Selected stories from the daily newsletter
CQ HealthBeat from the week of August 8, 2011. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
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It may be mid-August, but the heavy lifting continues at federal agencies to create a far-flung system of insurance exchanges. Obama administration officials outlined three new proposed regulations totaling more than 400 pages and awarded $185 million more in grants to states to build the insurance marketplaces.
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States don't have forever to ponder their choices in creating health insurance exchanges under the health care law—and to help push that process along, 13 states and the District of Columbia were awarded $185 million in grants last week to fund their efforts in developing exchanges. Read more »
Federal officials are searching for ways to trim the high costs of caring for people with chronic illnesses enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, including through the health care law. And while such new approaches as team-based care provide signs of what can work successfully, there are some pitfalls as well, health policy experts said at a briefing. Read more »
The federal appeals court ruling declaring the individual mandate in the health law unconstitutional may turn up the flame under efforts to find another way to prod uninsured Americans—especially young, healthy ones who are good insurance risks—to buy coverage. Read more »
The federal debt limit agreement gives opponents of the health care law as many as three chances to strike at its funding. But the odds are that they will be able to deal only glancing blows. Read more »
Health and Human Services officials reported "positive" results from a five-year demonstration project that has laid the groundwork for Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) that the agency wants to create throughout the system. Read more »