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September 8, 2008 1:02:57 PM CDT

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Stories related to: health insurance

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  • September 2008

    • US Health Costs to Rise 5.7% in '09

      Associated Press  |  Sep 4, 08 1:45 PM CDT

      US Health Costs to Rise 5.7% in '09

      (AP) - Get ready for another increase in co-pays and deductibles. A survey being released today found that 59% of employers intend to keep down rising health care costs by sharing them with workers. Costs will go up by an average 5.7% for both parties next year, rising faster than inflation or wages. More »

      Tags

      health insurance  • health care costs  • employers  • health insurance costs

  • August 2008

    • Ranks of Uninsured Drop by 1M

      Associated Press  |  Aug 26, 08 1:11 PM CDT

      Ranks of Uninsured Drop by 1M

      (Newser) - There were a million fewer uninsured Americans last year, the first annual decrease under the Bush administration, according to Census Bureau data released today. Median household incomes also rose slightly for the third consecutive year, while the nation’s poverty rate held steady at just over 12%, AP reports. The encouraging figures don’t factor in the economic downturn that began late last year, however. More »

      Tags

      George W. Bush  • Bush administration  • US economy  • health care  • health insurance  • poverty  • Census Bureau  • poverty rate

    • Medicare Fudged Fraud Figures: Report

      New York Times  |  Aug 21, 08 8:50 AM CDT

      Medicare Fudged Fraud Figures: Report

      (Newser) - Medicare's boasts of having reduced fraud by billions are misleading, a draft report obtained by the New York Times finds. Auditors were told to ignore procedures that would have accurately measured fraudulent claims for medical equipment, the draft report says.   Proper methods would have revealed an estimated $2.8 billion in fraud in 2006, instead of the $700 million reported to Congress. More »

      Tags

      corruption  • fraud  • health insurance  • Medicare  • Medicaid

    • Mass. Trumpets Success of Health Mandate

      Boston Globe  |  Aug 20, 08 1:55 PM CDT

      Mass. Trumpets Success of Health Mandate

      (Newser) - About 75% of Massachusetts residents who had been uninsured now have health coverage, thanks to the state’s closely watched, near-universal health care mandate, says a new report from Gov. Deval Patrick. Nearly half of the 439,000 newly insured bought private insurance, rather than taxpayer-funded plans, the Boston Globe reports. And the number of patients using emergency rooms for routine treatments has fallen significantly. More »

      Tags

      health insurance  • Massachusetts  • universal health care  • insurance  • emergency room  • Deval Patrick

    • In Sickness and for Health Insurance

      New York Times  |  Aug 13, 08 9:08 AM CDT

      In Sickness and for Health Insurance

      (Newser) - Health insurance worries are pushing a growing number of Americans both into and out of marriages, the New York Times reports. Couples in which one party has better health benefits are marrying hastily as medical needs outweigh any doubts about each other. One survey this year found health insurance was a major factor in 7% of weddings, and one wedding chapel owner says 1 in 10 couples come before him for health reasons. More »

      Tags

      health care  • marriage  • divorce  • health insurance  • medical costs  • health insurance costs

    • New Databases Share Test Results, Prescriptions

      Washington Post  |  Aug 4, 08 1:57 PM CDT

      New Databases Share Test Results, Prescriptions

      (Newser) - The prescriptions and medical test results of more than 200 million Americans are being assembled into commercial databases, the Washington Post reports, which then sell health "credit reports" to insurance companies trying to evaluate whether to accept an individual for coverage. The companies not only disclose drug and test information, they provide a "pharmacy risk score," based on people in a particular age group who have taken the same prescriptions. More »

      Tags

      medicine  • health insurance  • prescription  • Georgetown University  • online medical records

  • July 2008

    • McCain, Aides Often Part Ways on Policy

      Politico  |  Jul 31, 08 2:10 PM CDT

      McCain, Aides Often Part Ways on Policy

      (Newser) - Much has been made recently of John McCain’s difficulty in driving a message from his “eclectic and occasionally politically inconvenient hodgepodge of policy positions,” Politico says, but little has been said about how often the candidate’s top aides disagree with him. And while fewer public disagreements within the Obama campaign might be attributable to tighter messaging as well as the Democrat's shorter and less-maverick career, Politico takes a look. More »

      Tags

      John McCain  • climate change  • health insurance  • tax cuts  • Carly Fiorina  • Phil Gramm  • No Child Left Behind  • Douglas Holtz-Eakin

    • Obama Health Care Cure May Prove Elusive

      New York Times  |  Jul 23, 08 8:09 AM CDT

      Obama Health Care Cure May Prove Elusive

      (Newser) - In a campaign that has made several big promises, perhaps Barack Obama's most ambitious vow is that he will bring down health care premiums by $2,500 by the end of his first term as president. But whether he can deliver that is an open question, writes the New York Times . Even if he can muster the political will to cut down a bloated system, the savings might not materialize. More »

      Tags

      Barack Obama  • health care  • health insurance  • health care reform  • health insurance premiums

