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Initially, the controversy over President Obama’s proposal that all insurers cover contraception focused on religious liberty. After polls revealed that 98% of sexually active Catholic women have used birth control, though, some who oppose Obamacare tried to shift the argument from religion to money: “If insurers are forced to offer contraception without co-pays,” they warn, [...]
The nation’s health care bill rose by less than 4% in both 2009 and 2010. In 50 years, health care spending has never increased at such a slow pace. Could this mean that, after a half century of eye-popping inflation in health care expenditures, efforts to rein in costs are actually working? According to a [...]
On Wednesday, Charleston’s Post & Courier.com revealed that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has actively used her influence to prevent the implementation of federal health care reform — and, arguably, spending federal funds to do so. In March, the Republican governor told a committee charged with deciding how the state should implement federal health care exactly what they should [...]
Nobody would be surprised to hear that spending more on healthcare will result in new jobs. But a new program announced by the Obama administration last week seeks to create new healthcare jobs and at the same time reduce healthcare costs. Is such a trick possible? The so-called Health Care Innovation Challenge will invest up to $1 billion in [...]
Many of the health care law’s critical details still need to be spelled out, and one of the most important open questions — What “essential services” must all insurance plans cover? — will be answered before the year is up.
Kaiser Permanente’s stand-out performance in Consumer Reports’ national rankings of some 830 insurance plans raises an obvious question: What makes Kaiser so different? In a word: collaboration. Kaiser is distinctive among the major health insurers in that it’s not just a health insurer. While the non-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plans provides coverage for its 8.8 million patients, [...]
Are health insurance plans with big brand names better than smaller insurers that most people have never heard of? “Not usually,” says Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor, at Consumer Reports. Unless, that is, the plan’s name is “Kaiser.” Among the surprising findings of a new Consumer Reports ranking are: In general, smaller plans outranked the well-known names, [...]
