With January’s State of the Union Address re-charting the course of healthcare reform, and with “Medicare” and “Medicaid” perpetually on the tips of lawmakers’ tongues in Raleigh, we thought it best to share several policy-oriented Web sites that offer up-to-date insight on developments surrounding the health care issues of the day.

These sites represent three phenomenal resources for NC medical students and physicians alike.

North Carolina Policy Watch – While it often focuses primarily on issues of poverty and criminal justice, www.NCPolicyWatch.com is dedicated to monitoring all activity in the Capitol, particularly policies with far-reaching financial and quality-of-life implications, like Medicare and Medicaid.  Projecting a partisan slant, it still offers a relatively balanced account of facts and developments in Raleigh and beyond.

NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Division of Medical Assistance – The official, state-maintained resource on all things Medicare and Medicaid.  Offering a constantly updating news feed, the NCDMA site is a reliable, go-to resource for doctors (and interested medical students) for news coming out of the Capitol and the Governor’s office.

New York Times, Health Care Reform Page – Offering a constantly –updating view of the health care reform landscape in Washington, DC, this page is a phenomenal resource for doctors, patients, and NC medical students to contextualize developments occurring in North Carolina.  The bird’s eye view offered here, and from the American Medical Association (Newsfeed), provide the perfect balance for the local and state news offered in the previous two sites.

What other resources are out there?  Where do you turn for Medicare and Medicaid news?