Health Care

By 2017, Hawaii is facing Medicare Home Healthcare payment at least 11.7% below cost, and up to 27.8% below cost....

... HHA continues to meet, without a budget, working on developing a universal, cost-effective health care system that will be ready for implementation when the Affordable Care Act inevitably fails....

As the federal government’s financial condition worsens, states will likely have to pick up even more of the cost....

A study of Hawaii's requirement that firms provide insurance to those working at least 20 hours a week found a slight increase in the share of workers falling below that threshold after the requirement went into effect....

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is implementing a state-of-the-art eligibility system, integrated with The Connector....

In addition to telephone assistance, the contact center staff will be available by email, postal mail, web chat and fax....

...out of $668.1 million in tax credits claimed in tax year 2011, the Service disallowed only $11 million, and failed to find a single case of fraud....

The Medicare program that provides health insurance to seniors faces a dire financial future.  And Obamacare is making it worse....

The America’s Health Rankings Senior Report finds that Hawaii has its share of strengths and challenges for senior health....

There is no federal law that requires health insurers to accept all forms of payment, including credit cards or the cash-loaded, pre-paid debit cards that people without bank accounts often rely on....

...over 90 percent of patients who would have been committed before deinstitutionalization are now out in the world....

Just as in Canada or Britain, we are going to experience rationing by waiting...

...many people are exempt from the mandate, and so the IRS has to know a lot about you in order to decide whether you are in compliance....

On October 1, millions of Americans are supposed to be able to go online and acquire health insurance on electronic exchanges in the states where they live....

...average medical charges were nearly tripled among those who did not use seat belts ($11,043), compared to restrained passengers ($3,817)....

Members of the House of Representatives are scheduled to vote Thursday to repeal all of Obamacare....

a payment dispute between the Hawaii Medical Service Association and the Wai­anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center was causing HMSA to lose 1000s of customers....

...many workers will soon discover that when they earn more money, they end up with less take-home pay....

... a new-media, information age repressive technique aimed at physicians ....

Those who are implementing Obamacare in Hawaii are now putting themselves on the record predicting disaster....

When Obamacare’s individual mandate takes effect in 2014, all Americans who file income tax returns must complete an additional IRS tax form....

...block grants to community organizations and individuals who are established as trusted resources within their communities....

For the first time ever, this score empowers you to make informed decisions about the safety of your hospital care....

...Shinseki has vowed to use integrated electronic records and paperless IT solutions to make health care more efficient...there has been little progress.....

Coming to Hawaii this fall....

...as far as physical health is concerned there is no difference between being in Medicaid and being uninsured....

... in states with a dominant insurance carrier, competition and lower prices may not arrive for quite some time ....

... in many states, people won’t have a lot of health insurance choices when the exchanges launch in October ....

...the massive law that was enacted to solve the problem of the uninsured in America is more likely to worsen it....

...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....