health insurance

Stories 381 - 400 | << Prev   Next >>

Candidates Talk Health Care, But Not Their Own

Most GOP hopefuls keep mum on their personal coverage

(Newser) - With health insurance heating up campaign trails, NPR takes a look at how the candidates are covered, and finds not all of them forthcoming. Sitting senators are eligible for a federal plan, which is good but no panacea—packed with co-pays and deductibles. John Edwards reports he and his family...

Uninsured Cancer Patients Die More Often

Study finds 5-year mortality rate almost twice as high

(Newser) - Cancer patients without health insurance are 1.6 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis than the insured, the AP reports. A new study by the American Cancer Society examined records for 600,000 patients under 65 in 1,500 US hospitals and found that 35% of...

Calif. Closer to Expanding Health Care

Assembly OKs $14B plan that mandates coverage for millions

(Newser) - The lower house of the California legislature yesterday approved a $14.4 billion bill to expand health care to millions of residents, a move analysts say could spark similar actions nationwide, the Los Angeles Times reports. But first skeptical state senators and voters must weigh in. The plan would require...

Bush Vetoes Kids' Health Bill Again
Bush Vetoes Kids' Health
Bill Again

Bush Vetoes Kids' Health Bill Again

SCHIP expansion remains too pricey, president says

(Newser) - President Bush today vetoed for the second time expansion of a federal program that provides health insurance to poor and middle-class children, the New York Times reports. Bush called the proposed overhaul fiscally irresponsible, because it would cover too many undeserving recipients and raise taxes. Democrats will now try to...

UnitedHealth's Ex-CEO Will Pay Back $620M

Ousted Maguire settles claims over backdating stock options

(Newser) - UnitedHealth's ex-CEO will surrender another $420 million in stock options and retirement pay to settle claims in a scandal over stock-option backdating. William McGuire already had forfeited $200 million to UnitedHealth when he was ousted last year, the Wall Street Journal reports, making his giveback one of the largest in...

Immigration Hits All-Time High
Immigration Hits All-Time High

Immigration Hits All-Time High

About 1 in 8 Americans started out elsewhere, says anti-immigrant group

(Newser) - One out of every 8 US residents is an immigrant following seven years in which a record 10.3 million newcomers crossed US borders. But more than half of those were illegals, according to an anti-immigration group's census analysis. Critics were skeptical of the study’s conclusions—which focused on...

Freud Is Everywhere but in Psych Dept
Freud Is Everywhere but in Psych Dept

Freud Is Everywhere but in Psych Dept

Psychoanalysis is thriving in culture, obsolete in psychology

(Newser) - Sigmund Freud's ideas have seeped into every corner of popular culture and academia, from film to foreign policy. The one place they've seeped out of is university psychology departments, where psychoanalysis is now viewed as obsolete, the New York Times reports. A new survey of 150 top colleges and universities...

Bowing to Critics, Wal-Mart Overhauls Health Plans

Retail giant insures less than half of its workforce

(Newser) - Wal-Mart’s reputation for high-cost, low-benefit employee health care has led to battles with politicians, communities, and organized labor. The bad publicity hurt its reputation and, ultimately, its bottom line. Now, reports the New York Times, the nation’s largest private employer has a new prescription for health care, offering...

Kids' Health Care Bill Heads for 2nd Veto

Senate passes revised S-CHIP, but Bush says it won't pass muster

(Newser) - The Senate yesterday passed a revised S-CHIP bill that would provide health insurance for 10 million underprivileged children, CNN reports, but President Bush has vowed a second veto because it raises tobacco taxes. The bill passed 64-30, with high-profile Republicans such as Charles Grassley joining the majority.

Firms Help Workers Kick Butts
Firms Help Workers Kick Butts

Firms Help Workers Kick Butts

Seeking savings, employers offer programs, incentives

(Newser) - Smoking, everybody's favorite target, is now drawing fire from employers looking to cut medical costs by helping workers kick the habit, the New York Times reports. Employers gain significantly when employees quit, because a typical smoker racks up $16,000 in additional lifetime medical costs and saps productivity with smoking...

