Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
MNsure Officials Launch New Effort To Convince Uninsured People To Enroll
Minnesota Public Radio: MNsure Tries To Convince Remaining Uninsured To Sign Up
With its technical and managerial problems out of the way, MNsure officials are focusing on a big challenge: convincing Minnesotans who are still uninsured to obtain coverage. MNsure is trying to re-enroll people who signed up initially and convince the remaining 5 percent of Minnesotans to comply with federal health insurance mandate. (Zdechlik, 12/1)
Connecticut Mirror: Access Health CT Adds Some Plans Excluding Abortion Coverage
Access Health CT, the state's health insurance exchange, has added policies that exclude abortion coverage to those available from the state's insurance marketplace. The plans are included in the 2015 open enrollment period. Their inclusion ended a lawsuit against Access Health that had been filed by Barth and Abbie Bracy of the Dayville section of Killingly. (Radelat, 12/1)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama Official: More Health Plans Being Offered In N.J.
New Jersey consumers seeking health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act can choose from more plans now than they could a year ago, possibly resulting in less expensive options, an Obama administration official told a state Senate panel Monday. (Seidman, 12/1)
North Carolina Health News: Black Pastors Hear Gospel Of Health Insurance
In North Carolina, about one in five blacks lacks health insurance. Now grassroots organizers are targeting black churches to enroll people in Obamacare for the coming year. (Hoban, 12/2)
Meanwhile, on the Medicaid expansion front -
Toledo Blade: Ohio Doctors Leery Of New Medicaid Patients
As millions of Ohioans, including thousands in the Toledo area, consider enrolling in Medicaid during the second enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act, some doctors are still hesitant to accept new Medicaid patients .... Dr. William Feeman, Jr., who has operated a family medical practice in Bowling Green for more than 40 years, said he is leery of taking new patients with Medicaid insurance plans. He said there is the traditional state-run Medicaid that reimburses doctors for services and has been operating for years. There are also new private insurance companies that are contracting with the state to provide health care for low-income patients. ... He said many doctors are worried about reimbursements and other perceived problems when dealing with health-care companies that cover Ohio’s low-income residents. One of the concerns he expressed is that it can be difficult to get approval from some of the Medicaid managed-care plans for patients to take tests that doctors believe are routine. (Harris-Taylor, 12/1)
The Associated Press: Medicaid Expansion Kickoff Starts Off With Logjam
A state hotline jammed up Monday as some of the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians frozen out of the first year of coverage under the 2010 federal health care law's Medicaid expansion began seeking the insurance. Many callers to the Department of Human Services' hotline were met with a recording telling them their call could not be taken because of excessive volume. Mary Hicks, 48, said she had hoped to apply right away after being unable to hold down a full-time job because of severe sleep apnea that makes it difficult to stay alert during the day or safe to drive in the morning. Hicks, of Murrysville, near Pittsburgh, now works part time in the late afternoon and evenings, making a little more than minimum wage. (Levy, 12/1)
