Florida Couple Pays $3,000/Month For Health Insurance
One family in Tampa is trapped in an expensive insurance policy because it covers their 19-year-old daughter, who has a serious digestive disease and has been through several surgeries.
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Powerful Catholic Quietly Shaping Abortion, Health Bill Debate
As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ point man on abortion, Richard Doerflinger has emerged as a major player in the health care debate, one likely to play a pivotal role in the outcome.
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Five Questions About President Obama’s Proposed Changes To The Medicare Payroll Tax
To help pay for his health care overhaul package, President Obama is proposing that wealthy Americans pay Medicare taxes on the money they make on their investments. The proposal would affect millions of people.
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Refresher: What’s In The Health Reform Bills
Since the Senate passed its version of a health overhaul Christmas Eve, most of the debate has focused on the politics of the effort. By now, many people have forgotten – if they ever knew – what the bill would actually do.
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What Price For Medical Miracles? High Costs At End Of Life Still Part Of National Health Debate
Finding the right balance between too much and too little care is excruciating and highly personal for physicians, patients and families – one reason it’s not discussed at a national level. This reluctance is mirrored by an unwillingness by lawmakers to confront hard choices on medical spending.
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Transcript: Health On The Hill – What’s Ahead This Week
President Obama will visit Philadelphia and St. Louis this week to continue his push to have Congress pass health overhaul legislation this month.
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Opinion Column
How Blue Cross Became Part Of A Dysfunctional Health Care System
If the Democrats get their way, Blue Cross companies will have to change their business model, so that they act a bit more like the Blue Cross plans of old–the ones that helped schoolteachers, not stockholders.
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How Health Reform Could Affect The ‘Young Invincibles’
Under the health bills being debated in Congress, young adults would be required to buy insurance – but they could buy low-cost “catastrophic” plans, requiring high deductibles. That’s igniting a fierce debate whether young adults – sometimes known as the “young invincibles” – would benefit from such plans.
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Health Bill Opponents Mount Full-Court Press
Lawmakers are under intense pressure in the health care debate. The president is hitting the road to reassure nervous House members and shore up support for his plan. Republicans are taking their opposition to the bill directly to the voters, too.
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Opinion Column
The President’s Health Plan Won’t Cut the Budget Deficit
One of the central arguments President Barack Obama has made on behalf of the health care plan he wants Congress to approve in coming weeks is that it would begin to address the problem of rising costs and thus also begin to bring down future federal budget deficits. But will it?
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Bunny’s Last Days: When Living Will Isn’t Enough
In the era of modern medicine, there is often no easy way to navigate between an acceptable quality of life and a death with dignity. But palliative care specialists, relatively new players on the health care scene, offer comfort, support, pain control and, if requested, spiritual counsel, helping people sort through often confusing and ambiguous medical options.
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Living Wills Often Ignored
Living wills and advance directives were the hope for end-of-life decision-making decades ago. But a 2004 survey by FindLaw found that 36 percent of Americans have a living will, and even when people have filled out living wills, doctors often ignore them.
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Hospice, Palliative Care Aim To Ease Suffering
Palliative services are designed to help patients and their families sort through their options – ome of which may help restore the patient, while others may increase suffering for a minimal health benefit.
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Opinion Column
Popular But Ineffective: Repealing Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption
There are exempt insurance practices that, at least in theory and under certain conditions, could help insurers defend and expand their market share against competitors. But the exemption simply does not shield the most straightforward kinds of conduct by which companies get big.
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Some Small Businesses See Burden In “Cadillac” Tax
A proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans could make it more difficult for small businesses to purchase health coverage. Even though many businesses don’t offer rich benefits, their plans may be costly because the covered employees are predominantly older, sicker or female, three categories that currently result in higher premiums. Other provisions in health overall legislation could mitigate the impact of the tax, however.
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Highlights: Obama’s Speech On Moving Forward With Health Reform
This video highlights President Obama’s new proposal for health reform, which includes changes to what he calls the “worst practices” of insurance companies and efforts to control rising health care costs.
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Full Speech: Obama On Insurance Reform
President Obama presented his new proposal on health reform Wednesday afternoon. Read his full speech here.
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Excerpts Of President Obama’s Remarks: ‘This Is Where We’ve Ended Up’
The White House released selected remarks in advance of the President’s speech later this afternoon.
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Post-Health Summit, Obama Sends Letter To Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell
The President’s letter to congressional leaders highlighted what he called areas of agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans on health reform proposals.
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Parity Law Expands Mental Health Access
Many patients seeking mental health treatments, such as Denise Camp of Baltimore, have been forced to pick up a bigger share of the cost than they do with other medical bills. But a law that went into effect Jan. 1 prohibits such double standards.
