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Showing posts with label Kathleen Sebelius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kathleen Sebelius. Show all posts

Monday, December 2, 2013

Consumers, Employers Face New Round Of Health Coverage Challenges, Decisions

This news roundup is shared from kaiser.org
The Washington Post: Consumer Tips For Healthcare.gov Show Administration's Cautious Optimism
The Obama administration on Sunday reported vast improvement with the HealthCare.gov health-insurance portal that opened with extensive glitches in October, while acknowledging that the site still needs more work. One sign of ongoing problems came in the form of a blog entry and infographic that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius published on Huffington Post. Both items provide tips for consumers visiting the site, most notably by encouraging them to use it during off-peak hours — mornings, nights and weekends (Hicks, 12/2).
Kaiser Health News: With Three Weeks Left, Consumers Fear They May End Up Without Health Coverage On New Year’s Day
For people in the states with well-functioning insurance websites, such as California, New York and Kentucky, this appears to leave plenty of time. But making the deadline could be dicier for people in Arizona and the 35 other states where the federal website healthcare.gov is the path to coverage, as well as Oregon and Hawaii, which have struggled to get their sites functioning. On Sunday, the government reported progress in improving healthcare.gov, saying the site now allows more than 800,000 visits a day with the rate of timeouts or crashes reduced to below 1 percent. Officials said repairs continue (Rau, 12/2).
And for employers -
The Washington Post: New...
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Friday, July 1, 2011

Zadroga 9-11 Compensation Fund Opens for Business

Today, The James Zadroga 9-11 Health Compensation Fund is open for business. Civic leaders will gather to celebrate with a ribbon-cutting at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. The Zadroga Fund reopens the 9-11 Victims Compensation Fund and will provide billions of dollars in funding for the benefit of victims and first-responders who were injured as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

US Congress Members Maloney and Nadler will be joined byU.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly, clinic physicians and responders and survivors at the ceremony. The program will take place at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Annenberg Building 1190 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor, Stern Auditorium, Manhattan.


For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Federal Government Launches New Workplace Health Program

The Federal Government has launched a new program to provide for better delivery of medical care in the workplace. As occupational medical conditions become increasingly more difficult to diagnose and treat under workers' compensation systems, this initiative is a bold effort to provide a solution.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today the availability of $10 million to establish and evaluate comprehensive workplace health promotion programs across the nation to improve the health of American workers and their families. The initiative, with funds from the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund, is aimed at improving workplace environments so that they support healthy lifestyles and reduce risk factors for chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes.

“Spiraling health care costs and declines in worker productivity due to poor health are eroding the bottom line of American businesses,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “This new initiative will help companies of all sizes implement strategies to improve employee health and contain health costs driven largely by chronic diseases.”

Funds will be awarded through a competitive contract to an organization with the expertise and capacity to work with groups of employers across the nation to develop and expand workplace health programs in small and large worksites. Participating companies will educate employees about good health practices and establish work environments that promote physical activity and proper nutrition and discourage tobacco use—the key lifestyle behaviors that reduce employees’ risk for chronic disease.

“This is an exciting opportunity to help employers deliver effective workplace health programs on a national scale,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which oversees the initiative. “The promise of this strategy is a win-win: workers will be healthier and more productive, and companies will be more profitable.

Project funds will support evidence-based initiatives to build worksite capacity and improve workplace culture in support of health. Examples of such strategies include establishing tobacco-free campus policies, promoting flextime to allow employees to be more physically active, and offering more healthy food choices in worksite cafeterias and vending machines. A core principle of the initiative is to maximize employee engagement in designing and implementing the programs so they have the greatest chances of success.

The Obama Administration recognizes the importance of a broad approach to addressing the health and well-being of our communities, and June is Prevention & Wellness Month. Other initiatives put forth by the Obama Administration to promote prevention include the President’s Childhood Obesity Task Force and the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative aimed at combating childhood obesity, as well as the National Prevention Council, which is charged with designing and implementing a National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy.

Organizations interested in submitting proposals for the Comprehensive Health Programs to Address Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Tobacco Use in the Workplace can find more information at www.fbo.gov. The application deadline is August 8, 2011. A separate funding opportunity is available for a national evaluation of the initiative and can also be found at www.fbo.gov .