Health Care Blog
Republican Budget Threatens Health Coverage and Insurance Protections
Posted by on April 25, 2012 at 12:05 PM EDTThis week, Republicans in Congress are considering budget bills that give more power to health insurance companies, raise taxes for middle-class Americans, and threaten health care coverage for children – all by rolling back rolling back important provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Under the new health care law, states have new tools and resources to hold insurance companies accountable. Today, states are using these resources to ensure insurers are spending your premium dollars wisely, reviewing proposed rate increases to see if they are reasonable. In 2014, states will use these resources to continue to ensure that insurance companies play by the rules in new Affordable Insurance Exchanges, where insurers will compete to offer you quality coverage at a fair price. Already, 33 states and the District of Columbia have received Exchange establishment grants, including 15 states with Republican or independent Governors. In contrast, Republican Representatives in Congress want to cut this funding for states, stopping them in their tracks and taking us back to the days where insurance companies, not American families, were in charge of health care.
Under the new health care law, middle-class families will receive the largest health care tax cut in history through new tax credits to help you afford health insurance offered through Exchanges. In contrast, House Republicans support a proposal that would raise taxes for certain middle-class families whose income changes during the year, for example, by putting in overtime or earning a promotion. By making it harder for families to juggle health care costs, this proposal could cause 350,000 people to lose their health coverage altogether.
Under the new health care law, states have new resources to maintain coverage for low-income children through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP is a bipartisan program that offers health coverage to children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford private insurance. Under the Republican plan, 300,000 kids would lose CHIP coverage according to CBO.
Learn more about Economy, Health CareRobyn-Care: Providing Extensive Care for a Sick Baby
Posted by on April 21, 2012 at 4:01 PM EDTEd. Note: This was originally published on Healthcare.gov
Robyn Martin is a remarkable woman from Maryland who shared her story of how the Affordable Care Act, the new health care law, is affecting her family’s life. In a discussion with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and other women in Maryland, Robyn spoke of her son Jax, who has serious genetic disorders, including a heart defect. After he was born, he immediately was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NCIU), where he spent three weeks. Jax has undergone surgery since then. The Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on lifetime dollar limits for coverage is so important to Robyn’s family.
“I don’t know how much all of his health care has cost to this point, but in five months, I know it’s got to be a lot. The first day in the NICU was $150,000,” Robyn says. “If he in five months used up the lifetime limit for him, my family would be in really dire straits.”
Learn more about Economy, Health CareGuest Post: JOBS Act Will Help Disruptive Innovation Emerge in Healthcare
Posted by on April 19, 2012 at 2:43 PM EDTWe founded CareCloud, a provider of web-based software and services for medical groups, in 2009. We launched the company to be a force of change: a business focused on eliminating administrative waste and inefficiency by connecting doctors, patients, and other key stakeholders into a fully integrated digital healthcare ecosystem.
CareCloud was successful in securing funding because investors responded strongly to our mission of lowering the costs of care and increasing quality To date, CareCloud has raised over $24 million in capital from angel investors and leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital.
The Health Care Law is Helping Small Businesses
Posted by on April 18, 2012 at 9:32 AM EDTSmall businesses are the engine of the American economy. Over the past 17 years, they have generated 65 percent of all net jobs and today the 27.5 million small businesses in the U.S. employ about half of all private sector workers.
The Affordable Care Act is helping fix a health care market that has been broken for small business owners. For too long, many small businesses couldn’t afford to provide coverage for their employees. And those who did paid more and knew their premiums could skyrocket if one employee got sick. For many business owners, this meant choosing between keeping their employees covered or dropping coverage and running the risk of losing good employees.
The new health care law is giving business owners new resources and options to cover their employers. The law helps small business owners by providing tax credits to help them afford coverage. These tax credits have already benefited an estimated two million workers who get their insurance from an estimated 360,000 small employers. This includes businesses like Vahallan Papers in Lincoln, Nebraska. Vahallan Papers has produced custom, hand-made wallpaper for 14 years, and seven years ago, started offering health insurance to attract high quality employees. They were able to get the tax credit in both 2010 and 2011, and used that tax credit to increase the amount they contributed to their employee’s health care costs, saving their employees around $400 a year each.
Learn more about Economy, Health CareA Drug Policy for the 21st Century
Posted by on April 17, 2012 at 11:00 AM EDTIllegal drugs not only harm a user’s mind and body, they devastate families, communities, and neighborhoods. They jeopardize public safety, prevent too many Americans from reaching their full potential, and place obstacles in the way of raising a healthy generation of young people.
To address these challenges, today we are releasing the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy – the Obama Administration’s primary policy blueprint for reducing drug use and its consequences in America. The President’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy, published in 2010, charted a new direction in our approach to drug policy. Today’s Strategy builds upon that approach, which is based on science, evidence, and research. Most important, it is based on the premise that drug addiction is a chronic disease of the brain that can be prevented and treated. Simply put, we are not powerless against the challenge of substance abuse – people can recover, and millions are in recovery. These individuals are our neighbors, friends and family members. They contribute to our communities, our workforce, our economy, and help make America stronger.
Our emphasis on addressing the drug problem through a public health approach is grounded in decades of research and scientific study. There is overwhelming evidence that drug prevention and treatment programs achieve meaningful results with significant long-term cost savings. In fact, recent research has shown that each dollar invested in an evidence-based prevention program can reduce costs related to substance use disorders by an average of $18.
But reducing the burden of our Nation’s drug problem stretches beyond prevention and treatment. We need an all of the above approach. To address this problem in a comprehensive way, the President’s new Strategy also applies the principles of public health to reforming the criminal justice system, which continues to play a vital role in drug policy. It outlines ways to break the cycle of drug use, crime, incarceration, and arrest by diverting non-violent drug offenders into treatment, bolstering support for reentry programs that help offenders rejoin their communities, and advancing support for innovative enforcement programs proven to improve public health while protecting public safety.
America's Nurses Take the Lead in Caring for Military Families
Posted by on April 12, 2012 at 2:17 PM EDT
First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden participate in a Joining Forces nurses event in the Irvine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa., April 11, 2012. Joing them on stage is Navy Lieutenant Commander Pamela Wall. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Yesterday, I had the wonderful privilege of joining First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at the University of Pennsylvania for arguably the most far-reaching announcement we have had to date in Joining Forces -- a commitment from our nation's nursing leaders to train more than 3 million nurses to have a better understanding of health issues impacting our troops, veterans and their families – with a specific focus on Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
The announcement was made at the University of Pennsylvania -- one of America's leading nursing schools -- and the audience included our troops, nursing students and leaders from nursing organizations and schools throughout America.
The atmosphere was energetic -- and it was apparent from the minute Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden walked onto the stage that these nurses and nursing students were eager and excited to get to work and support military families.
Nurses are some of America's most trusted professionals. They are the first to care for us when we go to a hospital or clinic and they are known for their compassion for their patients.
- &lsaquo previous
- …
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- …
- next &rsaquo
From the Press Office
Related Videos
-
December 13, 2016 6:04 PMSigning Ceremony for the 21st Century Cures Act
-
December 10, 2016 6:00 AMWeekly Address: It’s Time to Get Covered on the Health Insurance Marketplace