health insurance

Stories 241 - 260 | << Prev   Next >>

Senate Health Bill Runs Into Abortion Divide

Both sides have vocal opponents, could halt bill without compromise

(Newser) - With a last-second concession barring federal dollars from funding abortions, Nancy Pelosi largely skirted the full brunt of the issue, but Harry Reid may not be so lucky. The Senate majority leader likely won't get the 60 votes he needs without similar language— which a Planned Parenthood VP calls a...

Abortion Dispute Could Derail Health Care Bill

Some Dems vow to block final passage

(Newser) - The abortion funding ban included in the health-care bill passed by the House Saturday could doom it down the road, as abortion supporters in the Senate threaten revolt, and those who voted for it in the House vow they won't back the final bill if it's still included, the Washington...

Healthcare Bill Boosts Pay for Prayer

Insurance firms urged to cover praying healers

(Newser) - A little-noticed provision in a Senate version of the pending health care bill would require insurance companies to consider paying for prayer as a medical expense. The addition was inserted by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and backed by Democrats John Kerry and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the home state...

Grayson Weeps on House Floor


 Grayson 
 Weeps on 
 House Floor 
water works
Oct 29, 2009 6:55 AM CDT

Grayson Weeps on House Floor

Bemoans casualties of lack of health insurance

(Newser) - Alan Grayson continued with his penchant for the dramatic yesterday, shedding copious tears on the House floor as he read letters from families of people who died because they didn't have health insurance. “For god's sake, I look forward to a time when we have finally done our jobs,...

How Insurers Got Their Way With Reform

Early, sophisticated lobbying effort paid off for health care industry

(Newser) - Though the final bill is still being hammered out, health reform appears to have given the insurance industry most of its wishes. Everyone will be required to buy insurance, there won’t be any limits on premiums, and any public option will likely be weak. They pulled off these anticipated...

Insurers Drop Rape Victims Who Take HIV Meds
Insurers Drop Rape Victims Who Take HIV Meds
investigation
Oct 22, 2009 11:16 AM CDT

Insurers Drop Rape Victims Who Take HIV Meds

Assaulted women locked out of health care

(Newser) - Sexual assault victims prescribed precautionary HIV/AIDS meds risk being denied health insurance—because they have a pre-existing condition. The vast majority never develop the disease, but many have lost their insurance altogether, the Huffington Post reports. Others have been denied mental health care for PTSD that arose after they were...

Husband Enlists to Get Wife Back Into Chemotherapy

Unemployed Wis. man couldn't afford ballooning health costs, signs on with Army

(Newser) - Out of a job and unable to find work as the recession grinds on, a Wisconsin man desperate to find affordable chemotherapy for his cancer-stricken wife turned to Uncle Sam, but not for a handout—Bill Caudle, 39, enlisted in the Army. “Seventy percent of the reason is for...

Health Reform Could Mean More Treatment Denials

None of the current bills force insurers to actually treat patients

(Newser) - Health care reform would force insurers to accept everyone, even those with pre-existing conditions; but it wouldn’t actually force them to treat those patients. None of the reform bills pending on Capitol Hill would restrict insurers’ ability to deny procedures for their customers, the LA Times reports. In fact,...

Dems Lash Out at Insurance Industry

They move to eliminate anti-trust exemption

(Newser) - All-out war broke out between the Democrats and the insurers today, with Chuck Schumer calling for an amendment to the health care bill that would remove the industry’s long-standing anti-trust immunity. Schumer called the exemption “one of the worst accidents of American history,” blaming it in part...

House, Senate Dems Split on 'Cadillac Tax'

As finance committee votes, caucus divided on how to fund reform

(Newser) - The Senate Finance Committee is poised to send its bill to the full legislature today, but its provision taxing "Cadillac" insurance plans is raising hackles in the House. Max Baucus and other senators say taxing high-cost plans will raise $200 billion, a quarter of the legislation's price tag, and...

Industry Report Distorts Health Reform Cost
Industry Report Distorts Health Reform Cost
analysis
Oct 12, 2009 2:50 PM CDT

Industry Report Distorts Health Reform Cost

Insurance firms' numbers blindside Baucus bill's backers

(Newser) - A new report that says the Senate Finance Committee’s reform bill would raise private insurance premiums is riddled with troubling exceptions, writes Jonathan Cohn. The report, commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans, estimates the costs of premiums over time if the bill is implemented, but it doesn’t take...

Insurance Group Bashes Baucus Bill With Report

White House betrayed by 'hatchet job' predicting cost hikes

(Newser) - The White House is steamed this morning over a report, sponsored by the insurance industry, saying the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill would cause premiums and costs to rise. The report was commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry group that has until now supported reform...

Want to Save Dad? Insurance Won't Let You

And Congress fatcats need to overhaul this 'disgrace' now: Kristof

(Newser) - So dear old dad desperately needs a kidney, and the docs say you're the best fit. Tough luck, writes Nicholas Kristof in a look at the case of David Waddington, whose two sons can't donate—because pre-donation screening might reveal to insurance companies that they have the same genetic condition...

Over a Lifetime, Being a Gay Couple Can Cost $470K Extra

Detailed analysis takes health insurance, taxes, other benefits into account

(Newser) - An exhaustive analysis of the lifetime costs a committed gay couple faces compared to those of a heterosexual marriage finds that, in the worst case, the gay couple pays out nearly $470,000 extra. The study by the New York Times assumed the couples were together until one partner died,...

Health Foes Fight Mandatory Insurance at State Level

Efforts, mainly GOP-led, appear more symbolic, but could result in court battles

(Newser) - Efforts are afoot in more than a dozen states to outlaw mandatory health insurance, a preemptive strike against federal health reform that, though mainly symbolic and constitutionally dubious, could provoke a court battle that would be costly and delay any plan passed by Congress. “I just don’t want...

Baucus Sweetens Subsidies as Bill Goes to Mark-Up

Democrats, Republican Snowe wanted lower costs for health insurance

(Newser) - The Senate Finance Committee finally meets today to consider Max Baucus' health care reform bill—a bill Baucus has already reworked to counter complaints that it puts too much burden on the middle class. Baucus has upped subsidies to those too strapped to buy insurance, and says he may also...

40% of Employers to Hike Health Plan Costs Next Year

Another 8% to drop coverage entirely, survey reveals

(Newser) - Many Americans are happy with their employer-sponsored health care plans and eager to keep them, but they won't be keeping them at the current price, the Washington Post reports. In a survey released yesterday, some 40% of employers said they expect to increase the amount their employees paid for health...

Young Adults Will Pay Steep Price for Health Reform

Insurance will be cheaper, but not cheap, and they'll be forced to buy it

(Newser) - Young adults are the demographic most firmly behind President Obama and health care reform, but they may also end up funding a disproportionate share of it, the Washington Post reports. Requiring young adults to sign up for health insurance is a key part of reform plans, as it will ensure...

Wife-Beating Branded a 'Pre-Existing Condition'

Eight states allow insurance firms to deny coverage to abused spouses

(Newser) - It is legal in eight states and in DC for insurers to reject victims of domestic violence because being beaten up by your spouse qualifies as "a pre-existing health condition" the Huffington Post reports. If you're in a marriage where it's happened once, the logic goes, you're more likely...

To Cut Health Costs, Fix the Food Industry

Obesity 'accounts for nearly a tenth' of health-care spending

(Newser) - There’s an “elephant in the room” when it comes to health care reform: American health care costs a bundle in large part because we’re so fat, writes Michael Pollan for the New York Times. President Obama has touched on the issue, but the country hasn’t, and...

Stories 241 - 260 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser