HealthCare.gov - Take health care into your own hands HealthCare.gov is a website designed to offer information about the health insurance market so that consumers can be sure they're getting the best value. The creation of the Web site was a requirement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that President Obama signed into law in March 2010, and the site is designed to provide comprehensive, easy-to-understand information on health insurance options.
Its most notable feature is the insurance finder. For the first time ever, private plans and public plans have been cataloged together so that consumers can comparison-shop. This tool is designed to give consumers control in an area that has been so baffling for so many years. Rather than flipping through hundreds of pages of fine print or spending hours on the phone, consumers can now easily see the plans that are available to someone in their situation.
HealthCare.gov presents extensive information on how the new health care reform legislation affects consumers, served up in a very personalized way. Whether you're a pregnant woman in Ohio or a recent college graduate in Nevada, you can get information about how the law impacts your particular situation. For example, small business owners could visit a page that explains how the insurance marketplace is changing for them in the near future, as well as in 2014, when the final pieces of the legislation will be put into place.
The Web site also includes information on preventive care and how to compare the quality of care patients receive at local facilities.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Supports research designed to improve the quality of health care, reduce its cost, and broaden access to essential services. Provides resources on quality assessment, clinical, consumer health, and children's health.
The Combined Health Information Database (CHID) A bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources. At present, CHID covers the following topics:
AIDS, STD and TB Education
Alzheimer's Disease
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Deafness and Communication Disorders
Diabetes
Digestive Diseases
Kidney and Urologic Diseases
Maternal and Child Health
Medical Genetics and Rare Disorders
Weight Control
Department of Health and Human Services
Responsible for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. It's Agencies include:
The Administration on Aging
Provides home and community-based services to millions of our nation’s vulnerable and hard-to-reach older persons through the programs funded under the Older Americans Act. Among these services are nutrition (such as home delivered meals or meals served in congregate settings), transportation, legal assistance and health promotion counseling and training. Recently through AoA’s new National Family Caregiver Support Program, the agency is focusing on the tremendous challenges of those caring for family members who are chronically ill or who have disabilities.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people - at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships. CDC serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
Mortality And Morbidity Weekly Report
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Features specific programs on women's or reproductive health, such as Breast and Cervical Cancer (Disease Control and Prevention), Youth Risk Behavior Survey (Surveillance), and Women's Reproductive Health and International Assistance in Reproductive Health (Maternal and Child Health).
National Center for Health Statistics The Federal Government's principal vital and health statistics agency. NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs. With the Health Resources and Services Administration, runs the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a program that is expected to cover many of the approximately 10 million uninsured children in the United States. With the Departments of Labor and Treasury, helps millions of Americans and small companies get and keep health insurance coverage, and helps eliminate discrimination based on health status for people buying health insurance. Additional responsibilities include regulating all laboratory testing (except research) performed on humans in the United States.
Food and Drug Administration
Promotes and protects the public health by helping safe and effective products reach the market in a timely way, and monitoring products for continued safety after they are in use.
Health Resources and Services Administration
Assures the availability of quality health care to low income, uninsured, isolated, vulnerable and special needs populations and meets their unique health care needs. HRSA's mission is to improve and expand access to quality health care for all.
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Provides leadership, partnership, and resources to advance the health of infants, children, and adolescents--including families with low income levels, those with diverse racial and ethnic heritages, and those living in rural or isolated areas without access to care.
National Institutes of Health Federal focal point for medical research in the U.S. NIH's mission is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH works toward that mission by conducting research in its own laboratories; supporting the research of non-Federal scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad; helping in the training of research investigators; and fostering communication of medical information.
MedlinePlus Health Information
A goldmine of good health information from the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine. MEDLINEplus has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and other trusted sources on about 500 diseases and conditions. There are also lists of hospitals and physicians, a medical encyclopedia and dictionaries, health information in Spanish, extensive information on prescription and nonprescription drugs, health information from the media, and links to thousands of clinical trials.
Office of Minority Health
Advises the Secretary and the Office of Public Health and Science on public health issues affecting American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, Blacks/African Americans, and Hispanics/ Latinos. The mission of OMH is to improve the health of racial and ethnic populations through the development of effective health policies and programs that help to eliminate disparities in health.
Office of Rural Health Policy
Operates out of the Health Resources and Services Administration and seeks solutions to rural America's health care problems.
Rural Assistance Center
A product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Initiative, the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services "information portal." RAC helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
The Federal agency charged with improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses.
healthfinder.gov
A consumer health and human services information gateway. Part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
health.Gov
A portal to the Web sites of a number of multi-agency health initiatives and activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other Federal departments and agencies.
