Patty Enrado

Effective Jan. 1, 2010, Oregon insurers will be forced to cover $500 for members toward medications or quit-smoking courses.

Health 2.0 technologies and services are powerful tools that can lower administrative healthcare costs, a panel told attendees at Tuesday's Health 2.0 Conference.

The health reform proposal introduced last month by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, includes a nonprofit health insurance co-op component. There is precious little detail of what the co-op policy would look like, but the concept is drawing just as much strong opinion as the public option.

Community health center advocates and policy experts are applauding an announcement by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department to use $33 million in stimulus funds to train health professionals.

A new loan forgiveness program – to the tune of $20,000 per year for four years – may entice physicians to choose primary care over specialties and choose to practice in Rhode Island.

Both the House and Senate are incorporating value-based insurance design elements into their health insurance reform bills.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will be awarding high-risk pool grants this month to states looking to cover operational losses and fund disease management and other programs.

According to a new study, obesity comprises 9.1 percent of all medical spending in the United States, up from 6.5 percent in 1998.

A Commonwealth Fund survey on the individual insurance market revealed that high premiums, lack of needed coverage and pre-existing conditions have kept many Americans from purchasing individual policies.

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is resurrecting a bill he first introduced in 2007 to address the nursing shortage in United States.