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Stories tagged: Affordable Care Act
Fri., Oct. 11, 2013
Idaho insurance exchange projects fee hike by 2016
BOISE – Idaho insurance exchange leaders could hike a fee on individual policies by nearly 75 percent within two years because existing assessments may be insufficient to sustain the Internet …
Tue., Oct. 8, 2013
Health plan website fixes errors, draws customers
OLYMPIA – More than 165,000 people have visited Washington’s website designed to help them find medical insurance, and about 9,400 individuals or families have enrolled in some type of plan. …
Sun., Oct. 6, 2013
BBB Tip of the Week: Health care scams
Provisions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, are in effect and scammers are pouncing on the confusion related to these healthcare changes. Here are several scams that …

Sat., Oct. 5, 2013
McMorris Rodgers: GOP won’t back down on budget fight
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Spokane Republican at the center of the partial government shutdown, said Friday the GOP remains united in forcing Democrats to the negotiating table over …
Sat., Oct. 5, 2013
Charles Krauthammer: Shutdown was Democrats’ doing
The Obamacare/shutdown battle has spawned myriad myths. The most egregious concern the substance of the fight, the identity of the perpetrators and the origins of the current eruption. 1. Substance
Thu., Oct. 3, 2013
Signing up on Washington’s site still slow
SEATTLE – Washington state’s new health insurance exchange experienced more problems on Wednesday, its second day of operation. The website wahealthplanfinder.org offers visitors a friendly, bright green welcome page, but …
Thu., Oct. 3, 2013
Health care exchanges struggle to keep up
WASHINGTON – For the second straight day, computer problems continued to stymie online visitors hoping to compare health plans or enroll in coverage on state insurance marketplaces under the new …

Wed., Oct. 2, 2013
Health exchange website testers learn about options
Heavy traffic and opening-day technical glitches made Washington’s new Health Plan Finder website difficult, if not impossible, to use Tuesday. But if a group of volunteers recruited by The Spokesman-Review …
Tue., Oct. 1, 2013, 8:36 a.m.
Health website experiencing opening-day troubles
Washington state’s new Health Plan Finder website, wahealthplanfinder.org, displayed opening-day malfunctions early Tuesday.
Tue., Oct. 1, 2013
Mona Charen: Blame ready for Obamacare shortcomings
Want a glimpse of what the Obamacare battle will look like in 2015? Just glance at liberal websites. You’ll find a trove of insurance company bashing. Are insurance premiums rising …

Mon., Sept. 30, 2013
Drug marketers don’t always deliver a healthy message
Suffering? Getting old? The pharmaceutical industry wants to help. Every night on TV, photogenic actors frolic with photogenic grandchildren, or lounge in bathtubs gazing into the setting sun, telling emotion-laden …
Mon., Sept. 30, 2013
Tips from the FDA on prescriptions
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversees prescription drugs and the pharmaceutical industry’s advertising practices. FDA maintains a web site outlining the requirements of federal law and some tips for …

Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Glossary: Health care overhaul
Major new laws come with their own jargon, and President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is no exception. With the first open enrollment season kicking off for the uninsured, here …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
House votes to defund Affordable Care Act in budget
WASHINGTON – Republicans rallied around a budget plan Saturday to keep the government open but delay the new health care law for a year, storming toward a showdown with Democrats …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Kathleen Parker: Obamacare line in sand boxes in Republicans
Ask most people on Capitol Hill and they’ll say: 50-50. Those are the odds they give for a government shutdown. An alternative to the shutdown would be a proposed delay …

Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Center answers calls for help
At 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, the switchboard turned on and the phones began to ring. Callers from all over Washington wanted to know how to qualify for health insurance …

Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Obamacare will bring price break for many in Washington
What will Obamacare cost, and who will it help? In Washington state it will cover more people and provide more comprehensive benefits than insurance companies sell today. And the final …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Five things to know about health care overhaul
Still a little hazy about the health care overhaul? You have plenty of company. About half the people surveyed this spring by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation felt they didn’t …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
State tries to simplify Medicaid
In political circles, “Medicaid expansion” has been a phrase that launches arguments. But for uninsured poor people – 22,000 in Spokane County and 328,000 throughout Washington state – expansion means …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Cost control remains key issue of new law
As a longtime advocate for health care reform, what does Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler think the 2010 law left undone? Cost control. “I wish there had been more …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Overhaul confuses Medicare beneficiaries
Dear seniors, your Medicare benefits aren’t changing under the Affordable Care Act. That’s the message federal health officials are trying to get out to elderly consumers confused by overlapping enrollment …

Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Affordable Care Act: What it means for you
How will the Affordable Care Act affect you? Most Americans will be affected in some way, but the answer depends on where they live and how they get – or …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
States experiment in effort to lower health care costs
SALEM, Ore. – As states work on implementing complex federal health care reforms, some have begun tackling an issue that has vexed employers, individuals and governments at all levels for …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
Tax credits will vary by household income, family size
WASHINGTON — Americans who buy health insurance outside their jobs next year can expect an average tax credit of nearly $2,700 to help them obtain coverage on the new state …
Sun., Sept. 29, 2013
History is on side of ‘Obamacare’
Historically, health care expansion has a record of winning public support. In England, conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dismantled several nationalized sectors of the economy, returning them to private enterprise. …
Wed., Sept. 25, 2013, 1:34 p.m.
Amid fear, HHS pledges privacy for Idaho exchange
BOISE — Federal officials insist people who enroll in Idaho’s Internet health insurance marketplace starting Tuesday shouldn’t fear for their personal-data privacy.
Wed., Sept. 25, 2013, 7:55 a.m.
Despite Cruz, Senate heads toward Obamacare vote
WASHINGTON — Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz’ all-night talkathon to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law surpassed the 20-hour mark Wednesday with a harsh reality looming — a test vote …
Wed., Sept. 25, 2013, 7 a.m.
Morning Review: SR tests health exchanges; a Dominican cookbook; and a murder trial
Check out today’s top stories in The Spokesman-Review.
Wed., Sept. 25, 2013
S-R seeks browsers of health site
Need health insurance? The Spokesman-Review is looking for a few volunteers to try Washington state’s new Health Plan Finder website, which debuts on Tuesday. The website is a central feature …
Sun., Sept. 8, 2013
Eye on Boise: Risch worries attack on Syria would make things worse
BOISE – Idaho Sen. Jim Risch says he believes the nation is better off doing nothing than launching a military strike against Syria in the wake of that country’s chemical …