Health Care Delivery

Despite opposition from Republicans, Florida has surpassed California to become the state with the highest number of consumers enrolling in health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges.

Last night's announcement came in a video release featuring President Obama and HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. The president cited the Affordable Care Act's reach into previously underserved markets and the increased level of consumer choice in 2015; increased competition as the law goes forward will drive down premiums over time, he said.

Due to technical problems with its website HealthCare.gov, CMS and HHS announced a week-long extension for signing up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

State and local government healthcare spending grew at a rate of just 3.2% in 2013, which is a sharp decline from the previous 2 years, according to the latest data from CMS.

Open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act lacked the chaos and drama of 2014, thanks to improvements in HealthCare.gov. But there is still plenty of uncertainty ahead, as the fate of financial supports rests with the US Supreme Court.

More than 375,000 Kentuckians signed up for the state's expanded Medicaid program in 2014, and doing so has saved Kentucky approximately $100 million, according to a new report.

Many proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act rely on high-risk health insurance pools to cover people with preexisting conditions.

With the March 4 Supreme Court hearing on King v. Burwell looming, big business is stepping up to defend the healthcare reform law.

A new report finds that if the Supreme Court strikes down the federal subsidies that help people buy insurance on HealthCare.gov, there will be $12 billion worth of healthcare that is not paid for in 2016

A new Affordable Care Act initiative from HHS will better coordinate cancer care with the intention of improving the quality of care provided and reducing the money spent on healthcare, according to an announcement from HHS.

As the deadline for signing up for coverage through the Affordable Care Act approaches Sunday, enrollment in plans provided through the federal health law is on track to expand substantially over 2014.

The study evaluated average cost-sharing for those receiving subsidies in Silver Plans in the 37 states that would be affected by King v. Burwell. In that case, plaintiffs argue that the plain language of the Affordable Care Act does not allow consumers to receive subsidies if they live in states using the federal heath insurance marketplace.

Almost 6.5 million individuals using the federally facilitated Marketplace qualify for an average of $268 per person per month in advanced premium tax credits, according to a new report from HHS.

With a significant increase in their numbers on Capitol Hill, Republicans theoretically have more power to undo President Obama's healthcare overhaul, but they also have more responsibility for the results.

Sunday marked the beginning of the last week of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, and at last count, 9.9 million individuals had signed up for Marketplace covered, according to numbers from HHS.

A governor-appointed panel said expanding Medicaid via an alternative funding plan they developed would save Idaho $173 million over the next 10 years.

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was dealt 2 swift blows in Republican-led states this week, first in Tennessee and again just a day later in Wyoming.

The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations has teamed up with physicians, hospitals, medical associations, and almost all Medicare Shared Savings Program accountable care organizations in the country to pen a 36-page letter to CMS.

Governor Bill Haslam's expansion plan had market-based elements, a way to cover the state's share, and a deal to leave early if it cost too much. But distrust of the federal government and the president in particular was too much to overcome.

Tennessee Gov Bill Haslam's plan to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act died Wednesday in the state Senate after it was voted down by the Health and Welfare Committee.

In his blog post on FDAVoice, Peter Lurie MD, MPH, associate FDA commissioner for public health strategy and analysis, announced the introduction of a draft form and a draft guideline that can be used by a physician to request access to an experimental drug or biological product that is still under development.

The House passed a bill on Tuesday to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the first time in the new Congress, but Democrats appeared to show more zeal in defending the law than Republicans did in trying to get rid of it.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties.

Although one of the central features of the Affordable Care Act was eliminating discrimination based on preexisting conditions, there is evidence insurers have found ways to dissuade high-cost patients from enrolling in their plans.

Lawmakers in Wyoming are working toward an agreement that would allow the state to accept hundreds of millions of federal dollars to expand the state's Medicaid program.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) protects most consumers from losing health coverage or their job if they pursue genetic testing. But authors of a new article in The New England Journal of Medicine explore the implications of testing for life, disability and long-term care insurance.

Of the 944,000 people who could renew their coverage for 2015 through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, 94% stayed in the same plan that they were in last year.

Meeting enrollment goals for the Affordable Care Act proved the easy part for the HHS in 2015. The hard part will come March 4, 2015, when the US Supreme Court will hear a case that could eliminate financial subsidies for millions who signed up, putting their health coverage at risk.