GAO: More Oversight Needed Over Medicare Advantage Provider Networks
Congressional watchdog says the government checks few health plans to ensure accurate provider listings and adequate access for seniors on Medicare Advantage.
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Congressional watchdog says the government checks few health plans to ensure accurate provider listings and adequate access for seniors on Medicare Advantage.
Existing laws designed to control what doctors and hospitals do with your information need to be expanded to employers’ wellness programs, say advocates.
Workplace wellness programs have joined doctors, hospitals and your mother in the campaign to get you healthy. Will they treat your data carefully?
A large variety of information may be collected by wellness programs and shared with others, including businesses eager to make a buck off of it.
Even as premiums for employer-based insurance increased only moderately this year, deductibles rose faster than total spending.
A comprehensive statewide survey shows Colorado cut its uninsured rate in half, with one in five state residents on Medicaid. But out-of-pocket health expenses can still be hard for families to afford.
The Census Bureau reports that the uninsured rate fell from 13.3 percent of the population to 10.4 percent. Still 33 million people had no insurance.
As the fall enrollment window begins for job-based insurance, workers may see a number of changes in provisions such as wellness programs, dependents’ coverage and specialty drug spending.
KHN consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers questions about Medicare beneficiaries’ costs associated with doctors who have concierge medicine practices, insulin pumps and respite care.
Many Native Americans rely entirely on free care from the financially strapped Indian Health Service. Advocates say signing up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act can broaden their choices.
COBRA, which employees can buy when they leave a workplace if they pick up the entire cost of the plan, can be more expensive.
The excise tax will be levied on health insurance plans costing more than $10,200 for an individual or $27,500 for a family. Any value over those thresholds will be taxed at 40 percent, and that's likely to affect consumers' benefits, share of health care costs or their coverage entirely.
Consumers must enroll in a silver-level plan in order to be eligible for reductions in out-of-pocket spending.
Consumers in New York are getting new protections against “balance billing,” where insurers bill patients for the difference between what insurers pay and what providers want, and states considering similar laws are watching closely.
Much of the recent debate about drug costs has centered on high-priced specialty drugs, such as those to cure hepatitis C. But millions more people have diabetes and their drugs are also expensive.
The Obama administration has announced a change in how the out-of-pocket health spending limits will be calculated for families, but employers object that it will leave them holding the bill.
A study done in Massachusetts highlights the difficulties consumers face in trying to find out how much health care services cost.
California regulators have tried harder than most to make mental health parity laws work but it’s been tough to enforce the rules and gain the cooperation of insurers.
Kaiser Health News correspondent Julie Rovner discusses the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
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