Health Care

...provisions that require any hospital in Hawaii to provide information about, offer and, if accepted or requested, dispense emergency contraception....

"There are many changes coming to medicine that some physicians might not like."

...They are now trying to convince governors and state legislators that a series of state-level “grand bargains” could produce “savings“ in exchange for expanding Medicaid....

Meanwhile ... Hawaii Health Insurance Rates to Rise 12% to 21% Next Year....

Under the Affordable Care Act, children up to the age of 26 years can stay on their parents' health insurance plan....

In a typical year, Hawaii conducts about 50,000 tuberculosis skin tests and treats 120 people found to be carrying the bacteria. The state anticipates suspensions of TB clearances to last for 120 days....

An early ObamaCare health insurance program that has been operating for nearly three years is foreshadowing big problems to come....

This award will fund the customer service call center, consumer assistance program and general maintenance and operations of the Connector through December 2014....

An estimated 620,000 Pentagon health care recipients struggle to find private doctors who will accept them as patients ....

...Please share these impacts to mark three years of this bureaucratic nightmare.... 

HB 411 HD2 and SB 1109 SD2.  HFF, HCC and HFA all testified in opposition to the bills because no conscience provisions are included.... 

"AARP opposes the appropriation of State funds for the operation of the Connector in 2015"

If Congress alters the health care law's payment cuts to doctors and hospitals, costs could skyrocket....

Hawaii Does Not Have A Single Health Care Price Transparency Law....

Emerging new details about the application process for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) suggest that applying for benefits will be an onerous and grueling process....

By 2021, 46 percent of all Americans will be dependent on the government for their health care....

The study shows that many patients believe that medical decisions should not consider financial costs but only consider health....

While Members of Congress are arguing about defunding parts of Obamacare, the rubber is meeting the road in the states....

Low-income seniors will see an estimated 7 percent to 8 percent reduction in their Medicare Advantage benefits in 2014....

The nonprofit State-based Exchange is seeking a customer service partner that knows how to service Hawai‘i’s residents, and that can bring strong capabilities that will enable a seamless customer experience....

Drug companies have long kept secret details of the payments they make to doctors and other health professionals for promoting their drugs....

In the 1990s, insurance schemes pushed managed care and restricted networks. Some evidence suggests that insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act will be equally restrictive and paltry....

Both bills state in the preamble that the emergency contraceptive "is not an abortion pill" and "is not an abortifacient." That seemingly simple, and untrue statement, nullifies any protection that a federal conscience exemption might have provided....

The hearing was full of people who are against religious freedom.  One individual even stated that if Christians have a problem with it, they shouldn’t work in an emergency room....

Between 2011 and 2012 Hawaii jumped from 44th to 1st in “Work Environment” but fell from 4th to 14th  in “Basic Access"....

...liberalism is not an ideology at all; it is a sociology. The same may be said of conservatism....

SSI, SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, or other government assistance....

About 38 percent of all nursing homes in Hawaii earned an overall five-star rating....

What they aren't telling you is that people with obesity and/or diabetes are going to lose out big under the Hawaii Health Exchange and the 'Pay for Performance' plans being negotiated between Hawaii hospitals and Hawaii Insurers....

Here is a point-by-point comparison of the White House numbers for Hawaii and Sen. Harkin’s numbers for Hawaii. 

There is a way to use health insurance exchanges to both reform our health care entitlements and reduce premiums for those with private insurance. This transition could take four steps....

...the largest digital records companies like Allscripts, Cerner and Epic Systems have generated enormous profits and Wall Street-style executive pay because of the legislation they supported financially....

...examining standardized definitions and payment approaches for patient-centered medical homes and care management services....

The Ball Corporation is the only manufacturer of metal cans in the islands. The company employs 45 people and the beverage tax places their jobs directly at risk.

The Obama administration issued its long-awaited final rule on essential health benefits that insurers must offer consumers in the individual and small-group market beginning in 2014....

$964 million in fiscal year 2013 will be withheld from more than 3,000 hospitals....

The exchanges create the appearance of private-sector delivery but instead create politically favored monopolies....

“Taxes shouldn’t be a tool for social engineering or an instrument to penalize Hawaiians for doing nothing wrong....”

...market withdrawal of select Organic Baby Spinach products with the potential to be contaminated with Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)....

During a special premiere at the State Capitol, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) today launched a new teen-focused multi-media campaign to combat obesity....

Medicare will begin adjusting payments to physicians based on “the value of the care provided” in 2015....

...hospice care was hit by a $17 billion payment cut from 2013 to 2022.  Now, contrary to all of the misleading claims, this effect is already beginning....

...lobbyists are relied upon heavily to vie for the interests of the higher-income consumers and producers, leaving the burden of the new tax to lower income consumers who cannot afford representation....

...states that have enacted malpractice reforms experienced a mere 2 percent to 5 percent reduction in health care spending compared to states that have not....

Any successful program "must be mandatory (no one can opt out), public (government-supported and managed) and limited (will not provide full coverage)," the ILWU said....

State Senator Josh Green has introduced legislation, SB 639, to require a prescription for medications that contain the decongestant pseudoephedrine (PSE).