Tag: Affordable Care Act

Checking in on the ACA

It’s February 5, 2014, and the Affordable Care Act is still here. There have been lots of changes over the last few weeks, in a few different areas: Marketplaces pushed back the deadline to enroll in a Marketplace plan for coverage to December 23, in order for coverage to begin on January 1.  And some states went even further! Marketplaces have pushed back payment deadlines (allowing people more time to pay their January premiums).  For example, California’s Marketplace pushed back the payment deadline to January 15.  Some health plans are also deciding on their own to give people more time […]

All About the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program

Healthcare related costs are a major problem for many Americans who are uninsured and underinsured, even if they are relatively healthy. For people with a serious medical condition these financial problems can be even worse. One diagnosis that finds many patients in an expensive position is HIV/AIDS. A diagnosis of HIV or AIDS comes with a hefty price tag, according to study on NBC news, “An American diagnosed with the AIDS virus can expect to live for about 24 years on average, and the cost of health care over those two-plus decades is more than $600,000, new research indicates… The […]

All About the National Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program

About 1 in 8 U.S. Women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, with an estimated 232,340 new cases this year according to breastcancer.org. Cervical Cancer was responsible for 4,030 deaths in the United States in 2013. The National Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) is a national program available in every state that provides free or low-cost breast and cervical cancer screenings via the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are some restrictions, based on age and income. The program originated when Congress passed the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention act of 1990, […]

All About block grants for Children with Special Health Care Needs

The Children/Youth With Special Health Care Needs (shortened as CSHCN or CYSHCN) is a program in each state that provides medical care and other related services for special needs children. These programs are funded by grants from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), commonly referred to as Title V, Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grants. Similar to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (or CHIP), the programs are federally funded but operate independently at the state level. It was originally enacted in 1935 as part of the Social Security Act, and converted to a Block Grant Program in […]

Helpful Online Resources

For today’s blog post we would like to share with our readers some fantastic online healthcare resources. There are many websites out there dedicated to healthcare, some great and some not-so-great. Here are four resources that the staff at NeedyMeds think you will find helpful. Together Rx Access – Together Rx Access provides a number of different resources for patients and healthcare professionals alike. They have partnered with a number of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies to offer a free drug discount card program for those without prescription drug coverage. Furthermore, their website has extensive articles on the Affordable Care […]

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Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.