Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of October 11, 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.
An investigation by House Democrats found a 49 percent spike in the number of people with pre-existing conditions who were denied health insurance coverage by four big insurers in the individual market between 2007 and 2009. Read more »
If the Department of Health and Human Services goes along with the wishes of the insurance industry in setting rules for the creation of state-based exchanges, consumers won't get the best deals, a Consumers Union official said. Read more »
Seniors will see modest changes next year in Medicare's private health plans, according to a study released last week—a conclusion seemingly at odds with Republican warnings earlier in the week that enrollees in the plans face big new costs and vanishing choices because of the health care overhaul law. Read more »
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV issued a statement urging the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to "stand strong" against industry efforts he said would deny rebates to consumers in some states under the health care overhaul law. Read more »
If the Department of Health and Human Services decides to let states set up minimal health insurance exchanges under the health care overhaul, a big opportunity to improve the nation's quality of care will be squandered, the chief executive of the nation's largest nonprofit health plan warned last week. Read more »
A U.S. District Court judge in Florida allowed two parts of a multistate lawsuit against the health care law to move forward, including an argument that the measure's individual mandate is unconstitutional. But the ruling was far from a final decision on the law. Read more »