News

Summaries of open source, health care, or health IT news and information from various sources on the web selected by Open Health News (OHNews) staff. Links are provided to the original news or information source, e.g. news article, web site, journal,blog, video, etc.

See the following -

Obama: Technology Will Make Health Insurance Transparent

Meghan Foley | Wall St. Cheat Sheet | July 9, 2013

President Barack Obama signed an executive order in May that made all federal data freely accessible in a form that can be used by software developers, which has come to be known as “machine-readable format.” [...] Read More »

Obamacare And The New Soviet Man

Wendy McElroy | The Daily Bell | November 14, 2013

Obamacare's failure to enlist young people into its ranks may well result in an American version of the New Soviet Man. That man was the communist ideal of a person who served the state and its leader with selfless devotion. Read More »

ObamaCare as Corporatists United: A Huge Bailout for Another Failing Industry

Clark Newhall | PNHP | June 29, 2012

The ideology that drives the Supreme Court, the political administration and the Congress is not Conservative or Liberal but can best be described as Corporatist. This is the ideology that affirms that “corporations are citizens, my friends.”  It is the ideology that drove the Roberts court to the odious Citizens United decision. It is the ideology behind a bailout for banks that are "too big to fail." And it is the ideology that allows Congress to pass a law like the ACA that is essentially written by a favored industry.

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Obamacare Connector Failures Detailed in `Not for Public Release' Report

Chris Cassidy | Boston Herald | March 13, 2014

Stunning new details concerning the disastrous launch of Obamacare in Massachusetts — released by state health officials only after persistent inquiries by the Herald — reveal what experts say are even more alarming calamities in the early development of the failed website than previously reported. Read More »

Obamacare Contractors Were Big Campaign Donors

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | October 10, 2013

The list of contractors that helped implement the White House’s landmark health care reform law includes a who’s-who of top-tier political donors, according to a review by the Sunlight Foundation transparency group. Read More »

Obamacare Enrollment Company Fumbles Client Data

Sophie Novack | Nextgov | February 4, 2014

In a slipup to stoke Republicans' Obamacare security concerns, Enroll Alaska accidentally released email addresses of about 300 clients Monday afternoon. Read More »

Obamacare Guarantees Higher Health Insurance Premiums -- $3,000+ Higher

Sally Pipes | Forbes | January 7, 2013

President Obama will deliver a second inaugural address later this month. He’ll no doubt reflect on what he’s done during his first four years in office — and on his signature healthcare law in particular. Read More »

Obamacare Site Flaws Due To More Than ‘Talent Gap’

Dustin Volz | Nextgov | October 23, 2013

As Congress begins investigating the rocky rollout of HealthCare.gov, technology experts warn that it may not find any easy scapegoats. Read More »

Obamacare Still Stumping Medical, Non-Medical Professionals

Laura Urseny | OrovilleMR News | January 20, 2014

Two speakers at last week's Northstate Economic Forecast Conference followed the same path when it came to describing the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Read More »

Obamacare Victory Spells More Work For Healthcare CIOs

Paul Cerrato | InformationWeek | June 28, 2012

First, a bit of transparency: I believe in universal health coverage and don't think the word "socialized," as in socialized medicine, is a four-letter word. How exactly the nation should roll out that universal coverage--without creating a bureaucratic nightmare or bankrupting the country--is beyond my expertise, but in principle it's the right direction. Read More »

Obamacare Website For Spanish Speakers Has Problems, Too

Clara Ritger | Nextgov | October 22, 2013

Lost in the hubbub surrounding the malfunctioning HealthCare.gov is another missed deadline and closed door for millions of Americans seeking health insurance: Cuidado­DeSalud.gov. Read More »

Obamacare Website Source Code: 'No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy'

Jeryl Bier | www.theweeklystandard.com | October 14, 2013

The launch of federal government's Obamacare insurance exchange, Healthcare.gov, has been plagued with delays, errors, and poor website design, even prompting USA Today to call it an "inexcusable mess" and a "nightmare".  Now comes another example of why the website's reputation is in tatters.  Buried in the source code of Healthcare.gov is this sentence that could prove embarrassing: "You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system."

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Obamacare Website Violates Licensing Agreement For Copyrighted Software

Jeryl Bier | The Weekly Standard | October 17, 2013

Healthcare.gov, the federal government's Obamacare website, has been under heavy criticism from friend and foe alike during its first two weeks of open enrollment.  Repeated errors and delays have prevented many users from even establishing an account, and outside web designers have roundly panned the structure and coding of the site as amateurish and sloppy... Read More »

Obamacare's Slush Fund Fuels A Broader Lobbying Controversy

Stuart Taylor | Forbes | May 30, 2013

A little-noticed part of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act channels some $12.5 billion into a vaguely defined “Prevention and Public Health Fund” over the next decade–and some of that money is going for everything from massage therapists who offer “calming techniques,” to groups advocating higher state and local taxes on tobacco and soda, and stricter zoning restrictions on fast-food restaurants. Read More »

Obamacare, Failing Ahead Of Schedule

Ross Douthat | New York Times | October 19, 2013

THIS is not the column about the Obamacare rollout I expected to write. [... For now there is a more pressing subject: The online federal health care exchange, the heart of the Obamacare project, is such a rolling catastrophe that it may end up creating a major policy fiasco immediately rather than eventually. Read More »