Health & Safety

Workers process applications for Oregon's health exchange program. The state paid tech giant Oracle to build its online exchange, but with the site still not functional, people shopping for insurance have been forced to apply on paper.

Could A Tech Giant Build A Better Health Exchange? Maybe Not

8:48pm December 02, 2013

by Steve Henn

Since the rollout of HealthCare.gov, many have wondered whether a private company could have avoided the federal site's many pitfalls. Oregon took that route, hiring Silicon Valley titan Oracle to create its state insurance exchange. But two months after its scheduled launch, the website is still not working.

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Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis prays at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall meeting in Baltimore on Nov. 12.

ACLU Sues, Claiming Catholic Hospitals Put Women At Risk

7:50pm December 02, 2013

by Julie Rovner

A woman in Michigan says that a Catholic hospital failed to give her adequate health care when she came to the hospital after her water broke when she was 18 weeks pregnant. That has sparked a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Insurance help isn't easy to find in many Iowa counties.

In Rural Iowa, Distance Makes Health Care Sign-Ups A Challenge

10:05am December 02, 2013

by Sarah McCammon

Right now, there are about a dozen full-time navigators and a few part-timers to help 200,000 Iowans make decisions about health insurance. In the countryside, it's particularly hard to get help to people who want it.

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The Affordable Care Act could change the culture and decisions of doctors in hospitals experimenting with cost controls.

Health & Safety

3 Ways Obamacare Is Changing How A Hospital Cares For Patients

10:04am December 02, 2013

by Lisa Chow

For the first time, doctors have a financial incentive to keep patients out of the hospital. That's leading to some interesting changes.

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Brain Cells 'Geotag' Memories To Cache What Happened — And Where

6:13am December 02, 2013

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists have identified special cells in the brain's hippocampus that mimic a trick of some digital cameras. These cells automatically 'tag' the memory of each event in our lives with information about where that event took place — the better to recall, perhaps, where we left our lost keys.

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HealthCare.gov Team Working Through Holiday To Meet Deadline

4:07pm December 01, 2013

by Elise Hu

Workers on the "tech surge" to fix the error-riddled website have just days to meet the Obama administration's self-imposed deadline for a functioning site. Public confidence in HealthCare.gov has already taken the kind of hit that may be hard to overcome.

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Health & Safety

The On-Going Battle of the AIDS Stigma

9:03am December 01, 2013

An estimated 35,000 North Carolina residents are living with HIV and or AIDS.

As HealthCare.Gov's Deadline Approaches, What Will Be Ready?

6:49pm November 29, 2013

The Obama Administration this week announced yet another delay for small businesses seeking to purchase health insurance on the troubled HealthCare.gov website. Ari Shapiro and Julie Rovner discuss how the small business part of the program keeps getting pushed to the end of the administration's priority list.

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Health & Safety

Sex, Alcohol Used To Sell Health Insurance In Colorado

11:42am November 29, 2013

by Eric Whitney

The ads suggest the Affordable Care Act is good for young adults because it'll save them money on health care, leaving them more to spend on liquor and birth control. (This piece initially aired Nov. 24, 2013 on Weekend Edition Sunday).

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Lara Imler has tried to cancel her enrollment on HealthCare.gov, but to no avail.

Breaking Up With HealthCare.gov Is Hard To Do

4:43pm November 28, 2013

by Annie Feidt

Lara Imler was one of the first people in Alaska to sign up for health insurance on HealthCare.gov. Turns out, the website miscalculated her subsidy. She wants to start over and get a new plan. But a stubborn software kink is standing in her way.

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