The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced two key steps in the process of partnering with states and other stakeholders to begin establishing health insurance Exchanges...

In a letter sent on Wednesday, 13 Republican senators asked HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for assurances that the new high-risk insurance pools will not provide coverage for abortion services, CQ HealthBeat reports. The insurance pools set up under the federal health reform law (PL 111-148) aim to provide coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions...

Thirty million women will benefit from the new health reform law over the next decade, either through new or strengthened insurance coverage, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund...

Health insurers have started to back down "on their decision to pull out of the child-only coverage market after the Obama administration addressed their concerns about the potential damage to their bottom lines," The Hill reports. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday clarified regulations mandating that insurance plans agree to cover sick children...

Forbes: CVS Caremark, the drug retailer and pharmacy benefit management firm, announced a new agreement with Aetna to help constrain drug costs. "The deal encompasses approximately $9.5 billion in annual drug spending relating to approximately 9.7 million lives. CVS expects significant long-term financial benefits from this strategic relationship" (7/28)...

The Wall Street Journal: "Insured Americans are using fewer medical services, raising questions about whether patients are consuming less health care as they pick up a greater share of the costs. The drop in usage is showing up as health-care companies report financial results...

U.S. News & World Report: Regulators are accusing the Tennessee-based American Trade Association of bilking consumers out of $14 million by selling fake health insurance to 26,000 households in all 50 states. The scams happened "over a span of 16 months, according to court documents...

The New York Times: "In an unusual move, a state government is developing regulations meant to stop doctors from prescribing higher doses of powerful - and often dangerous - pain killers for patients who are not benefiting from them...

In Haiti, A Lesson For U.S. Health Care The New York Times In February, a month after Haiti's earthquake, I went down to Port-au-Prince as part of a team that was helping to reactivate cardiac care in the city's public hospital. For several months since, I have observed how the earthquake and its aftermath profoundly changed Haiti's health care system...

Politico reports that business groups are preparing ads for the November elections and some are targeting health reform. "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already vowed to invest $75 million in the mid-term elections. And health insurers are also planning to play big in November, although the specifics remain in flux. ...

The Washington Post: "Opposition to the landmark health care overhaul declined over the past month, to 35 percent from 41 percent, according to the latest results of a tracking poll, reported Thursday...

Politico's On Congress Blog: House Republicans are advising other Republicans to vote against a bill that would "bolster medical support to Sept. 11 victims. ... The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009, sponsored by New York City Rep...

Aetna President Mark Bertolini said Wednesday that his company has seen much slower sales of national insurance accounts where large employers pay Aetna to administer plans for employees, The Associated Press reports. Under the new health overhaul, Bertolini said he expected less movement in that market because of the uncertainty in the law...

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, called on the major parties to commit to introducing a national disability insurance scheme. Dr Pesce said a national disability insurance scheme must be at the core of any National Disability Strategy and should be one of the first decisions of the next Government...

Two leading insurers reported second-quarter earnings with rising profits this week. First, on Tuesday night, Aetna said its second-quarter profits rose 42 percent, with a net income of $491 million, compared with $346.6 million for the same quarter last year, The Associated Press reports...

News outlets report on hospital issues, including forming accountable care organizations and disputes with insurers. Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx "is pioneering a new model of healthcare delivery, endorsed by the architects of health reform, that promises to radically change the current fragmented system in which the family doctor may have no idea what happens during a hospital stay," U...

CNNMoney: "Think your whole family is covered by your company health plan? Get ready to prove they're actually your kin." Under the new health overhaul law, starting next year "employers will have to provide coverage for dependents of employees [until] age 26...

The Dispensary of Hope is pleased to announce that sanofi-aventis U.S., the U.S. affiliate of sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, has become the latest pharmaceutical company to participate in the Dispensary's Continued Access Program, which provides uninsured patients with access to medicines that they otherwise couldn't afford...

The Washington Post: New census data reveal big differences among states in the rate of uninsured people under age 65. Massachusetts has the lowest rate, 7.8 percent, and Texas the highest, 26.8 percent. "The statistics are for 2007 and show health insurance coverage by state and for each of the country's roughly 3,140 counties...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has welcomed the new regulations for collaborative care arrangements contained in the Health Insurance Amendment Regulations 2010. These changes provide further clarity regarding the nature of the collaborative care arrangements between medical practitioners, nurse practitioners and midwives...

A Fair Exchange The New York Times The battle over health care reform won't end just because Republicans and Democrats find they can cooperate on exchanges...

In a comprehensive new study of mental health status and the use of mental health services by Californians, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that nearly one in five adults in the state - about 4.9 million people - said they needed help for a mental or emotional health problem...

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) President and CEO Karen Ignagni today released the following statement on the announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services to clarify that health plans may use a structured open enrollment period implementing health reform's provision eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions for children under age 19: "Today's anno...

Rite Aid Corporation and its 40 affiliated entities (RAC) have agreed to pay $1 million to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today...

Some advocacy groups that traditionally oppose abortion rights but were divided on health care reform are now trying to influence the re-election of Democrats, who oppose abortion rights and voted for the health care reform law (PL 111-148), Politico reports...