http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Consumers saw nearly $1.5 billion in insurer rebates and overhead cost savings in 2011, due to the Affordable Care Act's medical loss ratio provision requiring health insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on health care or quality improvement activities or pay a rebate to their customers, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. Consumers with individual policies saw substantially reduced premiums when insurers reduced both administrative costs and profits to meet the new standards. While insurers in the small- and large-group markets achieved lower administrative costs, not all of these savings were passed on to employers and consumers, as many insurers increased profits in these markets. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-consumers-benefitted-billion-aca-medical.html Health Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:39:15 EST news273904723 (Medical Xpress) -- Even a $10 increase in premiums can drive people to a different health care plan. That's good news for health care reform, which relies heavily on competition and consumer response to pricing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-health-slightly-people.html Health Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:50:31 EST news251621420 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. Early insurance market reforms in the law include new rules for insurers such as bans on lifetime limits on benefits and dependent coverage for young adults up to age 26. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-states-action-patients-bill-rights.html Health Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:08:39 EST news251611708 (HealthDay) -- If current trends continue, health insurance premiums will surpass the median U.S. household income in 2033, a new study says. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-health-premiums-surpass-median-household.html Health Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:48:20 EST news250793293 (AP) -- Nearly two years after President Barack Obama signed landmark legislation to cover the uninsured, a new poll finds his health care overhaul is neither better liked nor better understood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-poll-health-overhaul-unpopular.html Health Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:44:19 EST news250436650 With no specific clinical preventive care guidelines targeting young adults, health care providers are missing key opportunities to improve the health of this population through preventive screening and intervention. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-comprehensive-guidelines-young-adult.html Health Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:58:22 EST news250250294 As health care reform expands the use of "report cards" to grade health care providers, greater attention to reporting methods may be needed to assure the quality of such efforts, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-ways-health-care-cards.html Health Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:41:04 EST news250188058 While the Affordable Care Act will expand health insurance coverage for low-income persons through Medicaid and state health-insurance exchanges, including much-needed care for 1.8 million uninsured veterans in the U.S., the new insurance coverage option also may have a number of unintended negative effects on health care for veterans, said Kenneth W. Kizer, director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement at UC Davis Health System. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-impact-health-veterans.html Health Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:54:07 EST news249209612 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. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-individual-mandate-hike-prices.html Health Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:54:23 EST news248590437 On the health front, the poor often have at least two things going against them: a lack of insurance and chronic illnesses, of which diabetes is among the most common. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-tool-health-centers-medical-home.html Health Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:00:06 EST news248541157 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 study appears in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-young-adults-parents-health-access.html Health Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:30:01 EST news248325629 (Medical Xpress) -- The cost of caring for the uninsured population who will gain coverage through the Affordable Care Act of 2014 can be reduced by almost half once the act is implemented, according to a new study from Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-uninsured-significantly-ed.html Health Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:10:01 EST news247998679 Rules that allow some small employers to avoid regulation under the federal Affordable Care Act are unlikely to have a major impact on the future cost of health insurance unless those rules are relaxed to allow more businesses to opt out, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-small-employers-opt-health-reform.html Health Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:40:39 EST news247941632 A simple program involving color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases was successful in encouraging more healthful food choices in a large hospital cafeteria. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the March American Journal of Public Health and has received early online release. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-color-coding-rearranging-food-products-healthy.html Health Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:06 EST news246208925 A substantial proportion of emergency department eye care in Florida is reimbursed through Medicaid or paid for out of pocket by patients, and those findings may help in strategic planning as the debate over how best to implement the nation's new health care reform law progresses, according to a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-payment-emergency-department-eye-florida.html Other Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:29:12 EST news245348939 The US Supreme Court will hear evidence challenging President Barack Obama's health care reform -- which has come under fire from Republicans -- over three days in March, a spokeswoman said Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-supreme-court-obama-health-reform.html Health Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:32:27 EST news243534736 (AP) -- The number of young adults lacking medical coverage has shrunk by 2.5 million since the new health care overhaul law took effect, according to a new analysis the Obama administration is to release Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-25m-young-adults-gain-coverage.html Health Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:15:10 EST news243058456 Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010, and the annual amount that employees pay toward their insurance increased by 63 percent as businesses required employees to contribute a greater share, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report that examines state trends in health insurance costs. The report finds that health insurance costs are outpacing income growth in every state in the country. At the same time, premiums are buying less protective coverage: per-person deductibles doubled for employees working for large as well as small firms over the same time period. