Four States Get Waivers to Carry Out Health Law
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had granted broad waivers to four states allowing health insurance companies to continue offering less generous benefits than they would otherwise be required to provide this year under the new federal health care law.
The states are Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee, the administration told Congress.
Lawmakers said that many other states, insurers and employers needed similar exemptions from some of the law’s requirements and would seek waivers if they knew of the option.
Steven B. Larsen, a top federal insurance regulator, said the waivers would allow many consumers to keep the coverage they had, a goal often espoused by President Obama.
The following article is the clearest I've seen about the vision of the Republicans with regard to health care. They view it as a commodity, while progressives view it as a right. The contrast between visions is striking.
Health Hard-Liners To GOP: Most Americans Are 'Over-Insured' : Shots
The Health of Reform
Published: February 16, 2011
OP-CHART
Patrick Proposes Health Fee Overhaul
Governor Deval Patrick plans to file long-awaited legislation today that would give him authority to scrutinize the fees paid to hospitals and doctors, part of a proposal to transform how providers are compensated and to curb rising health care costs, according to high-level administration officials.
UMass Wins US Contract To Design Insurance Exchange
The University of Massachusetts Medical School received a $35.6 million contract from the federal government yesterday to create an online system that would make it easier for consumers and small business owners to shop for insurance under the national health care overhaul.
By 2014, all states will be required to have exchanges, essentially online shopping malls, to help consumers compare and select insurance plans, and the UMass contract is focused on designing the technology for those exchanges, officials said.
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Ryan takes aim: Medicare, Medicaid | |
| The top House budget writer vowed this week to craft a blueprint for the nation’s fiscal future that proposes significant reforms to Medicare and Medicaid — but not necessarily to Social Security — as he criticized President Barack Obama for choosing not to address entitlement spending in his fiscal 2012 budget. “Where he has failed on these critical issues, especially the health care entitlements, we plan to step in the breach and provide that kind of leadership by showing the country how we would do things different,” Rep. Paul Ryan, a 41-year-old Wisconsin Republican, said in an interview Tuesday for the POLITICO video series “The Economic Outlook.” Ryan said House Republicans will not just play at the edges of the major health care programs for the elderly, poor and disabled, for which the White House projected a combined cost of $754 billion. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=16480C12-C9C2-371E-14A2C8D176D8C3E8 |
Poll: Most Americans Don't Want To Defund Health Law
Even as respondents continued to express opposition to the health reform law, a CBS News poll found that the majority of Americans disapprove of congressional Republicans' efforts to starve the health overhaul of the funds needed to implement it.
Sebelius Clears the Way for Arizona to Shed Adults From Medicaid
By KEVIN SACK
The Obama administration gave a green light on Tuesday to Arizona’s plan to remove about 250,000 adults from its Medicaid rolls, instructing the state that it could circumvent a requirement in the new health care law that prohibits reductions in eligibility.
In a letter to Gov. Jan Brewer, the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, wrote that Arizona’s expansion of Medicaid to cover low-income childless adults had been enacted a decade ago with special permission from the federal government, known as a waiver. That waiver, Ms. Sebelius wrote, is time-limited and expires Sept. 30.
A Slippery Slope To Defunding The Health Law
This is high season for budget blueprints on Capitol Hill.
The week began with the unveiling of the Obama administration's budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. Meanwhile, in Congress, lawmakers are in the midst of debating a spending measure to provide current year funding for the federal government. As the action unfolds, the burning question is whether Republicans will try to "defund" health care reform and, if so, what strategy might they employ to do it. In fact, the defunding has already begun.
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