Study: Premium Increases To Be Offset By Subsidies, Better Coverage
How the federal health law will affect premiums is among the most asked – and most controversial – questions in the final months before new rules kick in requiring most Americans to carry coverage. A white paper out Wednesday considers how the law will affect premiums for people who buy their own coverage because they […]
State Action Needed To Guarantee Health Law Protections, Says Report
Lawmakers in most states better get busy if they want authority to enforce key provisions of the federal health law that go into effect next year. That’s the takeaway message from a report by the Commonwealth Fund showing that only 11 states and the District of Columbia have passed rules needed to implement the law. […]
Some Families Will Be Ineligible For Insurance Subsidies Under Final Rule
Some families with costly job-based health coverage may be ineligible for federal subsidies to help them buy less expensive coverage through new online insurance markets, under final rules released Wednesday by the IRS. The two rules, published by the Treasury Department here and here, uphold earlier proposals outlining what is considered affordable, employer-sponsored coverage. Under the federal health law, low […]
HMO-Like Plans May Be Poised To Make Comeback In Online Insurance Markets
Insurers bet some consumers will choose cheaper plans that restrict their choice of doctors, despite worries about skimpy care and huge bills for out-of-network providers.
A Guide To Health Insurance Exchanges
The new online marketplaces, to be set up by October, are designed to make it easier to buy insurance. But they’re in the middle of a political fight over the health care law.
Tax Exclusion For Health Benefits Could Be Part Of ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks
As the deficit debate continues, some policy wonks think it’s inevitable that negotiators will address a loophole that allows workers to avoid paying taxes on the value of their job-based health insurance. “The No. 1 tax expenditure is employer-provided health insurance,” said G. William Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, who […]
Governors Weigh Options On Health Insurance Exchanges
What’s at stake if they build state-based exchanges, partner with the federal government — or let federal regulators run everything?
Health Plans Gear Up To Sell Directly To Consumers
Insurers develop new business strategies as the health law upends old models.
Administration Releases New Health Law Rules For Insurers, Employers
The proposed regulations deal with several key issues, such as how plans structure their health benefits, the variations on premiums based on age and requirements for wellness programs.
Computer Issues May Hamper Online Insurance Markets
Cascading delays related to technical issues could make October 2013 target for open enrollment difficult, if not impossible, to meet.
Employers Expected To Keep Some Of Health Law’s Popular Provisions, Even If Obama Loses
But election results could affect the rollout of insurance marketplaces, and the availability of federal subsidies to buy coverage.
Halvorson: Premium Costs In The Exchanges Will ‘Depend Entirely’ On Participation
The Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO offers his take on a wide variety of health care issues insurers face in the current marketplace.
Insurance Policies Favoring Compounded Drugs For High-Risk Pregnancies Draw Scrutiny
Meningitis outbreak puts spotlight on rules favoring cheaper, but potentially riskier versions of drug to help prevent premature births.
Seven Factors Driving Up Your Health Care Costs
The United States spends more on health care services than any other country, exceeding $2.6 trillion, or about 18 percent of gross domestic product. Here are seven ways you or your medical providers play a role.
Updated on Oct. 13 at 9:35 a.m. Just hours after posting it Monday, the Food and Drug Administration removed from its website a list of hospitals and doctors that had received products from the compounding pharmacy now at the center of the fungal meningitis outbreak, saying data may be incorrect. The agency said it is working […]
Study: CMS Penalties Don’t Change Hospital-Acquired Infection Rates
Updated at 8:00 p.m. to add comment from CMS. A Medicare payment policy designed to push hospitals to cut their infection rates has had no effect in reducing two types of preventable infections among patients in intensive care units, researchers say in a study out Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2008, […]
Study: Newly Insured Likely To Be Healthy, And To Have Trouble Deciphering Health System
Good news for insurers: 88 percent of people new to health coverage after the health law fully goes into effect will be in relatively good health. That means providers won’t be overwhelmed, at least initially, says a report out today by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The challenge, however, is the newly insured also will be less educated, slightly […]
Higher Prices By Hospitals, Other Providers, Drove 2011 Spending Increases, Study Finds
Spending on medical care for Americans with job-based insurance rose 4.6 percent last year, driven mainly by higher prices charged by hospitals and other medical providers, a report out today says. The growth came despite a sluggish economy which some economists thought would translate into more modest spending growth. Still, last year’s per enrollee increase ranks […]
Bipartisan Report Focuses On Issues Driving Up Health Care Costs
Among the reasons behind the nation’s seemingly inexorable rise in medical spending are the practice of rewarding doctors and hospitals for volume rather than efficiency of care and the tax break given to consumers for their job-based health insurance, according to a report out Thursday from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington. […]
Is A Competitive Health Care Model All It’s Cracked Up To Be?
The track records of two programs often cited by Republican candidates suggest a more complicated picture.
