Swell Of Goodwill For First Medicare Chief Confirmed Since 2004

Julie Rovner — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:12:00 +0000

When the Senate voted Tuesday to make Marilyn Tavenner the official administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, it was the first time the world's greatest deliberative body had approved someone to head the huge health agency since 2004.

That's right, you have to go way back to the Bush administration to find Dr.

Why A Slowdown In Health Spending Is Starting To Look Real

Julie Rovner — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:46:00 +0000

So you know all that talk about how the boatload of money going to health care will bankrupt the nation if something isn't done soon?

Well, it turns out that while politicians were bickering, the problem started taking care of itself. Well, a little bit.

While not solved, the growth in health spending has definitely slowed. That's the consensus of a series of studies out in the past few week.

Women's Health Groups Angered By Morning-After Pill Moves

Julie Rovner — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:09:00 +0000

The administration's actions this week on emergency contraception have left many women's health groups sputtering with anger.

But what really has some of the President Obama's usual allies irritated is the fact that the moves are in direct contrast to speeches he made in just the past week.

Recall that on Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration defied a federal judge's order to make the morning-after pill available over-the-counter to women of all ages by approving a mo

Second Thoughts On Medicaid From Oregon's Unique Experiment

Julie Rovner — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:51:00 +0000

Two years ago, a landmark study found that having Medicaid health insurance makes a positive difference in people's lives.

Backers of the program have pointed to that study time and again in their push to encourage states to expand the program as part of the federal health law.

Now the researchers have dug a little deeper into their data, and the

FDA OKs Prescription-Free Plan B Pill For Women 15 And Up

Julie Rovner — Wed, 01 May 2013 00:10:00 +0000

In an effort to find a compromise for a politically fraught issue, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a proposal to make the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B more available to some younger teens without a prescription and to older women by moving the medication out from behind the pharmacy counter.

But the proposal stops short of the full over-the-counter, no-age-restriction order

Family Doctors Consider Dropping Birth Control Training Rule

Julie Rovner — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:29:00 +0000

One of the more popular provisions of the federal health law requires that women be given much freer access to prescription methods of birth control.

Philadelphia Case Exposes Deep Rift In Abortion Debate

Julie Rovner — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:13:00 +0000

This is the sixth week of the trial of Dr.

Why Obama's Budget Could Make Health Waves

Julie Rovner — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:06:00 +0000

OK, the conventional wisdom about the budget President Obama sent to Congress yesterday is that's irrelevant.

It's two months late, after all, and the House and Senate have already approved their own spending blueprints for fiscal 2014.

But here's why it matters when it comes to health.

First of all, the Congressional budget process isn't exactly done.

The 'Hard-To-Change' Legacy Of Medicare Payments

Julie Rovner — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:58:00 +0000

The budget President Obama will send to Congress Wednesday is expected to include some $400 billion in reductions to Medicare and other health programs.

And if the word around Washington is correct, it may also include a proposal aimed at winning some bipartisan backing — by changing the way Medicare patients pay for their care.

But there have been previ

With Plan B Ruling, Judge Signs Off On Years Of Advocacy

Julie Rovner — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:17:00 +0000

A federal judge ordered Friday what women's groups have failed to accomplish politically for a dozen years. He ruled that Plan B, the most commonly used morning-after birth control pill, be sold without a prescription or other restrictions to women of all ages.

Federal District Court Judge Edward Korman has been overseeing the case on and off since 2005. He found, among other things, that the Food and Drug Administration "has engaged in intolerable delays ...

Administration Hits Pause On Health Exchanges For Small Businesses

Julie Rovner — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:26:00 +0000

The Obama administration is delaying the start of a key piece of the Affordable Care Act.

White House Delays Part Of Health Care Law

Julie Rovner — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:19:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The Obama administration is delaying the start of a key piece of the Affordable Care Act - the national healthcare law. Workers in small businesses will have to wait an additional year to be able to choose from more than one plan in the new online marketplace that start next January. NPR's Julie Rovner reports that the change might dampen enthusiasm, at least at the start. But not everyone thinks that's a bad thing.

JULIE ROVNER, BYLINE: OK. First, these health exchanges people have been talking about?

