Author: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
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Report: Health law sign-ups dogged by data flaws
WASHINGTON – Many of the 8 million Americans signed up under the new health care law now have to clear up questions about their personal information that could affect their coverage. A government watchdog said Tuesday the Obama administration faces a huge task resolving these “inconsistencies” and in some cases didn’t follow its own procedures…
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Analysis: Obamacare has a trade-off
WASHINGTON – You might be pleased with the low monthly premium for one of the new health insurance plans under President Barack Obama’s overhaul, but the added expense of copayments and deductibles could put a dent in your bank account. An independent analysis released Wednesday, on the heels of an administration report emphasizing affordable premiums,…
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Promise of price cut on hospital bills is in limbo, but Colorado fares better
WASHINGTON – Huge list prices charged by hospitals are drawing increased attention, but a federal law meant to limit what the most financially vulnerable patients can be billed doesn’t seem to be making much difference. A provision in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul says most hospitals must charge uninsured patients no more than what…
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Budget outlook on health: Cover uninsured, trim Medicare, tax cigs
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s new budget offers Medicare cuts to entice Republicans into tax negotiations, while plowing ahead to cover the uninsured next year under the health care law the GOP has bitterly fought to repeal. But the biggest health consequences from any proposal in Obama’s plan could come from nearly doubling the federal…
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Troubling increase in serious hospital infections
WASHINGTON — The nation’s hospitals are failing to protect patients from potentially fatal infections despite years of prevention campaigns, the government said Tuesday. The Health and Human Services department’s 2009 quality report to Congress found “very little progress” on eliminating hospital-acquired infections and called for “urgent attention” to address the shortcomings — first brought to…
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Wanted: User manual for health care overhaul
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and the Democrats have overcome their doubts and divisions to pass landmark health care legislation affecting every family and one-sixth of the economy. The president signed the main bill at a White House ceremony Tuesday, and a companion package of fixes is expected to be on its way to his…
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Health care gains start soon, bigger ones later
WASHINGTON — The first changes under the new health care law will be easy to see and not long in coming: There’ll be $250 rebate checks for seniors in the Medicare drug coverage gap, and young adults moving from college to work will be able to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26.…
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Health overhaul: Immediate change, long-term steps
WASHINGTON — When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare law in 1965, seniors got their health insurance cards less than a year later. When President Barack Obama finally gets to hold a signing ceremony for his health care overhaul, the major expansion of coverage for uninsured workers and their families won’t come until 2014 —…
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Senate gridlock triggers Medicare cut to doctors, who warn of cutbacks
WASHINGTON — Political gridlock in the Senate triggered a legal requirement Monday for a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees to doctors, who warned they may have to limit care for seniors unless the reductions are reversed. Hoping the Senate will act soon to stave off the cuts, the Obama administration directed Medicare billing contractors…
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Obama’s health summit: Heated talk, little agreement
WASHINGTON — With tempers flaring, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans clashed in an extraordinary live-on-TV summit Thursday over the right prescription for the nation’s broken health care system, talking of agreement but holding to long-entrenched positions that leave them far apart. “We have a very difficult gap to bridge here,” said Rep. Eric Cantor,…