3 Large Insurers Promise To Keep Many Popular Features Of Health Law If High Court Strikes It Down
UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Humana said no matter how the Supreme Court rules on the health law, they would continue to allow young adults coverage on their parents’ plans and offer no-copayment preventive services.
Higher Prices Charged By Hospitals, Other Providers, Drove Health Spending During Downturn
A new study finds prices rose at least five times faster than overall inflation for emergency room visits, outpatient surgery and facility-based mental health and substance abuse care from 2009 to 2010.
States Must Submit Plans For Insurance Marketplaces By Nov. 16
States must provide details to the federal government by Nov. 16 — just 10 days after the presidential election — on how they will run online insurance marketplaces, according to guidance released Wednesday. Those that don’t meet the deadline – or that can’t operate their own marketplaces, called exchanges – will have it done for them by […]
Many Businesses Offer Health Benefits To Same-Sex Couples Ahead Of Laws
The desire to attract top employees is driving a long-term trend toward coverage. Last year, 52 percent of all employers offered domestic partner health benefits, with the percentage varying widely by region and industry. KHN’s Julie Appleby filed this story.
Final Rule Issued On Consumer Rebates And Notification
Most health insurers this year must at least inform policyholders that their coverage met the minimum spending threshold under the federal health law, even if they don’t owe consumers a rebate, a final rule out Friday says. The rule splits the difference between industry, which did not want to send any notice to those not owed a […]
Report: U.S. Has Comparatively High Rate Of Babies Born Early
The United States has a higher rate of babies born too early – and therefore at greater risk of death or health problems – than more than 125 other countries, including Rwanda, Uzbekistan, China and Latvia, according to a report out today. About 12 percent of U.S. babies are born at 37 weeks or less, […]
Checks In The Mail: Millions Expected To Receive Insurance Rebates Totaling $1.3 Billion
Study projects refunds under the health care law will vary widely by state.
States Consider Limiting Patient Costs For Physical, Speech, Occupational Therapy
Advocates want curbs on what consumers pay toward physical, occupation and speech therapy visits. Insurers say that could raise premiums.
Critics Say Proposed Rule Would Make Millions Ineligible For Health Insurance Subsidies
The policy would have the greatest impact on women and children.
Physicians Wade Into Efforts To Curb Unnecessary Treatments
Nine groups list 45 practices they say are overused and may harm patients.
Employers Tie Financial Rewards, Penalties To Health Tests, Lifestyle Choices
Whether such programs spur long-term change is unclear, and some fear discrimination against those with chronic conditions.
Even Without The Individual Mandate, Health Law Would Still Affect Millions
KHN’s Julie Appleby reports that the health law is so comprehensive that even if the Supreme Court struck the insurance requirement, many provisions would survive.
Illustrating Illinois Insurance Coverage Before & After Health Law
Health care advocates in Illinois are marking the two-year anniversary of the 2010 health law with an interactive map that shows how two provisions – expansion of Medicaid eligibility and the creation of new insurance marketplaces called exchanges – could expand coverage to the state’s residents, some 13 percent of whom are currently uninsured. The map […]
Rules For New Insurance Marketplaces Give Insurers Clout
The long-awaited rules may disappoint consumer groups which had sought to reduce the clout of insurers on the governing boards.
N.Y. Governor Raps Insurers, Health Providers For ‘Unacceptable Opaqueness’ In Billing
Too often patients who thought they had all the right approvals from their insurers get hit with surprise bills for out-of-network medical costs, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says in a report that calls on insurers, doctors and hospitals to help craft reforms. Complaints about out-of-network costs were among the most common found in a state […]
Maine’s Top Court Backs State Authority To Limit Health Plan’s Profits
In a case closely watched by the insurance industry, Maine’s top court Tuesday upheld state regulators’ authority to hold down rate increases sought by Anthem Health Plans of Maine. In its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said that Maine’s insurance superintendent had “properly balanced the competing interests” in arriving at an approved rate increase of […]
Medicare Spends Less Than Private Insurers On Knee Replacements
Study finds that’s mostly because the government pays far lower rates for hospital care
Five Questions About The Health Law’s Mandate To Cover Birth Control
While controversy over one aspect of the Obama administration’s contraception rule
Consumers Hit By Higher Out-of-Network Medical Costs
Insurers switch to new way to calculate reimbursement that shifts more of the expenses onto patients.
Panel Sidesteps Controversy On Draft For Comparative Effectiveness Research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) — created by the health law to help determine the most effective medical treatments — released its draft priorities and research agenda on Monday, but it did not single out any specific diseases, treatments or procedures to study. Instead, the nongovernmental institute that will oversee billions in research funding […]
