Public hearing on health insurance exchange
New Yorkers are invited to a series of public forums to present their ideas on the design of New York’s health insurance exchange, a major part of federal health care reform. Starting in 2014, the...
View ArticleVideo contest to get kids physically fit
BlueShield of Northeastern New York is sponsoring a video contest to get school children more physically active. Schools will submit videos and a panel of judges will then choose five winners in each...
View ArticleTwo plans for NY’s insurance exchange – 1 regulates, the other does not
New York State leaders are circulating two proposals for creating a health insurance exchange – one gives the exchange broad powers, while the other limits the role of the exchange. The plans have been...
View ArticleNY legislature passes oral chemotherapy bill
Update: The bill just passed the Assembly 112-0. ALBANY – The state Senate passed S.3988 requiring insurance companies to cover oral chemotherapy as a medical treatment. Currently, many oral drugs are...
View ArticleIrene refugees get help finding their meds
BlueShield of Northeastern New York is assisting members who have been evacuated and displaced due to Hurricane Irene with obtaining their prescription medications. “This is particularly urgent...
View ArticleNY health exchange stalled, but money still flows
The federal government has awarded New York nearly $39 million to plan and build a health exchange, but at the moment, not much is happening toward creating one. Read more at Health exchange lags at...
View ArticleCouple gets a surprise $1,500 bill from ER
The Advocate took a swing today at those surprise bills that you might receive when you go to the ER. Many emergency departments are staffed by doctors who are subcontracted by the hospital. While the...
View ArticleAlbany Med and Aetna Insurance still divided
Nearly a year after Aetna Insurance terminated its relationship with Albany Medical Center, not much has changed. Aetna removed Albany Medical Center from its network in February saying the hospital...
View ArticleCan’t say this has ever happened before
Someone called me Thursday to comment on my story I wrote about Price Chopper’s legal wrangling with the state (Price Chopper says ad limit is senseless – Times Union.) The state won’t let Price...
View ArticleNY insurer tries an innovative way to pay doctors
CDPHP, the Capital Region’s largest health insurer, is rolling out a new system for paying primary care doctors (A new health care model – Times Union ) The model moves away from fee-for-service...
View ArticleNew York ranks as 15th healthiest state
New York is the 15th healthiest state in the nation, according to America’s Health Rankings, an effort of the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for...
View ArticleDeja vu: Schumer to urge extended health coverage for vets’ children
If that sounds familiar, it’s because The Pulse reported this very thing on Jan. 22. Sen. Charles Schumer was expected that day to hold a press briefing on his plans for extending health coverage for...
View ArticleNY’s Obamacare exchange hits 2 million enrollees
More than 2 million New Yorkers have enrolled in health insurance plans through NY State of Health since the online insurance market was launched in October 2013, state officials announced Wednesday....
View ArticleStudy: Single-payer health would save $45b in N.Y.
A single-payer or universal health plan would save New Yorkers $45 billion a year in health-care expenditures, according to a study released Tuesday by a University of Massachusetts at Amherst...
View ArticleSchumer to call for extending children’s health insurance program
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is expected Wednesday to push for extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers low- to moderate-income children and pregnant women and is slated to expire...
View ArticleDetails on cost, maker of Albany Med’s new epilepsy treatment
The Times Union had a story Thursday on a new treatment for epilepsy at Albany Medical Center, the heart of which is a device implanted under the skull. The cost of the treatment — called responsive...
View ArticleNew law protects consumers from surprise medical bills
A law intended to protect New Yorkers from surprise out-of-network medical bills goes into effect Wednesday. State officials and consumer advocates are scheduled to discuss the new protections on a...
View ArticlePregnancy would qualify woman for insurance under proposal
A bill introduced in the state Senate would add pregnancy as an event qualifying women to get health coverage through the state’s online exchange, regardless of the time of year. The State Insurance...
View ArticleN.Y. Assembly to vote on single-payer health plan
The state Assembly is scheduled to vote Wednesday afternoon, for the first time since 1992, on a bill to create a single-payer health system in New York, a proposal that Health Committee Chair Richard...
View ArticlePatient, doctor groups support bill to limit “fail first” insurance policies
ALBANY – Patient advocates and medical groups were at the state Legislative Office Building Thursday to support a bill that would curb so-called “step therapy” or “fail first” policies among health...
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