Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of September 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.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that new regulations that took effect last week under the health care overhaul law will help stabilize a market that has been "in a bit of a death spiral." Read more »
State governors and the District of Columbia had until the end of Friday to request their share of $16.1 billion in added Medicaid money made available under a law passed by Congress this summer—and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced late in the afternoon that all had done so. Read more »
Federal officials are pushing now to increase Medicaid enrollment, rather than waiting for when eligibility sharply expands four years from now, the top Medicaid official told a new congressional advisory panel. Read more »
Two states—Maine and Iowa—have asked the Obama administration for more time in implementing a key provision in the health care law that spells out how much health insurers must spend on medical care and quality improvements, state insurance commissioners said after a White House meeting with the president. Read more »
On a day when Republicans across town were proudly proclaiming plans to repeal the health care overhaul, a new Medicaid commission created by the measure rumbled into motion, with its chairwoman, Diane Rowland, cheerfully anticipating the work ahead despite the uncertain fate of the law and the new organization it funds.
Read more »
If the health care overhaul is going to decimate the Medicare Advantage program as Republicans insist, don't look for it to happen next year—premiums are falling, benefits are holding steady, and enrollment in the program will rise 5 percent next year. Read more »