Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of April 26, 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 Department of Health and Human Services said that it has heard from 21 states and the District of Columbia that they will take part in a new program to offer insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, and 11 states that are opting out. Read more »
Democrats kept health insurance companies on the run after insurers under pressure in recent days agreed to early implementation of key changes mandated in the health care law and WellPoint canceled a hugely publicized proposed 39 percent rate increase. Read more »
For those used to the old world order of insurance regulation, changes now underway at the Department of Health and Human Services might seem surreal — but absent a repeal of the overhaul law a few years down the road, they are very much the way things are now. Read more »
An analysis by a Washington health consulting firm found that many Medicare Advantage enrollees are not enrolled in the plans judged highest in quality on the government's website. Read more »
UnitedHealthcare officials announced they will no longer cancel policies held by sick people. The company is acting in advance of a ban on the practice that's part of the new health care law. Read more »
The American Hospital Association may be blasting ads urging him to scale back a proposed "meaningful use" standard for Medicare payments for health information technology, but that didn't stop health IT czar David Blumenthal from predicting a partnership between hospitals and the federal government on the issue. Read more »