Julie Rovner

Julie Rovner appears in the following:

Which Plans Cover Abortion? No Answers On HealthCare.gov

Friday, November 01, 2013

As if the rollout of the federal health law didn't have enough problems, abortion is back in the spotlight.

How the various health plans in the exchanges would or would not pay for abortion was one of the very last issues settled before the bill was passed in 2010. ...

Comment

Congress Moves Closer To Changing Medicare Pay For Doctors

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill don't agree on much when it comes to health care.

But, believe it or not, leaders from both parties on two key committees have come up with a plan to fix a longstanding problem with the formula that pays doctors who treat Medicare ...

Comment

Congressmen Berate Sebelius For Cancellations, Website Woes

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius headed to Capitol Hill Wednesday for a date with lawmakers frustrated by the rocky rollout of the HealthCare.gov website.

What she got at the House Energy and Commerce Committee was four hours of venting from Democrats and Republicands alike.

Like Medicare and Medicaid ...

Comment

Insurance Cancellations Elbow Out Website Woes At Health Hearing

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

When the head of the agency responsible for the troubled Healthcare.gov went before Congress for the first time since its foibles became apparent Oct. 1, she probably didn't expect that many questions would be on something else altogether.

But the website turned out not to be the focus of ...

Comment

More Technical Issues For Obamacare, But Good News For Medicare

Monday, October 28, 2013

Monday was yet another troubled day for the Affordable Care Act.

Sunday night, the outside vendor that operates two key parts of the website that lets people browse and sign up for health insurance experienced a failure.

The failure took place at a vendor called Verizon Terremark and presumably ...

Comment

Why Postponing Insurance Mandate Is No Easy Fix For Obamacare

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Obama administration has entered full damage-control mode over the balky website intended to enroll people in new health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Senior officials met Wednesday morning with Democrats on Capitol Hill, and in the afternoon insurance CEOs got an audience at the White House. Tomorrow ...

Comment

States' Refusal To Expand Medicaid May Leave Millions Uninsured

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

President Obama Tuesday appointed one of his top management gurus, Jeffrey Zeints, to head the team working to fix what ails Healthcare.gov, the troubled website that's supposed to allow residents of 36 states enroll in coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

But even if the team gets the website working ...

Comment

After A Decade, Congress Moves To Fix Doctors' Medicare Pay

Friday, September 06, 2013

Hear the words health care and Congress, and you think fight, right?

And you'd be forgiven, particularly because the House has now voted some 40 times in the past two years to repeal or otherwise undo portions of the Affordable Care Act.

But something unusual happened just before Congress ...

Comment

Bill Clinton Steps Up To Dispel The Confusion Over Obamacare

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

With the launch of the major piece of the Affordable Care Act less than a month away, the Obama administration is escalating the public relations push with one of their most effective weapons – former President Bill Clinton, now known to many as explainer in chief.

Speaking from his ...

Comment

Study: Price Shocks On Health Exchanges Appear Unlikely

Thursday, August 29, 2013

With new health insurance exchanges set to launch in just over a month, there's been a lot of chatter about how shocking the rates might be.

One possibility is that adding sick people to a more comprehensive benefits package will cause premiums to soar. Last spring, the Society ...

Comment

Despite Distaste For Health Law, Americans Oppose Defunding

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act often talk about how unpopular it is.

And this month's tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation bears them out. Negative views of the law (42 percent) top positive ones (37 percent).

But Republicans who have been barnstorming the country this ...

Comment

You Ask, We Answer: More Of Your Questions About The Affordable Care Act

Monday, August 19, 2013

The Oct. 1 launch of the new health insurance exchanges is now less than two months away, and people are starting to pay attention to the changes these new marketplaces may bring to the nation's health care system.

We know it's confusing, so we're spending part of the summer ...

Comment

Obamacare Foes Make Final Push To Stop Health Law's Implementation

Thursday, August 08, 2013

With less than eight weeks to go before the official launch of the new health care marketplaces under the federal health law, backers of the law are ramping up to encourage people to sign up.

But there's another effort gearing up this month as well. Opponents ...

Comment

Fix Is In For Congressional Obamacare Glitch

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Finally, the federal HR department has released the health rule much of Capitol Hill has been waiting for.

There's now an explanation from the Office of Personnel Management on how members of Congress and much of their staff will get their health insurance starting next year.

At issue is ...

Comment

Obamacare Hurdle: Consumers Flunk Health Insurance 101

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

It's hardly news that people are having trouble understanding the nitty-gritty of the Affordable Care Act. Recent polls have detailed the difficulties.

But work by economists at Carnegie Mellon University suggests a big reason for the confusion that's been largely overlooked: The public doesn't understand how health insurance works ...

Comments [1]

Congress May Be Getting Its Own Obamacare Glitch Fixed

Friday, August 02, 2013

As its last official action before leaving for a five-week summer break, the House today voted — for the 40th time — to block implementation of the federal health law.

But it was something that happened late Thursday night affecting members of Congress and their staffers' own health insurance ...

Comment

Will Obamacare Mean Fewer Jobs? Depends On Whom You Ask

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Of all the contentious claims about the Affordable Care Act, few have been more contentious than over the impact it's having on employers.

It's hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a television without seeing a story about some boss cutting workers' hours or saying he ...

Comment

Plan B To Hit Shelves, Protected From Generics

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

As expected, the Food and Drug Administration has granted an additional three years of protection from generic competition to the makers of the most popular form of the emergency contraceptive pill, Plan B One-Step.

The decision is one of the last formal pieces of business as the drug ...

Comment

Obama Turns To Comedians To Promote Health Coverage

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Who needs jocks when you've got Jennifer Hudson and Amy Poehler?

That seems to be the message coming out of the White House following a star-studded meeting yesterday led by White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. Its mission: Figure out how to help promote the Affordable Care Act.

Among those ...

Comment