Julie Appleby

Work by Julie

Health care group seeks to fast-track efforts to curb costs, boost quality

Five veteran health care leaders representing insurers, hospitals, employers and consumers on Thursday outlined an ambitious set of recommendations aimed at slowing rising costs, focused mainly on changing the way America pays for health care.

Final rule issued on what insurers must cover under health law

The Obama administration on Wednesday released its final rule on essential health benefits, which sets out what benefits insurers must offer starting in 2014.

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Health plans gear up to sell directly to consumers

As the health care overhaul moves ahead, the nation's health insurers are scrambling to reinvent themselves, hoping to boost their image and entice millions of Americans to enroll, some for the first time.

Study: CMS penalties don’t change hospital-acquired infection rates

A Medicare payment policy designed to push hospitals to cut their infection rates has had no effect in reducing two types of preventable infections among patients in intensive care units, researchers say in a study out Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

New consumer protections depend on high court's ruling

The Supreme Court's decision to uphold or strike down the health law could bolster -- or undo -- the most far-reaching changes ever legislated affecting the insurance industry and its customers.

What's at stake for women if health law overturned

A provision in the 2010 health care law requiring contraceptive coverage for women without copays has gotten most of the press. But much more is at stake for women if the Supreme Court overturns the health care law.

Employers tie financial rewards, penalties to health tests, lifestyle choices

Gone are the days of just signing up for health insurance and hoping you don’t have to use it. Now, more employees are being asked to roll up their sleeves for medical tests — and to exercise, participate in disease management programs and quit smoking to qualify for hundreds, even thousands of dollars’ worth of premium or deductible discounts.

Even without the individual mandate, health law would still affect millions

If the Supreme Court strikes down the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance — along with related provisions that insurers must sell to people with pre-existing conditions and not charge the sick more — what's left in the law?

Feds face challenges in launching U.S. health exchange

With many states unwilling or unable to get insurance exchanges operational by the health law deadline of Jan. 1, 2014, pressure is growing on the federal government to do the job for them. But health care experts are starting to ask whether the fallback federal exchange called for in the 2010 health law will be operational by the deadline in states that will not have their own exchanges ready.

Final medical loss ratio rule rebuffs insurance agents

The Obama administration issued a rule Friday that is sure to disappoint insurance agents: Fees paid to brokers and agents won’t count as medical care, under limits imposed on insurers in the 2010 federal health law.

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