Healthcare Reform news and information

Two new studies highlight the heavy impact that state decisions not to expand Medicaid under the federal healthcare reform law will have on low-income Americans and community health centers that serve them.
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Americans submitting their applications for Medicaid through the federal government's online insurance marketplace in 36 states may want to contact their state Medicaid agencies for faster results.
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A few states running their own insurance exchanges are touting high levels of interest from young people, a demographic group widely viewed as the linchpin of the healthcare reform law's success.
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With less than two days before the country will reach its borrowing limit, Congress remained stalled on how to reopen the government and raise the nation's debt ceiling, with provisions of the healthcare reform law still a sticking point in the negotiations.
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HealthCare.gov has, by all accounts, been an absolute train wreck of a website roll-out. But one thing the site hasn't lacked is traffic: It saw 4.7 million unique visitors in its first 24 hours online. And according to the web analytics firm SimilarWeb, which monitors network traffic, it has a...
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Physician assistants are helping to fill the many holes in the U.S. healthcare system, providing tests, counseling and other basic care when a doctor is unavailable. They expect to get busier as healthcare reform starts making it easier for people to pay for medical care.
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There are rumblings that the glitches attending the rollout of the Affordable Care Act—along with the relentless campaign to sabotage or delay it in numerous states—mean the program is dead on arrival. But the history of an equally controversial and vast government effort, Medicare,...
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U.S. Senate leaders from both parties Monday indicated they're optimistic about reaching a deal to end the government shutdown with an agreement that sources say is likely to include a few Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provisions.
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A new MGMA survey finds that more than half of physician practices say they had not yet decided whether they will participate in health plans sold on the new state insurance exchanges.
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Nearly two weeks after the debut of Covered California, the state's online insurance marketplace, its website still doesn't offer a way to find out which doctors and hospitals are included in each health plan. The website tool designed to help shoppers cross-reference providers launched last week,...
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