Medical Insurance News

Despite the fact that military service means working long hours with unpredictable schedules, frequent relocations, and separations from loved ones due to deployment, a new study published in the Journal of Family Issues (a SAGE journal) finds that marriages of military members are not more vulnerable than civilian marriages...

A study of 7,424 privately insured colon cancer patients found that managed care presence in the market and hospital competition increased the likelihood laparoscopic surgery to treat colon cancer lowered costs, a national team of researchers led by a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services reported in the journal Cancer...

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has applauded Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) for their bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act of 2012. The bill is designed to eliminate the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and the turmoil brought by its resulting scheduled cuts...

In 2009, children with public insurance were three times more likely and children with no insurance were eleven time more likely not to have a primary care physician, compared with children with private insurance. Without a primary care physician, the Emergency Department (ED) often becomes the primary point of contact for treatments and diagnoses...

Noting the "unprecedented opportunity" provided under the Affordable Care Act, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, and other recently enacted federal laws, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System has unveiled a community-based plan to enhance health and reduce spending by improving care for chronically il...

You're enjoying a quiet weekend at home when suddenly you double over in pain. You need emergency appendectomy surgery...

Just over one quarter (26%) of all Americans of working age in 2011 experienced a gap in health insurance cover, says a new report published by the Commonwealth Fund. The authors explained that in many cases, when people change their jobs or become unemployed, many of them lose health coverage...

The demand for caregivers is growing rapidly as California's population ages, but the majority of state's Medi-Cal caregivers earn poverty or near-poverty wages and have poor access to health care and food, a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has found...

Lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute, lung cancer causes more than 150,000 deaths annually and has a survival rate of 16 percent. More Americans die of lung cancer each year than of cervical, breast, colon and prostate cancers combined...

A new analysis provides a closer look at how much cancer patients value hope - with important implications for how insurers value treatment, particularly in end-of-life care...

A study published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, reveals that newly insured and newly uninsured adults are more likely to go to the emergency department (ED) due to recent changes in health insurance status. The report is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series. The hospital ED is a significant indicator for access to care...

As the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act approaches, a new Commonwealth Fund report finds that 49 states and the District of Columbia have already taken action supporting the law's implementation, such as passing legislation, issuing regulations or other guidance, or actively reviewing insurer filings...

Four articles in the current issue draw attention to policy initiatives and implications of the rapidly changing U.S. health care environment. Collectively, they examine some of the challenges and opportunities facing the country following the 2010 passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...

Only about 75 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in the United States remain in care consistently, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published online this week in AIDS...

Language barriers could deter more than 100,000 Californians from enrolling in the Health Benefit Exchange, according to a study released today by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education...

The recent U.S. economic recession was the longest and most severe since World War II. During this period, personal spending on health care grew at the slowest rate in over 50 years, suggesting that Americans used less health care. A new study finds that these cut backs were not limited to Americans who lost their health insurance, nor restricted to unnecessary services...

Private health insurance is the main source of health coverage for the majority of people in the United States. Approximately 58% of all Americans have private health care coverage. For elderly citizens and eligible children and families from low-income households, public programs are the primary source of health cover. Public programs include Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP...

A new RAND Corporation study concludes that eliminating a key part of health care reform that requires all Americans to have health insurance would sharply lower the number of people gaining coverage, but would not dramatically increase the cost of buying policies through new insurance exchanges. The study comes as the U.S...

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that laws permitting children to stay on their parents' health insurance through age 26 result in improved access to health care compared to states without those laws. This analysis indicates the potential positive impact of a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA)...

The financial burden Americans face paying out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs has declined, although prescription costs remain a significant challenge for people with lower incomes and those with public insurance, according to a new RAND Corporation study...