Coverage & Access - Employers Expect 8% Increase in Health Care Costs This Year, Survey Finds Employer health care costs last year increased by 8%, and companies expect the same rate of growth this year and in 2008, according to a survey released on Wednesday by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the AP/Detroit News reports. The survey, which Watson conducted with the National Business Group on Health, included www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=43101

2007-02-22

Coverage & Access - Not-for-Profit Hospitals Increasingly Moving From Cities to Suburbs Not-for-profit hospitals moving from low-income areas of cities where the majority of patients are uninsured to more affluent areas, often in the suburbs, where a larger portion of patients have private coverage has become an 'increasingly common strategy,' the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the J www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=54975

2008-10-14

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

Medicare - Omnicare Takes Legal Action Against Health Insurers, PBMs Omnicare, a Kentucky-based prescription drug and medical services supplier for nursing homes, has filed civil lawsuits or has begun arbitration hearings in multiple locations nationwide against 16 health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to obtain $61 million allegedly owed by the companies, the Cincinn www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=45968

2007-07-02

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

Coverage & Access - Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights States' Plans To Expand Health Care Coverage in 2007 Maryland and Utah officials recently announced tentative plans to expand health care coverage to residents in 2007. Summaries of news coverage on the states appear below.Maryland: All Maryland residents would be required to purchase health insurance under a draft plan outlined Thursday by the Maryland Health www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=3&DR_ID=41160

2006-11-20

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