Healthcare Hookup

Aetna Agrees to Acquire Humana for $37 Billion in Cash and Stock http://nyti.ms/1KzFsWB

Doctors Without Borders nurse Kaci Hickox will disobey Ebola quarantine

Doctors Without Borders nurse Kaci Hickox will disobey a 21-day quarantine meant to keep her isolated during Ebola's potential incubation period.

Hickox tested negative for Ebola when she arrived at Newark, New Jersey, airport and has since returned to her hometown in Maine. She told Today's Matt Lauer she won't follow Maine's guidelines to remain in self-quarantine because she hasn't shown any symptoms for the disease — not even a fever — since she returned from Sierra Leone.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Why an Ebola travel ban is a bad idea, explained in 2 minutes

A few isolated cases of Ebola in the US have touched off a spate of hyperventilating about Ebola, including Republican calls for a travel ban and quarantines announced in New York, New Jersey, and the US Army.  But to prevent Ebola from becoming a true threat in the US, we need to stop it in West Africa.

Obamacare deadline spurs enrollment flood

Holy cow!  Great numbers but don't fret people just pay the $95 fine!  That's way cheaper than the cost of regular health care, and you get the bronze plan anyway.  That's a winning hand!
Obamacare deadline spurs enrollment flood: "What a difference six months makes to Obamacare.

A massive flood of health insurance shoppers deluged the government-run exchanges over the weekend and into Monday, rushing to beat the midnight enrollment deadline under the Affordable Care Act.

The influx of up to 1.5 million visitors by noon on the federal HealthCare.gov exchange led to a brief lag in its ability to handle new applications at midday, but that was quickly resolved."



#GetCovered
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States Cite Surge in Obamacare Sign-Ups Ahead of First Deadline - ABC News

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States Cite Surge in Obamacare Sign-Ups Ahead of First Deadline - ABC News:

States running their own Obamacare insurance exchanges are reporting a significant surge in sign-ups just four days before the first major enrollment deadline.

The increase has ranged from 30 percent to 40 percent in the past few weeks, according to state officials who briefed reporters Wednesday. Monday is the last day to sign up for a plan that will guarantee health coverage effective Jan. 1.

California, which has one of the most successful programs, averaged 15,000 enrollments a day last week, up from an average 7,000 a day the week before, state officials said. In all of November, 80,000 Californians picked a plan; in the first week of December, 50,000 signed up.

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GOP Says Coverage For The Uninsured Is No Longer The Priority : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

GOP Says Coverage For The Uninsured Is No Longer The Priority : Shots - Health Blog : NPR: "For decades, the primary goal of those who would fix the U.S. health system has been to help people without insurance get coverage. Now, it seems, all that may be changing. At least some top Republicans are trying to steer the health debate away from the problem of the uninsured.

The shift in emphasis is a subtle one, but it's noticeable."

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Can Obama's health care law survive without the individual mandate? - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Can Obama's health care law survive without the individual mandate? - Political Hotsheet - CBS News: "Even if Supreme Court upheld the mandate, some question whether it's designed well enough to have any real impact. The fine for failing to purchase insurance will be phased in and will reach $695 per individual and $2,085 per family by 2016. That's an arguably marginal amount, compared to the cost of purchasing insurance.

In its first year, the fine is only $95. "It's like a parking ticket," warned Rother. "My concern is it won't be enough of an incentive to get people health insurance."

Antos contended that the IRS won't really enforce the law, leaving those fines uncollected. "A mandate without enforcement is not going to have any real effect," he said. "People are smart enough to figure it out.""

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HERE'S THE CRUCIAL TEXT OF THE OBAMACARE RULING - Business Insider

HERE'S THE CRUCIAL TEXT OF THE OBAMACARE RULING - Business Insider: ""Our precedent demonstrates that Congress had the power to impose the exaction in Section 5000A under the taxing power, and that Section 5000A need not be read to do more than impose a tax. This is sufficient to sustain it." "

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You can read the full ruling here.

House Approves Bill on Mental Health Parity - New York Times

House Approves Bill on Mental Health Parity - New York Times: " After more than a decade of struggle, the House on Wednesday passed a bill requiring most group health plans to provide more generous coverage for treatment of mental illnesses, comparable to what they provide for physical illnesses.

The vote was 268 to 148, with 47 Republicans joining 221 Democrats in support of the measure."

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Bush signs mental health 'parity' bill attached to bailout - USATODAY.com

Bush signs mental health 'parity' bill attached to bailout - USATODAY.com: "The new law would bar insurance plans from setting higher copays or deductibles for mental health or substance abuse treatment than for medical care. Lower benefit limits also would be illegal, along with caps on the number of outpatient therapy sessions or inpatient treatment days. Employees also would have to be covered for out-of-network mental health care if their plan includes out-of-network medical coverage.

The legislation, supported by the health insurance industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "is a great compromise," says Katie Strong, director of congressional and public affairs for the Chamber."

