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The Supreme Court Thursday upheld a key part of the 2010 health law – tax subsidies for people who buy health insurance on marketplaces run by the federal government. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey discusses the decision with Stuart Taylor Jr., of the Brookings Institution, and KHN’s Julie Appleby.
Lawmakers and policy experts offered a range of views on the high court’s long-awaited decision.
The president says that “in many ways, the law is working better than we expected it to.”
Among the challenges for these online exchanges set up by the health law are attracting more customers, keeping consumers’ health costs affordable and quality high, and finding enough financing.
Those receiving subsidies express relief, jubilation at high court’s ruling.
Seniors can opt to stay in their marketplace plans when they become eligible for Medicare, but most lose their access to subsidies and failing to move into Medicare promptly results in premium penalties.
Property owners in Dallas County, Texas, paid more than $467 million in taxes last year to Parkland Health and Hospital System, the county’s only public hospital, to provide medical care to the poor and uninsured. If Texas had expanded Medicaid, that amount would have been lower.
Beginning in 2016, most Covered California customers will not have to pay more than $150 or $250 per prescription, per month. The price caps are a response to very expensive new drugs used to treat hepatitis and other serious illnesses.
Employer, consumer groups are critical of the administration’s effort to answer that question.
Dr. Michael LeFevre, who has stepped down as chairman of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force after 10 years, describes how the health law changed the group’s work and the need to improve communication about it.
Less than 1 percent of beneficiaries use the technology because Congress has put tight restrictions on it.
Strategies have been identified to address this trend, but they need to be considered a public health priority.
Once stabilized, you must transfer to an in-network hospital or you may be responsible for the entire cost of your care.
If the Supreme Court invalidates some Obamacare tax subsidies, individual health insurance marketplaces in places like North Carolina could be hurt by the remaining deluge of sick people who keep coverage — and the higher insurance premiums their presence demands.
The problems with managed care plans, documented in a recent state audit, stem from meteoric enrollment growth and lack of oversight, experts say.
The nonpartisan agency says the repeal favored by many Republicans would also increase the deficit between $137 billion to $353 billion over 10 years.
The legislation would require insurance companies to cover oral cancer meds as favorably as they do intravenous chemotherapy.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on healthcare subsidies soon. As the country awaits the decision, NewsHour interviewed people who would be personally affected by the ruling, and Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News answers their concerns.
Don’t assume your employer’s health plan offers comprehensive coverage. Marlene Allen did. Then she got hurt.
As soon as this fall, pharmacists in California will be able to prescribe birth control. While some doctors’ groups are skeptical, lawmakers say pharmacists can fill a need for primary care providers, especially in rural areas.
