Latest Massachusetts health care reform Stories

Whether getting healthier means hitting the gym more often or increasing one’s consumption of fruits and vegetables, taking these types of steps can help improve an individual’s overall well-being in addition to potentially lowering his or her Massachusetts health insurance premiums. Wilbraham, Massachusetts (PRWEB) January 28, 2012 It’s a new year and the team at The Gaudreau Group knows that many local residents have vowed to live a healthier lifestyle as part of their New...

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The proportion of nonelderly adult California women with no health insurance coverage grew to nearly one in four between 2007 and 2009, a period that coincided with the national economic recession, a new policy brief from the Public Health Institute (PHI) reports. The rate of women uninsured all or part of the year increased from 21 percent in 2007 to 24 percent in 2009 as women lost access to employment-based coverage,...

Employees' share of premiums increased 63 percent; workers paid more for health insurance and got less protective coverage in years leading up to passage of Affordable Care Act Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010, and the annual amount that employees pay toward their insurance increased by 63 percent as businesses required employees to contribute a greater share, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report that examines state...

Model Is Based on CHECKBOOK's 32 Years Providing Tool to Help Millions of Federal Employees and Retirees Make Best Health Plan Choices WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to educate health-care leaders about providing a well-designed, consumer-friendly health plan comparison tool as part of the health insurance Exchanges being developed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Robert Krughoff, president of nonprofit Consumers' CHECKBOOK, recently...

Many still find insurance unaffordable and employer-sponsored insurance unavailable, Harvard Medical School researchers say Despite the implementation of the Massachusetts health care reform designed to bolster employer-based insurance and to provide no-cost or low-cost insurance to those unable to afford it, the uninsured in Massachusetts remain predominantly the working poor, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School just published online in the Journal of General...

Affordable Care Act Helps Mitigate Effects of Difficult Economy WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sister Carol Keehan, DC, president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), issued the following statement: "Today we learned from the U.S. Census Bureau that 49.9 million Americans were uninsured in 2010, a number that continues to be intolerably high but which would likely reflect even greater hardship without help offered...

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Health Insurance Exchanges, both private exchanges and the new public exchanges are required by federal health care reform. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090105/56509LOGO) In 90 minutes, Cynthia Gillespie, Managing Director, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP will discuss what employers should know about health insurance exchanges by detailing: The impact federally required Exchanges will have on all employers and your...

Patient demand for care from safety-net providers (such as community health centers and public hospitals) in Massachusetts has increased, even though the number of patients with health insurance also increased following the state's passage of health care reform, according to a report in the August 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series.According to background information in the article, a...

Legislature's decision to raid the Hospital Safety Net Account is unconstitutional and will devastate hospitals and the patients they serve. SEATTLE, July 18, 2011/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) announced today it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Washington to overturn legislation that diverts money to the state general fund from an account set up to pay for hospital services to the poor and vulnerable. The account is 100 percent funded by...

NEW YORK, July 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of Americans will soon gain what they have long waited for in healthcare: Purchasing power that will make health insurers want to work harder to win their business and loyalty. According to a new report published today by the PwC US Health Research Institute (HRI), insurers will compete head-to-head when state health insurance exchanges begin offering policies to individuals and small groups. PwC estimates these policies could be worth...