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NAMI | Victory on Parity!

NAMI | Victory on Parity!: "This victory in the House ends a nearly 20 year effort to require group health plans to cover treatment for mental illness on the same terms and conditions as all other illnesses.  NAMI is extremely grateful for the tireless work of advocates from all over the nation that contacted their Senators and House members to push for this landmark legislation.  The advocacy voice of people living with mental illness and their families made a tremendous difference in securing this long sought victory.

NAMI also salutes the leadership of the sponsors of parity in Congress including Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN).  Today NAMI also remembers the contributions of the late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) in bringing parity forward.  After nearly 20 years, their efforts have resulted in mental illness treatment no longer being subject to 2nd class status in our health care system."

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The Massachusetts mandate

VERY INFORMATIVE!!

 

Need to Know’s medical correspondent, Dr. Emily Senay, travels to Massachusetts to examine how that state’s health care system is working six years after the legislature there adopted an individual mandate requiring individuals to buy health insurance and businesses to provide it or face fines.

The individual mandate is part of the federal healthcare plan championed by the Obama administration that is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Massachusetts’s plan was adopted when GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney was that state’s governor.

Watch The Massachusetts mandate on PBS. See more from Need To Know.

Dirtbag gone!

Karen Handel, Susan G. Komen's Anti-Abortion VP, Drove Decision To Defund Planned Parenthood

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation's leading anti-breast-cancer charity, has insisted that its since-reversed decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood arose from a routine change in criteria for grant eligibility that had nothing to do with abortion politics.

But a Komen insider told HuffPost on Sunday that Karen Handel, Komen's staunchly anti-abortion vice president for public policy, was the main force behind the decision to defund Planned Parenthood and the attempt to make that decision look nonpolitical.

 

Rick Perry's Texas gets plenty of money from the feds

The first rule of asking for extra federal dollars in Texas is to never make it seem like you are asking for extra federal dollars.

For Gov. Rick Perry, this is a tricky line to walk. Because as much as the Republican presidential candidate bashes the federal government in his campaign speeches, Texas gets a lot of money from the feds — and a lot of it is going to the health care system he insists Texas can handle on its own.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69072.html#ixzz1f1r4apHi

Obamacare Vindicated?: Number Of Young Adults With Health Insurance Spikes In 2011

Obamacare Vindicated?: Number Of Young Adults With Health Insurance Spikes In 2011: "According to a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly one million adults under the age of 26 gained health insurance in 2011. As a result, the percentage of adults between the ages of 19 and 25 with health insurance rose from 66.1% in 2010 to 69.6 this year."

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All The Candidates’ Federal Spending | Swampland

All The Candidates’ Federal Spending | Swampland: All of the governors, however, also have records of looking for federal funds to help balance their budgets, and in the case of Romney that includes the more than $300 million he lobbied for to pay for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Like most governors in office, he did what he could to use the federal government to balance his books. The biggest accomplishment in this regard was his success in convincing the Bush Administration to allow Massachusetts to keep getting nearly $400 million a year in special Medicaid reimbursements that were slated for elimination in 2003. His pitch: I will use the money to help fund a grand new experiment in state-based universal healthcare. (Don’t forget: Even the Bush Administration was excited by experiments with individual mandates back then.)

How Texas Gov. Perry Pursued Federal Aid He Now Decries | Swampland

How Texas Gov. Perry Pursued Federal Aid He Now Decries | Swampland: For the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, for instance, Texas lobbyists successfully pushed to include an additional $47.5 million a year for four years, to help reimburse the cost of health care for undocumented immigrants. In 2005, the lobbyists fought to restore $200 million in funding for No Child Left Behind that had been cut by the Senate. About $14.5 million of that money was directed to Texas for “innovation programs.” The Texas lobbying operation also supported several earmarks, including direct funds for maintenance dredging in the Matagorda shipping channel and money to study the feasibility of a desalination project in Freeport.

The Appalling Hypocrisy Of The Republican Party Exposed In Three Simple Charts

To listen to Congressional Republicans tell it, you'd think the US's colossal budget and debt problem was caused by one simple thing: The Democrats.

And although the Republicans do deserve significant credit for finally focusing the country and Washington on the magnitude of the problem--really--their hypocrisy on this issue is almost unbearable.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/republican-budget-hypocrisy-2011-7#ixzz1TJU5vVB2

Recovery Project for Wounded Warriors Now Complete

Recovery Project for Wounded Warriors Now Complete: "The first of two new facilities being built with Recovery funds for wounded U.S troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has opened. Department of Defense officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 8 for the new “Warriors in Transition Barracks” at Fort Bliss, Texas."

Health exchanges: A new gold mine - POLITICO.com Print View

Health exchanges: A new gold mine - POLITICO.com Print View: "More than $300 million in exchange grants has already flowed into the states since the Affordable Care Act passed. That number will grow exponentially in the coming months, as states move from the initial steps of passing exchange legislation to the more lucrative task of setting them up."