FROM THE FOUNDATION

Big Business, Little Data

A growing number of Californians are being sent to ambulatory surgery centers for a wide variety of procedures, yet little is known about the care they deliver because reporting is not required.

And the Winner Is...

See how human-centered designers answered our challenge to encourage more people to complete advance directives and document their end-of-life wishes.

Ready or Not

Even with new federal resources to help, a study finds that communities with weaker safety-net systems are lagging in preparations for health reform.

Health Care Reform

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Federal Exchanges Cannot Offer Subsidies, Paper States

Federally run health insurances exchanges under the federal health reform law cannot legally provide subsidies to help U.S. residents purchase coverage, according to a paper to be published in Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine. In May, the Internal Revenue Service issued a rule allowing both state-based and federally run exchanges to administer the subsidies. However, the paper states that the "IRS rule is illegal," adding, "It is not authorized by [the reform law], nor can it be justified on other grounds."



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