Republicans in the House of Representatives filed their long-delayed lawsuit against the Obama administration Friday over the Affordable Care Act. The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia was filed against the secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department and focuses on two key aspects of the healthcare law. It alleges that the administration unlawfully postponed a provision that requires large businesses to pay a penalty if they don?t offer basic health insurance to their workers. It also challenges what Republicans say is an estimated $175 billion in payments to insurance companies over the next 10 years.
California's done it, Kentucky's done it, Minnesota's done it, and even Massachusetts somehow manages to do it every day, for goodness' sake. Yet HealthCare.gov isn't doing it—at least not for now. A week into open enrollment for Obamacare, that federal exchange serving 37 states has still not revealed how many new customers are selecting health plans for 2015, how many existing customers are renewing and how many applications for eligibility have been completed. While the agency that oversees Obamacare is now promising monthly updates, some advocates want more frequent data disclosures.
When the Ebola virus hit home in the United States in September, Sandra Ward, an emergency room nurse at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek, was eager to get the latest training to protect herself. But during a session in which nurses practiced putting on protective gear, she noticed the hood was missing, leaving her exposed. "We see this picture of a hood that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) has started recommending a couple of weeks ago, but we haven't gotten it yet," Ward said last week. "It scares me." That fear has sparked a vigorous debate over how much preparation and training is enough for health care workers to deal with the Ebola virus, after two Texas nurses contracted the disease from an infected patient.
Karen Rogers, a 53-year-old who suffers from a number of chronic ailments, welcomes Allen, an Angelo State University pre-med student, into her small, north-side San Angelo home. She doesn't mind divulging her personal life and struggles with depression to him. She values the advice he offers and above everything appreciates his presence with an open ear. "There's someone out there who's listening to me. I'm not crazy. Sometimes that's all you need," Rogers said. Rogers is part of a care coordination program recently launched by Shannon Medical Center. The program aims to reduce the recidivism of chronic emergency room visits by assigning a health coach, nurse and social worker to oversee patients weekly.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Bernard and Margaret Sloan got flu shots, had their blood drawn and discussed medications with their doctor. The couple -- married 67 years -- had their procedures done by a nurse and Dr. Paul Chiang, home health care provider extraordinaire, while they sat on a red, floral sofa in the comfort of their Wheaton home. "There's just something unique being in the home that you can't get in the hospital, ER or doctor's office," Chiang said. "I'm going into your world. I'm stepping into your life."
When the 48-year-old man from Oregon didn't have insurance, he felt he had no place to go but the emergency room. The man, who has diabetes, went to the emergency room often when he suffered from kidney stones. "Emergency rooms, from what I understand, they can never turn you away," he said. "I mean, you don't have much options when you don't have insurance." Then, when he enrolled in the state of Oregon's Medicaid plan, that all changed. He started seeing doctors in their offices, and stayed away from the emergency room: "I have had five appointments with my primary, one with the diabetic because they had me go to a diabetic educator, and then an appointment with my pharmacist, and then he does a phone-in thing with me every two weeks."