Election 2012

The national debate around healthcare has intensified in the 2012 elections. The issue is front and center in national, state and local political conversations. But amid the rhetoric, the soundbites, and the spin, many of the realities of healthcare and truths about reform are lost along the campaign trail. In response to these concerns, MedTech Media's leading healthcare publications, Healthcare IT News, Healthcare Finance News and Government Health IT, are deciphering the political doublespeak and asking the questions our readers find most pertinent – about politicians, healthcare policies and delivery system reform at the federal, state, and local levels.

 
Li'l Rhody big on health IT
April 24, 2012 | Diana Manos
Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the U.S., but it packs a big punch when it comes to health IT.
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Count the ways: Strike down of health reform would affect health IT
April 23, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
If the Supreme Court were to overturn the health reform law, five areas in the statute that rely heavily on health IT tools could lose funding for their implementation.
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Health insurance exchanges mired in political battle
April 18, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
While President Barack Obama and the all-but-official Republican contender Mitt Romney gear up to debate how each would fashion future healthcare, the battle over a critical underpinning of the law is being fought not in the nation's capital, but in the states.
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Healthcare and the election
April 11, 2012 | Diana Manos
Healthcare is one of the top issues in the 2012 presidential election, and all the candidates are promising big things. For Republican candidates, their platforms all rest soundly on repealing the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA).
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Supreme Court ruling will set the course for healthcare
March 29, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
Now that the Supreme Court justices have heard the arguments for both sides of the health reform law, will the conservative majority fall back on their political leanings to strike down the law and maintain the unsustainable healthcare patchwork, or move the nation a giant step toward the future in healthcare?
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Survey finds citizens may be ill-informed on health insurance mandate
March 29, 2012 | Tom Sullivan
Despite being the most recognized piece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the individual mandate remains the least popular, and half of Americans expect the Supreme Court to overturn it.
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All or nothing? Health reform law now up to justices to decide
March 29, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate, the justices will then decide whether the remainder of the health reform law is so intertwined with the insurance requirement that it too must be overturned as unconstitutional.
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Day 2: High court delves into heart of health reform
March 28, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
The Supreme Court dove into the heart of the health reform law and its most controversial aspect, the individual mandate, in which the federal government had to deliver a stellar case to sway justices of the need to compel Americans to obtain insurance.
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Tax or penalty? Tax law enters Supreme Court debate on health reform
March 27, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
A post-Civil War era law took a pivotal role in whether the Supreme Court has the authority to consider the health reform law. The Supreme Court justices listened to arguments March 26 about whether or not they have jurisdiction in the lawsuit brought by 26 states led by Florida against the federal government over the constitutionality of the health reform law.
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Ruling on health reform expected to impact healthcare market
March 26, 2012 | Mary Mosquera
The Supreme Court's decision on the future of the health reform law will likely ripple through the political atmosphere around the elections and the direction of health-related stocks in the market no matter which way the justices bend.
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They all chant 'ACA repeal' but what could a GOP president actually do?
March 19, 2012 | Diana Manos
Among the more grandiose claims repeatedly being pledged along the Republican presidential campaign trail is that each of the hopefuls would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) -- but does a president even have that power?
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Paul, Romney alone to duke it out in Virginia
March 6, 2012 | Diana Manos
With a touch of irony, one of the states determined to overturn President Obama's health reform law "as a matter of liberty" is, in an odd way, perhaps helping the president's reelection bid.
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'Obamacare' a lightning rod, but what about health IT?
February 6, 2012 | Mike Miliard
Healthcare reform is arguably the hot-button political issue of our time. And with the Supreme Court locked and loaded to decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act this summer, it's a safe bet the controversial two-year-old legislation will have a huge impact on the 2012 election and beyond.
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How the repeal of ACA could affect the uninsured
May 9, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
A decay in access to medical services for American adults could continue even if President Obama is re-elected in November, according to a recent Health Affairs study.
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Romney turns down Medicare: Social media responses
March 15, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
As he turns 65 this year, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says he will not sign up for Medicare. Instead, he will keep his private insurance and do without the social safety net, a Romney rep said Tuesday.
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Santorum: Romneycare is 'uniquely unqualified'
February 10, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
Last week, Rick Santorum gave a speech billed as his "major speech on healthcare." One young child asked the Pennsylvania senator about the costs of medical care in America. He asked what Santorum would do in order to lower the costs of healthcare in the country.
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SOTU barely covers healthcare reform law: Social media reactions
January 27, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
After this week's State of the Union address, the Politico website dug into why President Obama barely mentioned healthcare reform law. Obama's law has garnered only 42 percent support by Americans, but has been among the most significant policy accomplishments for Obama since he took office.
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Healthcare 'flubs in Florida'
January 24, 2012 | Tom Sullivan
Last night, the remaining four GOP candidates debated in Tampa, Florida and, as usual, there were a number of topics misrepresented as facts – Mitt Romney’s attacks on the federal health law among those.
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Now there are five
January 17, 2012 | Tom Sullivan
Jon Huntsman, one of the Republican candidates with a background of instituting new healthcare measures, dropped out of the presidential race Jan. 16.
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Romney on being able to fire health insurers: Social media reactions
January 13, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
Last week, we looked at Rick Santorum's controversial statement that no one has ever died because they didn't have health insurance. This week, it seems another GOP presidential candidate has gotten himself into a bit of trouble regarding health insurance.
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New Hampshire GOP debate, round two (Twitter recap)
January 9, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
In their second debate in 12 hours, the Republican presidential candidates hashed it out Sunday morning during the television program Meet the Press. We live-tweeted the debate (@HITNewsTweet) and present here a full recap of the event and the reactions it prompted.
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Santorum: No one has ever died because they didn't have health insurance
January 6, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
Back in December, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum stirred up trouble when he declared that nobody has ever died because they did not have health insurance. How did our healthcare-based social media following respond to Santorum's statement?
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The Iowa Caucuses and healthcare: What Twitter users are saying
January 3, 2012 | Kelly Mehler
The 2012 Iowa caucuses take off tonight, as candidates compete for the Republican presidential nomination. But where do the hopefuls stand on healthcare legislation, and how will that sway voters in the Hawkeye state? Here is a Twitter recap of what users have been saying on the subject matter.
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