•  June 13, 2009 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says covering the uninsured will take several years, even if Congress passes a bill and President Obama signs it into law this fall. View Article.

•  June 3, 2009
The President Spells Out His Vision on Health Care Reform

•  June 2, 2009
Capping the Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Is Equity Feasible?

•  June 1, 2009 Uncompensated care said to add $1,017 to family premiums View Article.

•  May 28, 2009
Report Concludes Uninsured Are Costly for All Insurance premiums cost $1,000 more per family to cover uninsured, study says Read entire article.

•  May 14, 2009
Study backs the value of Shape Up RI competition Read entire article.

•  May 14, 2009
Whitehouse bill would address critical-care shortage Read entire article.

•  May 8, 2009
Lynne Urbani: Free Clinic wants to ‘lose the lottery’ Read entire article.

•  May 2009
Leading through Unprecedented Times; interviews with Mercer thought leaders View Interactive article.

•  March 26, 2009
Warren Group: R.I. home prices remain below $200K in February. The median price of a single-family home in Rhode Island fell 25.8 percent last month. Read entire article here.

•  February 20, 2009
Commonwealth Fund proposes health system overhaul that it says could slow the growth of health spending by $3 trillion by the end of the next decade. Read entire article here.

•  February 18, 2009
Cornerstone Group to Host “Wellness: A Healthy Approach to Healthcare Reform”. Cornerstone Group, one of New England’s leading benefits advisory firms, announced that it will host this event on Thursday, March 5, 2009, at Save the Bay Headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island. Click here for event details and registration.
 
•  February 1, 2009
COBRA takes a bite out of Jobless Paycheck,For most newly unemployed workers, maintaining family healthy coverage through an extension of workplace benefits is a prohibitively expensive proposition. Full Article
 
•  January 14, 2009
The Universal Health Care Foundation unveiled SustiNet, a proposed public-private model for health insurance in the state, that would be phased in over five years and would save money by creating a large pool of users. Full Article
 
•  January 5, 2009
Tufts stirs up the health insurance market in R.I. - Tufts Health Plan, a nonprofit insurer roughly the size of Blue Cross, decided RI was the natural place to grow its business and successfully cleared the regulatory process to offer coverage as of Jan. 1. More
 
•  January 5, 2009
State survey finds doctors critical of insurers - A survey of RI physicians conducted as part of a health insurance rate approval process has found dissatisfaction with reimbursement rates, skepticism about pay-for-performance policies, and mixed feelings about incentive programs. More
 
•  January 5, 2009
House to review Medicaid waiver this week For complete article, click here.
 
•  January 5, 2009
Rite Aid offers free online fitness help For complete article, click here.
 
•  January 5, 2009
OPINION - Lifespan-CNE merger talks must reach a conclusion For complete opinion by Ted Almon, click here.
 
•  December 29, 2009
insurance - Public-private payment gap widens Click here for entire article
 
•  December 29, 2008
Report shows slowdown in drug spending growth - A new study shows a major slowdown in real prescription drug spending growth. More
 
•  December 23, 2008
R.I. unveils details of Medicaid ‘compact’ - The state expects to save $358 million over the next five years under the Global Compact Waiver approved last week. More
 
•  December 16, 2008
Report Shows General Financial Health of Rhode Island Hospitals Improves In 2007. More
 
•  November 25, 2008
BCBSRI, Care NE extend contract through March For complete article, click here.
 
•  November 12, 2008
Mercer identifies the top 10 retirement, health and welfare benefit challenges shared by employers around the world Click here.
 
•  October 27, 2008
Businesses Wary of Details in Obama Health Plan Click here.
 
•  October 27, 2008
RI Congressmen National Health Care Reform Campaign Click here.
 
•  October 20, 2008
UnitedHealthcare to provide incentives for EMR use Click here.
 
•  September 29, 2008
Family Insurance premiums up 5% in 2008 , In 2008, workers will pay an average of $3,354 for family coverage. Click here for details.
 
•  September 3, 2008
Health Benefit Cost Growth Predicted to Ease Slightly in 2009, as employers shift costs and move employees to lower-cost plans. Click here for details.
 
•  July 17, 2008
Mass. Health Coverage Appeals Could Triple, click here. Providence Journal
 
•  June 23, 2008
Tufts: Third insurer could thrive in R.I. market , click here.
 
•  June 23, 2008
Doctors balk at electronic records, click here.
 
•  June 23, 2008
Koller OKs 8% hikes in large-group rates, click here.
 
•  May 19, 2008
Massachusetts Health Reform Update, click here.
 
•  May 13, 2008
Roger Williams, St. Joseph pursue affiliation , click here.
 
•  April 28, 2008
R.I. joins national anti-smoking campaign , click here.
 
•  April 21, 2008
RI Getting $4.2 Million to Reduce Use of Hospital ERs, click here.
 
•  April 15, 2008
Landmark Eyes Merger With Memorial Hospital , click here.
 
•  April 14 , 2008
Lifespan Leaders Focus on Patient Safety, click here.
 
•  April 8, 2008
In MA, Universal Coverage Strains Care , click here.
 
