ObamaCare Premiums Rose A Lot More Than HHS Wants You To Believe
A close look at the data shows that HealthCare.gov rates actually did rise at least 10% after all, with the average premium rising less, in part, because people were buying less coverage for their...
View ArticleThe Sugar Conspiracy
In 1972, a British scientist sounded the alarm that sugar – and not fat – was the greatest danger to our health. But his findings were ridiculed and his reputation ruined. How did the world’s top...
View ArticleWashington State Exchange Comments on the Impact of Losing United Healthcare
This change will likely have little to no effect on the Exchange’s individual market where UHC had less than 2% of the enrollment. However, this will affect the Exchange’s small business marketplace...
View ArticleGov. Jay Inslee Vetoes Major Parts of Bill to Improve Western State Hospital
On Tuesday Governor Inslee, a Democrat, vetoed several sections of Senate Bill 6656, including a portion that would have allowed psychiatric nurses with advanced degrees to fill vacant psychiatrist...
View ArticleAbandon Ship: UnitedHealth To Exit ‘Unsustainable’ Obamacare Exchanges In 34...
Because Obamacare’s individual mandate is so weak, and because the Obama administration created various loopholes to juice enrollment numbers, people who sign up for exchange-based coverage have had...
View ArticleWhile UnitedHealth Pulls the Plug on Obamacare, Data Shows Where and Why It...
UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest commercial health insurer, made good on a six-month-old threat and announced Tuesday that it will pull out of Affordable Care Act exchanges in all but "a...
View ArticleAHIP Head Warns That ACA Premium Increases Are Coming
Marilyn Tavenner, a premier spokeswoman for insurers, is among those in the insurance industry who says the ACA marketplaces are not yet stable. More than half of the nonprofit ACA co-op insurers have...
View ArticleHealth Care That Targets Unmet Social Needs
The definition of what counts as health care is expanding. Health care systems can responsibly steward and amplify shared economic, human, and community resources to deliver high-value care within and...
View ArticleMeet a Quiet Hero of Health Care in Seattle’s Central District: Dr. Benjamin...
With Dr. Benjamin Danielson as medical director, Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic connects patients to resources to tackle the roots of health problems. The list of boards and organizations on which he...
View ArticleObamaCare Enrollment Dives As New Customers Don’t Pay
As of the end of February, Washington state had lost 12% of the 200,691 customers who signed up, with 176,914 still active. Yet state data show that only 156,493 customers had submitted payment by the...
View ArticleMore Americans Disapprove Than Approve of Health Care Law
By roughly the same margin (37% to 30%), more say that, looking ahead, the health care law will have a mostly negative than a mostly positive personal impact, while 30% say it will not have much of an...
View ArticleState Options To Control Health Care Costs And Improve Quality
The innovations that some states are implementing to reduce costs while maintaining or improving quality can and should be replicated by other states. Following is a comprehensive summary of options...
View ArticleColorado Weighs Replacing Obama’s Health Policy With Universal Coverage
The estimated $38-billion-a-year proposal, which will go before Colorado voters in November, will test whether people have an appetite for a new system that goes further than the Affordable Care Act....
View ArticleHow a Tool to Help Patients Save on Health Care Backfired
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday suggests that health care price transparency tools alone aren't going to lead to much, if any, savings. The stark truth:...
View ArticleSocial Service Shortfalls Hinder Health, Boost Medical Spending
States that spend more money on social services and public health programs relative to medical care have much healthier residents than states that don’t, a study out today. Professor Elizabeth Bradley,...
View ArticleF.D.A. Imposes Rules for E-Cigarettes in a Landmark Move
The Food and Drug Administration issued sweeping new rules that for the first time extend federal regulatory authority to e-cigarettes, banning their sale to anyone under 18 and requiring that adults...
View ArticleAppeals Court Overturns Mental Health Ruling
A three-judge panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that the state has failed to comply with its own goals but said an order issued last year by U.S. District Judge Pechman in Seattle...
View ArticleEligibility and Coverage Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance
Since 2000, the share of workers covered by employers’ health benefits at both offering and nonoffering firms has dropped to 56%, with the biggest decrease among employees working for small firms...
View ArticleEven With Obamacare, 29 Million People Are Uninsured: Here’s Why
Estimates vary, but as many as 29 million Americans – about one in 10 – lack coverage. Five million people are eligible for Medicaid, but not signed up. Another 13.5 million people are split between...
View ArticleLawmakers to Address Medical Bill Sticker Shock
For now, balance billing is perfectly legal in Washington state but there's an effort under way to pass new legislation protecting consumers from this type of medical bill. Representative Eileen Cody...
View Article
