Content about Healthcare reform in the United States

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2011 delivers a prize to service members and retail pharmacies alike.

(THE NEWS: House passes bill to prevent increase in military copays at retail pharmacies. For the full story, click here)

WASHINGTON The expansion of Medicaid under the new health-reform law significantly will increase the number of people covered by the program and will markedly reduce the uninsured in states across the country, with the federal government picking up the overwhelming majority of the cost, according to a state-by-state analysis released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT After more than a year that spawned bitter debate, a tea party, a growing divide in Congress and a never-ending clash of ideas, charges, countercharges and soul-searching about the role of government and deficit spending, healthcare reform is law.

WASHINGTON Passage of the mammoth health-reform bill Sunday night by the U.S. House of Representatives is drawing guarded support from several sectors of healthcare industry, including community pharmacy providers, physician groups and the pharmaceutical industry. But the insurance industry is expressing alarm over provisions in the bill aimed at forcing insurers to cover Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT If Medicare Part D is to remain solvent in the future, then lawmakers may want to take a closer look at the more than 10% of spending on drugs under the program that has gone toward specialty drugs — some of the most expensive drugs on the market — and find ways to come up with cheaper alternatives.