Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of December 20, 2010. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
Health Reform section of commonwealthfund.org.
The responsibility for scrutinizing "unreasonable" health insurance premium increases will rest largely with state insurance regulators as long as those states have adequate systems in place to analyze the requests, under proposed regulations announced Tuesday by the Obama administration. Read more »
With any decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the overhaul probably a good 18 months away, the Obama administration is busy mixing concrete and laying down pavement to implement as much of the law as it can before then. Read more »
With Republicans arriving in force on Capitol Hill next month, sharp scrutiny of spending under the health law will surely follow—with a GOP eye toward blocking whatever can be blocked. Read more »
An explosion of health information technology investments driven by three government policies will be the most significant issue for the health care industry in 2011, according to an analysis by the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Read more »
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that "there is no going back" when it comes to the health care overhaul, warning that repeal would cost jobs in an uncertain economy, drive up health care costs, and endanger the lives of those who run up against benefit caps. Read more »
Medicare officials again were touting the benefits of the health care law for seniors—and a recent poll shows their attempts might be having some success in winning over what has been a highly skeptical segment of the population. Read more »