Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Washington insurance exchange to cut health care costs

  May 15, 2013 in City on Page A1 Washington’s consumers got their first, preliminary look at the cost of “Obamacare” on Tuesday. And the news, for many consumers, was good: Health insurance next year will cover more and … 67

• Health exchange could be coming for some state workers

  April 25, 2013 in City, Health on Page A8 OLYMPIA – In a quest to save money, political leaders in Washington state are exploring a proposal that would shift some government workers out of their current health plans and … 2

• New wave of doctors focuses on healthier living

  April 22, 2013 in Features, Health on Page C1 Americans spend boatloads of money on medical care – roughly twice as much, per capita, as other industrialized democracies. And what do they get in return? Shorter lives and poorer … 2

• Fewer small companies offer health insurance

  April 11, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 Between 1999 and 2011, health insurance coverage doubled in cost, and a growing share of the nation’s workers no longer could obtain it from their employers. The lack of health … 24

• Senate OKs Otter’s health insurance exchange proposal

  March 22, 2013 in Health, Idaho on Page A5 BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter won his biggest legislative victory in his seven years in office Thursday, persuading reluctant GOP lawmakers to approve his plan for a state-based health … 6

• Premera warns about rates

  March 22, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 Premera Blue Cross, the largest health insurer in Eastern Washington, has toned down earlier warnings of “staggering” rate increases that it had blamed on federal health care reform, but still … 47

• Providence, CHS have split Spokane’s health care system

  March 17, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 Ten years ago, doctors called the shots when it came to health care in Spokane. Most owned their practices or plied their specialties in larger clinics. They freely referred patients … 47

• Critical caregivers

  March 16, 2013 in City on Page A1 Health care reform should come with a Help Wanted sign: Nurses are needed to help care for 32 million people. That’s how many Americans are expected to gain health coverage … 20

• Expansion gets bipartisan support

  March 15, 2013 in City on Page A1 Sometime this spring, the Washington Legislature has to enact a two-year budget that will address “Obamacare,” the federal government’s health care reform law. When it does, will partisan wrangling tie … 10

• Goal of lower costs remains big uncertainty

  March 14, 2013 in City on Page A1 Where can Americans find help with health insurance coverage? And P.S. – what’s it going to cost? 24

• For health care’s drive to reform, cost curve looms ahead

  March 13, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 After Congress created Medicare in 1965, the program grew and changed. But since the ’60s, when courtly senators still referred to one another as “gentlemen,” the spirit in Congress has … 38

• State’s new online insurance exchange will carry coverage

  March 12, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 From the outside, you’d never guess what’s going on in the nondescript old building across Capitol Way from the Starbucks in downtown Olympia. Within those painted concrete slabs, an agency … 16

• Health care reform result of lawmakers, public workers, Seattle boy

  March 11, 2013 in City, Health on Page A1 If “Obamacare” deserves a face, it’s not Barack’s. It’s a young Seattle boy named Marcelas Owens, whose mother, like thousands of Americans every year, died of a treatable disease. 31

• Large dose of reform: Washington embraces Affordable Care Act

  March 10, 2013 in City on Page A1 Health care, American-style, is about to undergo the biggest change since the enactment of Medicare 48 years ago. In quiet office buildings far from the glare of television cameras, officials … 79

• Upcoming in this health care series

  March 10, 2013 in City on Page A7 Today Health care:

• Abortion rights legislation shows two houses clearly divided in Olympia

  February 23, 2013 in City on Page A1 OLYMPIA – Democrats in Washington’s House of Representatives passed an abortion-rights bill Friday, sending it to the Senate, where Republicans have refused to hold hearings on identical proposals. The handling … 157

• Gov. Jay Inslee offers jobs outline

  February 14, 2013 in City on Page A5 OLYMPIA – Gov. Jay Inslee added some specifics to his campaign themes of generating more jobs in key industries, releasing a package Wednesday of tax breaks and spending projects designed … 7

• Idaho health insurance panel favors state-based exchange

  October 27, 2012 in Idaho on Page B1 BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s health insurance exchange working group has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a state-based health insurance exchange, calling for a private nonprofit group set up …

• State eyes system to streamline health care

  October 26, 2012 in City, Health on Page A6 OLYMPIA – State officials think they can save $14 million over the next five years and provide better health care to a group of patients who are among the most …

• Clinics ease stress on hospital ERs

  September 17, 2012 in City, Health on Page A1 The Community Health Association of Spokane is expanding services in Spokane Valley as it prepares for an influx of patients if the Affordable Care Act survives after the November elections. … 17

• GOP leaders wary of Idaho getting help on indigent care costs

  September 9, 2012 in City, Idaho on Page A1 Every Tuesday morning at 9, they file in, some crying, some defiant – all with big medical bills they can’t pay, pleading with Kootenai County commissioners for help. “It’s at … 10

• Women get help through Care Act

  August 1, 2012 in City, Health on Page A6 WASHINGTON – Starting today, nearly 1.1 million women in Washington state will no longer be charged a co-pay for birth control, HIV screening and several other health care services under … 5

• GOP sends message on ‘Obamacare’

  July 11, 2012 in News Pressing an election-year point, Republicans pushed yet another bill through the House on Wednesday to repeal the nation’s two-year-old health care law, a maneuver that forced Democrats to choose between … 56

• Spin Control: Letter asking to repeal ACA a waste of paper

  July 8, 2012 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – In a world of emails and tweets, it’s usually nice to get a real letter. Except, maybe, if it’s a letter telling you to do something that you’ve … 1

• Idaho must scramble to catch up

  June 29, 2012 in Idaho on Page A1 BOISE – Idaho leaders were stunned by Thursday’s ruling upholding the federal health care reform law, and they face big decisions on how to respond. State lawmakers this year refused … 11

• Ruling highlights partisan split

  June 29, 2012 in City, Health on Page A1 OLYMPIA – When a divided U.S. Supreme Court settled the question Thursday of whether federal health care reform is constitutional, it turned up the spotlight on the issue for Washington’s … 7

• What the ruling means for Washington and Idaho

  June 28, 2012 in Health, Nation/World Where Washington stands: Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna signed on to the health care lawsuit against the wishes of Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and majority Democrats, but Washington moved ahead … 7

• State awarded $128 million for Health Benefit Exchange

  May 17, 2012 in City on Page A9 OLYMPIA – Washington will receive a financial reward for forging ahead with one element of federal health care reform this spring while many other states were holding back. The U.S. …

• Protesters object to state’s role in case

  March 28, 2012 in City on Page A1 OLYMPIA – As the U.S. Supreme Court questioned lawyers about the constitutionality of making Americans buy health insurance Tuesday, a liberal group that supports the rule protested outside the offices … 26

• Gregoire inks health reform

  March 24, 2012 in City on Page A5 OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire and other Democratic officials marked Friday’s second anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act – which Republicans prefer to call Obamacare – with …

• 1
• 2
• Next page ›