Clinics Test Prepaid Health Plans
Clinics Test Prepaid
Health Plans

Clinics Test Prepaid Health Plans

Flat-rate programs aim to take up slack for uninsured, underinsured

(Newser) - Primary care is increasingly out of reach for patients and unprofitable for physicians, but a prepaid plan at a walk-in clinic could provide a solution, one doctor says. Vic Wood charges a monthly fee for basic and urgent care, allowing his practice to stay afloat and his uninsured patients to...

Smoking Has Its Price, and It's $1,200 a Year

Writer blasts newspaper's owner for ‘tobacco use fee’

(Newser) - A South Florida Sun-Sentinel writer is crying foul over his newspaper's parent company charging a “tobacco use fee”—a health plan add-on that punishes employees for smoking. Michael Mayo says he “was completely shocked” to learn his employer would extract $100 a month from any employee who...

Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill
Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill

Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill

Plan has two-thirds majority in Senate, but not in House

(Newser) - President Bush today struck down a bipartisan compromise to expand a federal initiative providing care for children whose parents can’t afford it, the Los Angeles Times reports. Bush called the bill too costly, and said he would rather renew the current plan for five years; Democrats are unenthused, and...

House Passes Children's Health Insurance Bill

Bush to veto measure despite GOP support

(Newser) - A bill to boost spending on children's health insurance by $35 billion sailed through the House yesterday 265-159, despite President Bush's repeated threats to veto it. The Senate is likely to approve the bill next week. The bill would increase the current children's health insurance program by $7 billion a...

Bush Blasts Dems' Expanded Child Health Bill

Prez threatens veto despite bipartisan support in Senate

(Newser) - President Bush threatened to veto a children's health insurance bill today, knocking Democrats he said were politicizing the issue by moving too far toward universal health care. The Senate last month passed an expanded "S-chip" program that would cover an additional 4 million children currently uninsured, the New York ...

Hillary Wants Feds, Employers to Share Tab

Follows failed '93 bid with compromise health plan tomorrow

(Newser) - Details of Hillary’s health plan are leaking out before she formally announces them Monday in Iowa. Rather than re-making the system – or imitating her 1993 proposal – she wants the Feds to subsidize some care and employers to pay for the rest. The Wall Street Journal reports that...

Health Insurance Premiums Soar
Health Insurance Premiums Soar

Health Insurance Premiums Soar

Costs outpace wage hikes for 8 years running

(Newser) - Health insurance premiums zoomed 6.1% this year, far outrunning inflation and worker earnings, a new study has found. Since 2001, premiums for family coverage have risen 78% percent, while wages have increased by only 19% and inflation by 17%, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows. Still, this year's hike...

US Poverty Rate Dips, but Uninsured Swell

Income inequality reaches all-time high

(Newser) - The US poverty rate has finally taken a downturn for the first time in 10 years, census figures show. The poverty rate was 12.3% in 2006, down from 12.6% the previous year, and annual household income rose to $48,200. But the news isn't all rosy: the number...

Why Small Government Has Collapsed
Why Small Government
Has Collapsed

Why Small Government Has Collapsed

Prospect writer says Dems can drown movement in bathtub

(Newser) - Democrats have never been so well positioned to sell big-government liberalism—as the other side looks pathetically out of step with Americans’ desires to expand health care and bolster infrastructure, says the American Prospect’s Paul Waldman. After the Minnesota bridge collapse, the public is ready for the party that...

House Passes Health Plan for 4M More Kids

Dems take step toward universal coverage over GOP objections

(Newser) - The House has passed a sweeping expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program that will extend covered to 4 million uninsured kids using revenue from cigarette taxes and cuts in subsidies to private Medicare plans. The bill, which was approved 225-204, is a step toward universal coverage over Republican...

Stories 381 - 400 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser