health insurance industry – News Stories About health insurance industry - Page 2

Oct 30, 2009 2:59 PM CDT

Senate Finally Confirms Surgeon General

Republicans relent after weeks of procedural delays

(Newser) - The Senate unanimously confirmed Regina Benjamin as US surgeon general yesterday after Republicans ended a procedural delay that had dragged on for several weeks. Mitch McConnell and seven other GOP senators said they stalled because of an administration “gag order” that prevented insurers from giving their opinions on the...

Michelle Pushes
for Health Reform

secret weapon

Oct 23, 2009 4:08 PM CDT

Michelle Pushes for Health Reform

First lady makes case for overhaul in personal terms

(Newser) - Michelle Obama rejoined the push for health care reform today, making the administration's case in an event at the White House and an online video message. Speaking with Jill Biden at a gathering for breast cancer survivors, Obama decried the fact that patients can’t get insurance because cancer in...

Insurers Drop Rape Victims Who Take HIV Meds

investigation

Oct 22, 2009 11:16 AM CDT

Insurers Drop Rape Victims Who Take HIV Meds

Assaulted women locked out of health care

(Newser) - Sexual assault victims prescribed precautionary HIV/AIDS meds risk being denied health insurance—because they have a pre-existing condition. The vast majority never develop the disease, but many have lost their insurance altogether, the Huffington Post reports. Others have been denied mental health care for PTSD that arose after they were...

Why the Public
Option's Still Alive

Nate Silver

Oct 21, 2009 12:57 PM CDT

Why the Public Option's Still Alive

Polls, time, and activism keep popular concept on the table

(Newser) - Reports of the public option’s demise look to have been exaggerated. Nate Silver breaks down what revived it at FiveThirtyEight.com:

“The tireless, and occasionally tiresome,” advocacy from liberal bloggers and interest groups.
The CBO thinks it will save money.
The shift of focus from the

...

Public Option Now
Has Legs in Senate

so much for baucus bill

Oct 20, 2009 8:58 AM CDT

Public Option Now Has Legs in Senate

Hostile insurance industry pushes Dems to consider grab-bag of proposals

(Newser) - The public option, left for dead by the Max Baucus bill that passed the Finance Committee just weeks ago, has a new lease on life in the Senate. Credit goes to a CBO report underwhelmed by that bill's efforts to encourage competition, and a big power play by the insurance...

Health Industry Shakedown Imperils Reform

OPINION

Oct 19, 2009 3:32 PM CDT

Health Industry Shakedown Imperils Reform

Obama must ignore lobbyists for insurers, doctors, drug makers

(Newser) - In dealing with pharmaceutical companies, insurers, and the AMA, President Obama should take a page from David Letterman's book and not fall prey to blackmail, writes former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Promises the administration made to those three constituencies in exchange for staying neutral or positive about health care reform...

Health Reform Could Mean More Treatment Denials

Oct 19, 2009 10:00 AM CDT

Health Reform Could Mean More Treatment Denials

None of the current bills force insurers to actually treat patients

(Newser) - Health care reform would force insurers to accept everyone, even those with pre-existing conditions; but it wouldn’t actually force them to treat those patients. None of the reform bills pending on Capitol Hill would restrict insurers’ ability to deny procedures for their customers, the LA Times reports. In fact,...

Obama Rips Into
'Dishonest'
Insurers

Oct 17, 2009 7:23 AM CDT

Obama Rips Into 'Dishonest' Insurers

Calls them out for 'deceptive' advertising in weekly address

(Newser) - President Obama ripped into insurers today, admonishing them for attempting to derail his health care initiative with "deceptive and dishonest" advertising. “The insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the...

Dems Lash Out at
Insurance Industry

Oct 14, 2009 1:46 PM CDT

Dems Lash Out at Insurance Industry

They move to eliminate anti-trust exemption

(Newser) - All-out war broke out between the Democrats and the insurers today, with Chuck Schumer calling for an amendment to the health care bill that would remove the industry’s long-standing anti-trust immunity. Schumer called the exemption “one of the worst accidents of American history,” blaming it in part...

Dour Industry Report Backfires

HEALTH CARE REFORM

Oct 13, 2009 10:14 AM CDT

Dour Industry Report Backfires

Dems, GOP alike have hard time believing Hail Mary predicting higher costs

(Newser) - The health insurance industry report presented yesterday that predicts the reform bill will do little to stop rising costs appears to have backfired. Dems are up in arms at the timing and content of the “misleading and harmful” attack from their erstwhile ally in the effort. Sen. Jay Rockefeller...

'Obese' 4-Month-Old
Denied Insurance

Oct 12, 2009 2:04 PM CDT

'Obese' 4-Month-Old Denied Insurance

Nursing infant outside norms for age; 'absurd,' cry parents

(Newser) - A Colorado couple is baffled that their baby has been denied health insurance coverage because of a preexisting condition: obesity. “I could understand if we could control what he's eating,” says the boy’s father. “But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on...

Wife-Beating Branded a 'Pre-Existing Condition'

Sep 15, 2009 8:30 AM CDT

Wife-Beating Branded a 'Pre-Existing Condition'

Eight states allow insurance firms to deny coverage to abused spouses

(Newser) - It is legal in eight states and in DC for insurers to reject victims of domestic violence because being beaten up by your spouse qualifies as "a pre-existing health condition" the Huffington Post reports. If you're in a marriage where it's happened once, the logic goes, you're more likely...

Forget What
You've Heard:
Health Reform
Is Nearly Done

ANALYSIS

Sep 9, 2009 7:22 AM CDT

Forget What You've Heard: Health Reform Is Nearly Done

Obama has party, public, industry support, despite a few town halls

(Newser) - Barack Obama goes into tonight's Congressional address amid talk that his health reform plan—and indeed his entire presidency—are nearly doomed. But the New York Times, in a front-page analysis piece, is far more optimistic, noting that August's town hall chaos did not substantially change public opinion, nor did...

Health Care
Bills Don't Offer
Real Choice

ANALYSIS

Aug 26, 2009 1:22 PM CDT

Health Care Bills Don't Offer Real Choice

Legislation in Congress seem to settle for status quo

(Newser) - Health insurance firms are essentially monopolies because employers, not individuals, choose which plans to offer. This freedom from competitive forces has allowed insurance to become flaky and opaque—and the reform currently being debated in Washington would do little about it, writes David Leonhardt for the New York Times. Even...

Health-Care Reform
Holds 'Bonanza'
for Insurers

ANALYSIS

Aug 24, 2009 4:24 AM CDT

Health-Care Reform Holds 'Bonanza' for Insurers

(Newser) - Regardless of how health-care reform eventually shakes out, one industry will likely reap a windfall: health insurance companies, reports the Los Angeles Times. All the leading overhaul proposals would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee tens of millions of new customers. "It's a bonanza,"...