2012 January Health Care News

The January 2012 issue of Health Care News reports the Healthy Indiana Plan, a vaunted state-sponsored health insurance plan for uninsured low-income adults, has been denied an extension by the Obama administration, forcing state officials to reapply through a more complex waiver process.

Also in this issue:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s health care law, allotting five-and-a-half hours for oral argument in the spring of 2012 on a key challenge to the law.

• Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe can’t get enough political support for state-run insurance exchange.

• The Florida Healthy Choice exchange could become part of President Barack Obama’s law if U.S. Supreme Court case fails to reject mandate.

• Despite doubts about the single-payer program’s likely costs, the Vermont state legislature is preparing to move forward without clear estimates.

• Ohio health care costs will skyrocket under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a new study finds.

• A government-owned hospital in North Carolina tries to squeeze out private competition.

• EPA and FDA rules mean no more over-the-counter availability of inhalers for asthmatics.