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-employer-health-premiums-percent-state.html Health Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:33:47 EST news240723218 Large, population specific community-based screening may increase awareness of the dangers of smoking and reduce at-risk behaviors, according to a new study in the November 2011 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-population-specific-community-based-cancer-screening-discourage.html Addiction Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:10:01 EST news240577795 The US Supreme Court Monday agreed to take up the case of President Barack Obama's landmark health care reform, which has come under fire from rival Republicans, in a move which could weigh on next year's elections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-supreme-court-obama-health.html Health Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:58:44 EST news240494313 Community health centers (CHCs) and primary care providers working in other settings will increasingly become America's obesity "first responders," needed to provide weight-related health services as the nation continues to implement the Affordable Care Act. In a paper released today, the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance identified a wide gap between the anticipated increase of people with weight-related conditions entering the health care system and a corresponding limited number of health professionals who are trained to help them. Considering the role CHCs may play in providing primary care to this newly-insured population, the Alliance worked to assess their readiness, and found ways that could improve obesity management services in the centers and other primary care settings. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-health-centers-america-obesity.html Health Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:28:47 EST news239974120 The US Supreme Court will decide on November 10 whether or not to take up the case of President Barack Obama's historic health care law, court sources said Wednesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-supreme-court-nov-health-case.html Health Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:29:50 EST news238872559 The number of low-income, uninsured Americans enrolling in Medicaid under the expanded coverage made possible by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 could vary considerably from the levels currently projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. They report that it's probably more realistic to say somewhere between 8 million and 22 million may enroll in Medicaid by 2014 instead of the 16 million predicted by the CBO. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-policymakers-major-uncertainties-medicaid-expansion.html Health Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:55:57 EST news238866949 Male bowel cancer patients are very likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) after treatment and yet the majority are not receiving adequate information about the condition, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-male-bowel-cancer-patients-erectile.html Cancer Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:30:03 EST news238178975 The Hastings Center is exploring the ethical challenges that clinicians and organizations face when providing medical care to undocumented immigrants in the United States. The project is supported by a grant from the Overbrook Foundation Domestic Human Rights Program. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-medical-safety-net-undocumented-patients.html Health Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:56:17 EST news237567165 Experts have written about health care disparities between Latinos and non-Latino whites, mostly from a policy standpoint. They've also looked at the same disparities from the perspective of the patient, in terms of access, use and the quality of health care. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-physicians-latinos-high-hurdles.html Health Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:22:15 EST news237536526 (AP) -- The nation's worst hospitals treat twice the proportion of elderly black patients and poor patients than the best hospitals, and their patients are more likely to die of heart attacks and pneumonia, new research shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-worst-hospitals-larger-poor.html Health Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:00:01 EST news237051370 President Barack Obama's administration Wednesday asked the US Supreme Court to uphold his historic health care law, likely sparking an explosive legal showdown in the heat of the 2012 election. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-obama-supreme-court-health.html Health Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:50:01 EST news236446546 An innovative program at the University of Missouri School of Medicine could help states deal with a dilemma in Washington, D.C. If deficit-reduction measures cut billions of dollars for training physicians who are already in short supply, who will care for the more than 30 million newly insured patients entering the health care system? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-homegrown-solution-physician-shortage-academic.html Health Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:41:07 EST news236425246 Company-provided health insurance, one of the largest costs of US businesses and households alike, rose nine percent over the past year despite the sluggish economy, according to a new study released Tuesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-health-year.html Health Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:35:08 EST news236356496