TheRepublic.com - Access to health care News

Legislation targets new Planned Parenthood clinic

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:17:19 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Lawmakers are looking for ways to create roadblocks for Planned Parenthood's construction of a new facility in New Orleans that would provide abortions in addition to other health care services for women.

Feds take over Calif. high-risk insurance program

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:10:13 -0400

SACRAMENTO, California - About 17,000 Californians with serious medical problems will be moved from a state-run stopgap health insurance program to a federal plan starting in July, ensuring they will have no break in medical coverage until the national health care reforms kick in next year, state officials announced this week.

House overwhelmingly refuses to expand Medicaid

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:43:59 -0400

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - The Louisiana House overwhelmingly refused Tuesday to provide government-subsidized health insurance to thousands of people with the Medicaid dollars available under the federal Affordable Care Act, in a vote that appears to shelve the issue for the legislative session.

Proposal to block insurance coverage for abortions

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:42:28 -0400

LANSING, Michigan - Michigan's election board on Wednesday is expected to consider a petition form for a proposal that would prohibit Michigan health insurance plans for covering elective abortions unless individuals or businesses buy a supplemental policy.

Court sides with Iowa dentists in key billing case

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:32:21 -0400

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Dentists can set their own fees on services that insurers do not reimburse, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday in a decision that will mean higher out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Study: Fewer Nevada kindergartners are overweight

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:56:01 -0400

LAS VEGAS - Nevada kindergartners are less likely to fritter away long periods of time in front of a TV than in past years, and fewer of them are overweight or obese, according to a new report from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

NC lawmakers push socially conservative bills

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:43:14 -0400

RALEIGH, North Carolina - Socially conservative issues ranging from abortion to the application of Islamic Sharia law were debated in the North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday ahead of a critical deadline to keep bills alive this session.

Senate confirms former nurse to run Medicare

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:44:31 -0400

WASHINGTON - A former intensive care nurse with a businesslike approach to a politically divisive public policy area won Senate approval Wednesday to run Medicare and other major health insurance programs.

Campaign to back health exchange

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:25:17 -0400

FRANKFORT, Kentucky - Gov. Steve Beshear predicted Wednesday that Kentucky's new health benefit exchange will provide an overdue dose of preventive care to ease the state's chronic health problems, as he announced plans to publicize efforts to steer more than 600,000 uninsured people toward health coverage.

Report: NM facing medical access difficulties

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:23:32 -0400

SANTA FE, New Mexico - New Mexicans could have longer waits for a doctor or specialist as demand grows for medical services because of an aging population and expanded insurance coverage under a federal health care law, legislative auditors said Wednesday.

Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy: Q&A

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:20:33 -0400

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie disclosed Tuesday that she had a preventive mastectomy after learning she had a gene mutation that significantly raised her risk of breast cancer. A look at the procedure:

WVU faculty want alternative to PEIA coverage

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:23:15 -0400

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia - West Virginia University's Faculty Senate says the school should be allowed to look at other health insurance options for its employees.

Huge drug cost disparities seen in health overhaul

Mon, 13 May 2013 03:14:37 -0400

WASHINGTON - Cancer patients could face high costs for medications under President Barack Obama's health care law, industry analysts and advocates warn.

Grants to help SD residents find health insurance

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:28:17 -0400

PIERRE, South Dakota - About $554,000 in federal funding is being made available to six South Dakota health centers so they can help uninsured people find health insurance coverage under the federal health overhaul law.

Clinics eligible for federal aid to help uninsured

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:06:08 -0400

SANTA FE, New Mexico - A federal agency is offering about $2 million to health clinics in New Mexico to help uninsured residents obtain medical coverage.

Health centers to get $6M to help enroll uninsured

Fri, 10 May 2013 04:09:25 -0400

CHICAGO - More than 40 health centers throughout Illinois will be able to apply for $6 million in federal funding to help people sign up for insurance under the new health care law.

Report: Oklahoma should expand insurance program

Thu, 09 May 2013 21:43:11 -0400

OKLAHOMA CITY - A consulting firm hired by Oklahoma to help answer the question of how to insure 200,000 people without health coverage told the state's Medicaid board Thursday that an existing program could be used to build a broader system by 2015.

New Mexico exchange subject to sunshine laws

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:01:51 -0400

SANTA FE, New Mexico - New Mexico's open government laws will apply to a state-run health insurance exchange that will serve as a marketplace for the uninsured to buy medical coverage.

Beshear expands Medicaid to 300,000 Kentuckians

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:13:35 -0400

FRANKFORT, Kentucky - Kentucky's Medicaid program will expand to cover an additional 300,000 people, most of them the working poor who don't now have insurance coverage, Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday.

$1.1 million for Hawaii health centers

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:58:23 -0400

HONOLULU - Hawaii's community health centers can receive about $1.1 million from the federal government to help uninsured residents enroll in health insurance coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act.

NH health centers get money to help uninsured

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:43:12 -0400

CONCORD, New Hampshire - New Hampshire's 10 community health centers will get nearly $770,000 to help uninsured people sign up for coverage under the federal health care overhaul law.

Michigan health centers get $3.8M to boost staff

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:09:10 -0400

LANSING, Michigan - Michigan's community health centers can receive about $3.8 million from the federal government to help uninsured Americans enroll in health insurance coverage under the Federal Affordable Health Care Act.

Health centers get $150 million to help uninsured

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:01:21 -0400

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration announced Thursday that community health centers around the country will get $150 million to help uninsured Americans sign up for health insurance coverage under the new health care law.

Abortion debate flares up in Pa. Senate committee

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:28:15 -0400

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania - The latest stop for a Republican-penned bill to limit insurance coverage of abortions sparked an angry debate Tuesday among senators, reviving arguments over President Barack Obama's health care law and the case of a Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of killing a patient and four babies.

Brown, Democrats wrangle over Medicaid expansion

Sun, 05 May 2013 13:09:19 -0400

SACRAMENTO, California - California was an early booster of President Barack Obama's health care reform law and was the first state to authorize a health insurance exchange in 2010. It also was quick to commit to the optional Medicaid expansion that has been rejected by some Republican states.