Kathleen Sebelius news from FierceHealthcare
News
Limited competition puts insurers in the driver seat
Competition is all but a fading memory in many U.S. health insurance markets, allowing many insurers both to employ aggressive pricing strategies and to cut existing customers to boost profit... Read more...
Mental health and physical health gain equal legal footing
Group health plans can no longer set higher costs for caring for patients' mental healthcare than their medical and surgical services due to a new federal law. The sweeping change applies to the... Read more...
States receive $4.3B to offset payments to Medicare for Part D costs
In an attempt to help states cope with paying the federal government to offset Medicare coverage costs for prescription drugs commonly referred to as "clawback payments," HHS Secretary Kathleen... Read more...
Increases in healthcare premiums may be here to stay
Several health insurance companies--most notably Anthem Blue Cross in California--are under fire with calls for justification of premium increases. Unfortunately for consumers, a report from the... Read more...
National database riddled with holes: Records missing on disciplined healthcare workers
More than 20 years after its inception, hospitals soon will be able to use a database that lists the names of caregivers from around the nation who have been disciplined or named in a malpractice... Read more...
Anthem postpones controversial rate hike
After pressure from several members of Congress, the Obama administration and the media, Anthem Blue Cross says it will postpone a controversial insurance rate increase until May 1, reports the... Read more...
Individual mandate push resurfaces in wake of WellPoint rate hikes
The political ping-pong match over health reform received a jolt from Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earler this week when she questtioned Anthem Blue Cross's 39... Read more...
Furor, demand for answers, spreads over rising healthcare premiums
Anthem Blue Cross isn't the only one drawing criticism for its rate increases. With U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius demanding public justification for premium hikes of... Read more...
Sebelius demands Anthem explain its 'extraordinary' premium hikes
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wants Anthem Blue Cross to publicly explain why the insurer plans to raise premiums by up to 39 percent for its... Read more...
MedPAC expresses desire for hospitals to receive a payment update
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) would like to see hospitals receive a payment update from Congress equivalent to the market basket index's rate of change for inpatient and... Read more...
