Health care news and opinion

The Commonwealth Fund – 16.6 million small business employees could receive relief from health insurance premiums this year through small-business tax credits established by the recently passed health reform legislation.

Associated Press – As they try to ride out the ongoing economic downturn, employers are shifting some of the burden of their employee-sponsored health costs to their employees, according to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

The Huffington Post – More than a million seniors in the Medicare system have been issued $250 “donut hole” rebate checks, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Atlanta Journal Constitution – U.S. Rep Jim McDermott (Washington State) and the Galen Institute’s Grace-Marie Turner duke it out over health reform’s prospects for the American workforce.

The Hill – Health insurance regulators gave reform advocates an early victory Tuesday by rejecting insurance lobbyists’ interpretation of the medical loss ratio should be calculated. The MLR dictates that health plans must spend at least 80 percent of premiums in the individual and small-group markets on medical care and 85 percent for large-group plans … or they must offer rebates to their policy holders.

HHS.gov – Forty-five states and the District of Columbia will each receive $1 million to more closely monitor proposed health insurance rate increases and to crack down on unreasonable rate hikes.

Health Beat by Maggie Mahar – Health care blogger says liberals unhappy with the way the health reform legislation turned out are fooling themselves thinking they’d be happier if the legislation somehow fails.

New York Times – Students everywhere are happy to hear that they’ll be able to resume coverage under their parents’ health insurance policies, thanks to the recent passage of health reform legislation. Unfortunately, many of those students will have to wait until 2011, and look for gap coverage until then.

The Hill – Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – one of the most vocal grassroots campaigns in favor of health reform – is demanding that the health insurance industry disclose how much they’re spending to lobby regulators at the state level.

Reuters – U.S. regulators and going after a growing collection of companies that are selling so-called “medical discount plans” by convincing consumers that they function like health insurance.