health care reform

Photographic Evidence That Hospitals Should Maybe Rethink How They Bill Patients

Photographic Evidence That Hospitals Should Maybe Rethink How They Bill Patients

Twice a week for the past three months, Consumerist reader P. has been going to her hospital’s gym for brief, doctor-ordered cardio workouts. Her insurance isn’t footing the bill and each session is only $9.00, so she’s been assuming that the hospital was wisely waiting until her tab reached an amount worth billing before it sent an invoice. Not exactly… [More]

Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Up 78% Since Launch Of Affordable Care Act

Health Care Fraud Prosecutions Up 78% Since Launch Of Affordable Care Act

It’s been more than two years since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, and while the Supreme Court mulls over the reform’s future, a look back over the last couple years shows a sharp increase in health care-related criminal fraud charges. [More]

Health Care Reform Makes Its Supreme Court Debut Today

Health Care Reform Makes Its Supreme Court Debut Today

When the president signed the Affordable Care Act into law, it was pretty clear that the legislation would ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. And now, two years later, the Supremes will be hearing its first arguments on the matter. [More]

House Votes To Cap Malpractice Damages

House Votes To Cap Malpractice Damages

While the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week over the constitutionality of the nearly two-year-old health-care reform package, members of Congress have been busy trying to chip away at the legislation. [More]

Supreme Court Sets Late March Dates To Hear Health Care Reform Arguments

Supreme Court Sets Late March Dates To Hear Health Care Reform Arguments

The countdown clock is on for health care reform. This morning, the Supreme Court announced that it has set aside three dates in late March to hear arguments surrounding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [More]

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Health Care Reform Case

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Health Care Reform Case

We all knew this was going to happen; it was just a matter of when. Today, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the appeals in the case to strike down — at least in part — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [More]

DOJ Petitions Supreme Court To Review Health Care Challenge

DOJ Petitions Supreme Court To Review Health Care Challenge

It was inevitable that it would come to this; it was just a matter of which side would make the request first. Yesterday, the Dept. of Justice filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the nine robed ones to review the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. [More]

Federal Appeals Court In Virginia Tosses Out Challenge To Health Care Reform

Federal Appeals Court In Virginia Tosses Out Challenge To Health Care Reform

The final of three federal appeals court rulings on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has come down, and this round goes to the White House. [More]

Walgreens To Start Selling Health Insurance

Walgreens To Start Selling Health Insurance

Come this fall, when you go to your local Walgreens to pick up your prescription, you may also be able to shop for a health insurance plan, as CNN reports that the country’s largest drugstore chain is about to get into the insuring business. [More]

Health Care Reform Survives First Appeals Court Battle

Health Care Reform Survives First Appeals Court Battle

One down… at least two more to go. Yesterday, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati gave round one of the fight over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the White House, upholding a lower court ruling that a stipulation in the law that requires Americans to purchase health insurance does not violate the Constitution. [More]

Feds To Use Mystery Shoppers To Investigate State Of Health Care

Feds To Use Mystery Shoppers To Investigate State Of Health Care

Looks like our research-relishing relatives at Consumer Reports aren’t the only ones using mystery shoppers to help with their investigations. A new report says the federal government is bringing on a team of undercover operatives to see how hard it is just to get an appointment with a doctor. [More]

White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers

White House: Docs Need Training Before Prescribing OxyContin & Other Painkillers

Too many doctors are writing unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers like OxyContin and fentanyl, says the White House. That’s why the administration is looking to push through legislation that would require training for physicians who wish to write prescriptions for these drugs. [More]

Virginia AG Asks Supreme Court To Hear Health Care Case
Now

Virginia AG Asks Supreme Court To Hear Health Care Case Now

Rather than wait for his case against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to run the appellate court gauntlet, the attorney general for the commonwealth of Virginia has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments about the legislation now. [More]

Federal Judge Strikes Down Health Care Reform Bill

Federal Judge Strikes Down Health Care Reform Bill

Health care reform legislation lost a significant court battle Monday when a U.S. District Court judge in Florida ruled that the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is void after finding that the portion of the law that requires people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. [More]

McDonald's, 29 Other Firms Don't Have To Play By Government Health Care Rules

McDonald's, 29 Other Firms Don't Have To Play By Government Health Care Rules

It seems snippy threats can get you places. After McDonald’s threatened to drop health coverage for 30,000 workers unless the government granted it an exemption from a mandate to spend 80 to 85 percent of premiums on benefits, the Department of Health and Human Services granted a waiver to the company and 29 others. [More]

Children Can Now Stay On Parent's Health Care Policies Until Age 26, And 3 Other Health Care Reforms That Just Kicked In

Children Can Now Stay On Parent's Health Care Policies Until Age 26, And 3 Other Health Care Reforms That Just Kicked In

Several of the provisions of the health care bill’s provisions went into effect on September 23rd, one of the most popular of them being the fact that kids can now stay on their parent’s health care policies until age 26, but there also three other important ones too! [More]

Health Care Reform Is Also Tax Reform: Here Are Some Changes

Health Care Reform Is Also Tax Reform: Here Are Some Changes

Kiplinger tracked down the tax implications of the health care reform bill Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday. [More]

Finish Up Your Weekend With Some Light Reading On Health Care Reform

Finish Up Your Weekend With Some Light Reading On Health Care Reform

You know what’s even less exciting than health insurance regulations? Homework! But as Congress prepares to vote on the huge and hugely controversial health care reform bill tonight, it’s a good time to familiarize yourself with what the proposed bill does–no matter what your opinion of it might be. [More]