WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced new steps to expand coverage under the federal health care law on Monday, less than a week after the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, found that the federal government and many states were "behind schedule" in setting up marketplaces where Americans are supposed to be able to buy insurance. The steps — establishing a Web site and a telephone call center to provide information to consumers — are in preparation for what the government anticipates will be a flood of people buying health insurance starting Oct. 1.
Top federal health officials are in talks with the National Football League to promote the health law’s insurance marketplaces that begin enrolling people Oct 1. "The NFL is enthusiastically engaged … and they see health promotion as a good thing for them and for the country," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said during a media briefing Monday. Sebelius said the administration is also talking to other major sports franchises about improving public awareness of the Obamacare online insurance exchanges, which are a critical way the federal health law expands insurance coverage.
A program meant to beef up competition on Obamacare exchanges may not add much to the mix of insurance options after all. The Multi-State Plan Program — which was the closest thing to a watered-down "public option" that made it into the final health law — is eventually supposed to provide at least two new insurance options in every state. The problem is that the only insurers likely to be able to quickly scale up coverage across the country are already doing just that: selling their plans from coast to coast.
The nation's largest pension fund and health insurer WellPoint Inc. (WLP) cut medical costs 19 percent by capping the price of some surgeries, in the latest sign payers are taking a tougher line against rising hospital claims. The California Public Employees Retirement System saved $5.5 million under a pilot project it started with WellPoint in 2011, according to a study released by the Indianapolis-based insurer yesterday at a Baltimore health conference. Retirees proved at least as healthy as those who didn't opt for the lower-cost procedures, WellPoint said.
Federal regulators are reviewing the preliminary findings of a crucial government survey of Parkland Memorial Hospital after inspectors spent only five days at the Dallas County public facility. The team of 17 government surveyors had been expected to spend two consecutive weeks reviewing upgrades to Parkland, which has been under intense pressure to improve patient safety measures. The changes have consumed the past 18 months and cost the hospital an estimated $75 million. Although previous government surveys at Parkland have been continuous, the latest inspection apparently will be spread over more than one visit, officials said. The surveyors arrived at Parkland on June 17 to determine whether the hospital changes were extensive enough to allow it to retain its government funding.
Concord — Exeter Hospital ignored employee concerns about a medical technician accused of infecting patients with hepatitis C, had an unreliable system for documenting their complaints and told at least one not to file a report, according to a public health department report released Friday. The Division of Public Health Services report follows a yearlong investigation into the outbreak, which started in May 2012. While the hospital's past failures in safeguarding controlled drugs have come to light previously, the report includes new details of how it handled co-worker complaints about David Kwiatkowski, along with some general information about the people he is accused of infecting.