Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains several provisions that address access to community based services for the 4.5 million people in the U.S. with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Many of these provisions are aimed at balancing the array of services between those offered in institutions and those in the community. However, […]

Health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, opened October 1, and while states have released some enrollment data, and much of the attention has been on the initial technical challenges, there has been less information about overall consumer experience. Who is trying to access the marketplace websites, and how many have successfully enrolled? Of those who shopped […]

More than a third of Pioneer ACOs succeeded in reducing costs in Medicare in their first year, according to a recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report. The program initially saved Medicare about $87 million and cut Medicare spending by 0.5 percent. The Pioneer ACO model is a CMS Innovation Center initiative that […]

*FOR MEMBERS OF THE PRESS ONLY*The Association of Health Care Journalists’ DC Chapter and the Alliance for Health Reform will hold a reporters’ roundtable, for reporters only, on Covering the ACA Marketplaces. With the marketplaces scheduled to launch Oct. 1, no topic is as newsy, complicated and filled with political spin. Come learn about some best […]

This Alliance for Health Reform webinar gave you the latest on what insurance rates will look like when state insurance exchanges open for enrollment on October 1. Linda Blumberg, senior fellow, The Urban Institute, provided an overview of insurance rates that states have made available to date. Uwe Reinhardt, professor of economics and public affairs, Princeton […]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets October 1, 2013 as opening day for enrollment in health insurance plans through marketplaces, or exchanges. The law allowed states to choose between running their own exchanges or having the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) run a federally facilitated exchange. HHS also created variations […]

Sixty-two million Americans live in rural areas and they have higher rates of mortality, disability and chronic disease than their urban counterparts. With high poverty and unemployment rates, low rates of health insurance coverage and an undersupply of health care providers, the ills of the health care system are especially notable in rural communities. The […]

The Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance for Health Reform on Tuesday, June 18 held a special event to explore the challenges that Pennsylvania and New Jersey face this year leading up to the 2014 health law changes. This year the giant health law begins to move into its […]

The federal government has launched demonstration projects to test whether patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) can tackle some of the biggest problems facing the nation’s health care system. Advocates are holding out hope that medical homes will help to slow the growth of health care spending while improving the quality of care. The medical home is […]

An April 26 briefing, ACA 101: What You Need to Know, was intended to be especially helpful to congressional staff members and others with limited knowledge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), but also to be a useful review for anyone dealing with the complex issues leading up to major changes scheduled […]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) calls for increased consumer involvement in health care decision-making. Transparency in price and quality as a tool for consumer engagement is a critical component of that process. One does not buy food, clothing or housing without comparison shopping. Yet in health care, equally important and typically a […]