State Watch - Lawmakers in Iowa, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania Consider Health System Changes Several newspapers recently published articles related to lawmakers' efforts in Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York state to expand health care services. Summaries appear below. Iowa: Iowa Democrats are considering expanding several health programs next year and establishing a health commission to re www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=41642

2006-12-13

Coverage & Access - Costs Pose Challenge to Massachusetts Health Insurance Law One Year After Deadline for Residents To Obtain Coverage One year after the deadline for Massachusetts residents to obtain health coverage under the state's health insurance law, the percentage of uninsured has declined but the law 'still faces a huge challenge: costs,' USA Today reports. The law requires most state residents to obtain health coverage or face a ta www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=53031

2008-06-30

State Watch - Boston Globe Examines Discrepancies in Massachusetts Hospitals' Insurance Reimbursement Payments Some hospitals in Massachusetts receive payments from insurers that on average are about 15% to 60% more than payments for the same procedure at competing hospitals, even when there is no evidence that higher-priced care leads to better patient outcomes, according to a Boston Globe review of private insuranc www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=55594

2008-11-17

Medicare - More Than 600,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Beneficiaries Must Apply for Low-Income Subsidy More than 600,000 low-income Medicare beneficiaries who were automatically enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug benefit and received a subsidy toward premium costs this year will have to apply to receive the subsidy for 2007 because their eligibility status has changed, CMS officials said on Thursday, www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=40569

2006-10-20

Medicare - CMS Seeks To Address Concerns About Medicare Beneficiaries' Oxygen Equipment Laurence Wilson of CMS on Monday attempted to address concerns that Medicare beneficiaries could lose access to oxygen equipment next year because of a change in federal law scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2009, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The change will limit to three years the length of time that Med www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=56135

2008-12-17

State Watch - Illinois Governor Proposes Health Coverage Expansion Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on Sunday unveiled a plan to expand access to health insurance to the 1.4 million uninsured state residents at an estimated cost of $2.1 billion per year, the Chicago Tribune reports (Graham, Chicago Tribune, 3/4). Blagojevich's plan, called Illinois Covered, is based in par www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=43390

2007-03-06

Coverage & Access - Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft Launch Personal Electronic Health Records Pilot Program Officials from Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft on Monday announced that the companies are developing a patient information exchange pilot program, Reuters/Washington Post reports (Kaufman, Reuters/Washington Post, 6/9). Under the program, patients who use Kaiser's personal electronic health record system, My www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=52619

2008-06-09

Medicaid - New Policy Ends Automatic Medicaid Eligibility for U.S.-Born Infants of Low-Income, Undocumented Immigrants Under a new federal policy, infants born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants will no longer be automatically enrolled in Medicaid, the Bush administration said on Thursday, the New York Times reports. The new policy -- part of the Deficit Reduction Act signed by President Bush in February -- took effect i www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=40840

2006-11-03

Coverage & Access - Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association Trust Unlikely To Cover All Future Health Care Obligations for Big Three Automakers, Analyst Says Morgan Stanley analyst Jonathan Steinmetz on Tuesday told investors that negotiations next month between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers could result in a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association trust that covers some, rather than all, of their future retiree health care obligations, www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=45708

2007-06-20

Coverage & Access - Wall Street Journal Profiles New Nursing Home in San Francisco San Francisco plans to spend about $600 million to replace the Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, an effort that 'bucks a tenuous trend across the country' to provide care to seniors in their homes or in assisted living facilities, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'A debate has long raged over www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=44735

2007-05-07