Jay Hancock

Humana Fills Blank Spots In Mississippi Obamacare Map

KFF Health News Original

Filling a potential coverage void, Humana Inc. said Friday it will sell health insurance in 36 Mississippi counties that might have otherwise been left out of a marketplace for subsidized policies sold under the Affordable Care Act. “I’m elated,” said Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, who had been working to make the deal happen. “I’m […]

Medicare Advantage Plans Cut Total Cardio Procedures, But Regional Variations Remain

KFF Health News Original

Call them bundled payments, medical homes, capitation or accountable care, new versions of managed care (think HMOs in the 1990s) are health care’s great cost control hope. Researchers publishing in the latest JAMA tested that idea by counting procedures in one of the biggest managed care programs of all: Medicare Advantage plans for seniors. One […]

Iowa, South Dakota Blues Skip Obamacare Exchange Next Year

KFF Health News Original

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, with a long history of selling medical insurance directly to consumers, are expected to provide much of the subsidized coverage sold through the health law’s online marketplaces, or exchanges. “We expect Blue Cross Blue Shield plans will have a strong, reliable presence in the new exchanges,” Alissa Fox, a senior […]

Test Driving The Obamacare Software

KFF Health News Original

All the outreach in the world won’t count for much if the Obamacare ticket counter doesn’t work. Behind the campaign to educate the uninsured about the Affordable Care Act is the assumption that software to sell the plans will be ready and user-friendly by Oct. 1, when enrollment is supposed to start. That assumption is […]

Grassley: Who Approved These Hospital CEO Bonuses?

KFF Health News Original

Sen. Charles Grassley, a longtime member of the Senate Finance Committee and frequent critic of nonprofit hospitals, wants to know whose idea it was to pay hospital CEOs annual bonuses surpassing a million dollars in some cases. “Is the board in control?” he asked in an interview. “Is the board making these decisions and how […]

Hospital CEO Bonuses Reward Volume And Growth

KFF Health News Original

As the country tries to rein in skyrocketing health costs, hospital leaders are still rewarded for expansion and profits. A KHN investigation, in collaboration with ABC News, looks at employment contracts and incentive pay at nonprofit hospital systems.

Aetna Cuts Predictions For Obamacare Enrollment

KFF Health News Original

In a new sign that implementing the health law could take longer than expected, insurer Aetna said Tuesday it lowered the number of medical policies it expects to sell through online marketplaces that open for business in October. “This is going to be a slow uptake,” Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told investment analysts on a […]

Insurer Centene: We Can Do Arkansas-Style Medicaid

KFF Health News Original

Arkansas is the latest and perhaps best hope for those who want states resistant to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to reconsider. Last week the Arkansas legislature approved a plan to give Medicaid beneficiaries money to buy individual policies from private insurers on the state’s health insurance exchange — the subsidized, online markeplaces due to […]

Despite Win, UnitedHealth Criticizes Medicare Rates, Eyes Pruning Business

KFF Health News Original

If the Obama administration expected the biggest health insurance company to give thanks for this month’s decision to reverse cuts to private Medicare plans, it was wrong. UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley said Thursday that Medicare Advantage rates are still far too low and that the company may shrink its business of managing care for […]

Report: Health Law Tax Credit Could Benefit 26 Million

KFF Health News Original

As experts focus on the cost of requiring everybody to have health coverage next year, a new study highlights the broad reach of federal subsidies to help people pay for it. Nearly 26 million Americans will be eligible for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act to partly offset the cost of insurance in online […]