Federal News
Web Tool Helps Advise When Flu Needs A Doctor
Wondering if swine flu's bad enough to require a doctor's attention? An interactive Web site (h1n1 swine flu response center) may help you decide, using the same type of triage calculations that doctors at Emory University use. [Read article]
Health Care Issues: Coverage by Employers
Should employers be required to either provide health coverage for their workers or pay a penalty? [Read article]
State-Run Health Plans Garner Support
Liberals have challenged legislation nearing a vote in the Senate Finance Committee because it doesn't allow for a plan run by the federal government, which they view as key to expanding insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans. Instead, the bill would create a network of nonprofit health cooperatives, seeded with $6 billion of federal money, to compete with private insurers in a bid to contain prices. [Read article]
Health Bill Gives Some Groups A Break
Hospitals, coal miners and clinical labs are among the special interests that have won exemptions from taxes and other cost-cutting measures in a health care plan crafted by the Senate Finance Committee. [Read article]
Baucus Not Worried About CBO Score
Senate Finance chairman expects panel to approve healthcare legislation in coming days after independent cost estimate saying an independent cost estimate won't unhinge the bill's progress. [Read article]
Patient Advocates Fear Bias In Wellness Incentives
Lawmakers seem eager to encourage employers to create and expand programs that tie a portion of workers' health insurance premiums to their willingness to change unhealthy behaviors. But there's growing concern that some of those programs represent a new way to discriminate against those in less than perfect health. [Read article]
Health Insurance Exchanges: Will They Work?
Critics worry that big insurers may shun the exchanges or that consumers will not be able to afford what is offered. [Read article]
How a Mandate Could Cost Employees Their Company Insurance
Blog: Article explains how the Senate Finance Committee’s “employer mandate” - the requirement that companies either provide health benefits or pay the government a penalty - could have the unintended consequence of encouraging some employers to stop offering health coverage, especially to their lowest paid employees. [Read article]
