinpoint disease genes.
James Bergman, Group Health; Leroy Hood, IBS; Teresita Batayola, ICHS, John Long and Craig Hendrickson; United General Hospital, for its wellness program; and Aubrey Davis for lifetime achievement.
Plan offers free care for some illnesses, such as diabetes, but requires hefty fees for treatments deemed overused, such as knee replacements and heart bypasses.
To help pay for health reform, President Obama wants to raise the Medicare tax rate on wealthy Americans and tax their investment income as well as their wages.
Reform would require young adults to purchase insurance. But many of these “young invincibles” don’t believe they need or would benefit from such plans.
The evolution of Blue Cross is a case study in the need for health care reform.
Reform will hold insurance companies accountable, protect consumers, and assure affordable quality care, the President says.
“It would put federal bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by patients and doctors.”– Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL)
Finding the right medicine for you depends on balancing the benefits, side effects, and costs.
Ellen Warner and her husband Mark run a small online store and offer insurance to employees, but the cost is high and they fear a tax on high-cost plans could make it unaffordable.
“I don’t know how this plays politically, but I know it’s right. And so I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law.”
Consumers are increasingly aware of the link between diet and heart disease.
Event includes live auction of handbags donated by celebrities such as Tina Fey and Rachael Ray and wines from 32 Northwest wineries.
Selecky helped create the Washington State Department of Health, which she now leads.
“Republican and Democratic approaches to health care have more in common than most people think . . . But there were also important areas of disagreement.”
Congress should pass health reform through reconciliation, Daschle says, “…once this legislation is passed and people can see what it could mean for them … it would be a net positive by November.”
New law means higher deductibles, steeper co-pays and other restrictions are no longer allowed for mental health and substance abuse treatment.
Study finds health of state’s residents vary widely from county to county
There is strong support to ban rescission, the insurance company practice of canceling policies when people run up heavy bills
“We need to move past the bickering and the game-playing that holds us back and blocks progress for the American people.”
“By an overwhelming margin, the American people are telling us to scrap the current bills, which will lead to a government takeover of health care, and we should start over.”
The number of lobbyists working Congress on health reform more than doubled in 2009 from more than 1,400 in the first three months of the year to nearly 3,700 in the final quarter
Goal is to help reduce copying, altering, and other forms of counterfeiting,
Virtually all of health reform legislation passed over the past 30 years was passed through the reconciliation process.
Insurance mandate, subsidies and a standard benefits package were all in the 1993 GOP bill.
Health officials warn consumers not to eat three products made by Queseria Bendita.
Plan includes insurance mandate and a promise to “end discrimination” from pre-existing conditions.