ACA – Page 4 – Healthcare-NOW

Many States Not Prepared for Healthcare Law

By Sandhya Somashekhar for the Washington Post – More than three dozen states could be unprepared or unwilling to set up the insurance marketplaces called for under the 2010 health-care law, leaving at least part of the task up to the federal government, according to a new report. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia…

Bargaining Under the New Health Law

By Peter Knowlton for Labor Notes – Now that the Affordable Care Act has been blessed by the Supreme Court, will it help us at the bargaining table? Probably not. Much as NAFTA legitimized cross-border corporate exploitation of workers, the Affordable Care Act confirms the domination of health care in the U.S. by private insurance…

Medical debt still problem in Mass.

From the Boston Globe – Architects of the pioneering 2006 Massachusetts health law, which required most residents to have insurance, expected it would reduce families’ medical debt. But the most recent data suggest the scope of medical debt has remained largely unchanged. Temporary lapses in insurance coverage and increasingly common plans with high deductibles and…

The Illusory Promise of Free-Market Healthcare Miracles

By Wendell Potter for The Center for Public Integrity – While listening to the promises to repeal ObamaCare during the Republican National Convention, I was reminded of what those of us in the health insurance industry said when our friends in Congress were able to block passage of President Clinton’s health care reform legislation 18…

VT Gov. Shumlin Pushes For Single-Payer Health Care At DNC

From Vermont Public Radio – Governor Peter Shumlin says he hopes Congress will amend the Affordable Care Act to allow individual states to implement a single payer health care system as soon as possible. Shumlin says controlling health care costs is critical to creating new jobs and he’s convinced that a single payer plan is…

So Much for Fixing the Affordable Care Act Later

From Fire Dog Lake – I remember during the end of the health care reform fight how top Democrats promised activists unhappy with the bill that they would “fix it later.” I remember being told that it was very important to pass a bill despite many serious problems, design flaws and terrible compromises, because it…

ACA Vs. Single Payer: Bury the Hatchet?

From PNHP – The Nation, Aug. 28, 2012 PNHP note: The following exchange among PNHP co-founders Dr. Steffie Woolhandler and Dr. David Himmelstein, attorney Oliver Hall, and former health-insurance-executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter was prompted by an article by Potter titled “Healthcare advocates: Time to bury the hatchet” in the July 11 online edition of The Nation.…

Healthcare Spending to Remain High

Unnecessary care, fraud and high administrative costs are among factors. From the LA Times – With all the squabbling about healthcare, there’s one fact on which all sides can agree: American medicine costs too much, especially when you consider what we’re getting for our money. And as experts look toward the future, they don’t see…

Action Alert: Tell 12 Governors Not to Block Medicaid

Matthew Solis, 22, is a single father in San Juan, Texas with joint custody of his 4-year-old daughter. He works 25 hours a week for minimum wage while attending college full-time. He can’t afford private insurance, and he makes about $8,700 a year–too much to qualify for Medicaid in his state. Let’s change that. Obama’s…

A Glitch in Health Care Reform

From the New York Times – Confusing language in the health care reform law has raised the possibility that millions of Americans living on modest incomes may be unable to afford their employers’ family policies and yet fail to qualify for government subsidies to buy their own insurance. This is a bizarre development that undercuts…