•  April 7, 2008
Hospital Compare Tool , click here.
 
•  March 2008
Analysis Finds Sharp Increase in Employers' Health Costs, With Wide Variations By Occupation and Establishment Size, click here.
 
•  March 17, 2008
We're All Paying for Those Without Health Care, click here.
 
•  February 15, 2008
Lt. Governor's Healthy Rhode Island Reform Act of 2008, click here.
 
•  February 11, 2008
Langevin co-sponsors plan for national health care, A plan to offer affordable health care coverage to all Americans was announced this morning by U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin.click here.
 
•  February 5, 2008
Curbing obesity, smoking doesn’t save money Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn’t save money, researchers reported yesterday.click here.
 
•  February 5, 2008
Pinpointing employers’ health costs On average, employers in Rhode Island spend $10,300 per worker last year, with limited competition among insurers boosting the cost, a survey says.click here.
 
•  January 31, 2008
Survey: Massachusetts Employers, Employees Paying Most for Health Care Plans - The health care industry and voters will be watching closely over the next year to gauge the success -or failure- of major health care reform efforts, especially in states like Massachusetts.click here.
 
•  January 28, 2008
Senate Panel Kills Schwarzenegger Health Coverage Bill - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suffered his biggest legislative defeat when a Senate committee blocked his yearlong effort to provide health care coverage to most Californians without insurance. click here.
 
•  January 27, 2008
THE ROAD TO THE PRESIDENCY; 2008 VOTERS GUIDE; HEALTH CARE: Insurance funding - With health care emerging as a chief domestic issue in the 2008 presidential race, the various candidates are pitching numerous platforms designed to reduce costs and broaden coverage. click here.
 
•  January 24, 2008
Health plan pools studied: State Senate looks at coverage option - The Michigan Senate's health policy committee heard a national expert on individual health insurance describe how most states have abandoned the current system used by Michigan in favor of pools that provide policies for people with costlier health problems. click here.
 
•  January 4, 2008
OHIC announces Blue Cross Direct Pay rate filing and hearing - Blue Cross has asked the OHIC to approve rate increases for its line of Direct Pay products. For more information regarding this hearing, click here.
 
•  January 4, 2008
Hospitals on Losing Path - The fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was rough on Kent and on Care New England. While no other institution reported losses quite as large as Kent’s, other RI community hospitals had substantial losses as well. More
 
•  December 23, 2007
Firms Find Ways Around MA State Health Law - To comply with the new state insurance law, a Burger King franchisee in Boston expanded coverage from just his salaried staff to all full-timers. To control his costs, he halved the share he pays. More
 
•  December 21, 2007
California Health Care Reform Passes Major Hurdle - The California State Assembly passed a comprehensive health care reform bill on Dec. 17. The measure moves on to the state Senate in January, where it faces increasing opposition. More
 
•  December 18, 2007
Lifespan-Care New England merger gains FTC approval - The proposed merger of Lifespan and Care New England moved one step closer to reality as the Federal Trade Commission concluded its review, the leaders of the two nonprofit health care systems said in a joint announcement today. More
 
•  December 3, 2007
Rhode Island Legislative Issues Brief. Health-care Legislative Actions by the RI General Assembly on 10/30/07; Proposed Lifespan/Care New England Merger Under Review; Lt. Governor Roberts Launches Mission: Healthy RI Advisory Work Group. Click here for details.
 
•  November 14, 2007
"Poll finds broad business support for health plan, Most surveyed say law should target all firms". Click here.
 
•  October 16, 2007
Lt. Governor Roberts will be delivering a major speech on health care in RI on Tuesday, October 16th at 12 noon as part of the URI Feinstein Providence Campus 2007 Distinguished Lecture Series. For invitation and lecture specifics, click here.
 
•  September 27, 2007
Mercer Survey reports presented at the 9/21 RIBGH Health Summit on are now available for download from our web site on our Resources page
 
•  August 24 , 2007
"HR Transformation v2.0: It's All About the Business" is a white paper from Mercer Health & Benefits which discusses results of Mercer's Global HR Transformation Study. It answers such critical questions as "Where hasn't HR made progress and why?" and "What
will the successful HR function of the future look like?"  More
 
•  August 22 , 2007
"A Step-by-Step Approach to Intro-
ducing Health Savings Accounts"
This article by J. Michael Vittoria, Member of RIBGH Board of Directors, will appear in the September issue of Benefits & Compensation Digest  but you can read
it on our website now. Click here
 
•  July 25, 2007
R.I. OHIC to hold public hearing on August 29th on proposed Regulation 11- Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Regulation. More
 
•July 25, 2007
How are Rhode Islanders affected
by Massachusetts healthcare reform? Click here
 
•  July 2 , 2007
Rhode Island seeks nominees for new wellness awards -- Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and the RI Dept. of Health yesterday announced they are seeking nominees for the Governor’s Awards
for Wellness Innovation. Wanted are companies and other organizations with "creative programs and policies that address the wellness needs of their employees,"  targeting seatbelt use, tobacco control, healthy weight,
physical activity and nutrition. More