Policy and Legislation
In a stunning blow to opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the United States Supreme Court today ruled in a 5 to 4 vote that the most reviled portion of the health reform law -- the so-called individual mandate requiring all Americans to buy health insurance or face a fine -- is constitutional, since it falls within the power of Congress to impose a tax.
The Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate survives as a tax under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
A centerpiece of the GOP’s agenda to “replace” ObamaCare is the appealing sounding notion of allowing insurance companies to sell plans across state lines.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) -- the state's Medicaid agency -- has agreed to pay $1.7 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to settle possible violations of the HIPAA Security Rule, making it the second largest settlement for HIPAA violations to date.
The U.S. Department of Treasury late last week proposed regulations aimed at aiding patients gain access to financial assistance at charitable hospitals while also providing protection to patients from overly aggressive payment collection in the ER.
With the fervor of a true believer, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker urged an audience Tuesday during a keynote address at HFMA's ANI conference in Las Vegas to be the leaders the country's lawmakers are not.
The future of the nation's largest health insurance program -- Medicaid -- hangs in the balance of the Supreme Court's decision on the 2010 health law.
A study released last week by the non-profit healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA found that in 2010, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health insurance.
All eyes in the healthcare industry are on the Supreme Court as they await its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, now likely to be handed down Thursday morning. There's no doubt the decision will have a major impact on a number of issues, ranging from new industry regulations to popular provisions to the effects on small businesses.
In its June 2012 report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) focused on three areas: Medicare benefit design, care coordination for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare and care coordination for those dually-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.