Selected stories from the daily newsletter
CQ HealthBeat from the week of August 1, 2011. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
newsletter archive.
Starting Aug. 1, 2012, private health plans will have to offer free preventive services—including contraception, breast feeding supplies, and screening for sexually transmitted diseases. Read more »
Doctors' offices in Ontario, Canada, spend about $22,205 per physician per year to bill Canada’s single-payer agency—about 27 percent of the $82,975 that U.S. doctors spend annually to process claims, according to an article published in Health Affairs. Read more »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a new Web site to give consumers speedier access to information they can use to compare the quality of hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, health plans, and doctors. Read more »
The impact of the debt ceiling legislation on Medicare, Medicaid, and the health care overhaul law may not be as great as some analysts initially feared—but all three could still take significant hits in the coming years. Read more »
An actuarial analysis of a model insurance policy under the health care law found that even people who qualify for subsidies may have a tough time affording insurance if they have a chronic condition. Read more »
Pneumonia deaths among patients in hospitals plunged by 45 percent between 2000 and 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported. Read more »