Debate Arises Over HHS Plans For Privacy Rules On Addiction Treatment
What’s more harmful to patients being treated for drug or alcohol abuse: risking their health by keeping other medical providers in the dark about their substance abuse treatment?
Kaiser Health News
How Medicare Drug Plans Hope To Follow Private Sector Lead
Aetna and Cigna inked deals in early February with drugmaker Novartis that offer the insurers rebates tied to how well a pricey new heart failure drug works to cut hospitalizations and deaths. If the $4,500-a-year drug meets targets, the rebate goes down. Doesn’t work so well?
Cigna Profits As Medicare Softens Penalty Policy
Cigna will get to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in bonus payments for some of its Medicare Advantage plans, despite recently-imposed sanctions for mismanaging those plans in ways that federal off
Retail Clinics Add Convenience But Also Hike Costs, Study Finds
Retail clinics, long seen as an antidote to more expensive doctor offices and emergency rooms, may actually boost medical spending by leading consumers to get more care, a new study shows.
Medicare To Test New Payment Approaches For Some Prescription Medications
Medicare plans to test new ways to pay for prescription medications given in doctors’ offices and hospital outpatient centers — moves likely to win praise from some policy experts, b
Bridging The Gap Between Medical And Mental Health Care
Even on her worst days, Tracy Young goes to her appointments at the San Fernando Mental Health Center. The counseling and medication, she says, keep her depression and schizophrenia at bay.
A 401(k) Withdrawal Can Lead To Trouble For Health Plan Subsidies
This week I answered a grab bag of questions from readers about premium tax credit repayments for marketplace plans, out-of-network emergency care and nursing home bills.
Insurers And Medicare Agree On Measures Tracking Doctors’ Quality
The federal government and the insurance industry released on Tuesday an initial set of measures of physician performance that they hope will reduce the glut of conflicting metrics doctors now must report.
Farm Contractors Balk At ACA Requirements
Many contractors who provide farm labor and must now offer workers health insurance are complaining loudly about the cost, while others worry about immigration risks that may arise
Obamacare is putting the agricultural industry in a tizzy.
Many contractors who provide farm labor and must now offer workers health insurance are complaining loudly about the cost in their already low-margin business.
Study Finds ‘Mortality Gap’ Among Middle-Aged Whites
Don’t blame suicide and substance abuse entirely for rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans, asserts a new study out Friday.
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