Arkansas Medicaid Expansion Attracts Other States' Interest

Julie Rovner — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:27:00 +0000

Since the Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion under the federal health law optional last year, states' decisions have largely split along party lines.

At Age 3, Affordable Care Act Is No Less Controversial

Julie Rovner — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 10:18:00 +0000

The Affordable Care Act turns 3 on Saturday, and it seems just as divisive as the day President Obama signed it.

"This law expands our competitiveness, promotes wellness and prevention, and enhances the economic security of the middle class," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Friday.

As Health Law Turns Three, Public Is As Confused As Ever

Julie Rovner — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:50:00 +0000

As the Affordable Care Act nears its third birthday this Saturday, a poll finds the public actually knows less about the law now than when it passed in 2010. Oh, and a lot of what people think they know just isn't so.

Those are the central findings of this month's tracking poll just released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

As has been the case all along, the poll found the central elements of the law remain popular across partly lines.

Ryan Budget Proposal Echoes Obamacare While Rejecting It

Julie Rovner — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:22:00 +0000

Health policy watchers might have been amused reading the latest blueprint for the federal budget, out today.

That's because once again House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan proposes a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans refer to as "Obamacare." But this time, the proposal describes the changes it envisions to the Medicare program in very Obamacare-like terms.

Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" for fiscal 2014, like its two predecessors, would tra

Governors' D.C. Summit Dominated By Medicaid And The Sequester

Julie Rovner — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:31:00 +0000

When the nation's governors gathered in Washington, D.C., over the weekend for their annual winter meeting, the gathering's official theme was about efforts to hire people with disabilities.

But out of the public eye, at the sessions for "governors only," the discussion reportedly was dominated by two more pressing issues of the day: whether or not to expand the Medicaid program as p

Morning-After Pills Don't Cause Abortion, Studies Say

Julie Rovner — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:47:00 +0000

The most heated part of the fight between the Obama administration and religious groups over new rules that require most health plans to cover contraception actually has nothing to do with birth control.

In Reversal, Florida Gov. Scott Agrees To Medicaid Expansion

Julie Rovner — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Perhaps Florida Gov. Rick Scott's motto should be "never say never."

After the U.S.

How The Sequester Could Affect Health Care

Julie Rovner — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:18:00 +0000

It's looking increasingly likely that $85 billion of automatic federal budget cuts known as a sequester will come to pass if Congress doesn't act by March 1.

Congress and President Obama agreed on the cuts, which will be divided evenly between defense and domestic programs, including health care, back in the summer of 2011 as part of a last-ditch effort to force a def

More Women Turn To Morning-After Pill

Julie Rovner — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:56:00 +0000

The number of women who have used emergency contraceptive pills has increased dramatically in the past decade, according to the latest government data.

A study by researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics found that 11 percent of "sexually experienced" women between the ages of 15 and 44 said they had used one of the four brands of emergency contraceptive pills approved by the FDA between 2006 and 2010.

Catholic Bishops Reject Compromise On Contraceptives

Julie Rovner — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:19:00 +0000

It seems the third time wasn't the charm, after all.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has officially rejected the Obama Administration's latest attempt to ensure that women with health insurance get access to no-cost contraceptive coverage without violating the rights of religious employers.

The administration issued the rules

Defying Expectations, GOP Governors Embrace Medicaid Expansion

Julie Rovner — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:07:00 +0000

Top-ranked archrivals Michigan and Ohio State faced off Wednesday night on the basketball court for the second time in this season (Michigan won in overtime to split the series).

But both states' Republican governors have something more in common this week than an intense distaste for their neighboring state's athletic team.

Michigan Gov.

Debate Rages On Even As Research Ban On Gun Violence Ends

Julie Rovner — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:36:00 +0000

The characteristics of gun violence in the U.S.

White House Tries Again To Find Compromise On Contraception

Julie Rovner — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:17:00 +0000

The Obama administration on Friday issued another set of proposed rules — and asked for yet another round of public comments — in a continuing quest to find a way to ensure that women receive no-cost contraception as part of a package of preventive health services under the 2010 Affordable Care Act without requiring religious employers to violate their beliefs.

The rules largely attempt to flesh out proposals

Julie Rovner