Tag Archives: health reform

How to cover the case that could kill patients’ access
to no-cost preventive services

chart

Even before the Affordable Care Act became fully effective in 2014, more than 94% of Americans buying contraceptives were paying some amount out-of-pocket. That dropped to 10% by 2018, according to a May 2023 KFF report. Accessed July 5, 2023. Image courtesy KFF, reprinted with permission

A key provision of the Affordable Care Act is in jeopardy in the case of Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. 

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Investigative journalist wins Pulitzer
for Mississippi series on Medicaid fraud

Reporter Anna Wolfe

Investigative journalist Anna Wolfe. Photo courtesy of Anna Wolfe

Investigative journalist Anna Wolfe has a secret. 

During a multi-year investigation into a sprawling scandal over misspent welfare funds in Mississippi, Wolfe received dozens of text messages that helped to blow the lid off the case. Since getting those messages last year, the award-winning reporter has protected her source’s anonymity. But in an interview with AHCJ, she promised to reveal the name someday — when the time is right. 

On May 8, Wolfe won a Pulitzer Prize in the local news category for Mississippi Today, a nonprofit news organization founded in 2016, for her coverage of what’s called the biggest public corruption scandal in the state’s history.

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Dental benefits are expanding in a post-ACA market

Photo: John Twohig via Flickr

Photo: John Twohig via Flickr

“Covered California Now Offering Dental Coverage to Adults,” the headline in the Long Beach Press Telegram read.

The news that adult dental coverage would be included among the benefits available on the state insurance exchange has been well-received by consumers and health advocates, Barbara Feder Ostrov of Kaiser Health News reported in the story. Continue reading

Conservatives yet to rally around specific ACA reform proposal

Guy Boulton

Guy Boulton

Guy Boulton, a veteran health reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, took a look at some of the conservative health care policy proposals we’ll be hearing more about as the 2016 campaign gets underway.

Conservative critics of the Affordable Care Act, in and out of government, haven’t rallied around a specific replacement plan, or even a specific repair plan.

But Boulton notes that proposals by conservatives generally allow more flexibility in designing health plan benefit packages. Insurance might be cheaper for some people – but more expensive for others. And without standard requirements it might be harder for consumers to compare their options. Continue reading

Second open-enrollment period discussed at Atlanta chapter event

The Atlanta chapter of AHCJ and the Alliance for Health Reform sponsored a Dec. 2 event focused on the second open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act.

The panel discussed the state of navigator assistance, narrow networks and slower-than-expected enrollment since the insurance exchanges opened Nov. 15. About 25 AHCJ members and invited guests gathered for the event.

Joining me on the panel were Trey Sivley, a division director in the office of Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner; Lisa Stein of Seedco, which runs a navigator program in Georgia and three other states; and Dorian Martindale of Whitefoord, a federally qualified health center in Atlanta.

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