Healthcare Daily Digest for Friday, 15 March: Your 2012 Taxes May Affect Your 2014 Healthcare

Decisions you’re making now, on your 2012 tax return (or have already made, you overachieving monster), will have a significant impact on your relationship with the Affordable Care Act.

“Beginning in January 2014, every American will be required to have health coverage, and many will qualify for government help to pay for it,” reports a story from Reuters. “Whether or not you do will depend on the income you report to the Internal Revenue Service on your 2012 tax return.”

This hasn’t been especially clear to a lot of Americans. When H&R Block conducted a survey last year, fewer than one-in four Americans understood the tax implications that this year will have on next year.

The takeaway from this story — that you should definitley spend some time with — is: Don’t muck up this year’s tax return.

Friday headlines:

Because These Stories Never Get Old, Right?: “Republicans grapple over how to deal with healthcare reform”

Dogpile on Republicans!: “Obamacare isn’t perfect, but it’s the first meaningful change in the medical system in decades. But Republicans want to reverse its advances and slash Medicaid.”

Have a Computer? Want a Promising Career in Healthcare IT? There’s a Shortage: “Healthcare companies are scrambling to cope with a shortage of health IT professionals so that they can meet government requirements, consumer expectations and their own strategic goals, according to a new PwC report. Some organizations are even poaching IT talent from non-healthcare fields, the researchers found.”

Security Questions Loom: “‘Big Data’ analytics projects have arrived in the health care space and so too have security and privacy concerns.”

Don’t Mess with Texas; But Do Help Texas Get to the Right Side of Healthcare: “Gov. Rick Perry has been solidly against expanding Medicaid to cover more of the state’s needy and currently uninsured population, but the exact nature of his opposition has evolved in subtle ways.”

Cathy Stodard Has Had ENOUGH: “Congressman Ryan: Stop Playing Politics With Our Healthcare System“