Health Care Delivery

Only 6 states across the country are currently receiving funds through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provision intended to increase Medicaid managed-care payments to meet Medicare payment levels.

Tomas Philipson, PhD, says historical reform efforts in the United States have raised doubts as to whether or not the implementation of the Affordable Care Act will slow health spending growth. Dr Philipson also suggests that concepts of value-based insurance design must be considered differently when managing a chronic condition like diabetes.

As congressional Republicans push for a delay in the 2010 health law's individual mandate, the Obama administration Tuesday announced final regulations implementing the requirement that most Americans have health insurance coverage by Jan. 1 or pay a fine.

As American workers prepare for the first open enrollment season of the Obamacare era, hints are surfacing about what awaits them - higher deductibles, more incentives for staying well and premium hikes that continue to out-strip wages, albeit by more moderate amounts than in the past.

Facing anticipated reductions in funding and regulatory changes under the health care reform law, several of the nation's largest health insurers have indicated plans to scale back their Medicare Advantage programs.

They are bare-bones health plans, and critics say they could leave consumers who become seriously ill on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs.

The healthcare reform act intends to extend insurance coverage for millions of Medicare patients nationwide, but that doesn't mean it will expand their access to physicians.

While the employer mandate delay and other stalls in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act have raised a few eyebrows, a recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation brings forth some encouraging news.

The Affordable Care Act promises to expand access to health care by providing affordable coverage to millions of Americans. But finding a policy that meets your health care needs and your budget requirements can be daunting.

About half the people who now buy their own health insurance- and potentially would face higher premiums next year under President Barack Obama's healthcare law- would qualify for federal tax credits to offset rate shock, according to a new private study.

Opinions rage about whether health insurance costs will rise or fall with implementation of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act relies heavily on expanding Medicaid eligibility to increase insurance coverage and healthcare access. But its authors had to make sure that physicians would accept new Medicaid patients.

The health reform key is in, but the implementation ignition just won't start.

Two bills could expand the roles of nurse practitioners and pharmacists in California, as experts debate the scope of care they should provide in clinical settings.

Hospitals across the nation are being swept up in the biggest wave of mergers since the 1990s, a development that is creating giant hospital systems that could one day dominate American health care and drive up costs.

Although healthcare insurance exchange (HIE) enrollment is intended for October 1 of this year, residents of Oregon will have to wait a bit longer to do it themselves.

Like their predecessors in health care's parade of acronyms -- HMOs and MCOs -- ACOs will need to balance quality patient care with saving money. When that balance is questioned by consumers and inevitably by the courts, how, exactly, will the risk be shared?

Urgent care centers, the walk-in clinics where people can go when they have a cold or a sprained ankle, have been popping up in strip malls and on street corners across the country.

Preventive health services are key to ensuring people seek care before their conditions are critical or urgent in nature. As healthcare services for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries expand under the Affordable Care Act, so will the need for professionals who can administer certain preventive measures.

Wade M. Aubry, MD, associate clinical professor, University of California, San Francisco, continues discussions saying that comparative effectiveness research (CER) and the evolution of evidence-based medicine can facilitate innovations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), especially with the inclusion of value-based insurance design (VBID).

Affordable Care Act funds 'navigators' to aid consumers, but advocates say new state laws could hamper their effectiveness

In an effort to offset cost increases associated with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama administration intends to expand hospitals' access of the 340B discount drug plan. While the expansion may sound promising to some, many others worry that the program will threaten the quality of care, as increased participation risks higher potential for abuse. Even worse, the 340B program will likely rise the cost of cancer care.

Older members of Congress and those who smoke, like Speaker John A. Boehner, could be facing much higher health insurance premiums under a new official interpretation of President Obama's health care law.

The Obama administration hopes to attract more than 2.5 million young, healthy people to enroll through the health insurance exchanges that open on Oct. 1.

A provision of the Affordable Care Act went into effect on August 1st that will require physicians and medical companies to disclose their financial relationships.

Delaying the employer insurance mandate until 2015 has cost the government an estimated $12 billion in fees. This coming after an assessment conducted by The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) on the impact the delay will have on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation.

Increasing enrollment in health insurance is one of the primary goals of the health reform law. The CMS took a major step to achieve that this week by signing agreements with five Web-based insurance broker firms to help enroll Americans in the insurance exchanges in the 35 states where the federal government will run them.

At the heart of Washington, government workers are concerned about what healthcare reform will mean for them. A mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will require Congress members and their aids to obtain health insurance coverage through the state exchange marketplace.

Florida and Georgia, two states where politicians oppose U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare law, said on Tuesday that insurance rates for individuals would rise sharply in 2014 under the reform.

On this day in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare program into law. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has played a significant role in how the Medicare program operates as healthcare continues to be reformed.