    • Mac Speechless on Fiorina Birth Control Slip

      Wall Street Journal  |  Jul 10, 08 2:56 PM CDT

      Mac Speechless on Fiorina Birth Control Slip

      (Newser) - A full day after the blogosphere was lit up over Carly Fiorina’s decidedly un-conservative suggestion that health insurers should cover birth control, John McCain still had no comment when asked about it, the Wall Street Journal reports. And a decidedly awkward no-comment, at that: McCain: “I certainly do not want to discuss that issue." Reporter: “But apparently you’ve voted against—“ More »

      Tags

      John McCain  • health insurance  • birth control  • Carly Fiorina

    • Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits

      Associated Press  |  Jul 5, 08 6:41 PM CDT

      Employers Use Law to Withhold Benefits

      (Newser) - Thomas Amschwand was dying, but made sure his wife would collect on his $426,000 life insurance policy. Yet when he died, his boss withheld the money, and his wife was powerless—because a federal law stops workers from suing employers for large sums of health, life, or retirement benefits. Amschwand’s wife recovered her husband's premiums, which didn't even cover the funeral. More »

      Tags

      lawsuit  • US Supreme Court  • health insurance  • benefits  • life insurance  • retirement benefits

  • June 2008

    • US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism

      MSNBC  |  Jun 30, 08 2:26 PM CDT

      US Insurers Warming to Medical Tourism

      (Newser) - If you’re in need of high-priced surgery, your insurance company might have a plane ticket for you. Insurers are starting to warm to “medical tourism” for the same reason uninsured Americans are: Surgery is significantly cheaper overseas. At least 150,000 Americans go abroad for medical procedures every year; insurance typically covers just a handful, but the number is rising rapidly, MSNBC reports. More »

      Tags

      health insurance  • health care costs  • health insurers  • medical tourism  • Cigna  • Aetna  • Blue Cross

    • Detente Mellows Wal-Mart's Once-Virulent Foes

      New York Times  |  Jun 5, 08 10:21 AM CDT

      Detente Mellows Wal-Mart's Once-Virulent Foes

      (Newser) - Wal-Mart, more accustomed to being lambasted than lauded by its critics, is seeing a shift in public opinion, reports the New York Times. The mega-retailer has reached accords with some of its most ardent detractors, even listening to their advice on issues like employee health care. The company, too, has gone green, becoming the largest retailer of energy efficient light bulbs. More »

      Tags

      Wal-Mart  • health insurance  • retailing  • Service Employees International Union

  • April 2008

    • More Say 'I Do' for Health Plans

      Los Angeles Times  |  Apr 29, 08 10:12 AM CDT

      More Say 'I Do' for Health Plans

      (Newser) - Health-insurance worries have gotten so serious they're pushing some Americans up the aisle, the Los Angeles Times reports. In a new survey, 7% of people said they or somebody in their household had married in the last year to get health benefits. The survey also found that health-care worries trumped concerns over housing costs, food prices, and credit card debt. More »

      Tags

      health care  • marriage  • health insurance  • medical costs  • health insurance costs

    • Blogger Weighs Health Care Plans, Flunks McCain

      Glamour  |  Apr 25, 08 4:40 PM CDT

      Blogger Weighs Health Care Plans, Flunks McCain

      (Newser) - Hacking through the forest of reporting on the presidential candidates' health care plans, Glamour blogger Megan Carpentier weighs in. Writing "as someone born with a birth defect who has been known to get sick," she bluntly begins, "I know enough about my own health insurance situation over the last decade to be able to say with absolute certainty that our health insurance system in this country sucks."  More »

      Tags

      Barack Obama  • Hillary Clinton  • John McCain  • election 2008  • health insurance  • health care reform  • health insurance premiums

    • Closet Smokers Might Get Canned

      Associated Press  |  Apr 23, 08 4:42 PM CDT

      Closet Smokers Might Get Canned

      (Newser) - A group of factory workers who lied about their smoking habits could be fired. The Whirlpool company charges lower premiums for health insurance to nonsmoking workers—and relies on the honor code when employees sign up. Now 39 workers at an Indiana factory have been suspended and face losing their jobs after being spotted smoking or chewing, reports the AP. More »

      Tags

      smoking  • health insurance  • smoking cessation  • workers' rights

    • Blood Test May Predict Dementia 6 Years Early

      Daily Mail (UK)  |  Apr 7, 08 1:42 PM CDT

      Blood Test May Predict Dementia 6 Years Early

      (Newser) - A new blood test can warn of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases six years before symptoms appear, its makers say. The assessment, set to launch this summer, could allow patients to begin fighting the ailments early with through dietary changes, exercise and drugs, the Daily Mail reports. But some worry advance knowledge of the illnesses could cause inflated insurance premiums. More »

      Tags

      health insurance  • Alzheimer's  • dementia  • drug companies  • Parkinson's disease  • blood tests

    • 1 in 50 US Infants Mistreated

      Associated Press  |  Apr 3, 08 6:30 PM CDT

      1 in 50 US Infants Mistreated

      (Newser) - About 1 in 50 US children under age 1 is a victim of nonfatal neglect or abuse—particularly among the uninsured, a survey finds. One-third of the 91,000 victims were a week or younger when the maltreatment occurred. "It's not primarily kids being hit, but parents … not being able to really take care for their kids," one expert said. More »

      Tags

      parenting  • child abuse  • health insurance  • abuse  • drug addiction  • infant  • medical costs  • child neglect  • newborn  • medical care  • uninsured  • new parents

  • March 2008

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