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The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces will launch Oct. 1, but many questions remain for consumers, employers and the health care industry. Who is eligible? How can they apply for subsidies? Will comparison-shopping be as easy as buying an airline ticket or hotel room? KHN’s Julie Appleby and Mary Agnes Carey, who wrote today’s […]
What You Need To Know About Enrolling In Obamacare’s ‘Exchanges’
KHN’s Jenny Gold was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Monday morning taking questions about the impending enrollment period for the health law’s health insurance marketplaces and what consumers need to know. See related stories: What Obamacare Means For You KHN reporters will be returning to C-SPAN’s Washington Journal each Monday throughout the summer. Tune in each […]
Campaign To Enroll LGBT Community In Health Coverage Launched At White House
The White House hosted a summit on Thursday to promote Out2Enroll – a campaign that began today to connect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to health coverage. The Obama administration and community advocates touted the effort to reach out to those communities about new online health insurance marketplaces, where people can compare insurance […]
Insurance Exchange Outreach In Connecticut Goes Far Afield
Across Connecticut, you can see billboards and television ads, hear radio spots and get pamphlets, all about how to get insurance under the new federal health law starting Oct. 1. But the state also is spending big bucks on less traditional ways to get the word out. So at beaches this summer, outreach workers handed […]
Health Insurance Ads Range From Weighty To Whimsical
The federal health care law is taking on unique personalities in states that have opted to run their own health insurance marketplaces. Some states are cracking wise in ads about the exchanges, where people will be able to shop for insurance starting in October. Others are rolling out catchy jingles. Some are all business. Stephanie O’Neill […]
Rx For Docs: AMA Answers Obamacare Questions
As we get closer to 2014, consumers are being surrounded by news coverage, ads and opinions about the health law. And many of them are turning to their doctors for advice. The American Medical Association wants to help doctors with answers. Today, the AMA is launching a new website to help answer frequently asked questions that physicians might hear from […]
Draft Report: Missourians Favor Medicaid Expansion
This story was produced in partnership with the JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — They traveled to six, far-flung Missouri cities. They held marathon public hearings. They got detailed state briefings. So what did the 52-member House Citizens and Legislators Working Group on Medicaid Eligibility and Reform conclude? That people want both Medicaid expansion and reform. A seven-page […]
Law Will Shift Demographics For Medicaid Toward Healthier Group, Study Finds
The health law is expected to change the face of Medicaid – literally. As part of the federal overhaul, some states have opted to expand in January this state-federal health insurance program for low income people to include Americans who earn as much as 138 percent of the federal poverty line (just under $16,000 for […]
How Will Obamacare Affect Your Medicare Benefits?
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Monday morning taking questions about how the health law will affect Medicare’s benefits. See related story: Medicare Is Not Part Of New Insurance Marketplaces. KHN reporters will be returning to C-SPAN’s Washington Journal each Monday throughout the summer. Tune in each week to stay informed about […]
Colorado Exchange Watchdog Likes What It Sees
Colorado lawmakers overseeing the set-up of the state’s health insurance exchange are generally pleased with how it’s going, but they are worried some residents will still be “left out in the cold,” without insurance even if the exchange works well. Colorado is one of 16 states and the District of Columbia that chose to set up […]
Minnesota Says Its Marketpace Rates Are Nation’s Lowest So Far
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota consumers will be able to buy a health plan for as little as $90.59 per month on MNsure, the new state health insurance marketplace, state Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman said Friday. Rothman said Minnesota has the lowest average rates for individuals and families compared to the other states that have revealed […]
Washington State Call Center Logs 900 Calls On 1st Day
This story was produced in partnership with The phones are already busy at the Washington State Exchange call center where customer service representatives are fielding hundreds of questions about the state’s new health insurance exchange, slated to open for enrollment Oct. 1. The call center, located in Spokane, opened on Tuesday and took 900 calls that day. […]
Physician Recruitment Trends: Demand Continues For Primary Care Docs
Doctors are reacting to changes in the health care system — and their job placements are proof. Merritt Hawkins, a national health care consulting and recruitment firm, shed some light on the situation through the company’s annual look at physician recruitment trends. The 2013 review was based on a survey of 3,097 permanent doctor and […]
Bill Clinton Calls For Obamacare Opponents And Supporters To Work Together
This story comes from our partner Stateline, the daily news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday championed the new Affordable Care Act, but urged Congress and the states to fix its worst problems. Speaking to an invitation-only audience at his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., Clinton touted the law’s […]
Washington State Panel OKs 7 Insurers For Exchange
This story was produced in partnership with In the end, it was a calm affair. The Washington Health Benefit Exchange Board met in a special session Wednesday afternoon to vote on the certification of health plans for the state’s new online health insurance marketplace in 2014. In less than an hour, the board voted unanimously […]
Baltimore Ravens To Host Ads for Maryland Health Exchange
Updated 8:15 pm Tuesday. The National Football League backed away from promoting Obamacare insurance marketplaces this summer after a sharp warning from Republicans. But the Baltimore Ravens seem to have stepped — or at least edged — into the gap. By including health insurance ads on their Gameday TV show and other content, the Super […]
Nearly Half Of U.S. Births Are Covered By Medicaid, Study Finds
About half the births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid — a figure higher than previous estimates — and the numbers could increase as the state-federal health insurance program expands under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released Tuesday. All pregnant women with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, just […]
Washington Ranks 2nd In Nation In Uninsured Growth
This story was produced in partnership with With about 16 percent of its residents uninsured, Washington state falls solidly in middie of the pack, with Texas having the highest percentage of residents without health insurance: more than 25 percent. Massachusetts, where a state health-insurance mandate has been in place for years, has the smallest percentage […]
Covered California Launches $80 Million Ad Campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP77OktlKGk Officials at Covered California — the Golden State’s health insurance marketplace — are placing a big bet on advertising to lure people to get health insurance. With a campaign boosted by $80 million from the federal government, they’ll tell people about the Affordable Care Act and encourage uninsured citizens to buy health insurance. Officials see the 15-month-long campaign — using […]
IRS Ruling On Same-Sex Couples Has Implications For Health Law
Thursday’s announcement that the federal government will give the same tax treatment to legally married same-sex couples as they do to heterosexual couples may have ripple effects for the 2010 health care law. The decision from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service means that the income of legally married same-sex couples will be […]
