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Officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are proposing to remove some drugs from Medicare’s prescription drug plans and limit how many plans insurers can offer. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and CQ Roll Call’s Emily Ethridge discuss.
A number of insurance companies have agreed to give an actuarial firm early information about enrollment and member health in the plans sold on the online marketplaces.
KHN’s consumer columnist explains that people can pick an exchange plan if their individual health insurance policies expire after open enrollment ends. Still, it’s smart to start shopping now.
Nursing home oversight may be moving toward more effective ways to detect poor care.
Research shows that certain sales strategies resonate with American Latinos, but California’s insurance exchange didn’t try any of them initially.
Some consumers will also get more time to keep plans that don’t meet all the law’s requirements.
With less than four weeks to go before the deadline, ads and direct appeals take aim at young people, Latinos and others without insurance coverage.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously ordered an audit Tuesday of how the public health department oversees nursing homes.
Republicans have refused in the past to fund the federal online marketplace so health officials are looking at other ways to get the money.
The SEIU is gathering signatures to put two hospital questions to voters in November. The union wants hospital charges capped at 25 percent above costs and CEO salaries at nonprofit hospitals capped at $450,000 per year.
Each of the states currently weighing expansion of Medicaid has a different idea of what it would look like.
The overhaul mandated maternity coverage, but some private insurance plans don’t include services.
They say they were trying to help clear a California backlog of 9,000 cases. Elder care advocate calls the move “unconscionable.”
Among the elements of the proposal that consumers might notice are changes in what drugs will be “protected” so that they are more readily available to seniors, how many plans are offered and what pharmacies will be offering the best deals.
Officials say proposed alterations would help seniors and save money but some patient groups and the drug industry are raising concerns.
