Queensbury, NY, Sep 26, 2012 — Tuesday night's congressional debate in Queensbury ranged over a wide range of topics, but the issue that ignited the candidates and the crowd was health care. Republican Matt Doheny argued for repealing the Affordable Care Act and warned that the Democratic reform measure was "anti-constitutional."

That sparked a fierce reaction from Democrat Bill Owens, Green Party Candidate Donald Hassig and from the audience at Queensbury High School.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Sep 19, 2012 — UPDATE: After this story was published on Wednesday morning, Matt Doheny released his ideas for changes to Medicare. Those can be found at
his website.

NCPR requested another interview with Doheny, now that his policy has been made public. His campaign responded, "No."
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Medicare has become a central issue in Senate and Congressional races this year, especially since Republican Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. Medicare covers more than 40 million seniors, and nearly 9 million people with disabilities nationwide.

Paul Ryan is head of the House Budget Committee, and wrote a plan to dramatically restructure the program. President Obama's health care law also makes big changes to it.

In the 21st District Congressional race, political ads on both sides have focused on the issue. But parsing the truth from campaign rhetoric can take a fine-toothed comb--especially because Republican candidate Matt Doheny still refuses to talk about Medicare.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jul 27, 2012 — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of most of the Affordable Care Act just last month, including the individual mandate. But New York has been working to implement the law for more than a year. The state has already gotten $88 million from the federal government to be one of the first to create a health insurance exchange. Yesterday, we spoke with Danielle Holahan, the project director for New York's health insurance exchange planning.

Danielle Holahan described a website similar to Travelocity, where people will be able to shop for health insurance plans. She expects the cost of a policy to be lower than it is today, in part because of the individual mandate. She said, "The mandate, as research shows, has the effect of bringing healthier lives into the insurance market, and that, on average, brings premiums down. So we saw that premiums would come down for that reason. And then, as sort of a second help, we have the federal tax credits, that would offset the premiums and make it affordable for people. Certainly more than zero if they don't have coverage today, but it should be affordable and they'll be getting what we think is a pretty valuable benefit for it."

Another big piece of the Affordable Care Act is the expansion of Medicaid, the government health care system for people with low incomes. Medicaid is administered at the state level. The Affordable Care Act would have required states to expand it, so more people would qualify for coverage. But the Supreme Court ruled that states don't have to expand Medicaid. Some states, such as Florida, are saying they won't. But Holahan tells Julie Grant that New York is also ahead of the game on Medicaid, and it's going to be lucrative.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jul 26, 2012 — Politics aside, work on creating a health insurance exchange in New York is moving forward. The state department of health has already gotten $88 million from the federal government to provide a model of how states can create these new health insurance markets.

Much of that money is being used to improve New York's information technology, to make it simple and convenient for people to choose and enroll in health plans. Julie Grant spoke with Danielle Holahan, project director of New York's health exchange planning.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jul 18, 2012 — Most New Yorkers agree with the recent Supreme Court decision upholding President Obama's health care reform, but most think the new law, when fully implemented, will cause health care costs to rise.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Jul 04, 2012 — Leaders at Canton-Potsdam Hospital want New York to expand the Medicaid program to include people whose incomes are above the federal poverty level. In its ruling upholding the federal health care act last week, the U.S. Supreme Court said states don't have to expand Medicaid.

However, Rick Jacobs, the hospital's Chief Financial Officer, says expansion would benefit the local hospital. He says if more people have government health insurance, there should be less need for charity care. That would help the hospital's bottom line and minimize the hospital's exposure to bad debt and charity care.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Jun 29, 2012 — The U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold the national health insurance law is drawing mixed opinions in the North Country. Julie Grant spoke with health care providers, politicians and others in the region.  Go to full article

Watertown, NY, Jun 21, 2012 — The North Country Children's Clinic has been awarded a federal grant to help expand its services in Jefferson and Lewis Counties. Executive Director Aileen Martin says the Children's Clinic applied last year to become what's known as a Federally Qualified Health Center. And Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Clinic that status.  Go to full article